I Laughed

I spoke about how New York didn't feel like Africa at all.

I went to two and a half hours of some pretty good comedy, including a writer from The Daily Show and a film comic, and I really enjoyed it. I got some great lines to steal, and I had a long laugh. It all cost about $20, and was worth it. I stepped out of the air conditioned building; it felt like Africa.

The heat got worse. It's still bad. I have a terrible headache, which I think is helped by the large amount of sugar in my system, and I feel too tired to do anything tomorrow but sleep. I woke at 7:30 today to try and get to Comedy Central before 9. After 45 minutes of trying to find it, I actually forgot what I was doing and almost passed out. I also didn't manage to get my good steak. Instead I went to a steak take-away, or as I call it, if you'll forgive the obvious pun... a take-away steak. It was terrible and I will be very ill, but I didn't mind too much. In the best case scenario it'll put me off meat enough to make me vegetarian when I get back.

I am disgusted with the use of my Flickr Account. Checking out the number of views, I see that people who are looking at it are all looking at the hot photos of me. The one of me staring at Monterey Beach has nearly 30 views, while the dull pictures of New York are relatively ignored. What? What is up with that? Oh well.

Reading comments on Yukina's Blog, I almost threw up when I read what Erin said, because I was in semi-uncontrollable hysterics:

Yukina: Good news. The dirt on my feet is coming off a bit, well still dirty though.
Hehehehehehehehe
So what did you guys do without me??

Erin: orgy

While that won't make much sense, it was probably the best thing said ever on the internet. Out of sheer respect, I mirrored the page, and framed a print out of it. I wanted to reply, but anything added to that page would only make it worse.

Carlos updated! After over 2 months of no updates, he finally said something. It was a relief. And I felt lucky to get the first (albeit anonymous) comment in. That's what I get for checking everyday. I rule, oh yes. Anyway, ego aside, I need to rest, and cool down more, and then progressively sleep. I don't know how you sleep progressively, but if it's possible, it will be achieved tonight. Adios.

Further NY Theory

Perhaps a couple of you giggled at the mention of how New York smells; maybe in reverence to Bill Hicks, maybe just on solo reputation. I don't blame you, it's not a fantastic smell in this city. Nor does every street glow with cleanliness. This is a very populated city. It stinks and its dirty. But I knew that before I came. That's in integral part of New York. It would be a different city were it pleasant to be around. London is hardly clean (cleaner, yes), and only Japanese cities have impressed me with odour and dirt levels. But when I holiday, I try to experience what it's like to live there. I'm living in New York. I don't have a hotel or a tour guide. I am just trying to experience it.

This brings me back to the character and personality of the city. This is like the most densely populated part of London, multiplied over a massive area, spanning islands. It is just full of people, all going about fast paced and stressful lives. And I am more stressed here than in California, especially in the record breaking heat, but that is the lifestyle, and I love it. It's like the city is throwing obstacles at me at every corner, and when I dodge, I get great rewards. A wonderful view, a gust of cold air, a massive commercial store selling stuff you've seen in every television show about New York... spectacles. It's somewhere I could live, I'm enjoying it like I expected, and I could live here (if I could afford it) for a while. Not forever, but I am a city person, and this is THE city.

But I am always reminded by memories that it isn't really important where you are, it's who you're with. My old friend Christopher Kiew-Smith said that just before I went to Japan last year. I only learn its truth more and more each time I go anywhere.

I was too hot today. It's just too hot. I have to go inside somewhere every few minutes to survive. Cold drinks are crucial, and staying out of the shards of sun makes life easier. Starbucks has been my friend. It's like walking into a fridge.

I just encountered a group of very friendly elderly women, who chatted with me for a long time about all sorts of topics. I spoke about my life and my plans, and they seemed to be impressed, and they shared their tips for the city. The one I spoke to mainly grew up in Brooklyn, and recommended good things to do, such as a comedy club and a good steak house nearby. It was very fun to share stories of my experience, and it was good to speak with genuine New Yorkers, despite being occasionally interrupted by a noisy Frappucino machine.

The subject of comedy came up because I just purchased a ticket to Improv, the club where Seinfeld shot the comedy scenes and Eddie Murphy started out. I should have considered comedy beforehand, but I'm going to the matinee soon enough.

I'm considering a temporary blog redesign just for the next few days. It just involves an image change rather than a redesign, but it'll be relevant and temporary.

I've spent my time in Starbucks now, and I've used my last free drink coupon. I still have a free McDonalds one, but that isn't as tasty or refreshing.

Thoughts on NY

I'm considering this blog very focussed on travel. It's when I do my most frequent posts, and when I feel like saying the most. I have a lot to say on New York, and this is my outlet.

Tall buildings creep up on you. You walk along, and you don't notice towers until they are next to you, and craning to see the top takes you by surprise. This is despite there being so many. I noticed this when Henny pointed out the Rockerfeller Center, and out of almost nowhere, it loomed overhead.

