On Loftstel life

Well, I have only been here one full day and a bit, so perhaps a little early to make all my judgements. But so far I'm loving it.

Loftstel is a Loft+Hostel, situated in Greene Avenue, Brooklyn. It is almost right opposite Tompkins Park which is small, but nice with benches and paths. It's a short walk to the G train, from which you transfer to the L train which can take you to the Brooklyn hipster community of Williamsburg or, for a couple more stops, straight to Union Square on East 14th St - home of Whole Foods Market, Trader Joe's, a coffee shop that's also a model agency and a farmers market (incongruous I know).

There are 4 Loftstel floors and a roof that's accessible in the summer. My room, shared with Kate, Wave and Camilla, is on the 4th floor (though we have been temporarily moved out while they take pictures of our room or something). There's also a kitchen and a bathroom on each floor, so you pretty much keep your food and shower stuff on the same floor as you and adopt that floor's kitchen/communal area as your hang out. ALTHOUGH the 3rd floor and 1st floor have sofas which 4th floor doesn't. There are green walls, blue walls, a wall with a giant multicoloured tree mural.

I haven't met everyone yet, or worked out what the people I have met are doing. There's my 3 roommates who I've mentioned, there's Arnaud, Urgu (Turkish), Erik, J-something or other and a couple of others whose names I forget. Dunno what most of them are doing in NY but no matter, I have 2 months to get to know!

What I do know is that everyone spends aLOT of time on laptops! It's like laptop city in the kitchen right now (11.21am US time). Camilla is talking on Skype so there is Italian flying around the room. Kate is eating her oatmeal/granola type stuff (she told me she's a vegetarian turning vegan...oof) Arnaud is typing stuff and Urgu is sitting by the window with headphones on, dancing and occasionally breaking into bursts of 'Barabara Streisand' by Duck Sauce...you know, 'oooooh ooooooooh oooooh'...yup.

Outside there is snow everywhere. It snowed afresh last night, with a bit of thunder and lightning thrown in for good measure. There's a tree right in front of the fire escape covered in snow, the branches are all droopy because it's so thick.

I am planning on venturing outside soon to do some Brooklyn exploration. I've done my research and discovered a bunch of nearby eateries that interest me very much. Most significantly I'm curious about Jamaican Grill which is not too far from here and does pancakes, bacon and eggs for a mere $5!!! As well as jerk chicken, curried goat, plantains, dumplings, soups, fried things, salads, all kinds of other nom-worthy Jamaican dishes, and all insanely good prices so I really can't wait to get my gnashers round a plate of chicken & rice with mac & cheese & fried plantaaaaaiiiiin......yes! (Hahahahaaa Theodora jealous yet?)
Also nearby: Chinese takeaway WOOHOO, Tiny Cup cafe/coffee shop, various delis/markets and the intruigingly-named 'Sugar Hill Disco and Restauraunt'...disco dancing while eating, maybe? Hope so.

Last night I went through the BDC schedule - wowsa it looks better than I remember. Although Jason Marquette's not on the regular schedule as a guest teacher anymore which makes me sad cos he was wicked. Tap today at 7.30-9 (this may be a stupid idea because it will be tough travelling to and from Times Square at that time in this weather) with Jared Grimes. Loads of other new things I want to try. Also, there are hiphop classes taught by LaJon Dantzler - anyone who has seen 'Step Up 2' will know who he is because he plays the excellent 'Smiles' - the guy in the MSA crew with the teeth. Anyway, fucking awesome dancer and I am going to go do classes with him harhardihar. Also have Step Up 2 with me so will be watching it for research purposes/stargazing.






http://diehipster.wordpress.com/ Here's a web discovery I made whilst Googling 'Brooklyn' for ideas. Its hideously un-PC and excessively judgemental, but mostly it's ragingly accurate and therefore funny. I made a similar discovery last year with 'Look at this fucking hipster' which has the same message but more subtle delivery. It's fun to laugh at people you know nothing about and dislike for purely superficial purposes. (Actually that's not quite true, it's not entirely aesthetic-based hating. I'm more disenchanted with hipster content than hipster fashion i.e. daft performance 'art' where the artist has no more idea about what they're trying to do than their bewildered spectators, and bands featuring vocalists looking like the girl from the ring whispering and squeaking into their mics, XX-style, in a way that just grates like nails on a blackboard.)

Ees mucho snowy! This is a guy in Queens digging out his car. The snow has already started to melt as we've had intermittent bursts of sunshine but it's set to carry on tomorrow and probably Sun.

Pip pipxxxxxxxxxxx