What I think about late at night

Life is made up of stories. We read stories, we hear them, we watch them. We live them and then tell them to someone else later on. I've decided that's what I want to do. Tell other people's stories. I realized this after reading this New York Times story about a couple who fell in love while one was on death row. It really resonated with me for some reason, and I came to the realization that what I want to do most is find out other people's strange stories and tell them. Because everyone has a story to tell about something, all the time. It may not always be the most interesting and engaging thing, but every once in a while something absolutely crazy happens to someone, and it's almost too good to be true. That's the kind of story I want to tell.

So I've gotten into the habit of writing down everything I hear from people whenever I can. I figure something will come up eventually, and just the other day I actually heard an insane story from my coworker. But I'll save that for my next entry.

Part of me feels like I should change the name of this blog from "Jo-Anne Doing Things" to something along the lines of "Other People Doing Things," but I like the name of my blog, so whatevs. I don't even care.

I'm baaaack

I can't believe I haven't updated this thing in over two months. A plethora of events have occurred in my absence from this blog. Here is the abridged version. I like the word plethora.

1. Summer in NYC = beautiful sunny days, a lot of walking, sitting in parks, getting off work early on Fridays, bottomless brunch, meat festivals, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II, dancing until 4AM, old friends visiting, Brooklyn Bowl, funnel cake & roller coasters at Coney Island, Alexander McQueen exhibit, watching Dan Radcliffe on Broadway, unexpected natural disasters, macarons.

2. Finally got an apartment in the city. I live in the East Village now, and so far it's been great. I like my roommates, I like hanging out with my friends, and I like not having to worry about taking the bus back to New Jersey before 1AM when going out on weekends. The only real problem I have is my lack of a bedroom closet, which combined with owning entirely too much clothing has meant piles of dresses, underwear, leggings and a large collection of purses in different shades of black I didn't realize I have scattered everywhere, but that's nothing a trip or two to IKEA or Target won't solve.

3. Took two trips back to Texas. Once was to visit Austin peeps, and one was for my parents' 25th wedding anniversary. Both times it was ridiculously hot, and I stuffed my face with enchiladas and Vietnamese sandwiches and got to hang out with people I love. My only regret is not packing a suitcase full of bahn mi's and salsa before I left.

4. Other than that it's been a lot of working, and a lot of gallivanting around this city, from Fashion's Night Out (not a fan), to impromptu Childish Gambino shows, to themed dinner and movie nights to long walks through the West Village after eating greasy food. Those fish and chips were worth it, though.


That's about it. It's getting colder now, and I'm kind of hating it but I guess I'm just going to have to deal and live in leggings and over sized sweaters for the rest of the year. Also I'm kind of excited for Halloween, don't really know why, but I've already been seriously thinking about my costume. Although knowing me I won't decide on anything until the weekend and just throw something together and tell everyone I'm a sexy robot or something.