New York
January 9th
10:33 pm January 9th, 2006 from jamminjj
jet blue
We ready! We are about t-minus 70 minutes from lift-off. I was trying to
convince jj to join the mile-high club (posting on LJ from a mile up on the
BlackBerry but I don't think it is going to happen. We out going to jester's
grille.
08:49 pm January 9th, 2006 from jamminjj
Made it safely. Cool personal TVs on plane. In taxi now on the way to adairs.
January 10th
02:41 am January 10th, 2006 from jamminjj
Adair has a pretty sweet pad here in ny. We were hungry when we got in so adair
grabbed a shower and then took is through a brief tour of union square I think.
There were funny people dancing all around and it was cool.
We bought unlimited subway passes for the week and my Michigan hoodie helped me
make a friend. We talked about katrina and how all the money was going to the
war instead. Just before wall st he said.next stop hell on earth!
We ate at yaffa cafe and it was really tasty. I had a salad with carrot dressing
which was better than expected and dijon chicken. Jimmy also shared his hummis.
Before I left I had to show my parents and Sarah how to do different parts of my
job for me while I'm gone and it made my job seem really really hard. It was
bizarre because I was like man there is really a lot to remember and do.
Any way I better get to bed for a big day tomorrow. Statue of liberty and ground
zero. Anyone else have any good recommendations on things we should do here?
January 11th
11 January 2006 @ 04:53 am from jimb0
Woah, after leaving Adair's apparment sometime shortly after 11 AM this morning
we have finally returned back. It was a pretty intresting day. Spent the
beginning of the day walking around lower manhattan and just seeing what we
would stumble upon. We had intended to visit Ground Zero, which we did. It was
less moving than expected. I guess that is because there was someone in Scotland
that I spoke to about it a few years ago and they talked about how it was such a
moving experience for his sister. Anyhow, it was good to see and gave me a
little bit of time to offer some prayers for all the lives affected by the
tragedy.
Following that, we just walked along side the Hudson River which was pretty
cool. It was a plesant day when you could find sunlight but if you were away
from the sunlight it would get a little bit too chilly. Anyhow, we saw some
ferries and decided to walk towards them. Once we got to their terminal we
decided we really didn't need them it looked like they went to New Jersey. There
was this really cool colgate clock that we could easily spot on the other side.
We spent a good deal more time walking and purcasahed tickets for Ellis Island
and the Statue of Liberty but decided to hold them for another day when we had
more time.
Then we decided to head off for Wall St. and then catch a train on the subway to
Times Square. On our way to wall st. we passed the musem of native americans
which offered free admission so we deided to visit. It was a pretty cool musem
mostly because it was free. They had some pretty cool pottery but it seemed like
a significat part of the musem was closed. Anyhow, it was neat to look at their
pottery and the way they depicted people. Anyhow, following the Musem we went to
Times Square. We spent a good deal of time just walking around and looking at
all the crazy advertisments and television screens. It was pretty cool. Finally,
we decided to get a bite to eat but our guide book suggested Rockafeller Center
so we decided to walk there.
Woah, I'm tired of this detailed update or rather I'm just tired. Anyhow, we
went and saw St. Patrick's Cathedral which was impressive. I really enjoyed
visiting the Church and being held captive by such a signficant silent space
reserved for God in such an overwhelmingly hustle and bustle city. It was nice
and rejuvienating to spend a little time inside. Anyhow, afterwards we saw some
ice-skaters at Rockafeller and then met up with Adair for Pizza. Following
Pizza, we made our way to the massive Barnes and Nobles which was pretty cool. I
was able to find a few books which I didn't end up purchasing but a read apart
of one and enjoyed it.
Then we headed to Adair's friend's place. Her name is Norah. We hung out there
for a while and then went to a local bar in the area for Karoke. It was pretty
good time we met some people who invited us to some afterparty this Friday which
I think we are going. Anyhow, after a while at the bar we headed back to Norah's
to get our camera and Adair gave us the keys to his place. We took the two
subways neccesary to return back and then had troulbe opening the door. After
spending sometime with it though we were able to get in. At first we thought we
were locked out and wondering what to do next. Anyhow, we have decided to
postpone plans to see Conan tommorow since we are getting to bed so late
tonight. Anyhow, Adair is being a good host and we are having a good time in the
city. Oh yeah, I forgot we went to Nitendo World which was awesome! They had a
mini muesuem of nitendo and countless games set up that you can play so we
enjoyed ourselves while we played all sorts of games.
We have made contact with Jess and Sabrina and hopefully will be seeing them
soon!
Goodnight.
05:04 pm January 11th, 2006 from jamminjj
I think we went everywhere in the entire city of new York yesterday. It was wild
good times. Jimmy wrote about most of it but I wanted to add a few of my
details.
Its been fun trying new foods and drinks. To name a few I got a pineapple
sunkist and some crazy terra chips. At the pizza place we got the dude pizza in
honor of lebowski. They had a Clifton one but it had no meat so no one wanted
it. At the bar called sweet ups I had a beer by the same name which was actually
pretty good.
I'm not used to city photography. I'm totally trained in the woods, heh.
We met some intersting people already. This one guy is going to DJ Friday and is
having an after party that we got invited to as well. Were totally getting
local, yeahhh.
Souveniers are weird because I think of them as needing two criteria one be
something the person will like and two be something they can't get where they
are. But with the internet I keep thinking people can get just about anything so
souveniers seem almost outdated.
Oh! We had our first rat sighting last night! We were waiting for the subway at
about 4 am and saw at least three. It was exciting.
Seriously it feels like we've been here for at least a week already, but we
still have that long to go. Exciting!
January 12th
12 January 2006 @ 01:56 am from jimb0
Yeah, yeah, yeah!
Well, today turned out to be a nice day. Due to our late evening last night, we
didn't end up waking up until a little after noon. That was a bit diaspointing
but I figure the rest probablly was good for dominating my cold. Anyhow, once we
woke up we took showers and hit the road. The subway crowd was pretty intresting
this morning. First though, we were waiting on the subway and this lady told us
the 4 ain't comming today you have to catch a 3 and then catch da 4. So thats
when I remebered that I had seen a sign the other day about something similiar
to that. Once we got on the train it was all fun and games. There was this
elderly man sitting down who was very methodically eatting some potatoe chips.
The bag was smelling up the whole train. Anyhow, there was this other guy on the
train who looked a bit goofy and he stood up walked over to a sticker on one of
the adverts grabed it, rolled it, and stuck it on the bottom of his umbrella
handle. Then he returened to his seat next to Mr. Chip. Well, he sticks out his
hand open next to Mr. Chip and Mr. Chip reaches in his bag and dishes out a
healthy porition of chips. I was watching the whole incident intently because I
was curious to see how the man would respond with his surplus of chips to the
nonverbal chip wanter. Generously is the answer, if you were wondering as was I.
Anyhow, we had decided to head to the Metropoliatan Muesuem of Art. It took a
long while to make it to the Central Park area though. It was about 2 by the
time we stepped out of the subway dungeon. So we strolled around looking for a
resturant before our visit to the MET and decided on Morrocan Cafe or something
similiar. I ordered something without a description and with a name I didn't
recognize to be adventerous. It turned out well.
At the resturant, it was fun becuase there was this person dressed it what
appeared to be Orthodox Jewish garb but I'm no expert. Although I did notice
that the resturant proudly boasted on its sign not only that it was open on
Saturday night but also that the food served was kosher. Mosses would be proud
of my selection! Anyhow, back to our friend. During our convesations, I would
notice him earing up to us to catch the juicy bits of our conversation which was
not juicy. Anyhow, at one point JJ's phone made a noise signaling that he had
recieved a message and you should have seen the man's face! He was captivated by
us and more so by the blackberry. Anyhow, at the end of the meal he asked
our/his waitress if she was from Israel but nope it turns out she is from Paris
and fresh in the States and self-claimed she didn't have good english. She was a
good waitress though.
