Courage...

Another busy day for me today. I got up fairly early and went shopping for more food. It's much cheaper shopping and making meals. Today for dinner I made kraft dinner and fried up a sausage to put in..... yea thats right I'm such a good cook..... Anyway I did that and then I had to be in to work at 2. I went and did some deliveries around town and picked up some work for Hannah. I've been terrified at the thought of shooting random people around town but today I decided i'm going to try. I've started taking a few shots of people and I'm trying to keep it subtle. Hopefully I'll become more courageous and start asking people if I can take their picture. I really don't have enough time to shoot... the weekend's coming up and i'll be going to art shows in town but it's kind of frustrating being only 20 cause I can't drink even a beer. I've never felt this independent before. I have to plan my meals and completely plan my days and stuff. I only wish that I'd found a sublet to stay in because it's so easy to settle in by yourself but when you're in a hostel and everyone is moving around it gets kinda distracting.

I started getting super pumped up today and all around town when I was making deliveries I started talking to random people and introducing myself. There's a little corner store near Hannah's work that I stop by and the guy's name is Ali. We got into a little discussion today about New York and Canada and he's been to canada 4 or 5 times and loves it. He didn't seem to have much good to say about New Yorkers but absolutly loved Canada. Anyway i'm probably gonna try and keep stopping in at that store and get myself known just cause it's nice goin in a store and bring recognized and being able to have a good chat. I've come to the conclusion that a lot of people here in New York are dying to have a conversation but no one has the initiative to start it. Thats IT!!! I'm gonna start it cause I hate the silence.. it kills me.

People are also starting to recognize me in the area. I had a guy stop me and ask me what I was shooting just cause he had seen me walking around a bunch. I'm really excited to get to know the people around here. It's such a diverse bunch. There is a jewish area, a spanish area, black area and over where I work has the largest polish population outside poland. It's amazing the cultural merge which is taking place here and I must say it does feel like a city of oppertunity. Maybe i'll move here? who knows.

Thats all for now
Dan

Pretty cool day

Man today was intense. I was carrying huge bags all over Manhattan running a bunch of errands for Hannah. She's very nice and tomorrow I get to sleep in but in the afternoon I'm going to her office to print off contact sheets for like 8 hours. It's a lot of work so far especially being here along and figuring out everything on my own. My Ipod finally packed in today so I went down to the apple store and picked up a new one. They're getting pretty cheap it's amazing how you can get a 4gb ipod for under 150 dollars. I haven't really been shooting much recently but I try to take one picture a day at least which is good enough to put on this blog. Nothing special but at least something that allows you guys to see what I get to see. I'm just so worn out and it feels like I don't have enough time to do everything. I met a few interesting people today. A girl came up to me and asked what sort of camera I had and we got to talking. Turns out she has a friend who is also a photographer who lives about 5 houses down from where i'm staying. We went there and talked to her friend and we're all gonna go out shooting hopefully this weekend. We exchanged contact info so it's gonna be awesome I hope. I'm really super excited that I've been able to make some new contacts and hopefully be able to shoot with them. I feel like I've bought all my necessities and it should be relatively smooth sailing from here. Gonna check out some art shows this weekend too I hope and explore manhatten. Anyway... today was cool and my feet hurt a lot from all the walking but it's certainly an adventure and I can't complain about a lack of stuff to do. There are tons and tons of little shops and food places to explore. I would love to come here with a few other people just for fun sometime cause I think it would be great having more time to run around seeing all the interesting stuff here. I'll keep you guys posted on everything else. The 2 british guys staying in the hostel in my room are leaving tomorrow so i'ma go have a few brew with them.

Love to all
Dan

beautifully frustrating

New York is so beautiful right now. It's very green.... everywhere you walk has huge branches with green leaves drooping down over the sides of the streets. It almost seems unreal because it's so colourful. There are purple, pink and green tree's and I never thought New York was like this. Today it was raining and it wasn't much fun cause I had to do a ton of stuff in the rain. I have a collection of food that I can cook and it's in a drawer under my bed. The collection gets a bit bigger each day as I go get a few more ingredients and stuff. I went into manhatten and bought a cell phone so now i'm mobile which is nice. (number is 1-347-228-1232 and i'd love to hear from you hint hint)

I went to a bank and tried to cash some travellers cheques but they wouldn't let me without a passport so I have to go back tomorrow. I'm gonna get up at 8 tomorrow and shower/eat and then i've gotta get to the bank to get some money. I'm supposed to get to hannah's office by 10:30 but i'll definately be late cause I haven't mastered the subway system yet. It's really cool here but it's stressful being here along cause there is so much that needs to get done. Anyway i'm gonna relax for a bit now and sleep so i'm all ready for tomorrow.

Love to all
Dan

Look at me....

well, I'm all settled in now as you can see by my mess strewn everywhere. Turns out tomorrow I'm not needed till 3ish so I have to go buy a cell phone down the street and explore a bit more. I have some pretty cool roommates right now. They are from Manchester and London and they're traveling around the U.S and Canada just for fun and planning stuff as they go.... quite adventurous I say. I also have to start figuring out food. It's pretty cool here cause there is a kitchen on each floor with a fridge and stuff so i'll probably go grocery shopping pretty early tomorrow and try and get some stuff planned out. It's so overwhelming being here because of it's sheer size. It's hard to keep the feeling that you're still a unique individual when there are just so many people. Anyway I have a headache and I need to sleep so i'ma do that. I'm homesick right now but I'm sure that will change once I get to work.

Love to all
Dan

I'm starving

Just got here and I'm starving. Hostel seems really nice and the staff are awesome as well. I'm gonna go grab some food and explore for a bit. Gotta get a few things and prepare myself to get up bright an early tomorrow. Woooooo.

Dan

Waiting....

I'm waiting in the airport right now for my flight. It was so confusing finding the U.S sign in cause it's different from everywhere else. Anyway I finally got it all done and everyone was super nice but for customs there was this woman who was so condescending. She was like questioning the shit out of me for no reason and with no motive. Frig, "who is this woman you're working with" "oh tell me what she shoots and why" like fuck off this is none of your damn business haha anyway thats what's up. I'm jamming out to some tunes trying to stay relaxed but honestly I'm freaking out. So many questions of what i'm gonna do when I get there. Probably go get a subway pass today and explore around brooklyn a little. I also gotta find somewhere to get a cell and I just don't know where to go. Ah well, i'll get it all figured out even if it takes me a bit.

DDDDDAaaaaann

Packing

I've just started packing today and my flight leaves tomorrow at 11:40. I hope I have everything I need in the house. Charging the batteries formatting memory.... this is gonna be exciting I hope. Stay tuned here and I'll update this as often as possibly and please feel free to drop my a line any time..

Love to all
Dan