I had the chance to go visit the Big Apple a few weeks ago… OMG! WOW, what fun!
I know I've been slacking here. You've asked for details and pic’s – well here it comes, at last!
For some time its been my dream, to see Manhattan - well, not only did I see it, but I did so with the best of friends!
I met up with my author friend
Jenny (pictured right) who had some business to attend to there that week. It worked out well because Jenny actually use to live in NY before, which turns out, made for an excellent hostess, as well as tour guide (Thanks sweetie).
HAPPY 2009 y'all! Yep yep, it’s a new year and it's out with the old and in with the new - and that includes a renewed attitude! I was watching a friend's MySpace video she made for New Years. She said that, on the first day of each new year, it is tradition in Scotland to clean the house – It is believed that by clearing out the old useless junk and broken things, it helps to clear away negative spirits for the New Year – GOOD ADVICE! I’m starting with my brain;
a lot of useless gobbly wobbler in there – and its not the kind you drink, either.
Ladies and gentleman, Mr. Frank Sinatra!
“Start spreading the news, I’m leaving today….”
“I want to be a part of it - new York, new York”
Once In Manhattan, I located the parking deck I had looked up online to dock my vehicle for the duration of my stay. Three blocks walk later, I rendezvous in the lobby of my hotel with awaiting author of She’s Not There, Mrs. Jennifer Finney Boylan.
A quick exchange of hugs and a bit of freshening up, Jenny dishes out the 411 on the basics to catching a cab in New York (yes there is a method to the madness), but I’m a quick learner.
"Watch out for people that “Short Stop” you, and to make sure your on the side of the street that the cab is supposed to be heading in to get to your destination. Other wise you may end up with a larger cab bill causing the driver to have to circle the block to go the correct direction - and in New York, that could take anywhere from 1 minute to 1 hour – or more!"
First order of business, lunch with Naria from ABC. Dawning an umbrella, I head out to the front street corner of the hotel… the sounds, the lights, the traffic, the people – WOW!
“I wanna wake up in a city, that doesn't sleep”“And find Im king of the hill - top of the heap”
I manage to hail my first cab:
“55th and Columbus!”, I said as I closed the cab door. We speed away heading towards Time Square on Broadway. The buildings come into view… The entire city is alive with neon and moving signs… it looks like a scene out of
Blade Runner.
“These little town blues, are melting away”“I’ll make a brand new start of it - in old New York”“If I can make it there, Ill make it anywhere”“Its up to you - New York, New York”55th and Columbus: I meet up with Naria waiting on the corner of the intersection – she pays the cabby, then its off to lunch.
Raining lightly, we make our way to a little restaurant that all the staff of ABC occasionally eat at. It’s a little Italian place right across from Howard Stern’s apartment building she tells me. Nice. (To tell you the truth, I can’t even remember what I ate, let alone the name of the restaurant) – I was just
jazzed to be there.) We talk while we eat about transition, Klienfelter’s, our families and being in New York.
Next Naria took me on a little tour of ABC where she works. It looked like any other office – Gah… yeah right… any office that’s AWESOME, that is!
I didn’t see Barbara Walters or any other on air TV people, but Naria did point out Diane Sawyer’s Office – omg, to think that former beauty queen might have been back there?!
After our tour, Naria puts me back into a cab and I’m back to the hotel to meet up with Jenny again for a little demo of how the subways work. We make our way to Grand Central Terminal. She quickly explains the color system of the Tracks and lines… {
wooooshh} The complete thing goes right over my head.
To this day, I’m still totally stoked and mesmerized over how it all works. Even cooler was a little lickity snack that Jenny showed me; something only the locals know about, its called “The Whispering Gallery”.
[Pictured Below] In this corridor, you can stand in the corner [Pictured with me standing in it, Bottom, Right] and whisper -AND- because of an unplanned architectural anomaly, your voice will travel up the wall, across the ceiling, back down to the other corner where the other person is, and they can
actually hear you, crystal clear!
[Notice the arched domed like ceiling in the photo]
Just off the main concourse, there's a little cocktail lounge called “The Campbell Apartment”. Named so because it was, at one time, the office of 1920’s tycoon and president of the railway, John W. Campbell. - Mr. Campbell also used it as an apartment when he worked late or for executives out of town that worked for the railway and needed a place to stay. They wouldn’t allow pictures to be taken but it’s designed to replicate the galleried hall of a 13th-century Florentine palace. Check it out – but, be sure to wear proper dress, cause it’s definitely a hi-step’in and hi-fo’lutin type place.