Then we did it big at the MET and by big I mean we didn't even make it to the
second floor before they asked us to leave. Oh, I'm getting ahead of myself. The
entrance fee to the MET is a donation suggested for students to be $7. Well, JJ
only had big rig bills and I had a loose $13 so I figured I'd donate for the
both of us. Well, the laddy looks at my money counts it and grunts rather rudly.
Then gives us this whacked out stare of disgust and then prints out our tickets.
Probablly the rudest person I have encouantered thus far. Then we looked around
the first floor for a couple of hours. Tried to make it to the second floor when
we were denied because the musuem was closing in 30 minutes. Bummer dude.
Anyhow, the musem continued to get ridiciusous. We went downstairs and saw this
awesome statue of this dude holding a big ol' sword, naked, and medusa's head in
the other hand. The dude's name was Perseus. It was a hip statue. Then we went
in one wing and security was there and people told us we couldn't go down there
and it looked like a scene on National Treasure with blueprints and stuff and we
decdied it was getting to creepy and we best make like some jelly and roll.
Later on though, we decided lockins at the MET would be the cooliest, creepiest
ever. I think there is some children's story about being locked in a musuem. I
think Katherine gave it to me and I enjoyed it.
The big rotating exhibit which we were able to see was Fra Angelico. He was a
dominican monk around the mid 15th century. Anyhow, he did a lot of cool
religious paintings and turns out he was beaitified by JPII. Oh wait! I'm
forgetting the best part. African masks galore! This things were freakin
increadible and JJ made a comment about how they were much more imaginative than
the other folks. We also saw all kinds of furniture from all kinds of ages,
which was appropriate for JJ's profession.(Buisness Trip, write that mug off)
Time to get serious. I'm getting sleepy. We took the subs to Union Square. Went
to Wal-Greens and this one person there was hillarious. He kept telling us his
big secret uber cool trick. He buys his candies at the Walgreens sticks them in
his pockets and then goes to the movies. The movies charge way too much for
candy and it is crazy so he beats the system! He also lost a very expensive
glove and was searching the whole store for it and kept asking everyone he would
run in to if they had seen it. He was intresting.
We left wal-greens went to Circiuit City. Then proceded to Virgin Megastore to
wait on Sabrina and Don. See what you don't know...is I had contacted Sabrina
before going to the MET and made plans to meet up with them later that evening
at the Virigin Megastore for 7. So we listened to music since we got there
early. I enjoyed myself on the free musics. Then we went outside and waited on
our friends. They were a bit late but that made it cool becuase it started
raining and this guy poped out of nowhere with these umbrellas he was peddaling
hard. He kept proclaiming Umbrellas!, Umbrellas! which was great becuase we
decided to text Sabrina and say we're near the umbrella man! Then the rain
really started pouring down and he procliamed all the louder, "Heavy Rain! Heavy
Rain! Umbrellas!" It was funny and I liked it.
We meet up with Sabrina and Don. It was pretty fun catching up. I talked about
myself and they talked about themselves on the way to a Thai resturant. We
passed through the place where they play chess in Washington Square. It was a
really good meal and Don ordered everything for us. We shared all the platters
and it was fun. It was neat visiting with them and they shared all the insider
secrets about everything. They even told us about some comedy club we should try
and make it to and how to get free tickets. They also told us that Connan
tickets are hard to comeby without advane reservations. We chatted some more and
enjoyed some more good food. One of the entreees is a whole fish and Don used
his ninja skills to debone it. It is cool looking and don't worry we got pics of
it. Oh yeah, they also had Thai iced tea and we ordered that. It was quite
intresting and enjoyable.
After the meal, we went to some belgian bar for a pint of lager. It was pretty
cool place and we visited over a pint. That is where I thought about how I enjoy
going to pubs/bars when I'm on trips but I really don't like it at all if its in
a city that I reside in. Anyhow, it was an enjoyable experience. After a beer,
we decided to head back. Sabrian and Don are working folk so they needed their
rest. On the way back we decided it would do us some good to find a restroom. in
the process of hunting down a restroom, we saw a fight over something. We kept
walking though and finally made it to a McDonald's where you had to purchase
something to use the restroom. I bought a Dr. Pepper. Then we split with our
friends. Sabrina is free on Friday so we may give her a call then to hang out
again.
Now, we had Adair's keys and his phone was cutting out. Last definite contact,
he requested us to meet him at Washington Square Arch. Well, we sent a txt
asking for confiramtion on meeting back at the appartment; however, confirmation
never arrived so we decided it best to make it to Washington Square Arch. It was
a bit of an adventure but we finally made it. No Adair so we head home and find
him sitting outside of his appartment because he was locked out.
Then we went to the gas station for a snack and a coke. Came back to the
apparment and planned out the rest of our journey. J's got the Itenerary on his
blackberry do not worry. Then I wrote this message after watching lazy sunday
video for insipiration. Oh yeah that's right we are freakin' heading to Magnolla
for a snack attack on cupcakes probablly on Monday!
I'm out.
06:53 am January 12th, 2006 from jamminjj
Went to the met today. MAN there was a lot to see!! Saw a few piccasos but way
more exciting was a Salvador dahli. The African masks were also the tightest.
I'm hoping they will inspire some literature by me. The Africans were way more
imaginitive than the boring old Greeks.
We ate at a Jewish place for lunch which was awesome. Had a mix of meats along
with some cous cous. Then for dinner met up with sabrina and her Thai boyfriend
don who brought us out for delicious Thai. We shared four dishes including a
whole fish and each had Thai iced tea which had milk and was very interesting.
This was all followed by some Belgian beer. I had a raspberry one which was way
differnt than any beer I've ever had.
Jimmy listened to cds at virgin for hours and Adair took a shower for hours.
Funny stuff.
See jimmy journal for more details. He has a real keyboard instead of a phone.
08:18 am January 12th, 2006 from jamminjj
Got woken up by the cops this morning because Adair called 911 about a drug
reaction. They tried to see if wed done any too in case it was a bad batch or
something.
We've spent two hours trying to find his hospital. I think we see at the right
one. I'm in the waiting room right now. Jimmy had to go to the back alone.
Hopefully we made it to the right place.
Man I have no idea what's going on.
11:34 am January 12th, 2006 from jamminjj
Don't worry he's alive. We napped at the hospital and see almost home now.
January 13th
13 January 2006 @ 01:54 am from jimbo
Lazy Thursday
Don't be mislead by the title it's only referring to the SNL clip.
Well the day begin in a brief moment of delirium. I heard someone walking up the
stairs to the appartment and then heard the doorbell ring. I heard some police
radios and I was very confused. Eventually, I came to realize that my cousin,
who I was staying with, had gotten sick and needed to go to the hospital. It was
a pretty scary experience, but I was realieved to know that he was going to the
hospital. Anyhow, the EMT later gave us the name of the hospital but JJ and I
had no idea where it was.
We tried to look it up on google maps to get an idea, but they don't show any of
the underground connetions. Anyhow, at about 5:45 we headed out to locate the
hospital. We decided our best bet was to talk to the subway attendent. When I
aske her about the hospital she asked me if I was Jewish. I was a bit confused
but later understood that there was a branch of the hospital in our neighborhood
for Jewish people but JJ remembered that the EMT had mentioned St. John's, which
probablly isn't Jewish. Anyhow, she told us she didn't know how to tell us how
to get there on the subway but could tell us by busses.
So we didn't really understand the bus system but we learned that it requires
metro cards basically so we purcahsed some of those. Then waited on the 48 to
take us to Empire. Finally the bus arrived and we took it to the end of the
line, empire. We got off the bus and knew the next buss was the 43 and saw where
it loaded. However, we also caught a wonderful glimpse of a Dunkin Donuts right
near the stop. We headed inside the Donkin D's and ordered some delicaces. We
both got a juice, a sasauge egg and cheese bagel, and I got a choclate donut all
for a little over $5. I think there may have been a miscalculation in there
somewhere.
Now the real fun begins. We waited on the 43 and it was worth the wait. I really
don't enjoy visiting cities and looking at historical monuments for the most
part. I much rather enjoy natural landmarks or being outdoors in nature as
opposed to exploring a city. However, one part of visiting a city that
absolutely captivates me is an experience to somehow catch a glimpse of the
authentic lives the people live. The people and their lives in the cities are
always intriguing to me. The bus ride was increadible because it was early in
the morning and everyone was headed to work or to school.
