Whoa.
I took an edible and it's finally hitting me now.
I am so behind on editing vlogs but hopefully this will be the start of getting into it.
As some of you know I have been living in New York for a while, hence the constant background noise in
some of my recent videos. When I first came here it was just to visit and try things out, but I ended
up really enjoying my time in the city. Which is kind of a surprise to say because New York
is basically a shithole. But I'm someone who's used to constantly struggling, so having a fast-paced
environment and constantly going out with a general sense of anxiety in the background at
all times was really just my natural habitat, so it all clicked for me. I did vlog my first time living
in New York, so this video will be a documentation of the things I did within the first month. Some of
that ranges from checking out queer bookstores to visiting free art exhibits and even going to
upstate New York with cute small towns and going apple picking, so a lot of cottagecore vibes there.
All these new experiences felt like I was looking at the world through a new lens, which is very
fitting because I actually need new glasses, so thankfully Warby Parker has provided me some
and they are also the sponsor of today's video. I know, classic transition. They offer everything that
you need for happier eyes, so they got sunglasses, eyeglasses, contact lenses, and eye exams. You can
shop for them both online and in stores, so I've been taking advantage of their free home try on
program. It's basically this program where you can order five pairs of glasses just so that you can
try them on at home for free, and then you just return it with the prepaid label that they give
to you. I tried it on this past month and it was super easy to use. I ordered five pairs of glasses
and I tried to pick different styles so that I could compare and contrast them. And again,
it was super easy to return all of the frames, didn't have to spend a single cent. It's only
when you decide to commit to buying a pair of glasses that you do pay, and they start off at $95
with prescription lenses included. So if you would like to try five pairs of glasses at home for free
you can check out the link in my description. It is warbyparker.com/withcindy. And now, let's
go ahead and put on our rose-colored glasses as we explore New York for the first time with me.
During my first week in New York, some friends were visiting from Boston and one of them
constantly saves places from TikTok to try out. So while she used me for free housing, I used her
as my tour guide. We started our day in the lower east side and tried Korean corn dogs for the
first time. Honestly, eating this has changed the whole fucking game for me, because ever since I came
back to the city this year, I've been eating these whenever there's a shop nearby. It's so easy to eat,
so cheap, it's like five dollars. I got the squid ink flavor that was half mozzarella half hot dog
on the inside. I don't even care if some pervert is watching us eat this phallic-shaped food in
my video, it's fucking good goddammit. After that we started a bookshop crawl around the lower
east side, starting with Bluestockings Cooperative. This is a super cool bookstore. It's lgbt owned so
all of the books and products were very gay. They also stock mutual aid like condoms and covid tests
so you can get these for free if needed. It's just really nice that there's a community resource for
people. And at the time that I went, they had this wall where you could pledge anything in the shop
to someone and people who match that description can take it. So for example, ten dollars for any
bipoc or queer person, five dollars for someone with ocd, six dollars for a disabled person.
It's just more examples of how this bookstore gives back to the community.
The second bookshop we checked out was Sweet Pickle Books. This is a used bookstore that is
exactly how it sounds. It sells both books and pickles. Totally different vibe. There's lots of
weird quirky eclectic shit that gets collected in the store. The owner opened this shop when she
got laid off during covid and this is like a dream for her that she's always wanted to do.
We love a girl boss who combines two of her biggest passions together into a cute quirky store.
Then the last bookshelf we visited was McNally Jackson. I think the most unique feature
is all the books hanging from the ceiling and the walls decorated in pages. Other than that,
it's a pretty typical bookstore though. Like the first two that we went to was more curated and
has smaller selections, whereas McNally, K feel like has tons of more books. I guess it could be
like a good indie alternative to Barnes and Noble or Amazon, because fuck Jeff Bezos.
Since we did so much walking, we filled our bodies up with a bunch of food, starting with bowls of
pho at Madame Vo and some cake at Prince Tea House. Their crepe cakes are very yummy.
It's overpriced but i have too much of a sweet tooth to resist so fuck it, have my $10.
This is a boba crepe cake that my friend got, and here she is fucking up with the balls,
which is not the first time she's done that apparently. But that's the story for later.
So we checked out a drag show in this coffee shop
that was right across from my airbnb. The girls there were working it. I popped an edible,
so I was definitely vibing along. And someone even brought their dog inside the shop, so I was
all over him. A bunch of drag queens and a dog, I mean, like how much better can you get with that?
And then the next day we met up with some more friends for brunch at Good Things.
Do I think brunch is a scam? Kind of, but I also need socialization to fill the holes in my heart,
so I'll take it as a necessary expense. I also recently got converted to boba. I know, I'm
very late to the game as an Asian, but I was converted thanks to Ellias and now it's nice
to just have a sweet treat after a meal. I got a mango drink right when my edible hit and then
my appetite was insatiable. I ended up getting two hot dogs from a food truck and an ice cream cone.
