Tag Archive for 'ghent'

Loitering Around Restaurant Week

Published
by
Justin
on Sunday July 27, 2008
in Local
. 0 Comments

Kim and I walked around a bit tonight and observed how unbelievably tacky the rich assholes in this supposed cultural-center of Norfolk are. We wouldn’t live anywhere else, but I am getting a little tired of being stared at every time I walk past Amalfi. Shit.. I get stared at when I walk past the Taphouse! I don’t know whats going on, I mean, I am definitely not the most interesting looking person in Ghent. You fucking assholes don’t even acknowledge the half-dozen homeless people that are always milling around 21st & Colley, so I am honored that you find me and Kim so interesting to look at.

Well, I have noticed something about the female population of Ghent: between the ages of 15 and 19 the girls in Ghent are the most attractive they will ever be, then it seems like there is some secret ritual that, upon graduating Maury High School, you have to chug 8 gallons of melted butter before you can go to college. They hit the wall early and hard around here. Oddly enough, after they balloon up through their 30’s and 40’s they seem to go back to waifish by the time they hit 60. You can see them outside of the Naro sometimes. The old ladies in Ghent look like a bridge club of Crypt Keepers that raided Little Richard’s wardrobe. Really, do you NEED a $600 purple rhinestone hat that you will wear to the Harrison Opera House once while you pretend to appreciate opera?

And once again, what’s up with the antique shops and old-fart boutiques no one can afford that close before 5PM? I’ve said it before, but if you were really a “small business owner” you’d be open after 5PM so normal people could shop at your store. You’d want and appreciate our patronage. Owning a business is not an exclusive club. What good is a florist that I can’t even stop in after work? Who goes there? I’ve lived in Ghent for three months and I have had to buy flowers at Farm Fresh because none of you fancy fuckers were open. Remember that when you whine about “big business” taking over the mom and pop stores.

And I can’t go any further on this topic unless I bring attention to the elephant in the room, or should I say, the ATM sitting in the middle of Elliott’s Fairgrounds. That has to be the tackiest and most desperate cry for help I have ever seen. I understand you have to pay a fee to accept credit cards. We all know that. We know that it’s harder on the little guys like you than it is on Starbucks across the street. We also know that coffee doesn’t really cost 2 bucks to make, so, maybe, if you’re gonna keep the ATM, you should ditch “Donations for the use of our public computer” basket and stop acting like Elliott’s is a fucking nonprofit in need of my spare change. I love your coffee, I love your service, I love the general indie vibe of the establishment and I go there as often as I can even though I try to drink coffee at home, but, if you need more money, maybe you should try selling some food that is not 3 days old and vegan. I like turkey sandwiches, please make me one. Also, I would like to use my credit card to buy a prepay card, which, I wasn’t aware existed because the sign is tucked away in the back corner of the counter. You have to do better, folks.

Anyway, from what we could see, the weekend climax of Norfolk’s Restaurant Week consisted of fat, drunk assholes in ugly shorts and overtanned, bleach-blonde blowzers yelling and farting as they stumbled down 21st street mumbling about how much better Cora’s was than the Peruvian place (Imperio Inca) that is there now is. I know a lot of people liked Cora’s but Cora’s reminded me of the lame excuse for soul food I had when I was living in Boston. Soul Food restaurants do not have wine lists and they most certainly do not have a vegetarian or vegan menus. You know what a vegan meal is in a soul food restaurant is? A fried fish sandwich.* You can pick the ham hock out of the greens if you want, but they still taste like bacon, baby.

I love how all of the hippest of the hip restaurants are trying to hustle for Restaurant Week and there’s still more people packed into Red Dog Tavern and San Antonio Sam’s than there are at the Boot or The Green Onion.

Pearls before swine.

(There is a new Turkish place that just opened and has awesome late night hours. We’re looking forward to that.)

*That’s Kim’s line, not mine. Kim and I also stopped in the Starbucks on 21st and some woman ordered a frozen Banana chocolate chip mochachino. I mumbled my usual “Damn, what did poor old coffee ever do to her?” line and Kim’s response was “I dunno but it looks like coffee just got fucked in the ass!” How can I not love her?

Electric Bass Instructor Available in West Ghent

Published
by
Justin
on Monday June 9, 2008
in Hidden
. 0 Comments

I have over 15 years playing the electric bass, which includes 4 and 5 string as well as fretless instruments and a Bachelor’s of Music from Berklee College of Music. I have been teaching privately for about 5 years, including teaching bass and leading combos for the Virginia Governor’s School for the Arts’ Jazz Band from 2005 to 2007.

As a teacher, I focus on fundamental music skills that enable students of all ages and playing levels to form a strong musical foundation that will last them a lifetime. I stress fundamental concepts such as groove playing, rhythmic interpretation, ear training and harmony to familiarize the student not only with the traditional role of the bass guitar with other instruments but to act as a springboard to reach all following levels of proficiency. But I don’t follow a rigid lesson plan. My goal is to craft lessons around each student’s interests and needs. I often spend time with students studying great bassists from Pop, Rock, Jazz, and R&B idioms so that they gain a sense of history from their lessons as well.

I am based out of my apartment in West Ghent, available on nights and weekends. Please contact me via email for scheduling and payment details.

