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Peter Brusikiewicz' Blog
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I have been here in New York City for two months now, and still, they have not finished renovating the elevator in my building. Right now, we have only one elevator running. The kids that live below us taught my roommate and me a trick with this elevator: whenever the red signal blinks, that means that the elevator will stop on that floor at which time it blinks in order to let people on. If you see this happen, you gently pull the emergency stop button out and it will ignore that floor. It will not stop for that whomever on that whatever floor.
Peter Brusikiewicz up on the roof
I don’t know if I told you this, but also, we have found a way to get on the rooftop of our building. I went up there a few times. We have the most beautiful view of Manhattan and, especially, of central park. It is so cool to go up there and chill on a warm day. More importantly, it is a perfect place to take a girl up and chill (It has already been done! Don’t worry I am way ahead of you guys. She loved it!)
Peter Brusikiewicz leaves school (temporarily)
We have finished the first eight weeks of school. Tomorrow, we start the second half of our first semester. We will have some new classes such as improvisation and Shakespeare. I, unfortunately, will not be here, because I have to fly down to Toronto (personal reasons).
Peter Brusikiewicz' laundry
I can’t wait for Toronto. I miss it. I miss the cleanliness and the fresh air. Most importantly, I miss my mom’s cooking and laundry. I have not done my laundry for two weeks now. I have been saving it all for mommy. So mommy, you are in for a treat ;) I have been saving all of it for you, because I know how much you enjoy doing laundry. I miss my friends and I miss my family, but more importantly, I want to see if New York has changed me at all.
Peter Brusikiewicz gets less Canadian
There are a few things that have changed about me, which I am aware of. For one, before, if someone would hassle me about a brochure or some hip-hop CD that they are trying to sell, I would always be polite and give them my time and say “thank you” or “have a good day”. They usually would hassle me into buying their stupid CD. But now, when I get hassled by them, I flip it around and hassle them to the point where they walk away from me. An example of this was a couple of days ago when some rapper tried selling me his CD. The discussion ended at him saying to me “you ain’t getting no free autographs from me” and he walked away, pissed. I don’t know how it led to that, but now, if I get hassled, I flip the bird, and hassle them.
Peter Brusikiewicz learns to bargain
I have also learned another good thing: bargaining. Sometimes, I go into stores without buying anything, only to bargain with the people. I enjoy it so much. I was on Canal Street a couple of weeks ago. I bought a belt and a belt buckle for eight bucks. Originally, the guy wanted 30 bucks for it. Yesterday, I bought a painting. The guy wanted 30 bucks. I gave him 20 bucks. Today, I bought a sweatshirt. It cost 70 bucks. I got it for 60 bucks, and on top of that, a 20-dollar bracelet, for free. I will share my secret with you: When I bought the painting, the guy would not go any lower then 30. I asked “how bout twenty?”, he replied “it is an original, plus, I will draw a sketch for you on the back”, to which I replied “I’m not paying an additional ten bucks for a sketch, just gave it to me for twenty”, at which point, I took out the twenty bucks and I slowly waved it from side to side, in front of his eyes. At which point he said, “Well, it has been a slow day.” He grabbed the twenty, and I grabbed the painting.
Peter Brusikiewicz needs a break from acting
I know that I should be talking to all of you about my acting experiences right now. But, please understand, that I need a break from it. Truthfully, I am exhausted for the moment and I want to talk about my New York experience aside from the acting.
What Peter Brusikiewicz hates about New York
There are a few things that I hate about New York, and much prefer about Toronto. First off, I hate my one elevator. I enjoyed having no elevator at all in Toronto. Secondly, I hate these crappy movie theatres in Manhattan. They do not have those AMC’s or huge CINEPLEXES that we have in Toronto. They have these dingy, small screen theatres. One thing that they do have, however, are these incredibly, comfortable, reclining seats. And the viewers seem to be much more critical of all the shit movies that they preview, than in Toronto. I went to go watch the Zodiac the other day (good movie). I went by myself. When I have nothing better to do, I go and watch movies by myself. If you are a true movie buff, you go alone! But anyways, I was watching the previews, and they were showing stupid movies that are coming out with stupid names such as DISTURBIA. Throughout the entire previews, people laughed at how stupid these movies are. Every stupid horror flick from the makers of SAW, or every stupid movie with a stupid title that they would preview, the audience would laugh at how stupid they are. The audiences, who the movies are made for, are not dumb! At least not here.
More of what Peter Brusikiewicz hates about New York
Another thing that I hate about New York are the stupid banks and the way they work. For one, by every ATM machine, you have a security guard. These security guards, are old and shriveled men, and I do not think that they would be much help, in case of any danger. Secondly, everything is guarded with thick bulletproof glass, especially the tellers. Now, the part that I hate most, I hate that whatever transaction you want to do, you have to fill out a slip before approaching the teller who is hiding behind this bulletproof glass. If I want to do a transfer from one account to the other, I have to fill out a withdrawal slip for the one account and a deposit slip for the other account, to which the money will be transferred. Tedious work, I tell you!
Other than that, New York is great!
Peter Brusikiewicz needs new clothes
Before I left Toronto, I threw away my entire wardrobe, hoping to get new clothes here. Since I have been here, I have not been shopping for any clothes. Apparently, I look like shit to some people, as one girl asked me “why do I wear my pajamas everyday?” On Friday, it hit me, that, I will be going to Toronto, looking worse then when I left. So I had to go shopping.
Peter Brusikiewicz' Italian job
Yesterday, I went shopping with the Italian girl that I mentioned in previous blogs. I told her that I need a fashionable girl to help me pick out clothes to look good for when I go to Toronto. I met her in the afternoon at 3.00pm. We went to Tiffany’s, for her, where she bought a bracelet, then we went to Diesel where she tried shit on for about an hour, and did not buy anything, and then, we went to a store called Rugby, where she promised to help me pick out clothes for me. We got there, and all the clothing was for old people. I got nothing, but she got pants and a purse, at which point we went to eat. After we ate, and I paid, she said, “oh Peter, I am so tired now, I have to go home and sleep”. She told me that she would call me tomorrow in the morning and promised to go shopping with me, and only for me, not for her (She never called). She then jumped in a cab and went home. We met at 3.00pm to go shopping for ME. It was now 7.30pm. I bought nothing. She bought a shit load of crap and was in a cab going home, and I have not bought one item for myself. And on top of that, stores were closing anywhere between 8.00 and 9.00pm. So I walked down to Soho from Union square, and went shopping.
Peter Brusikiewicz finishes his shopping
Today, I finished my shopping. I was always afraid to go shopping in the boutiques at Soho because I had this idea that everything was so expensive. Hell noo! It’s dirt-cheap! I bought the coolest Reebok sneakers for 25 bucks. I also bought the coolest Calvin Klein and Levis jeans; each pair cost me thirty bucks. Lunch in Soho, usually, costs me thirty bucks! I never thought that Calvin Klein jeans would cost me as much as a stupid cheeseburger with some stupid herbal fries!
Peter Brusikiewicz comes back to Toronto
I think I have done enough babbling for today. I know that some of you may whine and complain that I am not talking about my acting all the time, but I really need a break from it. And I find my experiences in New York to be just as valuable to acting as the experiences that I have in my classes. I can’t wait to go to Toronto to see how different I see everything and everything sees me. I miss my friends and family. I got some New York wardrobe, so, I will be coming back looking good ;) Mom, get ready for some laundry doing ;)
I will not write a blog next week for I will be in Toronto.
So see you in two weeks or whenever I have some free time. Until next time….
Peter Brusikiewicz
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