A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Last night R dragged me up to Williamsburg to attend the birthday party of some friends of his from Downstate. First, though, we met some of his friends at this bar in the East Village. What R and I did in looking for these friends, essentially, was walk from Union Square down to Bleecker Street, over to Washington Square Park, up Broadway and back to Union Square again. So essentially we made a giant square around Lower Manhattan. After a while we went out to Williamsburg. The party was held in... Sign in to see full entry.

Last night I went to the Strand bookstore, in Manhattan, and came across A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by accident (By the way, for anyone who hasn't been there, the Strand is this wonderful independent bookstore on Broadway that sells both new and used books very cheaply. Their slogan is "18 miles of books." If you're a reader and you ever come to New York, GO THERE). The last time I read A Tree was about 10 years ago, for an English class in middle school whose theme was "immigration." I hadn't... Sign in to see full entry.

...even though my birthday isn't until the 26th of this month (you'd better wish me a happy birthday when it comes around! I'll be 23, by the way. lol). On top of everything else my parents have given me recently (rent for my apartment, furniture, etc), they also gave me a gym membership. Don't worry, they're not trying to tell me that I need to lose weight (I don't; I'm a size 4 and I've lost about ten pounds since coming to New York three months ago due to the fact that I'm walking and taking... Sign in to see full entry.

I don't mean simply as in, use you for sex, or use you in that kind of way. But do you even feel as though the people around you--friends, family members, general acquaintances, total strangers--use you just to get something out of you? That's how I feel about my roommate. Don't get me wrong, he's a really nice guy (and he probably doesn't even realize that he's doing this!) but he's using me for some things. For example, he ordered printer toner from Staples; it was supposed to arrive yesterday... Sign in to see full entry.

This isn't a topic I usually talk about with people I know in person. I can't even fully discuss it with my parents, who are some of the most supportive, caring people around. But I'm going to make an attempt to talk about it here because its been a part of me for so long. But there are other times when I just can't deal with the stress of things. I think about what needs to be done, and feel as though I can't do it. I them become evasive of stressful situations. The stress makes me feel sad.... Sign in to see full entry.