I’m back in NYC, having spent the last week of August packing and moving to a temporary residence in the Bronx. Why such an extreme move, you may ask? Like many young people affected by the economy, I no longer have a staff job with company subsidized benefits. Unlike many of my peers, however, I chose to leave.

Yes, I am from crazytown, but this was my first step in taking charge of my future — through strategic freelancing assignments, building professional relationships and contributing to causes that I am passionate about. The Lair is in for a major redesign over the next year and will reflect these changes.

From now on, anything I do is in support of my life plan and will be a small step towards reaching specific goals. Heavy stuff, but true.

As I previously mentioned, I am also going to primarily use the next few months to produce my first short film. There are a lot of costs involved with the production/distribution/marketing of a short, so I needed to make a choice:

What was more important, maintaining my usual lifestyle and achieving the same results, or altering it for a short while and achieving my dream?

The answer was easy.

I decided to move out of my one bedroom apartment in a trendy part of Bushwick, Brooklyn (where I was paying $1420 + utilities) and relocate to …

A temporary apartment share with friends in the Bronx. Right now, I don’t have my own room and I live with three other people. This probably doesn’t sound like heaven, but it’s actually not that bad.

The location ended up being ideal because I will be spending one day a week co-teaching a media literacy workshop in the Bronx for the LAMP (they recently interviewed me), so it’s useful to have personal knowledge of the area. I’ve lived in other areas that carried a supposed stigma (Washington Heights, Bushwick, Jersey City) so I know that things aren’t always what they seem. I love the Bronx, for what it is, what it’s not and what it can be.

Just as important, I’m saving over $1500 dollars in September. You can’t beat that with a bat.

This is just for a month or two at most, because after months of research, I’ve also decided that I will be relocating to a spacious loft (no roommates!) in Mott Haven in October. I’m going to transform it into my dream work/living space. It’s a block from the 4/5 and is actually closer to midtown than my apartment was in Bushwick. I can reach Union Square in 15-20 minutes. I love the building’s amenities (modern interior, free gym, laundry on every floor, etc.) and the neighborhood is diverse — artists and professionals who like a lot of space without breaking the bank.

The New York Times recently produced a story on NY residents who were moving, to save money and start new lives. I would embed it here but, you know, they sometimes suck like that (no embed code). The gist is that my decision appears to be part of a developing trend.

Before I start thanking everyone under the sun, I have to mention two things that happened in Cali:

1) I cracked my head open while jumping from rocks and

2) I discovered that PBS “Digital Nation” had already uploaded a portion of the interview they did with me at BlogHer to their YouTube account. I talk about ma’ daddy and his dislike of the internets.

(embed won’t work on FB if you’re reading this from there, sorry.)

I watched it for the first time on my BlackBerry Storm, while hanging out at the CA State Fair with my mom. We laughed about streaming video on my phone, while eating corn on the cob.

I believe that this interview will end up in their aired documentary sometime in 2010. It was always a dream of mine to appear on PBS, so woOters.

PROPS TIME

I need to give some shout-outs now. As the kids like to say, “big ups” are in order. None of my recent, positive actions would have been possible without the help of these amazing folks. I’m only including people who actually use Facebook and will see this, others I have already thanked in person:

* To Julia, my East Coast BFF, for helping me coordinate getting the Russian subletters into my place, showing them around and tolerating (to an extent) their weird racism. Womp. But thanks to you, I was able to save a shitload of money and use it to … give it to my school. Yay! Wompers. Love ya. THANK YOU.

* To Jenny, who is watching my cat Fellow for me until October because I couldn’t take him with me. Without you, I would have been forced to give him away to an old lady or possibly *sniff* some sort of cat rescue outfit. *shudder* Words cannot describe my gratitude. THANK YOU.

* To Rose, my West Coast BFF, who gave me so much encouragement and let me stay with her while I was in Cali in August. She also took me to the ER when I cracked my head open. She supports everything I do and is my oldest friend. THANK YOU.

* To Lance, who used his car on the crazy streets of NYC to help me get my shit from Brooklyn to the Bronx. He also once built me a shopping cart out of scrap metal and is a young McGyver. THANK YOU.