[Grand Central Terminal, aka: Grand Central Station]
Onward and Upward!
“New York, New York”
“I want to wake up in a city, that never sleeps”
“And find I’m a number one - top of the list, king of the hill”
“A number one”
We purchase MetroCards in a vending machine and get on our train. Jenny navigates the subway like an old pro, and quickly has all of us on a train headed down town – heck I have no idea still to this day where we were, BUT, I do know that we ended up in the right place, catching the ferry to see the Statue of liberty!
“These little town blues, are melting away”
“I’m gonna make a brand new start of it - in old New York”
“And if I can make it there, I’m gonna make it anywhere”
This was my first time seeing Lady Liberty… [Pictured Left] I pause and reflect. Just months ago, I was standing in Bangkok airport, thinking, how did a shmuck like me, make it all the way here? Now, here I am again, in New York, thinking how symbolic!, to be welcomed, as if for the first time again, to a new life that awaits – a life now that is only limited by the expanse of my imagination, and not by a mind in the wrong body.
“It’s up to you - New York New York!!!!!!”
Once back port side, we decide to head on over by foot to Time Square and go exploring. Radio City Music Hall, Rockefeller Plaza (home of NBC Studio’s in NY), and The David Letterman Show over at CBS.
We actually got caught by a TV crew in front of the CBS building to do a quick sound bite for a show. They asked us “who do you think will win the Heisman Trophy?” Neither of us not knowing a thing about Football, I said “Obama?” After a quick chuckle, they stop the camera and whisper to us, “Just say Sam Bradford.” So much for spontaneity…
Next we pop into the CBS gift shop – Nothing interesting in there, so we head over to Toys-R-Us to see if I can find a gift for my boys. WOW, was this place big! If you happen to watch the ball go down on New Years night, you may have seen on TV the huge Toys-R-Us building lit up.
On the inside of the toy store, we are greeted for photos just like an amusement park. I guess they figure we “out-of-town'ers” never been to a new fangled big ol’ toy store before –AND- a curbside souvenir photo is just the prescription for savoring the flavor of just how much we over paid for the imported junk we bought there??
We left shortly after arriving, empty handed and hungry. The size of the store wore us out and I really didn’t see anything in there you couldn't buy at Toy’s-R-Us in Ohio… I’m thinking, "so why buy anything and have to drag it around NY?"
Minutes later, Sheridan Hotel lounge: Cocktails in toe, we grab a quick bite to eat. I decided to turn in early and bid present company farewell for the night and head back to my room.
If there is one thing I am known for best, it should be that I'm ALWAYS late. Next morning I meet up with friends to have breakfast – you’d think finding food in New York wouldn’t be a problem; well, it can be, if you don’t get up on time - and in NY, that’s pretty early. Most places want to stop serving Breakfast around 10:30 – my bad. I guess that's what I get for taking too long getting gussied up - Opps. Anyway, we finally find a little deli open and feast on some great NY food.
Jenny calls and joins us with a notable friend - a fella’ by the name of Tim Kreider [Pictured Left]. Tim’s a political cartoonist of sorts, and a damn good one too… check out his great website: The Pain. I really enjoyed meeting Tim… I tried to convince him of doing a cartoon themed on the old drinking game, “Marry, Fuck, or Kill”. The game is played where someone names 3 people (Usually of a certain genre level of attractiveness or disgust in one form, or another). Then, going around the room, each person has to put in order and explain their reasoning on who they’d have to "Marry, Fuck, and then Kill…" OMG!, it was a riot. We ended up finishing our breakfast to the humorous chiming ins of everyone’s theory on who’d they’d Marry, Fuck, and then Kill.
I decided to use the day to do some more sight seeing – The outdoor ice rinks down town, Saks Fifth Avenue and I found a Sephora Cosmetics to dive into; I picked up a few essentials for the night activities to come . I also happened upon the Hershey Outlet Store and picked up a bag full of my all time favorite candy, "Chocolate Truffle Hershey Kisses!" I’ve never seen these particular Kisses in stores. The only time I have seen them is when I went to Hersey Town PA, and purchased them in the gift shop. Crossing fingers I asked the clerk if they had them here in the New York Outlet - sure enough, they had them! Although, I wish I had purchased more cause I devoured the whole bag by the time I drove back to Ohio. {burrrrrp}
{Holds cardboard sign up} "Will work for Truffle Kisses"
The Players Club
Later that evening, things really started to get interesting. Jenny and another one of her friends by the name of Beck, (Think of Beck as being the Farris Bueller of Manhattan,) invites us over to a party he’s having at the Players Club. It’s a private club for stage actors and so forth. I snuck a few pictures of the place on the inside – the pictures on all the walls are of some of the more notable past and current members.
