there's still dust on my shelf
i cleaned it up but it came right back
and now there's paint on my fingers
but i'm going to leave it right where it is.
the holes in my skin have let some shit in
and it's taken me far away from where You needed me to be.
i'll take You back if You promise i've already been taken back
there are too many fears in my assumptions
don't let my faith become one of them.
and when You see us together, discovered at last and half-filled whole, our open eyes will see beyond each other into the places You need us to be. Your challenge is set our adventure now met. we'll be the lowly umbrella.
May 26, 2011
24. macaroni is only appropriate on thursdays now.
i feel super ADD in writing this way. because if i had just blooshed it out (yes blooshed. google that shit. (then google who first said 'google that shit'. i think it was dane cook)) all in one go, it'd be done and out of the way. but then it wouldn't be as thoroughly documented in writing as i would of liked. and as this ranks as my current number 2 best trip i've ever been on, time and care must be taken. so later in life, after some major apocalyptic catastrophe when the internet is re-discovered with everything still on it, i can check up on what i did decades previous. hopefully blooshed will be in the dictionary by then.
thursday started out like previous days. $4 breakfast bagel. waiting for everyone else to get up. knowing there would be many a wander. BUT. today was different. since the NYPD had stopped by the previous day, we knew they might come back on this day. and indeed, indeed they did. since i was up and about i evaded them mightily and headed to the river for a single photograph, then chilled on the outside while several people were being barged in on, on the INSIDE. i heard my good fellow dan was just in his boxers lying on his bed and they were all 'who is THIS guy?' in their crazy new york accent shouting. it was this morning they told us we had to leave, as this was no longer an acceptable place to reside in. unsafe! vacate! do not stay! we were told. stickers on the doors reinforcing the words of the officers. yet... there were hints behind their harsh words. what's that? you guys aren't leaving until monday? well, we aren't coming BACK unTIL monday, but WHEN we come back on MONDAY we'll be putting padlocks on the doors. just to make sure YOU know, we won't come back, to HERE, unTIL monday morning, around 10...
... oh... oh ok. thank you for the warning officer.s. so they left. and we carried on living. and staying.
and from then on, we adventured. first to madison avenue, where kris was almost struck by a vehicle thanks to street food distraction, and lindsay, becky, nate, and dan (maybe ashley was there too.. but.. cannot be sure) did a magical disappearing act whilst walking on the other side of the road. so kris'n i found a porsche design store and fiddled around looking at $35 000 watches and whatnot... not bigs. i got some addresses for cheap BUT GOOD food on the west side, said the finely dressed gentleman, to whom i could never appropriately thank for the insistence upon said places. although we never went... but we DID go to the giant toy store. saw some cool lego stuff. discovered nerf was still kicking around. and some giant, giant stuffed dogs. oh if the space had allowed, all ya'll would have received one from me as a token of my wanderlusty looting. we met up with the rest of the crew and bailed on madison, and headed to soho. which. was. awesome. as. balls. i don't know what it was, but there was a definite mass of people energy and street vending and cool shops that were surely hipster enough to draw a herd of people into soho to begin with. we spent most of the day here non-shopping, but still wandering and seeing things. previous to this, we swung by ground zero to maybe see obama, since this was the day he addressed .. the nation? about osama.. from ground zero.. but we got out of there super quick. it was hyped overzealous patriotism going down and i am not super ok with any of that shit. mission accomplished, buy a flag, mission accomplished, flag wave, fuck this, subway, sooohooooo. still pretty interesting to be there though and soak in the.. lingering effects of tragedy. eerie. surreal.
AND THEN WE WENT TO BROOKLYN.