So basically any food that I passed by, I wanted to eat it. We walked across a park
very suitably called the High Line. Get it, because I was high? It's less than two miles,
but because I was inebriated that shit felt like it went on for hours. Time no longer existed. Um, I
love being a stoner. That is basically the moral of this story. And I love snacking. So so much.
on my second week I had another friend come visit from Washington. She was getting a tattoo
in Brooklyn, so this was the first time that I explored the Williamsburg area. There's a
bookstore called Spoonbill & Sugartown books. They have fiction along with rare art, architecture,
and design titles, so a very good fit for the artsy-fartsy hipster demographic, which I think
is most of Williamsburg. And it's connected to an indoor mini mall that had lots of tattoo
and piercing shops, a couple of clothing stores, and cool graffiti over the walls.
Afterward my friend and I wandered around the area to visit a coffee shop so that we could
grab some dessert and get some writing done. So the afternoon was actually pretty productive
before we headed back home, and I made sure to grab a poke bowl for dinner along the way.
The poke place allows you to pick from the menu or you can choose to build your own,
so I built my own bowl. I usually get the large but this time I got a small because
I decided to treat myself out with boba. The cool thing about this specific shop is that
if you go with a small size, they give you the drink in like a little light bulb.
I'm gonna relax tonight, edit some videos, and then get ready for the weekend where
I will be getting brunch with my friend Nikki and her boyfriend. The city has truly made me
an extrovert. It's also made me spend way too much money.
On my third week I met up with some more friends in Koreatown to grab food and boba,
I know what you're thinking: since when the fuck did I have so many friends? It helped that I also
found this free event at The Shed that weekend. So The Shed is this cultural center in Manhattan,
they were doing a limited program with Project Liberty that was all about data visualization.
So it was this installation that invited viewers to examine their
relationship to their data and think about who owns it,
and who profits, and what the world might look like if everyone owned and controlled their own
data. It's the kind of idea that would makeMmark Zuckerberg sweat a little, like if robots could
physically sweat. Um, I think even if you didn't know what the message was, people could still enjoy
the experience though, because the screens would actually respond to people's physical presence
and it was just like this cool immersive experience. Believe it or not, I was not stoned
during this experience but imagine how trippy this shit would have been. So, lost opportunity there.
Because I love free things, we went to even more free exhibits. So this one was called Ravishing,
it was presented at the Fashion Institute of Technology. All the garments there had one
common element and it was the rose. I feel like roses are such a common symbol, but people can do
so much with it. Roses have this influence on how people look and dress and feel. I love seeing the
dresses and suits and the different ways that people interpreted the rose in their designs.
And obviously dessert is a must, so we checked out this bakery called Harbs. I still think about this
place to this day because the cake was so soft and moist. I don't care people don't like how that word sounds.
Grow up. That shit was moist and it was so freaking good. And then we ended the night checking
out more bookstores. You know the drill. There's only so many things I can do as a fucking nerd.
However, I am a nerd that gets recognized in public by viewers, so that is cool too.
It is 1:30 a.m I have finally arrived back to my apartment I changed into my pjs and
I got McDonald's for dinne,r a very sophisticated option. I normally don't do this but I am going to
actually read a book while I eat. I usually like to watch a tv show instead, but I got this book
from Kinokuniya today and I'm so excited to read it that I'm just gonna go ahead and start it. Like
I already am loving seeing all the photography. It's so cool that the book highlights the elderly
in Chinatown and what clothes that they're wearing, because I never really gave it much thought before.
But the way that the photos are laid out are kind of like a lookbook and I think that's really cool,
because it sees like all these nice details and you kind of wonder like why did they choose
these specific clothes. Oh look at this one, that pattern on her jacket looks so
cool. Actually, I would wear this jacket, these are great colors. Oh, and if you're also curious what my
McDonald's orders are, I got medium french fries and I always always always get 20 chicken nuggets.
I don't know why I suddenly turned this video into something that's about my preference in books--
Whoa.
I took an edible and it's finally hitting me now. Well, since it's hitting me, I guess I probably
won't be able to read this book after all. Either way, I had such a great day today. I'm loving New
York so much. I love hanging out with people and just enjoying myself and it's all good. I know I'm
being very sappy right now, so i'm gonna end it and I'm just rambling because I'm inebriated. Goodbye.
Finally, during the last week of the month, I went to upstate New York
and visited Cold Spring. I have some friends who are getting married in a week, so they were
driving up to the groomsman's hometown to get prepared for things, and they were nice enough
to invite me along for their ride. Cold Spring is technically considered a village. It's very cute,
there's tons of small shops and little markets, lots of antique stuff. I think older retired
people would enjoy staying here because it's so much quieter and peaceful compared to the city.
It was time to intensify the cottagecore vibes even more by heading to Dressel Farms to go
apple picking. I have never picked apples or any fruit in my life. I don't believe in labor.
Frankly, I think it's suspicious that my white friend asked his fiance and me,
both people of color, to go apple picking with him. Very suspicious indeed. We did get to
enjoy the food though, like apple cider at the orchard and even apple cider donuts from a farm market.
Then for dinner we stuffed ourselves at a German restaurant. I forgot what I got. It was this very
cheesy dish though, it was really good. And then obviously we checked out the local bookstore
in town. I quite clearly have a very limited range of hobbies as you can tell.
And oh yeah, I also got a wig for the trip. There was no reason for me to
wear it, I just wanted to change things up. Do we like the hair, yay or nay? Let me know.
And so that concludes the first month that I spent in New York. I hope you enjoyed
being extroverted with me. Go ahead and unsubscribe. Bye!