We weren't exactly sure where to get off the bus so we figured St. John's Place
would be a good stop. However, after much wondering the streets and consulting
google maps a couple of times we discovered we were about a mile from where we
needed to be. Fortuantely, we are young and with it so we walked to the
hospital. It was intresting because the majority of the walk was off the main
streets and just filled with people living their lives.
Anyhow, after a good while we finally arrived at the hospital and hunted down
Adair. However, only one visitor was allowed at a time. I decided that one
visitor would be me. I walked in and disocvered Adair in the ER pediatirc
section. He seemed to be doing fine although very exhausted. I guess it was
about 8:30 in the morning by now. He needed some sleep so I went back out in the
waiting room. I updated JJ and felt much better after seeing him and knowing he
was okay. Anyhow, they were much delayed in releasing him but I guess it's
better safe than sorry and he was finally realised around 11. So in between the
quater hour visits on the hour we were able to get in some good nap time. After
Adair was realeased, we headed back towards a subway station we noticed earlier.
Along the way we stoped and made a spare set of keys for the appartment. This
was in a Jewish neighborhood. Apparently, there is some resentment between
people of Caribian descent and the Jewish people regarding employment or
something Adair had told us the other night. I think I noticed what he was
talking about because in an all black section of town the only white people we
saw besides ourselves were the Jewish people who owned the shops. Anyhow, it was
intresting to see. On an unrelated note, the shop owner or manager was
increadibly friendly and was joking with his friend about being married soon.
However, there was this person on the phone that he kept screaming at becuase
they wouldn't wait...it was funny.
Once we made it to the subway station we had spoted earlier, it turns out it was
only 2 stops from Adairs stop which means it would have been much easie to
travel that way but no where near as much fun. Although I was worried about
Adair the situation did provide for an opportunity to explore a part of the city
that I probablly would not have explored otherwise.
After we got back to Adairs, we got dressed and decided to head to pita pit
because Don had given us a two for one coupon the other night. Oh yeah, we also
made reservations for the comedy cellar whcih we needed to print. Anyhow, the
pita pit was spectacular and we walked a good deal through the city on our way
to it. I thoroughly enjoyed my pita. There was a park near the pita pit where we
went and watched some basketball and handball following our meal. Then we made
our way to the strand, which boasts of over more than 8 miles of books. It is a
massive used/new bookstore. However, our opinion seems to be 8 miles of books is
mighty impressive but what's even more impressive is that in that 8 miles of
books that isn't one intresting one.(maybee a bit exhadurated, maybe).
We roamed around for quite sometime in search magnolla bakery the same one that
the dudes eat at in the SNL video, Lazy Sunday! Snack attack! Along the way, we
spoted a couple of film crews filming some things. I think they were some kind
of reality/date tv thing because I heard mention of yeah, I'd date him again.
Furthermore, we found this cool little park and sat in there for a while to
rest. This woman came up to us and gave us some flier for some contemporary
dance show that she is in...although I don't know how true it is. She said the
choreographer was all over her ass to pass these things out. That's about the
time we hit up Magnolla Bakery and JJ went hawg wild grabbing 4 cupcakes and I
grabed two. JJ was so excited that it was a free for all. Furthermore, there was
a 12 cake maximum per person thankfully JJ remained in the limit. Afterwards, we
snaped photies outside and offered cupcakes to this homeless man but he was
allergic to choclate.
After we went to the park and ate our cupcakes, We thought next to look for Mr.
Pibb and Red Vines because they equal crazy delicious but instead we thought we
should look for a kinkos to print out the thing we needed to be able to get into
the comedy cellar. In the midst of this search, a funny incident occured. We
were walking behind this lady and a child who was between 4 and 5. Anyhow, I
thought I smelled something rank. And about that time the lady halts...bends
over in the child's face quite sternly and says, "Now, You have to let me know
when you have to go to the bathroom sooner next time...you can't keep using the
bathroom in your pants forever." And the child quite inoccently responded,
"but...why not?" And that was a profound moment for me.
We looked for kinkos for quite sometime. However, I witnessed this pretty crazy
breakdance thing in the middle of union square. These guys had some awesome
moves and at one point this one dude was on his belly on top of another one's
head and he was spinning around like a heliecopter blade really fast. The guy on
the bottom was walking around too it was tizight and out of sight. There were
plenty other break dance moves that were spectacular as well and it was a
phenomenal perferomance.
In the meantime, JJ had wondered off following this well done up film crew
videoing this couple? walking down the street. We didn't recognize the people
being filmed bu thankfully this girl near us did and told us their names which
was somethign like: Tom somethign or another and Jessica Gherier. Anyhow, we
googled their names and found out they were both going to be in Love Monkey some
TV show comaprable to guys Sex in the City...woohoo. The funny thing is though
JJ first googled the girl and these naked photies poped up on his blackberry. It
was funny because we were in the middle of this square watching them doll up the
girl again to be filmed and she was at the sametime naked on JJ's blackberry.
Next we strolled the city for hours looking for Kinkos. We found a non full
functional kinkos and it looked a lot more like a FedEx with a wornout
elementary school copier than it did a Kinkos. In the search for a full service
one that could handle our needs, we encountered this guy who asked me if I knew
what the numbers on the side of the Circuit City meant. I told him yeah and he
joked the national debt. Anyhow, then he explained the numbers to me which I
didn't realize to read the countdown to midnight you read right to left. He also
explained his take on the other part of the building which seemed to make sense.
Then asked for some food. I said if it's food you want I'll go to the Walgreens
over there and get you something. He was a bit taken aback by the statement and
distrust in my voice and said of course it's food I want that's what I'm after.
Then I thought about how awful it must feel to have someone mistrust you so
frequently. Anyhow, he said a sandwhich and a soda would be nice so that is what
we provided.
A few hours later we finally found the kinkos and printed the thing out. We were
increadibly hungry but continued to search for a good place to eat. In the
meantime we stoped into B&N for the bathroom. We ended up listening in on
?Laura? Day talk about her book The Circle. It was quite humerous! She sounded
fairly normal at first but then things started getting really wierd and people
started asking really strange questions about reading the future and energies.
She remarked how intuition is a neutral energy with neither a good or bad flavor
but it is falvored by our own integrety you bring to it. But not to fear we all
misuse it. If someone ever tells you that they are 100% accurate with their
intuition then run the other way! Then she got all excited because this week
people were asking so many questions. Then we found out this was an ongoing
thing and we left because it only got stranger.
We got some evil stares at one point becuase we started cracking up because I
discovered what had happened to JJ's lost coke bottle. About 10 minutes ago we
were searching for his lost coke and i threw mine away half-full and remarked
how I knew what I had done with mine! Then, I notice a bulge in Magnolia Bakey
bag and feel in there and find my empty bottle at that time it became apparent
to the both of us what had happened and we couldn't control the laughter as much
as we might try.
We walked around for a while longer. Fianlly found an awesome Japanese
resteraunt where JJ had the best sushi ever...The Dragon. I had this box full of
coolness all kinds of yummies that I don't know the name of. I just ordered the
names that looked fun. Worked out remarkably well. Following the yummies, we
went to Virgin to meet up with Jess to comedy it up. However, it took us a while
to finally meet up and we didn't make the show. However, we did have a good time
chillin' with Jess. We walked around some more and went to a resturant where she
got somethign to eat. The waiter totally freaked out at JJ because he asked for
a Frozen Margarita and apparently that was a seasonal item and it's winter and
we aren't serving that OKAY!~ Jj was scolded hard. Anyhow, it was a fun time. We
walked and chatted some more. I spun this ginaormous cube near Astor Place
station. It was fun!
We chatted with Jess a bit more and we are going to call her tommorow and she is
going to come out with us to the after party we got invited to if we really go.
Also, tommorow, we are calling Sabrina to hang out with us because she is free
apart from Laundry. Hopefully, Adair will be available and we can make it to the
NoMa.