Today was hot. Particularly hot. This city suffers the same difficulty as Japan. With the air conditioning making the indoors survivable, you don't expect to scorch outside, and it shocks when you do. It was quite breezy later in the afternoon luckily, enough to temporarily cool you until you approached an open office building door. The select cuts of sun that managed to get through the buildings were also refreshing, but you could feel the extra heat, and you quickly wanted to escape the beams. Frequent cold drinks made it more bearable, but the heat added to the personality of the city. New York is very distinct from any other city, the lattice of roads and the eclectic building styles make it instantly recognisable, and wherever I look, I know I could be nowhere else. And I don't do much, I wander the streets, thinking about how everything appears, how everything smells, how it sounds, all the aspects that create this distinctive, modern atmosphere.

Anyway, I took a few shots of the buildings and I got a few pictures of me taken by Henny. I'll post them when I can. I'm going to look for Chinatown and Little Italy, and either eat there, or look for a decent steak.

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I walked, today, from Times Square all the way down to Greewich, where by accident, I found Lips. From there I walked further, made the quick post about my feelings of the city, then walked further. I found the Moondance Diner, and walked further, until I finally made it to Chambers Street Station. My feet are extremely tired right now, and I'm looking forward to relaxing this evening, but I have an early start tomorrow. I'm going to try and get tickets to a taped TV show if I can. I didn't manage to get my meal, and I think I found Chinatown, but I'm not sure. I might go out and find a cheap meal before I sleep.

Flickr

I don't have much to say, but I want people to see my Flickr account.

My Flickr Account

I hope you all enjoy it, and look at all my photos from America. Don't abuse the privilige or I'll delete it.

If You Can't Take the Heat

My laptop is too hot. It's not overheating, it's just very warm. I gather a laptops get that way, I guess I just haven't noticed this one ever being too hot to touch. I guess it's part of the heat in this part of the world, and that I have been using it a while.

The Starbucks I was in had issues with its wireless, and I couldn't post. Instead I went to another one a few hours later to post.

After writing that post, I walked down to Times Square, and made it in time to check out different musicals. Nothing was showing on Broadway on Monday, so I didn't bother checking much out, and proceeded to get another discounted (free) McDonalds. It's not healthy, but it's very cheap. And I'm not eating the burgers. I wish they had a deal like this for Taco Bell, I'm saving a fortune.

Heated wandering and a few hours later, I returned home, annoyed that The Daily Show was full, and looking for rest for my feet. New York is big. I didn't quite walk the length of Mido-suji, but I did a big walk, and I covered very little of the place. I tried finding the Nintendo store, but I was disappointed in finding nothing at the said address. Apparently it's further West, but hey. I'll look again tomorrow. Henny is photographing a premiere at the MOMA, and it'd be cool to hang around for that. He said he'd take some photographs of me while he was there, so I can get some nice shots of me in New York. Professional photographs. Excellent. I'll wash my hair. God... I should take my nice jacket, but it'll be scorching. I will be wearing the good jeans.

Since in England the month rolled over to August about five hours ago, my Flickr account allowed fresh photographs to be uploaded. I was very happy about that, and I filled my front page with new images. Good thing is, the upload counter isn't showing any uploads, so I might upload some of my less impressive pictures and I won't be charged in bandwidth! Or it could be an error and I could waste all of this months bandwidth on rubbish before my good photos come through.

For several hours, I uploaded and commented my photos, and I put up a lot of good ones. I have saved some bandwidth for later. In those hours Henny also worked on his laptop, with his headphones on. I felt very geeky when I used my DVD drive for a coaster on the sofa.

Tomorrow I will be going to New York again, attending the premiere, and looking for more musicals to go and see. You do feel central to the world, especially in popular culture and the cutting edge of the West.

On the day before Yukina left, we had a meal in San Jose. In this I had a very tasty dessert. I offered some to Yukina, and in offering I was overly gracious and very Eastern. She accepted in the proper way. Erin took a photo. This is the result, Douzo.



We laughed so hard at that picture when we saw it. It summed up the entire time in California with Erin and Yukina. Just silly, and fun, and doing silly, funny things. This is one of the beautiful views I got from Big Sur, Pfieffer Beach.



We all did dancing moves, and this is one of mine. In fact, it's the only one where there's a photo of it. I look rather cool, even though I'm totally posing.



The same night, just before the posing photo was taken, we had a perfect sunset over the Bay. We had a photo taken of it, and since Yukina's camera was pretty good, the photo came out really well. This was just one evening that we had a lot of fun. We took more photos inside, and I think that was a really good evening of my pink shirt. I remember it all well.



Those are a few of my photos from this holiday. I will post more when I won't kill your pathetic computers with massive downloads for each image. GO AMD WOO!