hannah had done a residency there a year ago and there was an end of term show going on, in which we were all pretty stoked to attend. poor ashley had no phone and had tried to reach us, and never could so although i'm sure she came all the way over to brooklyn, ended up doing other fun things by her independent self on sinco de mayo. but the rest of us, at opening food, looked at some pretty sweet (and strangely similar) student work, and went up on the rooftop for some brews and delicious viewing of the manhattan bridge and surrounding brooklyn area. already in love, because it felt as safe as manhattan, yet SO much more graffiti and industrial decay, but with the adorapubs and THICKly accented arguments going off in the streets. never again will i hear a better discussion on haircuts and friend's opinions. after the show we had some of our own sinco de mayo beers in a lovely little pub (AFTER entering an abandoned housed and making some installation art (it was a dick.) and stealing a clipping of newspaper from when lennon was killed) and bonded over phantom bathroom exits and strangely fruity tap water. we split ways and i headed home with becky and the amazing race (kris and lindsay. awesome). we walked over the brooklyn bridge which was siiiiiiiiiiiick in the good way, and the bad way for you could see through the slats in the sidewalk that went all the way down to the ground below.. but good times, good chats, super late night arrival to our 'hostel'. and more sushi.
May 25, 2011
circles and skulls
i find great joy in drawing circles... i'm super good at it.
i find great solace in drawing skulls... as much as i fight it they make me think of mortality. and the struggle to sustain knowledge.
what i find mostly fulfilling lately is the days past grad in which i have spent large segments of time on intake, and it's important to outlet that. on YA'LL suckers!
awesome new music:
for my metal motive i've found,
memphis may fire.
oceana.
anticipation for of mice and men's new album.
to counter the loudness, the folk fix (or general passionate softness),
frightened rabbits.
hey rosetta.
and hip hop heaven,
p.o.s. ... uncensored and uninhibited at last.
i've also reconnected with bands like emery, saosin, and guster, all solid bands who come in and out of my musical cravings.
movies? .... no!
tv? ....
i watched 24 minutes of breaking bad and was riveted. time to binge.
modern family. i have nothing new to look forward to. major sadness.
there have been a few other youtube staples and blogs that i have started following, but NOTHING has me more addicted to the behavior of dropping ANYTHING i am doing to consume, reading the walking dead. seriously, i don't know what it is, but i have never become more attached to characters or situations than in this series. SO brutal. SO emotional. sooooo goooooood... and now i've caught up. 8 years of writing and illustrating taken in within 3 months. oh the humanity! at least i have season two on amc to look forward to.
and time out for one second.. let us applaud amc for actually providing amazing quality programming, that for once doesn't make me feel guilty about sitting on the couch for hours at a time, because it inspires me. toys with my emotions. art.
but mostly... i am just so SO so pumped to be done school. and entering this stage of life, that which is my worldly oyster, my lack of timeline, my celebration and woo of society. since NY all i've wanted to do was paint. and with some breaks for gardening, designing tattoos and t-shirts, that is what i intend to do. i've asked my wonderful Lord for opportunities, and there was an instant response. so i've got tasks. i've got potential income. i've got my chance to not hop back on the money making wagon and struggle for realsies for a little bit, live well and recklessly, with no agenda or timetable. stability is not on the table yet, and it's exciting.
and now some words that rhyme with other words.
truck.
stuck.
duck.
puck.
shuck.
tuck.
ruck.
suck.
buck.
muck.
i find great solace in drawing skulls... as much as i fight it they make me think of mortality. and the struggle to sustain knowledge.
what i find mostly fulfilling lately is the days past grad in which i have spent large segments of time on intake, and it's important to outlet that. on YA'LL suckers!
awesome new music:
for my metal motive i've found,
memphis may fire.
oceana.
anticipation for of mice and men's new album.
to counter the loudness, the folk fix (or general passionate softness),
frightened rabbits.
hey rosetta.
and hip hop heaven,
p.o.s. ... uncensored and uninhibited at last.
i've also reconnected with bands like emery, saosin, and guster, all solid bands who come in and out of my musical cravings.
movies? .... no!
tv? ....
i watched 24 minutes of breaking bad and was riveted. time to binge.
modern family. i have nothing new to look forward to. major sadness.
there have been a few other youtube staples and blogs that i have started following, but NOTHING has me more addicted to the behavior of dropping ANYTHING i am doing to consume, reading the walking dead. seriously, i don't know what it is, but i have never become more attached to characters or situations than in this series. SO brutal. SO emotional. sooooo goooooood... and now i've caught up. 8 years of writing and illustrating taken in within 3 months. oh the humanity! at least i have season two on amc to look forward to.
and time out for one second.. let us applaud amc for actually providing amazing quality programming, that for once doesn't make me feel guilty about sitting on the couch for hours at a time, because it inspires me. toys with my emotions. art.
