Busy is Good

I had a great day today. 3 video shoots (details below). I was extremely busy all day.

However, mom, this does not mean busy is good — it can feel good, and when properly allocated for in the schedule, having a busy day once in a while isn’t so bad after all. But I am proud to be on Tim Ferris’s team here: busy is lazy.

But nonetheless, I’m back in my couch-surfing days (Brooklyn sublease up, waiting until September for long-term move) and it’s interesting that this time around vs last summer, I am extremely secure in the seat. Maybe it’s because of a more concrete exit plan out of the nomadic summer, or maybe I have a better sense on my career. Doesn’t change the fact that this morning I woke up on a couch with the Sun Belting into my eyes. Why does every single apartment in NYC have the worst blinds ever?

Morning

For real I woke up this morning expecting to be sweating profusely but nope my friend Robert has a 10/10 AC running in the apartment. What a couch. I better not get used to it…

For the past 4-5 weeks I’ve been going to this Thursday AM workout class and even though I woke up at 6:35 for the 7:00AM class I decided the class was worth the $17 cab ride (given good workout classes are typically much more than $17 unless you’re doing the random East Village Yoga Place that lets you pay what you want).

From 7-8am, I had the living sht kicked out of me by this ex-marine. SO much so that I had some concern that I’d be fatigued for my busy day (spoilers — I wasn’t). It’s crazy I didn’t get tired or fatigued once today despite hours in the sun and profusely sweating through my clothing multiple times through. A ton of water I guess.

It’s funny after that class I had 90 minutes to get to the next destination but like anything when you have that much time, you figure out ways to fill it with nonsense — which is exactly what I did. I ended up having to rush out of Lifetime and arrived at 9:20 to set up for what was scheduled to be a 2 hour video shoot but turned into a stay until 2:40. At 2:35 — while recording the podcast and my equipment everywhere I ordered a Lyft. At 2:38 the episode ended and I legit sprinted off the roof like it was the Amazing Race and Tripod in bag, lugged everything into the elevator, and timed the Lyft arrival to perfection.

Though there was one huge problem. And it wasn’t technically the quantity of seat on my skin at that moment.

See the venue of the first shoot had the A/C set to 80 degrees. 80 MFKN*&***. DEGREES. ON A 90 DEGREE DAY WHYYYYY. I was so excited for A/C.

Until I walked into the Lyft. I feel like Lyfts are either spick and span clean or an absolute disgusting fest. Today was the latter. In fact I walk into a car blasting 2x Speed Arabic Anime YouTube at VOLUME 100. Just no regard for the passenger.

And worst of all, 0 A/C. Car was hotter than outside. My headphones were locked in my huge suitcase and i was not taking them out. Brutal 20 minutes tbh.

I glossed over that shoot fast but I want to give a slight shoutout to the caterer of the shoot that accidentally provided the hosts with 3x the number of sandwiches they ordered. Aka leftovers were plentiful and I got about 90% of today’s caloric intake at the shoot. Enjoyed my Grilled Chicken, Mozz and Tomato on a Bagel + Parital Roast Beef Sandwich + Avocado Cucumber Sandwich + Egg Sandwich. Lol.

Afternoon

At 3pm I arrived at was once a 5th Avenue Hotel (in 1926) now an apartment building that houses a $10 million apartment for sale. Let’s just say if my video sells that apartment it would be the worst commission deal of all time.

But for real it was fun walking around rich person territory and getting a view of the central park reservoir that I’ve personlly never even seen before. Like I’ve seen the Reservoir before — last in 2021 on my solo walk back from Yankee Stadium to my apartment on Union Square on a dead phone — but not from a $10M Penthouse on 5th Ave.

This opportunity brought to you by Upwork. I’m saying this quite literally. If Upwork didn’t exist, I’m not at that $10M apartment. If you’re looking for a job, maybe you can start with a single gig. That’s where Upwork comes in. Make a profile, apply to single-gig low-paying jobs, build a portfolio, and maybe you can make a little side hustle for yourself. Not an ad - just speaking from my personal experience.

My computer is about to die so I will breeze through the rest.

Shoot ended 4:30pm.

On the 30 minutes it took to get from the Upper East Side to the Harvard Club, I saw 3 people I know. The power of public transportation. Uber could never…

Evening

Apparently I was hired for this event because I was part of the tribe. Nice. Harvard Club is fcking gorgeous. Capital G. Had no clue what to expect. Exceeded expectations. Next time I need to try the octopus I saw someone eating it at the club bar and it looked like a 20 / 10.

I’m going to wrap up with some real talk. I’ve been telling the story over the past few months that I’m making money through these event-based / social media video shoots but my real passion is Food BTS. I just want to take a step back on that. The connotation I provide with that statement is I don’t get joy out of the random video shots. That is 100% false. Sometimes standing behind a camera for a 45 minute panel could get a bit monotonous, but let me tell you. It’s all worth it when you sense the gratitutde for your presence at these events. The first event’s host, second event’s broker, and third event’s organizer all were so happy I was there, and that made me really happy.

But it can’t that calmly. NOPE.

9:08 I got off the F train on 34th and 6th. Note — 9:15 train out of Penn Station to Hicksville.

9:10 hits and I see the street sign in front of me: 35th / 5th.

I walked the wrong way.

The 5 Min Sprint down 35th street with my overweight suitcase and backpack which fortunately ran downhill turned into a race down the stairs to somehow someway make the train with 15 seconds to spare.

I’m sweating profusely as I type this to you. A little less so at this point of the blog but you get the point.

Computer is getting another warning. Good night everyone.

-Jack