NYC Diary

Hey folks, I didn't have much time to blog or write about my experiences in New York City so here's a day by day account. The post is largely unfinished because I keep procrastinating but here's what I have so far:

Monday, March 9
I woke up at 5:00 in the morning, got dressed, and double checked to make sure that I had everything set and ready. My little brother dragged himself out of bed to drive me over to the metro station, which would take me to Union Station. Thankfully, I did not run into any problems on the train, in fact, it was smooth sailing the entire way. I just love taking the train. For me it combines what I like about driving and what I like about flying. I'm glad Obama decided to throw Biden a bone and give money to Amtrak for updating and improving the railways. Anyway, enough of my wishy-washy rail lovefest.

The train pulls into Penn station and the first thing I do is take a deep breath of the sweet, smoggy, polluted gas that clings to the city streets. After that, I stood hacking and coughing for several seconds. I took the 2 down to meet the people in the most wretched hive of scum and villainy, Wall Street. I met Sylvia Escobar (wife) in front of where she works (Deutsche Bank) and she showed me the way to her apartment. The couple (Diego and Sylvia Escobar) I was staying with are friends of my mom who agreed to let me stay with them. They're a nice Latin American couple both from Colombia. The husband doesn't like waste and works hard while the wife also works and fattens up her husband so that no other women will even look at him while she maintains her figure (like most Latina women). Anyway, their apartment's nice it's a small one room apartment but accommodating. After she returned to work, I decided to pick up my theater tickets that I had on reserve, find the the theaters I panned to go to and go shopping!! Shopping didn't out but I did manage to find a few shops I was interested in (Brooks Brothers, Alden, Allen Edmonds). I managed to find the the theaters that I was going to go to after searching Times Square for several hours.

I returned to the apartment around 7:00 and met Diego (Sylvia's husband) and he was a pretty nice guy. One thing I noticed is the couple would not stop checking to see if I was okay. Personally, if I haven't dropped dead I think I'm okay. Anyway we went out to a restaurant nearby and talked a little bit and then bed.

Tuesday, March 10
I woke up around 9AM and left around 10AM. When I arrived at Times Square, I remembered why I missed NYC. The sights and sounds that just envelope you as people are running around everywhere, dodging cars, poor people, and people trying to help poor people. I went to the TKTS location to be in the first groups so I could get some good seats for Avenue Q. Apparently I arrived early enough to be one of the first twenty people.

Afterward, I returned to the shops I stopped by the previous day and bought a nice jacket from Brooks Brothers and really nice pair of shoes from Allen Edmonds. I considered getting a nice pair of Indy Boots from Alden but I figured driving myself deeper into debt for a good pair of rain boots was unnecessary. I stopped by the ToysRus to look at the Lego statues and just watch the ferris wheel go by.

I spent most of the day trying to get my bearings and finding the theater locations of the plays I planned to go see. I went to see Avenue Q and I enjoyed. The actors seemed to be forcing it a little bit.

Wednesday, March 11
Against my better financial judgment, I saw a comedy. The name currently escapes but it was basically Monty Python meets Alfred Hitchcock.

I went to see Sleepwalk with Me written and starring Mike Birbiglia (sp?). The play itself was interesting.

Thursday, March 12
I woke up at 8:30 AM. Nearly froze to death at 9:30 AM and saw two gay Alaskans standing in the freezing cold for one hour while they waited in line for the ferry. The way it works is that the ferry takes you in the order they want you to see (or makes more efficient sense). Lady Liberty was beautiful and I wish I could've spent more time there. At night, I went to see Zombie, a play about a serial killer. The play was mercifully short. The play wasn't bad but it is one of those the plays where you mildly like it or really hate it.

Friday, March 13
I went to the Metropolitan Art Museum and the Natural History Museum. After a day of walking around museums, I decided to pay one last visit to the pinnacle of my stint as a prop master. As the NYC metro train grind to a halt, I recognized the familiar look of the station with its multiple exists and banal coloring. I exited the station to an intersection with filled parking spaces. I slowly walked down the street leading to the Lucille Lortel Theatre, only pausing to stare at some of the sex shops along the way. I reached the cafe where I bought rancid bananas aong with a stale strawberry pie for the cast to eat and bought a hot chocolate and a stale chocolate chip cookie to keep me company.

Saturday, March 14
I woke up early, got ready and left the apartment for Union Station. The train arrived thirty minutes late and I got home around 3PM. Nothing much to say here.