but mostly... i am just so SO so pumped to be done school. and entering this stage of life, that which is my worldly oyster, my lack of timeline, my celebration and woo of society. since NY all i've wanted to do was paint. and with some breaks for gardening, designing tattoos and t-shirts, that is what i intend to do. i've asked my wonderful Lord for opportunities, and there was an instant response. so i've got tasks. i've got potential income. i've got my chance to not hop back on the money making wagon and struggle for realsies for a little bit, live well and recklessly, with no agenda or timetable. stability is not on the table yet, and it's exciting.
and now some words that rhyme with other words.
truck.
stuck.
duck.
puck.
shuck.
tuck.
ruck.
suck.
buck.
muck.
the lathering regret
i asked a really tall guy if he could move during our grad class photo. i can't imagine how self conscious that must have made him feel. i feel guilty about sitting up front for ANYTHING.
May 23, 2011
this is in bad taste...
http://anearshatteredexpectation.wordpress.com/2011/05/23/accidental-education/
because... linking one blog to another blog is way funner than posting it twice.
because... linking one blog to another blog is way funner than posting it twice.
wil wheaton was whooped won wednesday
i like that the first rain day i had of 2011 was in new york. in may, where snow doesn't exist. it was... just as cold and disheartening as i remember. JOKES. it was just a reason to stay indoors and consume art all day. and art all day we did. this is where i begin to sound pretentious.
at our new favorite anytime store i had the first of many $4 breakfasts, and at it on my bed. this was the first morning i started getting up 2 hours earlier than everyone else and just waaaaaaaaiting for people to slowly creep out of their rooms. i don't know why i did this.. i think it was a dramatic fear of being left behind. but that's ok! lots of ponder time. me time. breakfast time.
the first place we sloppily wandered to was the whitney museum.. they had several exhibitions of contemporary art that really resounded with me because either the content was something of interest, or it was super well done, but mostly just because it was art that i hadn't seen before and seeing new things is more exciting than seeing things that are familiar. for the most part... glenn ligon was my favorite, he had a ton of good crap to say about race, sexuality, and america.. solid solid solid work. i spent most of my time here. up top there was a digital projection piece by paul chan that was nice and serene and then slowly warped into something kinda twisted and ... not nostalgic, but reflective.. things were floating upwards avoiding gravity, and then slowly you started to notice things falling the opposite direction, and those things slowly turned into people falling.. it was about 9/11 and i don't know the exact intention of it was, buuuuut it had some punch to it when you thought about where you were back on that day and seeing everything go down. super weird being in NY thinking about that... also on the top floor there was another piece that was so... powerful i couldn't even stay in the room. it was a full wall portrait of someone (he was an artist, i'm sad i don't remember his name) who had died 5 hours earlier of aids. those eyes were haunting. it was suuuper intense... withering away does not seem like a fun way to pass.
bang boom boom. we spent a good two hours there, and i think it set the standard for what we expected to see in NY.. we headed straight from the whitney to the guggenheim, probably the museum i was most excited to see. we saw a loooot of familiar art, and most of it was picasso ish modern expressionism that by the top of the ramp got fairly... old. it was cool to see big names lIKE picasso and kandinsky, but it's not as hard hitting as seeing chuck close or keifer in person. what was most fun was just being inside the gugg, and fantasizing skateboarding down the entire thing.. also, the gugg is sticky to the touch. to me at least... that kind of concrete paint that feels sweaty. noted. touched. and moved onwards from.
next we hit up the frick collection, which wasn't a very known stop for some of us, but they had some suuuuper old amazing work by rembrandt and such others from that time, and the way it was all displayed was a really cool way to collect and present art. a tip of the hat to frick, a collector who aaaaaaaactually loved art and designed his mansion around his love for it. rad surprise. later we learned a bit of history about him and connections to the art world involving the anarchist movement and assassination attempts and all the joy of the poor raging war on the rich. good times in learning!
it had stopped raining and it was time to decide on a show. a broadway show? a broadway show!