* To Angela, who I consider a mentor and who’s never hesitated to introduce me to people or send me feedback on my ideas. She is generous, supportive and inspiring. THANK YOU.

* To MTV News peeps, who never once made me feel like shit for leaving and threw me a sweet going away party. You guys are, individually and as a collective, so mind blowingly talented and your words of encouragement have meant a lot. Sometimes, just a tiny bit of support is the catalyst for something huge. THANK YOU.

* To all the folks from MTV who were laid off and continue to thrive, you are all an inspiration to me. THANK YOU.

* To Mom, who (besides birthing me and putting up with my nonsense) up until recently, paid my cell phone bill for 5 YEARS. THANK YOU. Holy crap, that ‘ish is ‘spensive.
Guess I’m officially an adult now.

* To Sherise, who, through her own journey, reminds me that people are uprooting their lives and starting over all the time. She’s a rock star, has found an amazing job and is doin’ big things since moving here from D.C. last December. She didn’t let the recession keep her away, and for that I say THANK YOU.

If I forgot to add you to this list and you know you helped me out recently, please send me a message and yell at me. Tanx.

A Special Message From The Lair To Your, Dear Readers:

If you’re my friend on Facebook, Twitter, or FriendFeed, then you may already have a sense of what’s been going on in my life. If that is the case, then this post (especially when imported into Facebook) might have felt a bit redundant. No worries, this recap post was more for me and family members who choose to only check up on my life through danielacapistrano.com.

Lastly, I need to talk about my blog for a second (I know, heavy sigh). But you deserve fair warning: The Lair posts for the rest of the year will probably be more on the “evolving life” side. Be prepared to see a mix of increasingly personal updates, along with my thoughts on industry trends, technology and youth activism.

Over the years, I have watched some of my colleagues evolve the focus of their blogs to a specific topic, for the purpose of career advancement, monetization and personal branding. I don’t see myself doing this anytime soon.

The Lair has been — and will continue to be — a place for me to share whatever happens to capture my attention and feels worth writing about. I will continue to tag personal entries with “brain leaks” however the tag doesn’t imply that 100% of the content is strictly of a personal nature. It’s never all going to fit into one simple category, so let me put that out there right now, OK?

Oh, and I will try to update at least once a week. These long posts can be exhausting, right??? Thanks for reading.

I’ll post more photos (and a mini doc!) soon, but for now, here are some highlights from my trip:

- Visiting my dad in Madera! I’d never actually seen where he lives or his apartment so it was great to spend time with him and visit the Madera County museum. I often wondered how he has been able to make a living as a water salesman in that area, but this recent Sacramento Bee article cleared that up (and disturbed me) — the counties near my father have horrible water, so many people prefer to buy their own instead of drinking tap.

- FINALLY meeting Alicia Warrington in person! She’s a kickass drummer/all around artist whom I blogged about years ago. We met up in Old Town Pasadena over coffee and it was great to hear about her new project, The All-Girl Boys Choir. Their EP will be released later this fall and I will definitely be supporting them as much as possible.

- Visiting my friend P.Ratt in Long Beach and attending the Downtown Film Festival Los Angeles! We saw O’er the Land, Deborah Stratman’s meditation on freedom and technological approaches to manifest destiny. I would describe it as an experimental documentary, using interesting editing and compelling imagery to convey messages about American politics, family and war culture.

O’er the Land played with J.X. Williams’ L.A., an interesting doc that gave me a peak into the fascinating life of cult filmmaker J.X. Williams.

- Checking out Cinefamily at The Silent Movie Theater! this place had such a great community vibe. We attended the free preview screening of World’s Greatest Dad, a dark comedy starring Robin Williams. There was a Q&A with the director and a few actors afterwards and I was completely inspired.

I am getting ready to embark on a four day camping trip with my best friend and her family in Sequoia National Park. I decided to post an update while I wait for the travel caravan to arrive. We are going to go hiking, swimming and who knows what else. It will be my first time going “off the grid” in about a year, so we’ll see how long it takes before blackberry withdrawl kicks in .

