far from the core

thursday, august 12th

11pm / midnight
we began today with a long coffee for internet access, followed by a laundry pickup. today was rainy, and began on a fantastic note because the first guy to walk past us got excited when he recognized grace slick on my shirt :)
also, the cute blonde girl working downstairs seems to have taken a shine to me. not that that really means anything.

after a false start at the starbucks (the girl got my name wrong, and Weird Foreign Guy behind me couldn't figure out his own) and some facebook / posting time, we were ready to face the Pharaoh.

By gum, we're both extremely glad to have seen the King Tut exhibit - it's apparently the last opportunity before it all goes back to Egypt. it - is - incredible. the artefacts are magnificent and the history fascinating... *well* worth the time and money.

after we finished there we stopped for a superior deli lunch before heading to museum mile... not a very successful visit. although we were treated to a mind-bending beggar:
"excuse me, i mean no disrespect but do you mind if i axe you a question?"
i looked at him expectantly.
"first of all, i'd like to thank you for not running away..."

my mother responded first, cutting him off with "not if you're going to make speeches".
*there* is a man who needs to work a little on his pitch...

we bussed back down to 54th, and arrived just as the rain did. we went hunting for sugar - i *love* the drinks selection in the states! - then entered the museum of modern art. much like my experience at the tate, the enormous building overflows with fantastic work, from van gogh and picasso to jess (*DAMN*), and they had a special gallery set up for matisse that was really something.

i wow'ed and whoa'ed a lot.

we left just after 6pm, not at all sated but in a hurry to make the 7pm dinner arrangement with her family.who makes such early bookings?! we arrived fashionably late - by taxi - only to discover that they'd pushed back the reservation by an hour and a half so we traipsed to the closest starbucks to sit (for what felt like the first time in ages) and caffeine up.

dinner was brilliant - crispos is the real deal and the food was terrific. it wasn't too expensive, either, and we all had a great evening... although by the time we got around to dessert jet-lag was taking its toll on a couple of them.

my mom and i took the subway back to the hotel - the station's about six blocks away and it was raining pretty heavily, but i like the rain and hope some of the photos i took come out alright.

my mum enjoyed the rain a bit less than i did, so she got dibs on the bath and as soon as she's done i'll be ready to get ready for bed.

---
saturday morning, just after midnight

NOOOOOOO!!! i can't believe this part's at an end... i am NOT satisfied - there's tons i haven't seen, and i haven't so much as smelled a whiff of the party scene(s)...

next time.

...
we began the day in the starbucks, breakfast online and tapping feet in time with the old woman dancing at the next table. it took a bit longer than i'd anticipated, but i was really happy with the results of the first round of photos.

from there we hit the empire state building. in retrospect, we should have done that first - it's a fantastic introduction to the city. i'm really grateful to the usher who performed an impromptu speech for us - otherwise we wouldn't have taken the audio tour, which would have been quite a miss!

next stop: coffee. i carried my bitter brew (bold pick of the day gets two thumbs-up) on the bus, and we made our way to the guggenheim museum.

yes, yes, the architecture rocks. it does. a large proportion of the installations are phenomenal, and a lot of the paintings on display are fantastic, too!

it must be said: the museums are filled with beautiful women. they can be a bit distracting sometimes :)

we found a great traditional new york deli, and bought ourselves packed salmon lunches to walk into the park. they were excellent, and we slowly walked them off across to the american museum of natural history.

it's a wonderful museum - made me think that not taking one's kids to places like that is criminal. we napped in the planetarium (because that's what happens - i wonder if whoopi took fees for talking us that lullaby), then wondered through the dinosaurs, advanced mammals (very cool!), biodiversity and the oceans. overload!

we took the subway back to our hotel, and i slept the sleep of the dead until just after 6pm. i groggily got ready for the walk in the absolutely *stunning* afternoon. we stopped at dunkin' donuts for a two-doughnuts-and-coffee special before walking to the subway station... my mother had trouble with the gate, and we ended up walking to theatre row instead. good thing we'd left early enough.

holy crap.
friday evening: LOTS of people. i hadn't written down the address of the theatre (genius!), and managed to transpose the digits... fortunately we weren't too far off, throwing two dollars at the burger king's internet cafe bought us the info, and we arrived just in time to pick up our tickets at the box office.

we went to see richard dresser's wonderful world (presented by the attic theater company) - my mum wasn't too impressed, but i thought it was brilliant! not easy to watch, but i believe that's only because the acting was a little too convincing :)

we found a pharmacy on times square that had a whole bunch of things we needed, then went looking for pizza. we eventually found a couple of places, and although they weren't quality i more more focused on the principle of the thing. the slices weren't bad at all, either.

that was a big week, and i'm sad it's over so soon. i think we did well, and i've had an amazing time!!

---
newark, 10.20am

waking up early wasn't a hassle, and neither was packing. i was really sad to be leaving, no matter how cool spending time with my cousins in montreal will be. it was a gorgeous morning, and everything's been smooth - not including the bookstore experience.

i'm always offended that my mother doesn't trust me when it comes to reading suggestions, *and* i was horrified to see the secret sitting on the store's recommendation shelves.

also, i'm irritated that i can't connect to the free wifi - boingo's $10 per month connection keeps taking precedence. i blame my netbook. oh - and speaking of cash complaints... i had to pay the $25 check-in fee this time. what utter bullshit :@

---
when did i write this? i remember scribbling it, but not the context:
general gripe
welcome to my sweet little mechanized state
where the military industrial complex churns out weapons of hate
we can wipe out all our neighbours before it's too late
but only if we're weak enough to take their bullshit bait

we march down perfect beachfronts singing ditties and love
while panic and terror rain on from above
when there's nothing to do but take off the glove
and swing out at ghosts while we strangle the dove

the macho men swagger while frail women swoon
all stare disapprovingly as they pass by the loon
he's smiling and laughing, what a buffoon!
'cause he's not willing to feed off the lies on their spoon

for breathing and sighing there's definitely no time
we're all paying the penalty for a victimless crime
as our air and our water's fates turn on a dime
and our fine arts are going the way of the mime