Fall's Coming! Yes!

Today was a great day. I didn't have any castings and I didn't have to work which left me to roam around the city. This week has seen the first real inklings of fall and I really couldn't be more excited. The temperature has started to drop from the unbearable 90's I've had to endure the last couple months and the cool breeze is feeling great. I had to run an errand down in the West Village so after sleeping in to a ridiculous hour in the afternoon, I hopped on a train and went downtown.

I wandered around, stopping in little shops and high-end clothing boutiques. I wore a sweater today for the first time since I was in Fargo. I was talking with my friend today who lives in Phoenix about the weather and she was pretty jealous. Apparently Phoenix doesn't have seasons. She wanted to live vicariously through me, so she wanted a picture of me enjoying the fall. This is what I got:
That's the pumpkin spice latte Starbucks just got back again. Can't get much more 'fall' than that, huh? After finishing my latte I did a couple sudoku puzzles and called a couple friends back in Fargo to catch up.

A great day!

...now for a couple photos. I took these back on September 11th on the way to the train from work. This is Grace Church on Broadway. The church was built in 1843 in the Gothic Revival style and is open to the public for a while every day. Sometimes I'll duck in there on my way to work and say a little prayer or two. It's a nice place to relax and have some quiet in a busy city. It was cloudy that night and the moon looked pretty cool. I was really glad I had my camera!
This second photo was taken looking toward ground zero from Union Square. I had seen those lights on TV before, but it's such a different experience seeing them from within the city. It was strange to be standing somewhere I am all the time in the city, then realizing that pre-2001 there would have been those towers in the skyline. Whoever thought of those lights was a genius. For a person who had never been to NYC before 9-11-01 and had never seen the buildings in person, it brought a reality that I never felt seeing images on TV.
So, why are all of these photos blurry? I didn't use a flash. My bad.

Welcome to my Blog!

Greetings, and welcome to my new blog. My name is Nathan. Have a seat and stay a while!

For the last year I wrote a blog documenting the process of purchasing, rehabbing, and ultimately selling an eighty year old house in Fargo, ND. As that blog comes to an end with the house's sale lurking in the distance (hopefully not too far) I decided to start a new blog about my life in New York. Just in case anyone is interested. If anything, this will force me to do more interesting things with my time!

Just as a little background to get the story started I'll try to wrap up the last 20ish years in one paragraph. Here we go! I was raised in a small town of about 9,000 people in Southeastern North Dakota. I have an amazing, loving family consisting of three sisters, one brother, and two of the most supportive parents I could imagine. Seriously, Dad and Mom were ok with me dropping everything to chase some wild dream halfway across the country. How cool are they? Back to the story... I graduated from high school, and was attending North Dakota State University in Fargo, ND for Architecture.

...this is where the story turns from the average North Dakota tale...

In March, on spring break, I flew on a whim to New York City. I met with a few modeling agencies, even though I had no experience modeling, and was offered a contract by one of the top agencies in New York! I flew back to Fargo to finish out the semester in school, then moved out to New York to pursue a fashion modeling career. Woah!

Since May, I've been trying to break into the modeling industry which has been more challenging then I had imagined it would be. I've booked a couple jobs so far, but my portfolio is still fairly empty. I've been working part time at a retail store and working as a waiter for a catering company just to make ends meet (or as close as I can at this point) and pay those bills. Things are moving in the right direction though and from the feedback I've been given I'm optimistic about finding my niche in the international fashion modeling industry.

I carry a camera with me every day and stop randomly to take photos. I'm going to force you to view my random 'kodak moments' because I think they're pretty cool. If you don't think so, feel free to scroll down or click that little red 'x' in the upper right hand corner.

New York truly is the city that never sleeps and something interesting or noteworthy is always going on. It is so different from North Dakota and I'm surprised or inspired by something new every day. The city is so dynamic that I'm sure there will always be something interesting for me to share. The people are from all walks of life, the buildings are an architectural addict's dream, and there are little quirks everywhere that make New York what it is. Lots of photos to be taken here!

Well, that should cover it. Past history, present circumstances, and premise for the blog.

Here's a photo just to get things going. The photo was taken in Bryant Park a couple weeks before the tents went up for Fashion Week. The grass is pretty much trashed now. The uber-bright building in the distance is the Empire State Building, my favorite building in the city. The building closest is the Bryant Park Hotel. In real life you can see the top of the Empire State Building flashing from the tourists at the top taking photos. It's pretty cool.