Further reflection reaveled to JJ and me that we pretty much quite possibly
owned and dominated the city. Well at least the parts of the city we have
explored thus far. We are even starting to show the locals around their town.
Anyhow, we have decided that we must move our homebase outside of the Union
Square, Astor Place, and Washington Square because that is the area we already
dominate. Don't know where I next local will be but I'm sure we will dominate it
as well! Big ups to Don and Sabrina again for their help in showing us the city.
P.S. the place we ate with Jess was 7A Cafe it is on the corner of 7th Street
and A ave. might not have the ave and the st. correct.
10:51 pm January 13th, 2006 from jamminjj
Taxis and ipods see ubiquitous. They call it the big apple for a reason, duh.
By the by we dominated again today. But more on that later, there's adventure
yet to be had!
Last trip I learned to like beer. This trip I'm working on coffee. Or at least
the starbucks rip off version.
January 14th
14 January 2006 @ 03:03 am from jimb0
Brief Entry
Today was another pleasant day in New York. However, I'm a bit too exhausted to
give the update the full explanation it requires.
Let's see we started the day a little late somwhere near noon. After we woke up
and showered, we contacted Sabrina who graciously decided to meet us at Union
Square for 2:15. So we hung out around the appartment for a bit before we headed
out to union square. Once we arrived, we scoped out a Barnes and Nobles serving
Starbucks and JJ began to conquer one of the two remaining things he can't stand
the flavor off and thats coffee. Last trip to Alasaka he learned to enjoy beer,
leaving only coffee and Pepsi. This trip he is conquering coffee!
Anyhow, we tried to get a window seat in the Cafe but it wasn't happening. We
left and met up with Sabrina, who has done a great job showing us different
aspects of the city. She took us to the Chelesea Markets which were pretty hip.
Then she started talking about the SNL video and Magnola bakery and she was like
oh I was going to take you there but I don't want to take you somewhere you have
already been so lets go to the Upper West Side and that's what we freakin did.
Oh yeah we asked Sabrina if she knew where we could find red vines and Mr. Pibb
because we can't find either in the city and she said they might have it in
Harlem so that is our next adventure to be had probablly on Sunday.
Walked about the upper west side just looking at all the buildings, shops, and
people. Sabrina mentioned how her first couple of months here she was so
intruiged by the architechture that she would just travel the whole city simply
looking at the buildings. Anyhow, she was good and pointing out some of the
intresting features of different buildings. After sometime we took a subway to
Times Square in search of a quick bite. We found a place selling falafels and we
tried them. JJ and I both ordered a falafel sandwhich and I enjoyed mine but I'm
quite positive JJ enjoyed his more. The flavor got a bit tiresome to me after
trying to eat the whole sandwhich and I couldn't finish it.
After we finished eatting, we went inside the Toys R Us at times square. It
contained some intresting things including a lego manhattan which looked pretty
awesome, a ferris wheel, a T-Rex that was animated, a life size Barbie house,
and countless toys including Potty Training Elmo! Following the Toys R Us,
Sabrina walked us to sixth avenue and then told us which streets the MoMA is
between. We had plans to meet Adair at 5 for Target Free Friday because Target
sponsers free entry to the musem on Firdays so take that Wal-Mart!
Anyhow, we couldn't find Adair at first and later got a text message explaining
he was lost and asking where the MoMA was located. We told him and he arrived a
little while later. Anyhow, the muesuem was pretty cool. They had a special
showcase by Pixar that is on display until Feburary and I was a little bit
disapointed by it. I don't know why I was disapointed but I was. It was cool
though to see all the concept drawings, the 3-D sculptures they made of all the
characters, and those sorts of things. I figured they were a lot more paperless
than they really are.
Anyhow, the musuem was intresting because a large majority of the art I could
not connect with at all. I really felt largely disconnecte with contemporary
humanity. I coulnd't find the slighets bit of beauty or entrigue in these pieces
and obviously other people have found that becuase they have purchased them and
decided they were worthy of being placed in the musuem. Anyhow, I would have to
say that it really was depressing to me. Anyhow, the other aspect of the musuem
is that some of the pieces were really cool and intriguing and totally captured
my attention.
One of my favorite things in the whole museum was they had this whole room
filled with about 130 TV monitors all playing a DVD of a video diary of the last
year of his life. I can't remember the man's name but he was a german artists as
best I can remember(JJ has informed his name was Carols Garaicoa). Anyhow, it
was really cool becuase they were all stacked neatly on top and beside each
other and just rolled the whole last year of his life basically. Another one
that was intresting was you walked in this room and it got really dark and you
walked a bit further and it turns and there was just this room very dimly lit
with a red light and mist and hardwood floors. They also had this cool work done
in ballpoint pen where each spelled out the five senses in latin done up in
somewhat of a code but not really so much a code. It was cool just becuase of
how much work it took to do it because it was about 3 feet by 4 feet and there
were six because he added cognitive as a sense.
I guess it was also neat to see some of the famous art as well such as: Picasso,
Warhol, Monet, Van Gough, Pollock, and some others. I also enjoyed the OOF
painting just because I had joked about it with Mitch the night we were trying
to get inspired for the paint off. There was also some intresting photography
stuff. One in particular where this guy would take a picture of something
incomplete and finish it by placing pins and string on the photograph. They
would be like unfinished buildings or deterating buildings things like that,
mostly. There was also this one piece that had two people making out with pillow
cases over there heads and it was called The Lovers and the artist was Rene
Magritte. Anyhow, those were a few of the highlights I suppose but mostly I just
felt like I couldn't connect with the majority of the pieces. It was nice to
find something that I could connect with though.
Following that we took a Taxi back to near Union Square. Adair dropped off some
movies and took us to a shop called Chipolte. It was a good burrito place very
similiar to Moe's but a little different. We walked around a bit more and we
went to B & N and read for a little bit. One of the books we found was Awareness
by Anthony De Mello which will become significant later. This other book was a
bit out there claiming that Christianity is a satanic religion and the world is
really run by an interdimensional species among some other crazyness. We went by
the library and then went to starbucks. JJ took another step closer to
overcomming coffee.
After starbucks we went out into Union Square and watched some skateboarders for
a while. Then Adair took us to the "maze" which is really a Labrynth. It was
pretty fun and we did the labrytnth. There is another one there that I am going
todo before we leave. I really want to go to a Labrynth that has actual walls it
seems like it would be the coolest. Adair's friend met us, her name was Kat. We
were supposed to get on the subway to go to sweet ups but I was playing with the
turny thing and Adair ended up being locked out because he swiiped his card and
then it thought he went through but he hadn't. FYI once you use your card you
must waith 18 minutes before you can use it again so he had to wait 18 minutes
before he was allowed on the other side to come into the subway. We just waited
and had a good ol time.
Eventually the 18 minutes had passed and we were on our way. We took the L but
it ran out because of repair work and we had to take this shuttle buss. We
passed up the stop that we needed and got off one late. Walked around and found
sweet ups. Contacted our friend the DJ. Decided we were way too tired for any
after party. Sat there for just a little bit. Had a drink. Watched some girls
that were crazy excited about a camera. They kept possing the whole time and
then looking to see the picture. The camera was digital. They were the best part
of the bar. It was funny. Decided to leave. Took the bus instead of the subway.
Got dropped off a few blocks from the house. Started raining. Walked thorugh a
new part of town. Had barbwired fences protecting a grass lawn. Couldn't
understand it.
Made it to the house. Realized there was no toilet paper. Went to gas station
but they only sold diapers. JJ went to the bathroom while I bought a water. JJ
came out the bathroom in record time. *ahah moment. JJ had simply taken some TP.
Increadible we are learning Urban Survival Skills. Came back here exhausted.
Started to write an LJ entry.
Tommorow. Big Plans. Central Park All Day Long. Purchasing the book Awareness
and having a reading of it in the park aloud style. Meeting up with Uncle Phil.
Hopefully going to Vigil Mass at St. Patricks! Going to bed. Now.