In the midst of everything, I’ve also been communicating via bberry email with my fellow senators, discussing what we want for the New School and planning upcoming events. This has been somewhat problematic; It’s been quite a culture shock for me in Cali, spending so much time with folks who aren’t accustomed to checking their blackberry every few minutes and making sure that I don’t offend folks with my incessant need to … It’s probably been good for me to learn how to keep that in check …

So far, this trip has helped me reinforced what I want and DO NOT want for my life when I return to New York. I know what I need to do to achieve my goals. I am going to continue to support Big Brothers Big Sisters, working with The LAMP on media literacy projects, freelancing for companies I can stand behind and most importantly …

MAKE THE SHORT FILM IN OCTOBER! My dream is to promote it at SXSW ’10, a fest I have never attended but have always wanted to experience.

Since my new phone makes it so easy, I’ve been reading my friends tweets and FB status updates more frequently than I ever did in the past. If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook and have been posting, you should know that I have been taking quiet delight in your adventures and musings. I don’t usually comment but nevertheless, I’m aware and watching …

I’ll post another longish update again when I return to Brooklyn on the 25th. Take care, everyone.

Sacramento Loaves & Fishes – I plan on stopping by here while I am in town. If you are concerned about the children profiled in Oprah’s piece on the tent cities in Sacramento, check out this local charitable organization. The Mustard Seed is their school for homeless children and right now they need uniforms, socks and other basic supplies.

Using Twitter To Help Students – Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Work Week, plans to launch a campaign to attract Twitter followers, while benefiting DonorsChoose.org in the process. He will donate $3 to DonorsChoose.org for every new person who follows him on Twitter (aka his “Tweet to Beat”). The goal is to directly help 25,000 U.S. public school students in low-income and high-need classrooms in two weeks.

DonorsChoose.org‘s founder, Charles Best, recently spoke at a meeting for my work. He said that as a young teacher, he wanted to create a way for people to donate directly to classrooms in need. He originally created interest by secretly funding teacher requests with his own pay until others found the site and began to donate. His efforts and subsequent success thanks to collaborators like Tim Ferris reminded me of The Tipping Point.

New York Times Goes Hyper-Local – Since the NYTimes’ The Local launched earlier this month, I’ve observed the way contributors have been interacting with Fort Greene, Clinton hill and New Jersey residents to create newsworthy and relevant topics. If it’s true that The Times is indeed trialing these sites to build a software platform for local bloggers, I think this is a great idea – in theory. They are potentially going to offer CMS tools and tech support (for a price), with built in ad models. My question is, aside from being under the banner of the New York Times, what does a blogger have to gain by using their platform?

Hyper-local blogs already exist and many don’t make much money or any at all – it’s not the point. A lot of blogs are collectively run and many do it for free, because they care about their community. Organized hyper-local community sites such as BushwickBK.com unearth the quirky and subversive while providing real value to local residents – an events calendar, property listings, restaurant reviews and more. What would they gain from affiliating themselves with The NYTimes?

Perhaps The NYTimes sees a market in local bloggers with ambitious ideas about a niche hyper-local blog who want to get started right away, with very little web/tech ability. They would definitely benefit from all those resources, including access to major advertisers, something “old school” bloggers have had to earn after a period of time and by proving they can draw an audience. If someone can make a living working full time as a hyper-local niche blogger who only writes reviews of local street art, more power to them.

More power to the NYTimes as well, they need to do what they can to stay relevant and in business through this recession. I visit the NYTimes website every morning; they are my primary source for news. As someone who appreciates hyper-local coverage, I am hoping that they are mindful of incorporating quality hyper-local blogger content into their editorial plan – the opportunity to be featured on the New York Times website would be a huge motivating factor for people to sign up for the service. The ability to also seamlessly integrate an existing blog into their platform would, of course, be essential.

iWant: Sennheiser Evolution G2 Series Basic Kit - As soon as I am able to scrape up the money in the next few weeks, I am investing in this puppy. Along with an extra lav set and some other assorted goodies, these are production purchases that I need to fulfill some creative goals of mine this summer. Stay tuned for details on those, coming very soon…

OK, Daniela. Before you ruin any chance of sleep by visiting Hulu.com, step away from your computer. You don’t want to look like a zombie when you see the fam.