Prepare for a series of comfortable miracles

Published
by
Justin
on Wednesday April 16, 2008
in General
. 3 Comments

I can’t count how many times I have posted a list of plans or goals on this site only to have them go completely unfinished or abandoned. I am going to make an attempt to not make a list this time.

Kim and I will be moving together in the near future, and I am hoping that this leads to a drastic lifestyle change for both of us. Not just because it might be tight financially and therefor necessary to live differently, but because the neighborhood we’re moving into is a little more conducive to walking, riding our bikes and doing things without spending a ton of money. We’ll probably save a fortune in gas since we work in the same general area and can carpool. Even if we both drove separate cars to work we’d still save gas by eliminating the all of the driving back and forth to each other’s houses that we do now.

All in all, my debt situation is under control, though still not ideal. I have been reading a lot about “snowflaking” lately and, at the very least, is inspiring to see people either eliminate massive amounts of debt or massively increase their net worth in as little as five years. Before my student loans became an issue, I had a credit card with a few thousand dollars on it, and I was able to pay it off completely just because I became obsessed with making it disappear. To this day I have no outstanding credit card debt, which, I suppose, is something to be proud of. I had already started to take this snowflaking approach with paying off a smallish student loan I had from my last college endeavor (it’s about 5 grand) and also my car loan, but there is something in reading that other people have come to the same conclusions that makes me feel like I am on the right path.

I think my minimum payment on the car was originally something like $342 and I just started paying an even $350 a while back (originally because I could never remember the exact amount due and I got lazy). Now my minimum payment is down to $300 and I keep paying $350 regardless– I even have it set up to automatically withdraw. I intend to raise this amount once the $5000 dollar student loan is paid off. The minimum payment for that loan is only like $55 but I have been paying between $75 to $100 every month. Basically whenever I notice that I have some extra money I put it on that loan. I have been a little bit apprehensive because I don’t know what expenses will pop up once Kim and I move in together. If I can afford to keep this habit up– or possibly pay more than what I am doing now– I totally will. This small loan actually has a higher percentage rate than most any other debt I have so I am really bent on making it disappear.

What this is all leading up to is someday being able to afford a higher payment on that damn Sallie Mae consolidation loan. The problem with Sallie Mae (as if there was only one problem) is that they do not automatically apply excess payments to the principal of the loan (you have to explicitly tell them to do this). This is a pain in the ass because I seriously doubt that me writing a letter to Sallie Mae will do any good unless I send it with EVERY PAYMENT I MAKE to them (and print it in big letters, and possibly use crayons and draw pictures for them), which means of course that I will have to pay them by mail, which makes it even more of a hassle.

I have read on a few blogs that in order to activate the screen which allows you to apply your excess payments a certain way, you have to pay more than twice your monthly payment. For those of you that know how much the brunt of my private consolidation loan payment is, this is a laughable prospect (it’s about $1,200 dollars for the private and another $185 for the Federal). So, for now, I am just not going to worry about the Sallie Mae loans and just make the minimums because paying any extra is just not going to benefit me at this point — at least not as far as lowering the principal. Of course, once I pay off either the car or the aforementioned $5,000 loan I can double the Federal consolidation loan and work on getting that one down.

All in stages.

I don’t know how much of a goal this is, but I want to be debt free before I am 40.

And in spite of getting a new place to live and having all of this stuff to worry about and purchase and everything, I really, really, really, really, really want a new amp. Actually the wanting a new amp was the inspiration for this paying extra on my loans. My debt has ruled my life for too long and it prevents me from doing what I want with my money. I figured the sooner I eliminated some of my debt the sooner I could justify buying a big ticket amp. It may not happen for another year or another five years, but I have been putting a couple of bucks away in an account for this specific purpose of buying a new amp. Of course that same account is also where I am going to buy a bed for the new apartment, but I am not complaining so much about that because it needs to get done and Kim has done so much I don’t think she should have to pay for it.

Speaking of which, Kim made homemade soybean burgers last night and they were fucking amazing. I have been thinking for awhile that I should quit eating meat again. Being a vegetarian who eats out all of the time at fancy vegan restaurants or purchases prepackaged foods is totally not worth the expense, but if you can pull it off by making your own foods it’s so much cheaper than being a carnivore. I’m not saying I would do it only to save money. I doubt that I would consider it if money were the only reason, but since I don’t eat a ton of meat as it is (and hardly any red meat) and I’m sure it would be a lot healthier for us even if we just paired ourselves down to one or two designated “meat days.” Not to mention that this would be a load cheaper for us and just cooking at home in general often yields lunch for the next day.

I just thought of something: Not to panhandle on the internet, but do any of you have anything you think we might find useful in our new place? We’re good with most of our kitchen stuff (Kim has amassed utensils and gadgets and pots and pans since her years working in houseware retail), but we could use a toaster over or a microwave and maybe a chair or too– hell we’re not picky! If you have anything you’re already thinking about throwing out or donating and you want to give it to us, we’d appreciate it. Even if you want to give us stuff to hang on walls to make the place look like home, we’d appreciate that too. We will return the favor somehow (most likely by sending you something thoughtful in return so). Since I got a care package from a good internet friend during Whiskerino 2007 (which I now consider to be a good real friend) I have rethought the idea that accepting things from and giving things to internet acquaintances is creepy. I spend more time in this e-world than in the real world, which sucks sometimes, but it is what it is and I might as well make myself at home.

If you want to send me something just click the contact tab. Or just click it and say hi.