: 0
let me tell you, going to times square for the first time in the daylight was a dramatic shift. people. everywhere. it was an infestation of shoulder evading and feeling insignificant. we were trying to meet up with a few of our other travelers, at starbucks... with no distinct direction or location. just starbucks. fail fail fail. eventually communication was actualized and we met behind the red stairs and got in line to get tickets.. after all the splits it ended up being dan, nate and me in line for what we decided would be a good idea to see, 'how to succeed in business without really trying'. YEAH harry potter. up close and for realsies. the tickets were $85 and i was having a panic attack about spending so much money on something i was totally unsure of... we had sbarro to calm my nerves and headed over and 10 minutes after showtime started my face was in my hands in sheer awe and pleasure over being romanced by production on such a perfect level. roooooooose maryyy... sssssssssssssssssssseriously the best thing i have ever seen. i had no regrets of money spending on this'n... it was one of those moments where you know it was coming to an end, and the end-dreading began and while the applause and standing ovation was heartfelt and appropriate.. part of me died knowing it'd be a long time since i could see something of this caliber again. so if you are ever in the area and desire to see a show... and have no money... rob a bank and see it.
after some sushi we met up with our party people at a bar called home sweet home, where we had JUST missed a wicked concert (as we were told of it's greatness) but had a drink or two and headed home to our favorite shop for some more sushi (yes. they had everything. and anything).
rain day was a good day.
at our new favorite anytime store i had the first of many $4 breakfasts, and at it on my bed. this was the first morning i started getting up 2 hours earlier than everyone else and just waaaaaaaaiting for people to slowly creep out of their rooms. i don't know why i did this.. i think it was a dramatic fear of being left behind. but that's ok! lots of ponder time. me time. breakfast time.
the first place we sloppily wandered to was the whitney museum.. they had several exhibitions of contemporary art that really resounded with me because either the content was something of interest, or it was super well done, but mostly just because it was art that i hadn't seen before and seeing new things is more exciting than seeing things that are familiar. for the most part... glenn ligon was my favorite, he had a ton of good crap to say about race, sexuality, and america.. solid solid solid work. i spent most of my time here. up top there was a digital projection piece by paul chan that was nice and serene and then slowly warped into something kinda twisted and ... not nostalgic, but reflective.. things were floating upwards avoiding gravity, and then slowly you started to notice things falling the opposite direction, and those things slowly turned into people falling.. it was about 9/11 and i don't know the exact intention of it was, buuuuut it had some punch to it when you thought about where you were back on that day and seeing everything go down. super weird being in NY thinking about that... also on the top floor there was another piece that was so... powerful i couldn't even stay in the room. it was a full wall portrait of someone (he was an artist, i'm sad i don't remember his name) who had died 5 hours earlier of aids. those eyes were haunting. it was suuuper intense... withering away does not seem like a fun way to pass.
bang boom boom. we spent a good two hours there, and i think it set the standard for what we expected to see in NY.. we headed straight from the whitney to the guggenheim, probably the museum i was most excited to see. we saw a loooot of familiar art, and most of it was picasso ish modern expressionism that by the top of the ramp got fairly... old. it was cool to see big names lIKE picasso and kandinsky, but it's not as hard hitting as seeing chuck close or keifer in person. what was most fun was just being inside the gugg, and fantasizing skateboarding down the entire thing.. also, the gugg is sticky to the touch. to me at least... that kind of concrete paint that feels sweaty. noted. touched. and moved onwards from.
next we hit up the frick collection, which wasn't a very known stop for some of us, but they had some suuuuper old amazing work by rembrandt and such others from that time, and the way it was all displayed was a really cool way to collect and present art. a tip of the hat to frick, a collector who aaaaaaaactually loved art and designed his mansion around his love for it. rad surprise. later we learned a bit of history about him and connections to the art world involving the anarchist movement and assassination attempts and all the joy of the poor raging war on the rich. good times in learning!
it had stopped raining and it was time to decide on a show. a broadway show? a broadway show!