I’m flying home tomorrow for a long visit. It’s hard being away from my family, but sacrifices are a part of life. You can’t pursue your dreams if you are afraid of growth.

One of the tiny gifts of being in New York for almost five years now is baring witness to the micro economy going on underground, literally. I can find diverse street art and performances on every train ride home. It’s all there: comedians, giant muppets, rock bands, cellists, Madonna wannabees. All I have to do is keep my eyes open.

For many native New Yorkers, all of the commotion and crowding that results from these subway performances is probably something they could live without, but I didn’t grow up here. It still amazes me, every time I experience it. People are wondrous creatures.

Still, it will be nice to leave it all behind for awhile. Sometimes this city can make me feel like there is no such thing as an off switch.

There’s a lot of history I have missed out on and one 7 day trip isn’t going to make up for that, but I am coming prepared: I’m bringing my new 500G FreeAgent Go.

image via Vector_Transformers’ Flickr

I ordered one the other day on newegg.com and I’m hoping it arrives in time.

I’ve missed a lot of birthdays, holidays and special moments, so I plan on spending some time on each of my loved ones’ computers, taking some memories home with me via images and videos. If I find music and movies that I like, I’ll be “borrowing” that as well.

I’m going to record a lot of video and take photos while I’m in Cali this time, so being able to dump it all on a drive before I come back to New York makes for easier transfer.

I picked the FreeAgent Go because my primary home computer is a Mac. Although it’s optimized for the Mac, the FreeAgent Go can be formatted to work with both Macs and PCs. It’s sleek and small (I’ve seen a coworker’s and it’s less than six inches wide and under a pound) and it matches my computer. It features both Firewire 800 and USB 2.0.

…I tweeted a while back that Seagate should start a social media compaign centered on people who were recently laid off. Many of those folks are using the FreeAgent to quickly and efficiently back up years of data from work computers when they have one day to clear out their offices. That is actually happening in the workforce and there’s a way to talk about that in a sensitive (hopefully funny) way.

Perhaps the angle could be how the FreeAgent made it easier for an individual to transition from one job to another?

- Daniela and her Mama

I know I haven’t blogged consistently in over a week. This is due in part to an increased focus on supporting my best friends, additional work responsibilities, and being preoccupied with moving and travel details. It’s true – I am moving into my own apartment (no roommates) Sept 1st and last Thursday I flew back to Cali after 2+ year absence.

My blog habits are frustrating me a little because it’s not for lack of content. I continue to read my 200+ favorite blogs, magazines (Fast Company, Wired, Business 2.0, etc.) 2+ books per week (currently in my giant purse is The Tipping Point). I am always pondering all sorts of things related to social media and technology, but not at a time that places me in close proximity to a computer. My original use for this blog was to document my thoughts on new media and important events in my life. Perhaps it’s time I break down and get myself a blackberry, because I cannot count how many times I’ve been in a remote place cursing myself for not having at least a pen and a napkin to jot down a thought.

Twittering these thoughts are an option, and then expanding on them later in a blog post. But I don’t want to contribute to my friends bacn, and in many cases I prefer to mull something over before broadcasting it to the world. If I was able to save a blog entry draft from a mobile device like a blackberry, I would probably blog a lot more than I do now. Hmm. I’ll think about it.

Nomadic Daniela – Coming to an End?

Since relocating to NYC in September of 2004, I have moved five times. Five. Times. Why so many moves? The chaotic life of a transplant freelancer, I guess. But now there seems to be a distinct rhythm to my life and I want this reflected in a brand new scene. I’ve decided that Brooklyn is going to be the place where I take the historic step of living alone for the first time.

Technically I’ve had two apartments that were my own in California, but I was in relationships at the time and so truly, those were shared situations. Now, I’m in the processing of finalizing paperwork on an apartment in East Williamsburg that will serve as my fortress of lady solitude. Me, in a big (relatively speaking) one bedroom all to myself. Me, controlling every aspect of design, layout, and cleanliness. Me, developing my culinary skills in a kitchen that mine mine mine. Me, inviting people over and being able to tell them to leave at my discretion. Me, having the space and security to work on my creative projects.

Ahhhh.