03:37 am January 14th, 2006 from jamminjj
It's a bit paradoxical to me that you can never have what you most desire,
because if you get what was at the top of your list, something else immediately
replaces it at the top, moving up to take its place.
I wanted to whine that, as Steve recently pointed out to me, I've never been
loved and that's the thing I want most in life. I would argue that it's my
number one desire and if I get it ill always be happy, but I know that's not
true.
For instance, in the grand scheme, being able to eat everyday is a bigger desire
than being loved. I remember being hungry a lot in the past and thinking if only
I always had tons of good food around I'd always be happy. I have that food now
but this new desire seems the most important now.
So if the glass is half empty you never have what you want most. If its half
full you already have 100s of your greatest desires and just being alive and
healthy is amazing.
Living happily with desire is a dirty trick that one must learn. I don't believe
the Buddhist route of renouncing desire, but that's chapter 2.
12:02 pm January 14th, 2006 from jamminjj
The MoMA was really interesting and has been my favorite museum. I agree with
Jim in part that a lot of the stuff made me feel disconnected, but the media
floor and photography blew my mind for the most part, and confirmed that I went
into the right field. Some of it was too out there for me, but some of it was
just awesome. Here are a few of my highlights from the trip.
Dieter Roth - Click enter site, then 1998, then it's the first one on top with
all of the TVs.
carlos garaicoa had photographs, but on top were pins and thread. The different
colored threads extended the world of the photograph. For instance, one building
looked like half of a circle. He created the other half through thread. It was
really interesting to see the photograph and then the thread would create almost
a blue-print like feel for what could have been or could still be. It was so
neat.
I was also excited to see Rene Magritte. His "treason of the image" has inspired
some of my photography. I got to see these:
Those were the most interesting things I got to see that I didn't know about or
hadn't seen before. Of course, I was very excited by Dali's "The Persistence of
Memory" and "Illuminated Pleasures". There were something like 40 picasso
pieces, but most interesting of all those were his drawings which are so so
different than the paintings. They are detailed and make sense. I was also
stoked to see Van gogh "Starry Night". I love that one.
Also saw some monet and Warhol's Campbell Soup series and "Orange Car Crashes 14
Times". As well as some Lichtenstein which I think my sister Carrie is into.
All in all, despite the really weird stuff I didn't get, I really enjoyed seeing
this stuff in particular.
January 15th
15 January 2006 @ 12:32 am from jimb0
Rainy, Cold, Snow Ridden Saturday in NYC!
Well, we woke up around noon. JJ actually woke up before me and took a shower.
Anyhow, after we woke up and checked the weather and saw that it was going to be
cold and rainy we decided to proceed anyhow with our plans for Central Park! So
we dressed and made our way for the subway. Unforutantely the express 4 was not
running due to construction things and so the trian ride took about 45 minutes
until we made it to 86th street station.
Upon leaving the cocoon of warmness, we instantly spoted a Barnes and Nobles and
decided to enter to purchase Awareness for our park read. Fortuantely, they had
a copy, two to be exact, so we bought one. Following the purchase, we walked
until we made it to the park and then decided we should probablly eat first. So
we walked a few blocks south and then decided to walk away from the park a bit
to find some more reasonablly priced resturants. After scoping out a few
resturants we eventually decided on Mimi's PIzza. It was a pretty tasty little
pizza joint and we bought strombli and a softdrink for around five dollars. The
food was a bit greazy but not any worse than any ohter pizzza joint and the food
was tasty.
Following the meal, we left the pizzarea in search of Central Park! We found it
all right and in rare form, cold and rainy! We thought it was exciting though
because who really gets to explore Central Park in the cold wet rain! We started
out at the Jacklyn Kennedy Onasis Reserviour and looked around a bit of it. We
then noticed that the posted signs requested counterclockwise flow and that we
were headed clockwise so we antied it up and changed our direction for the
Anti-Clockwise flow! All the meanwhile double J is steady snappin photies like
the papparazi on Marlyn Monroe!
We next walked around the park for a while until we discovered Summit Rock! We
got some sweet photies on Summit Rock! We walked around the park some more until
we stumbled upon Shakespeare's Garden! You were supposed to be quiet in the
garden so we were! The garden was kind of nice but most everything was dead so
it wasn't too nice. In fact, most everything in the park was dead but it was
still cool! We walked some more until we discovered Belvedere Castle which was a
welcome relief because we had been walking in the rain for quite sometime by
this point. FIrst we just noticed an overhang outside the castle to escape the
rain a bit but later we noticed that it was open and you could go inside. It was
pretty cool because you could go to the second floor observatory and look out
upon the city and park. We went outside on the second floor for some more
photographs and then went inside and considered entering the forbiden thrid
floor but thought better of it after much debate. We went downstairs and looked
at some turtules before departing.
We next continued to walk around the park some more and found a rock that looked
like it would be cool to climb. However, I couldn't climb it even after getting
barefoot. Maybee if it wasn't raining i could have climbed it but probablly not.
Anyhow, it was a nice break. Oh yeah, this was while we were walking through The
Bramble one of the best birdwatching places in the United States! Following this
event, I decided to throw away my socks. See, my shoes have drains on them that
let water in to the shoe even if it is a very small puddle so by this point my
socks were soaking wet and I didn't think they were worth wearing or keeping up
with at this point.
We continued walking around the park and snapped some more cool photies. We
eventually made it to pretty much the southern end of the park and decided to
turn around. JJ wanted one more photo opp on some rocks. Unfortunately, the
rocks were really slippery from the rain and he took a spill. Fortuantely, he
saved the camera from the fall but in the process banged up his knee and elbow.
Don't worry though cause he's a warrior and it can't hold him down!
Anyhow, upon exiting the park we noticed the statue of Alice in Wonder Land. It
was pretty cool and had all sorts of quotes! Following our adventure in the
park, it had grown a bit late nearly 4:30 and the rain had started to come down
harder. We decided it best to find the subway and return to Adairs to regroup.
It was a bit disapointing that we couldn't find a place to read the book but it
was still exciting exploring the park in the rain! I was suprised by how many
people still ran/jogged despite the rain! They are dedicated to thier exercise
routine and that is good!
Anyhow, eventually we made it to the subway station and good thing becuase I
think we would have frozen if it would have taken too much longer. We got on the
train and it took forever to make it back to Adairs. One funny thing happened
though on the train because this lady stood up from her seat and started
shouting about how Jesus has come and God loves us and came so that we may have
life and have it abundantly! The funny thing is that she woke both JJ and myself
up but I don't think too many other people heard her because it was noisy and
she couldn't scream that loud. Anyhow, after her little speech, she went back to
her seat and sat down then fell asleep. It was a good message though so I was
happy to hear it although it was a bit funny.
Anyhow, finally afer about an hour we made it to our stop. We got off the subway
and made it back to Adairs. We changed clothes and hung out while we waited to
leave to go eat with my Uncle Phil and Aunt Sally. We just listened to Ryan
Adams' New Album 29 on his website. I feel asleep and then woke myself up by
snoring then went back to sleep. It was funny b/c I heard myself snoring.
Anyways, I feel back asleep until it was time to leave for Phil's which was
about 7.
We left for Phil's and it was cold. We made it to Phil and Sally's and it was
pretty cool! They had a nice appartment and kept offering all kinds of food and
drink. Maya, Phil's goddaughter, was there and so we met her as well. Anyways,
we started heading to China town(Uncle Phil is Chineese). Anyhow, it was way too
cold and rainy to wait on a cab so we just decided to go to a local vietienemese
resturant. It was a good time becuase Phil just ordered all the food and we just
ate it! The food was increadibly tasty and it was fun just hanging out with my
family in NYC. Anyhow, he was all appologetic about it not being Chinatown but
it still was awesome!
Then we went back to Sally and Phil's place to warm up and chat a bit. We had a
fun time chatting and chillin. Then when it was time to leave, my aunt sally
kissed JJ on the lips! It was awesome! Then he hugged him like he was a long
lost friend that she hadn't seen in years and then I said my goodbyes and we
left. It was great hanging out with them. They are increadibly generous people.
