Is it a scavenger hunt? No, it's a bar entrance.

If I ever win the lottery, I've decided that I'm going to open something. Maybe a restaurant, maybe a bar. Doesn't matter. Point is, when I'm bored I often think about ways that I'm going to make this restaurant/bar AWESOME. I've gone through a ton of different ideas ranging from live animal shows to decorating it like the interior of an actual cave where all of the liquor comes out of stalactites in the ceiling (idea stolen from my beloved Cave Bar, aka El Chapandaz, in Madrid).

Then, as a friend and I were researching which speakeasy we wanted to go to tonight (you'll understand in a minute, maybe), I came upon this description of how to get into the subMercer:

To get there, pass the Mercer Hotel (no. 147) and enter a little nook in the wall (no. 147 1/2). You'll know you're there when you see two unassuming henchmen hanging out in front of a doorway—just walk on by and enter the industrial freight elevator. Two floors underground, cruise down a long dark hallway stocked with bathroom supplies, turn left, pass the boiler room and then turn right through a heavy red door. One more hallway filled with wine and the faint sounds of lounge music will lead you to the promised land.

Read more: http://www.urbandaddy.com/nyc/1169/New_York,_The_Submercer,_Nightlife,_NYC#ixzz1dssuTebH

HOLY CRAP, GUYS. How awesome does that sound? Granted, further research let me know that since I'm not rich and famous (yet) I will probably have a bit of an issue getting in on the weekends, but still. AWESOME. If I win the lottery I am finding some way to make the entrance to my place as confusing and sneaky as this.

Of course, further research led me to discover that I probably won't be able to get in very easily, especially dressed in my work clothes, so we'll be venturing to another speakeasy that looks like an abandoned toy factory from the front but is a baller Victorian-themed bar where they serve liquor in teacups. Apparently there's a secret entrance to another room behind a bookcase that I'm definitely going to try and sneak through. Stay tuned for updates!

The TRIFECTA of Inspiration

I had the trifecta of inspiration this weekend. Well, okay one of them didn't happen this weekend, but I'm going to count it because trifecta of inspiration sounds cool.

So first of all, I'm not the best behaved 23-year-old in church. If I go by myself I'm probably fine, but the problem is that I usually go with my brother and sister. There's just something about us all sitting there that turns us into children. Ergo, after about 5 minutes of homily I tend to space out, sometimes playing this stupid game with my brother that is way too difficult to explain on here so I won't.

This week, we went to a "family mass" at our church. Basically during the homily, the priest sits on the floor and has all of the little kids come up to the front and directs the message to them. Besides the fact that this little girl could not stop repeating her answer to "What is your talent?" (her answer was fixing the bed. Really? That's all you've got?) this message actually clicked with me.

Basically the idea was that everyone has talents and at the end of your life God is going to ask you what you did with those talents. Now whether or not you believe in God is your own business, but even if you take that out of the equation the message still kind of sticks. The priest basically asked the congregation "What the hell are you going to do with your life?"

A conversation every teenager dreads.

So, I immediately thought "Huh. I'd say my talent is writing. At least it's what I love to do." Then the homily was over and I was playing again.

Later that day, I was laying on the couch, watching some brain-rotting TV with my brother and he said "You used to write stories, right?"

"Yeah."

"I remember some of them. You should do that again."

It was such a simple statement, but combined with the priest it really hit me. I SHOULD do that again. Little does he know that I am writing, since, for some reason, I can't bring myself to let anyone know. It made me want to get really really serious about my writing. 

The third thing is the death of my friend in August. A 19-year-old, perfectly healthy person, who just didn't wake up one morning. Life is short, people. Every day is a gift.

Picture of the Week

This week's photo comes from Ben Canales' Photostream. If you have time I'd definitely recommend checking his site out, he's got some awesome shots.

Have a great weekend!

Non-Drowsy Medicine... Yeah Right.

I am really really bad at schedules. It's a problem. I think it started when I was 18 days late being born.

Anyway, I'm sick so I am totally going off the self-imposed schedule and I'm going to vent.

After doing thorough research (aka combing the internet for 10 minutes) I've discovered that I suffer from the Paradox Effect. That's the only name that anyone came up with and it sounds really cool. Other people who claim to have degrees in things like biology just explained it as the non-drowsy bit doing the opposite of what it's supposed to do. As in, making me drowsy. I should probably have started off with that, shouldn't I? Whatever, I'm delirious from forcing myself to stay awake when the cocktail of vitamins and cold medicine inside my body wants me to go to sleep.

I figured this out a little bit when I had mono in college. DayQuil knocked me the hell out for hours. NyQuil also knocked me out. I figured it was just because apparently mono makes you really tired, but I still stayed away from cold medicine. All over-the-counter medicine, really. Pretty sure it's because my pediatrician told me that if I take too much medicine it won't work when I need it to. I think I was around 8.

Anyway, I didn't really take cough medicine until I got the flu two years ago and it knocked me out again. Ditto when I got pneumonia a few months later. But those are serious-ish issues so obviously they're going to knock me out, right?

Now I have the worst cold I can remember having and I actually have a job that I have to be awake at unlike when I had mono (college), the flu (college), and pneumonia (when I was an unemployed slacker the summer after college).

If anyone has any suggestions on how to stay awake, I appreciate it. Also, I hate coffee so there's that.

Sorry for the pointless post. But not really sorry, because you've read all of the way to the bottom and I love you for it.

Picture of the Week

Here's a little break from the cold weather of this week:

Kind of has an Alice in Wonderland kind of feel to it, doesn't it? Have a great weekend!