After a holiday toast they started playing an old black-n-white cartoon called “The Shanty, Where Santy Claus Lives”. We only had the chance to watch it for a few minutes however; Beck summoned all of us up to the front door and said it was time for our dinner reservation.
So away we went, again by way of cabs, to a great little place that (you guessed it) I can’t remember. The restaurant was packed inside though, but Beck evokes a side bar with the owner and the next thing I know, we are being whisked away to a table for 8! The food and drinks were excellent, as was the company of friends.
From there we left to go to a performing arts theater company that put on a stage play. It was kinda like that TV show, Who’s Line Is It Anyway? where actors are given a minimal amount of direction and then they have to improve and ad-lib the rest of the performance. Exhausted, I began to nod off a bit – opps!
After saying our good-byes and parting ways, I make it back to my hotel room to crash. Make-up on the pillowcase, hooped earrings left on digging into my head, I pass out from complete exhaustion on the bed.
Sunday morning I checked out early and made my way down to the parking deck about 3 blocks away to retrieve my car. I was impressed with the attendant – my car was waiting for me in the que out front the parking deck. I settled up the bill, plugged in my GPS unit and set the warp drive of the Benz for impulse power towards the turn-pike home.
It took about 30 minutes to make my way out of the city by way of the Lincoln Tunnel. One thing that came in handy while traveling was my EZ-Pass I had installed in my car. With the EZ-Pass token attached to my windshield, I didn’t have to carry cash or stop at the toll both to pay – I just simply drove on through the EZ-Pass lanes. Tolls ran about $50 in total getting there and back. The tunnels and bridges are the most – some as high as $8 and $12 bucks! Yow za!
Well, as with most things, all good streaks come to an end. If they ever had an award for being the biggest dumb dumb of the year, I most certainly deserve it –AND- the ticket I got in Shippenville PA. for doing 82 in a 65 - $165 bucks later, you think I’ve learned my lesson?
I’ve not had a ticket in almost 10 years! Now I'v gotten 2 of them with in just a few months of each-other!?!? Actually, truth be told, I was pulled over 4 times this year, but I managed to get out of two of them. NOT oddly enough though, the ones I couldn't seem to charm my way out of, were both out of state ones!
I knew the cop had busted me too – I was coming over the hill, and there he was… (little fucker!) No sooner did I pass him, did his damn gumballs light up - “shit”, I said. I didn’t even wait for him to chase me down. I pulled over right away and started to get my powdered pouting game face on.
He walks up to my car window and says, “Ma’am I'm recording you, just so you know. I pulled you over for speeding..."
I says, “Yeah, I’m really sorry about that...” {Sorry I got caught}
I attempted to put on my best damsel in distress (hey, it worked 2 out of 3 times before?), but, he wasn’t buying it.
Now, normally getting a ticket would REALLY send a klinker right down my furnace - I just can’t let it go, ya know? Things like that just seem to sour and haunt my attitude for a long time... I'll run scenarios in my mind of what I did, or said wrong that caused me to NOT get out of the ticket.
It occurred to me though that I had so much fun in the past few days, nothing was going to ruin it - I think to myself, "what’s the point… I WAS speeding… oh well." 5 minutes later, ticket in hand, and I'm like COMPLETELY over it, I pull away on my way back to Ohio, now doing 90 MPH to make up for lost time!
So class, what did we learn, besides a new game called “Marry, Fuck, Kill” that I KNOW your all just dying to call friends up and play?
- Well, exploring Grand Central Terminal is worth the trip alone.
- If you’re in NY, make friends with Beck, Tim and look up Jenny, if she happens to be there – they know where ALL the fun is at.
- Toy's-R-Us is the same no matter what the size or location.
- EZ-Pass is the shizznit!
- No matter what your gender, if your going to speed, SPEED LIKE A MAN!!!
But, most importantly of all, is that if your feeling lost, alone or uncertain along your journey, Lady Liberty stands always proudly to welcome you back home…
“It’s up to you… New York, New York NEEEEEW Yooorrk!!!”!-Chloe