They kept trying to give us all kinds of stuff and before we left the resturant
he asked us what was our favorite part of the meal. Anyways, it turns out he put
in another order togo for those things and gave them to us to keep for
tommorow.(we weren't aware of this becuase he was speaking to the waiter in
chinese because apparently many vietenemse know chinese). Anyhow, finally we
left to come back to Adair's! We made it home by midnight! It was increadibly
awesome! It is increadibly cold though supposedly it feels like 10 degreees
outside and it is going to snow tommorow! It has started snowing a bit now but
it is just very tiny little specs that hit you in the face.
Tommorow, we are going to mass at St. Patricks and then going to visit Jess at
her Barnes and Nobles. Going to visit the Muesuem of Natural History and who
knows what else. Maybe we would read Awarenes!
03:01 am January 15th, 2006 from jamminjj
Snow!!
08:40 am January 15th, 2006 from jamminjj
Everything is covered in snow. Woke up to the sidewalks being shoveled.
It feels like abou 9 degrees outside according to weather.com. Snow until 11 am.
Wind 25 mph with gusts up to 50 mph!!
Heh, it wasn't supposed to drop below about 40 during our trip.
03:45 pm January 15th, 2006 from jamminjj
Jimmy is at church right now. I am supposed to be at a Barnes and noble but it
opens later than expected so I've taken refuge from the snowy 50 mph winds
inside a starbucks and am enjoying a cinammon dulce latte.
This guy next to me is checking his bank account on speaker phone. His balance
is 8000 something but he keeps just having all these deposits for 27 and various
cents. I can only imagine he's one of those people from the commercials where
you sell stupid stuff and make millions and he just keeps selling the same 27
dollar thing over and over.
It is really cold today.
15 January 2006 @ 10:42 pm from jimb0
What you know bout Grits
Woah, today was not only earliest start it was also our earliest finish!
Woke up...to Double J exctatic about the snow falling down! It was exciting...of
course our first move was to check to see what the weather feels like. We were
stoked when we read that it was going to feel like 12 oF once we stepped
outside. Well, we layered ourselves nice, but nothing could prepare us for the
cool burst of existence we felt upon leaving the confines of the appartment.
Initally we were gretted by an iced over stairway it was groovy. I tried to bust
while climbing down the stairs but my urban surival skills just wouldn't allow
it.
Well, let me tell you it was freakin cold! Anyways, I really felt bad for the
homeless today but I trust that there are adequate programs in place to keep
them warm. Anyways, we made ourway into town and exited the trian headed for
seperate destinations. JJ was going to go to the Citigroup Center to Jess's
coffe shop and I was headed to St. Patrick's for the Cardinal's Mass. Well, the
cold must have really gone to my head because I was ultra disorientied and
frustrated about trying to find St. Patricks. The cold really was making it
difficult to think striaght and after walking about 3 and half blocks I was
about to turn around when I heard the VOICE OF GOD! Well maybee it was only
Church Bells but they were good enough for me. Anyways, I was on the block as
the Church when I turned around. Thankfully I heard the Church bells and knew I
could follow them to the Church. At that point, I decided whatever Church it was
I was going to it. Thankfully, it turned out to be St. Patricks.
It was exciting to see how many people were there for Mass. It was a pretty
packed house, yet since I was alone it wasn't too difficult to find a seat.
Anyways, the mass was nice but I still miss the Abbey Liturgy. I am definitely
looking forward to being able to go to mass there every day! Anyways, it was an
awesome expereince although a bit difficult to fully enter into the mass. I
always have that problem though when i'm in a new environment.
Anyhow, following mass I decided to go find JJ. I couldn't really remember where
the coffe shop was but I did seem to remember CitiGroup, Barnes and Nobles Cafe,
and 53rd or 54th street. Well, I walked a few blocks until I made it to 54th
street and I saw this massive building that said Citibank so I figured this must
be near the place. Well, I walked the whole block surrounding the building and
couldn't find the B & N. By this time, I was getting quite cold but still
enjoying the snow smacking me in the face! I weaved in and out of a few more
city blocks and found a payphone. I decided to call JJ from the payphone but
there was no answer. Anyhow, I kept bobbing and weaving and asked a few people
for help but they didn't seem to know what I was talking about. One person
mentioned to go outside and take a right and it was a group of buildings(I had
asked about the Citigroup) but that was back where I had seen that massive
Citibank building and figured he must have been talking about that more than
likely. Anyhow, I continued roaming the city and finally discovered a block with
a sign that read CitiGroup and I knew I was nearly there.
Anyways, I went inside and found JJ! I took a while to warm up and talked to JJ
about his adventure! It turns out that he had found the Barnes and Nobles but
they didn't open until 11 so he walked around the city snapping photies until
the cold became unbearable and he retreated into a Starbucks even further
defeating his coffee aversion. Anyways, we visited with Jess for a bit and she
got us some kind of discount as well. It was pretty cool but then we had to get
on our way because we had a musuem to explore and she had work to do.
Anyways, after a brief adventure on the subway rails, we made it to the Museum
of Natural History. We decided to wait on eatting until after the muesuem.
Anways, the museum was by far the least exciting one we have visited, yet. They
had all these signs up all over the city up about their Darwin exhibit. The
museum had a suggested donation and alll that jazz and JJ gave the full amount
for both myself and himself. Anyways, later on we disovered that the museum
admission does not cover the darwin exhibit and it must be purcahsed seperately
for $16 but Musuem admission is covered in the ticket. Anyways, it was
disapointing, frustrating, and misleading to say the least. Anyways, the musuem
was increadibly massive and had lots of stuffed animals(taxadermy stuffed not
kid's stuffed).
There was also a lot of information on various cultures and stuff around the
world. It is intresting to visit a musuem at this age and remebering visits to
musuems similiar in my younger years. Now, I can much more easily notice some of
the musuem's agenda in the display pieces. Some of the claims this musuem made
seemed a bit of a strech to me. Ranging from claims that in African Culture
although the men have all the visible power, the women are really the one's in
control because they control their husbands reputations. Anyways, it was
intresting to read. Another one talked about how peaceful and understanding
African tribes are with each other. They mentioned that they constantly raid and
pillage each others' villages but that is merely their saftey mechanicism so
that they can live together so peacefully. Those are a few examples of some of
the display pieces.
Anyways, one of the cool exhibits was detailing African dance costumes and
masks. One mask, Cock-pan, was an entertainment mask that was commonly known as
the "fun mask." It could speak any language and answer any question and is
respected for its wisdom. Another one of my favorties was the aristocratic
devil. He was also accompanied by a musical instrument and two attendants. He
was a straw man outfit and he looked very devlish yet dignified. Another
intresting exhibit showcased a doll which contained medicine that kept the wife
from commiting adultrey whiile the husband was away.
Another funny thing to notice was that all the kids asking their parents either
why the people were naked or where were the peopels clothes. As well as, all the
other various questions the kids would ask. They were observant people.
They also had some shrunked heads. Apparently some amazon Indians shrink the
heads of people that they kill. It was kind of amazing because they cold shrink
someone's head to just a litle bit bigger than a bobbel head doll and I do mean
just a little bit bigger. Anyways, in the geology exhibit we were able to see
some radioactive rocks is always exciting.
In the space exhibit, JJ got his picture next to the biggest metorite rock on
display anywhere. It was a big ol meterorite. We also looked at all the
dinasours and reptiles. The reptile exhibit had a little picture thing on how to
get bit by a snake. One way is to reach your hand into holes that you don't know
what is inside them.
Anyways, we walked around the exhibit some more and then decided it was time to
leave so that we could make it to the rotating resturant before the sun set.
Well, as it turns out we made it to thre resturant before it opened. The
resturant is called The View and it is atop the Merriot near Times Square.
Anyways, we waited around in the hotel waiting on 5:30 for the resturant to
open. We didn't have reservations so we didn't know how that was going to work
out either but everything went fine. The elevator ride might have been the
coolest part. It was a big glass elevator reminiscent of Charlie and the
Choclate Factory. There is an express elevator that just runs between floor 3
and 48 so that is the one we rhode. Anyways, it was cool to see the whole hotel
just open up as you were lifted higher and higer into the sky.
Finally, we made it to the top and were taken to a seat. The resturant was
pretty cool. The outside rotates while the middle stays still which makes it
pretty cool because where the buffet table is in relation to your seat changes
throughout the meal. One of the disapointments though is that the top is
circular but it is encased inside a square window filled wall. So you are not
actually seated right inside the building but rather right inside the room which
spins inside the building. Anyhow, it was still awesome! We had read that the
service can be a bit slow and our service was a bit slow but who cares when you
have such an increadible view! Although, I'm definitely more of a nature boy I
have decided. Although the city line was cool, I couldn't help but consider how
much cooler this place would be on an island surrounded by water. Then at night
you could look at all kinds of stars and at day gaze off into the distance not
to mention the sunsets! Anyhow, back to the restruant, the buffet was a bit
pricey but that is to be expected for a rotating resturant.
Although the food was a bit pricey, it was actually a very tasty buffet with a
decent selection that was all good food. We basically just waited for a bad view
or for the buffet to rotate around to us and then we would get up and get some
food. The restruant roughly makes one rotation an hour and for some of the
rotation you can see the Hudsoun River and New Jersey. Also you could see a
skating rink that was crawling with people and it looked neat from such great
heights.
Anyhow, you know we couldn't stand to be in such a place and not bring it to the
next level. Well, this group of women in their late 30s, early 40s got this
table next to us. They were being extremely noisy and chattering about
everything. Well, we could tell by their accent they were from New Jersey. Well,
this one woman came down to our table and started asking us about the food. We
told her how the buffet was a pretty good deal and probablly worth the price
which was about $28. Anyways, she asked some more about what was on it. Then
asked what was cous cous. We explained it a bit and then she said, "oh, they
have shrimp!" Then she begged JJ to get her a shrimp. So he kindly, walked
around to the other side where the buffet was located and got some shrimp. He
brought them back and she was super excited. her friends were all shouting, "oh,
where did you get those shrimp?" She was like my buddy Mister Michigan got them
for me(JJ was wearing a Michigan Hoodie)
The woman really enjoyed the shrimp. JJ tried to encourage her to get the
buffet. She was all like I can't afford it. Then we were telling her how she
could afford it just as much as we could. We talked about how we were
increadibly young and in college in stuff. Then we told her how old we were and
she was like really? So JJ showed her, his liscence and she studied it over and
said oh, you were a little bit pudgy back then and she wasn't too ready to
believe that it was actually JJ. However, I figure she considered why would he
have a fake liscence claiming to be 23 and decided to believe him. Then she told
us how lucky we were to be so young and gave us high fives! Anyways, it was an
increadibly hillarious situation! BTW this was on our second rotation!
Anyhow, later on she asked for more shrimp and JJ notified her that she had
reached her quota and she had to purchase them if she wanted anymore. She was
understanding about it. Anyways, it was fun. Then we went to the desert bar
which was phenominal and probablly far better than the dinner buffet which was
tasty in itself. After our second time around, we decided we had lived like
millionares long enough and it was time to return to the fun life so we headed
for the express elevator back to reality.
Anyways, we bundled up to feel the cold winter night and headed for the subway.
We made it back to the house around 9:30 and it felt great! We looked up the
temperature on weather.com and it said it feels like 4 oF outside but that
tommorow night it will feel like -4oF. We were so excited that we decided we
better go to the gas station get some goodies and then have a snowball fight on
our way back from the store because neither one of us can explicitly remember
what it feels like to have a snowball fight in 4 oF weather. Well, the snow was
sticking very well so the fight didn't work out to well but I took off my glvoes
for the fight and we were only out there for about 2 minutes. Still, it took
about 15 minutes before I could feel my fingertips again after returning inside!
Man, what fun is the cold!
JJ found some finger nail clippers! We sent Adair a text from the top of the
resturant to buy some toliet paper and we would pay him back. We havent' fully
mastered that urban survival skill yet! Anyways, we have the window open to
fight off this blistering heat that the radioator is putting out and it's
another succesful night in the Big Apple!
January 16th
16 January 2006 @ 01:40 am from jimbo
Awareness
We started reading the beginning of Awareness today after returning to the house
so early. Apparently, Athony De Mello's writings prompted a statement by
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. I guess I am out of the loop
becausee this statement was back in '98 when Cardinal Ratzinger now Pope
Benedict XI was the head of the Congregation. Anyhow, one of the better concerns
agaisnt his writting is that there really doesn't seem to be any mention of a
personal God or the role Jesus plays in a spirituality. However, the book so far
has provided some intresting points of reflection that seem pretty good. As the
CDF states,
His works, which almost always take the form of brief stories, contain some
valid elements of oriental wisdom. These can be helpful in achieving
self-mastery, in breaking the bonds and feelings that keep us from being free,
and in approaching with serenity the various vicissitudes of life. Especially in
his early writings, Father de Mello, while revealing the influence of Buddhist
and Taoist spiritual currents, remained within the lines of Christian
spirituality. In these books, he treats the different kinds of prayer: petition,
intercession and praise, as well as contemplation of the mysteries of the life
of Christ, etc.
Anyways, I'm looking forward to finishing the book and am glad to take the
wisdom that he provides to another level.
January 17th
17 January 2006 @ 03:50 am from jimbo
Ellis Island, Commedy Cellar
Okay. Let's be honest with each other. You probablly don't want to read a
detailed entry about todays events and likewise, I don't want to write a
detailed entry because it's 4 o'clock in the morning. The day though freaking
rocked. I woke up around eleven and J made sure I was ready to roll. Well, ready
to roll, I was! After waking up and layering up nicely, we headed out into the
urban wilderness to face the winter's chill. However, bundled tight the chillest
chill couldn't break my warmth barrior. Although the wind maintained its status
as a formidible foe and a few times pierced by scarf and ate my face off.
Anyhow, before we could ride the rails properly, we had to visit the local gas
station for supplies. I, of course, returned to my staple the Arnie Palmer(half
lemonade, half tea) delight.
The subway ran pretty well today and before we knew it we had reached our stop.
We walked around in the blistering cold looking for battery park which is where
the ferry departs for the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. It really was
great to be back on the water, again. Although, it may have been a mere 10
minute fairy boat ride to me it was my official reconcilliation with the water
and it's destruction it brought with Katrina. I always feel connected to home
whenever I see a massive body of water. It never fails to work regardless of
wherever on this earth I am located, as soon as I see a big body of water, I
know its something familiar that reaches back to my roots growing up. Now, I
suppose even more so that I don't techincally even have a home the water means
even more to me. Hooray for the water and our intimate moment we shared together
today on the fairy ride to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.
JJ started really working hard on his new photography series of pictures of
people possing for tourists shots. The Statue of Liberty did not impress me that
much. I suppose I probablly was a bit bitter that they weren't letting anyone
else in it for the day becuase they had reached their quota or something. We
walked all around the island snapping photographs and just soaking it in. The
Island provided some really good views of Manhattan and the buildings it has
birthed. The creator of the statue was even present on the island. We overheard
him talking to the people behind us and although it was kind of cool I was very
glad that he didn't come to our table. He kept saying, "v statue, v view" and
replacing the letter "v" for the world 'the' to further highlight that he was
french. Well, I decided if he came to our table I was going to be certian to
offfer hiim some freedom fries just for kicks and giggles. Fortuantely, he
didn't disturb us.
Following the Statue of Liberty, we continued on to Ellis Island. Eillis Island
turned out to be intresting. The Immigration Musuem had some intresting
displays. One of the features of the musuem was that you could look up relatives
that may have been processed at Ellis Island. JJ tried to find his
great-grandfather John Joseph Sylvia I. I think that he found him but he isn't
as certian as I am. You can view the information that was entered into the ships
log concerning the passenger.
Furthermore, there were some really good exhibits just highlighting immigration
to the United States. It was neat to stand inside the same building that so many
immigrants had stood inside of waiting for their chance to incarnate the
american dream. These people willing to bring their culture and their work ethic
to America really have helped to shape America into one increadible country. The
diversity in America really does make life more intresting. One thing that
definitely did get boring when I was in Scotland was that everyone looked the
same since they were all Scottish. I never realized that was something special
about my native land until that moment in Scotland. Anyhow, the immigrants are
what made all the diversity possible. They had some videos of recent immigrants
detailing a little bit about their story. One person mentioned how it is
unfortunate that Americans really don't realize how fortuante and lucky they
are. I think it really is something that we can never really fully understand
becuase we haven't lived in a situation where so many of the things which we
take for granted are taken away from us not to mention even basic neccesities of
life. I by no means think America is a perfect utopia but I think people
shouldn't be so quick to slight America and label America to be this or that.
Enough about that. Following walking around the musuem for quite sometime we
decided to head back to Manhattan. The timing turned out pretty well because we
only had to wait about 10 minutes before the ferry headed back for battery park.
Once we made it back to Manhattan, we hoped on the train to Astor Place so we
could print out our comedy cellar ticket at Kinkos. After printing the ticket,
we sought out a resturant to dine in. We stumbled upon an Afghanastan resturant
called the something pass. I can't remember the name of hte pass.
The returant food turned out to be pretty tasty, as nearly every meal has been
in New York. I don't remember the name of the item I ate. It kind of is exciting
to order something which you don't have much of an idea of what it is. Following
eatting at the resturant, we sought at the comedy cellar so we would know where
to be when it was time for the show. We walked over there becuase our metro card
expired today and we were trying to be frugal. Of course, the weather remained
cold but it was not too bad. We found the comedy cellar and then walked around
for quite sometime. Finally, decided to visit a starbucks to further crush
whatever coffee aversion might be lingering in JJ.
Next, we walked around the city a bit more and then decided to head to the
comedy cellar a bit early. Fortuantely, we did head there early becuase we were
given a choice in seats. We were given seats up close and fortuantely a bit off
to the side so we didn't get hekeled too bad. The comedy cellar turned out to be
increadibly awesome. The funny thing is that there is a two drink minimum and a
three drink maximum. Anyhow, we were seated about 30 minutes before the show
started and we planned out our 3 drink selections. Odly enough, this turned out
to be the first time in NY that we were asked for our ID besides the 40
something asking for JJ's ID at the rotating resturant but that is a bit
different.
All of the acts were pretty good. However, there was this one guy who was
increadibly awesome. I don't remember his name but all of his jokes were a bit
more involved than normal jokes. Involved in the sense that you had to make more
connections than normal. He started talking to JJ and I during his act and then
said, "oh, I see. Just two guys out in the Village." because the villiage I
suppose has a reputation for being gay. It was a bit funny and a few other
commedians picked on us. One said JJ had a read me a book by the fireside beard
or something similiar to that.
However, we were largely sapred. The other people in the front were pretty much
picked on but nearly every comemdian. There was this one english man sitting in
the dead center wearing a tie. Naturally, the commedian would spot him out and
ask him why is he wearing a tie and he would respond and his acccent would
instantly give him away. He got heckeled a large bit, there was this muscular
guy in a white shirt that was constantly being heckled and his girlfirend of 4
years was loving every minute of it and answering all the questions about him
that the commedian would ask, and then there were these two girls right next to
us that were picked on a good deal as well. Either they were teaseda bout being
Lesbians or the commedian would say something like he'd bang them or something
ridiculous like that. One comemdian though started talking to them and found out
they went to Tuffs and then he started teasing them about being Rich Girls from
the Upper West Side.
There were plenty of jokes about jews because most of the commedians were
Jewish. One commedian was from Louisana and she talked to us briefly after her
act because during her gig she found out we were from Mississippi. Racial jokes
seemed to be very prevelaint but they were all in good taste. Almost every
commedian except the females would mention how girls have all this power because
they have a vagina. I thought it was a bit pathetic but all in all the jokes
were good and I enjoyed the show.
Furthermore, we were supposed to only stay for the 9-11 show but we ended up
just staying all the way through both sets which didn't end up ending until
around 2 AM. Oh yeah, Collin Quinn said some jokes as well. He was really the
only name that I recognized but I don't know many stand up commedians.
After the show, we walked to the subway station. Tried to figure out what trian
we should take back. Something was happening with the tracks and the trains were
running a bit different. We ended up getting off at the wrong stop. This crazy
guy approached us and chatted it up with us for quite sometime and asked us if
we knew how he could get home on the subway. He shared his Ipod with us and
wanted us to listen to some muscician. He told us a story of how his father
wouldn't let him play nitendo very much growing up but one time he was near a
nitendo conference and his father let him compete in a tournament. However, he
hadn't praticed for the tournament and he lost and he wished he would have been
allowed to practice. He spoke some more and then followed us onto the trian. It
was a bit crazy. He gave us his blog address. It is http://joshuadudley.blogspot.com
He says please click the adds because it makes him about 10 cents per click.
Anyhow, after much waiting and wondering we finally found the correct
combinations of trains to take us home. By the time we finally made it home it
was about 4 AM and it has taken me about an hour to write this entry.
12:56 pm January 17th, 2006 from jamminjj
I never thought 30 degrees would feel warm!!
January 18th
18 January 2006 @ 03:41 am from jimbo
Brief for Real!
Today for all pratical purposes was the last day of our trip to New York. It
definitely showed as well. Niether one of us was overly enthuasitic about the
excuserion today and it we both commented that it was done more out of the
feeling that we ought to do something rather than the desire to do something. I
suppose there are only so many days in a row that you can constantly take it to
the next level before you need a rest. The highlights of the day more than
likely include being able to handle the 30 oF like it was 70oF. I think the wind
not blowing like crazy is by far the biggest difference in being comfortable and
not being comfortable with the temperature.
Anyhow, aside from that we went to Chinatown and walked around. Found some hot
wasabi roasted peas and purchased them. Stoped into a random Chinese resturant
where the waitor could not speak hardly any english. There were watching Chinese
Music Video Karoke and we were excited to be there. Anyhow, JJ ordered sauted
jelly fish and I just ordered some kind of shrimp dish. Both of our dishes were
pretty tasty. The jellyfish turned out to be kind of bland.
Following that we tried to find Mr. Pibb and Red Vines. We had heard a rumour
that they lived in Harlem so we headed there to investigate. No such luck. I
don't know where Mr. Pibb and Red Vines exist in this town. We went to B & N and
then walked around and found the Nitendo Center. Went there to spend sometime
until it was time to eat. We had made arrangments to meet Adair at Union Square
at 9 so we had quite a large amount of time to spend.
Finally, meet up with Adair. Decided to eat at a Cafe. The food was pretty
tasty, but these people at the table next to us got on my nerves. Adair
commented that they smelled like baby powder. The waitress was trying to suggest
things to them that they could eat beacuase one of the girls was a vegitarian.
Well, the waitress, who obviously by her accent did not have english as her
first language, mentions that they have a vegitarian omelt. This girl jumps all
down her throat, "well, uhh...let's try and stay away from unfertilized Chicken
fetus...hello, I am a vegitarian." Then she ended up ordering some kind fo tuna
and laughing about how she is a vegan but wears leather shows and how she is a
walking contradiction. Well, I'm glad she cares so much about being kind and
sensitive towards animals and i'm be even more excited if she would start with
people.
Anyways, we left shortly after that. Rented a sweedish movie from the early 60s
The Silenece by the Ingmar Bergman. It supposedly was a very contraversial film
because of the sexual scenes. Anyways, we came home and started watching that.
Everyone left and I ended up finishing it but I started falling asleep as well
during it. From what I saw of it, it seems good.
Now, tommorow so long as the flight doesn't get delayed or cancelled, I'll be
returning back to St. Benedict, LA. I am very much looking forward to returning
back there. This break has been a bit tiring moving back and forth between
Mobile and the MS Gulfcoast and then taking the trip to NY. It has been fun and
great visiting people, no doubt; but, I really I am looking forward to some
peace and quiet on the monastic grounds!