: 0
let me tell you, going to times square for the first time in the daylight was a dramatic shift. people. everywhere. it was an infestation of shoulder evading and feeling insignificant. we were trying to meet up with a few of our other travelers, at starbucks... with no distinct direction or location. just starbucks. fail fail fail. eventually communication was actualized and we met behind the red stairs and got in line to get tickets.. after all the splits it ended up being dan, nate and me in line for what we decided would be a good idea to see, 'how to succeed in business without really trying'. YEAH harry potter. up close and for realsies. the tickets were $85 and i was having a panic attack about spending so much money on something i was totally unsure of... we had sbarro to calm my nerves and headed over and 10 minutes after showtime started my face was in my hands in sheer awe and pleasure over being romanced by production on such a perfect level. roooooooose maryyy... sssssssssssssssssssseriously the best thing i have ever seen. i had no regrets of money spending on this'n... it was one of those moments where you know it was coming to an end, and the end-dreading began and while the applause and standing ovation was heartfelt and appropriate.. part of me died knowing it'd be a long time since i could see something of this caliber again. so if you are ever in the area and desire to see a show... and have no money... rob a bank and see it.
after some sushi we met up with our party people at a bar called home sweet home, where we had JUST missed a wicked concert (as we were told of it's greatness) but had a drink or two and headed home to our favorite shop for some more sushi (yes. they had everything. and anything).
rain day was a good day.
May 17, 2011
twice divided by two there was tuesday
and the Lord said, it was good.
we headed out early (ish.(not.)) to our pre-scouted breakfast diner, ej's. three blocks up from our lovely hostel. breakfast burritos slay me like ... only avocado and egg can. i'm gonna have dreams about that burrito. or nightmares, when i realize i won't ever get THAT burrito ever again. until i return.. just you wait ej's. just you wait. since we were the 'early' risers, we went back home, only to walk straight back as the rest of the group had a hankering for some breakfast diner action. since i had already partaken of the sacred sacrament of pre-wandering sustenance, i post-food (minus a stop at a fruit stand ($1 for 4 bananas is just.. the *expletive*)(shit)) wandered with my friend nate, getting a feel for the blocks in and around the place we called home. daylight documentation of our whereabouts began and continued from this point onwards. there is no chill thrill greater to me than getting familiar and intimate with a new city. being lost? hell yes challenge accepted and encouraged.
today was the day we were going to wander around chelsea and see all the galleries they had to offer. i wasn't so stoked on much of it, but the key point was needing to take the subway to get there. metro pass, $39 for 7 days of unlimited travel. if you are ever there, get it. holy crap second best NY purchase ever. it's like the c train, but way shakier, more storied, vaster, expandy-er, and JUST as good at lulling me to sleep. and no buttons needing to be pressed. well done subway system NY. you are ferociously missed.
my tues-first-actual-day in NY motto was 'see shit. do shit. take shit'. doubly. it was an excellent adventure, with which i started with my new and old friends dave, lindsay, hannah, and brittney. there were a lot of galleries closed which really sucked, but it was still sweet to see a place so chalk full of opportunities for the likes of people like us should we decide to plan B our asses straight to NY. after awhile hunger prevailed for me, and the foursome i was with had higher priorities of central park carriage riding, so i bailed and met up with ashley, lindsay, kris, dan, and nate at 'the park' wickedawesomeamazing restaurant, where i had my first slice of NY pizza (/ whole pizza) and first documentation of toilets (which serve no justification other than the fantasizing of my murder via james bond. which made 'relieving' myself in need of ""). we wandering our way through chelsea and into greenwich, knowing no destination and enjoying the company of each other and being bamboozled into conversation with a dude wanting money. he ditched me the minute all he saw was hunger compassion and a failure to include him in my expenses of the day. BUT. i really enjoyed just being with my folk and finding out my lovely friend ashley had gone to abe, no bigs, but then surprise SPB, then balls out balderdash ranchlands elementary. cool small ass world sometimes...
eventually we got home, and after a quick stop at our grocer/liquor store, decided it was time to play catch up sociables with the previous four who had already been going at it for awhile. dave was losing. i had my fill and decided to ditch with dave and dan to go on an aimless stroll northbound, where we had a pint at one bar, apparently (for i do not remember past my extremely incessant hiccups) a club discussion then dismissal, and finally wound up in spanish harlem for some disgusting white castle. our 30 block walk back was art/drunk discussion filled and good bonding/exhausting times. decision making was our bitch on this night. i may or may not have purchased sushi. no. no i did not. confirmed.
we headed out early (ish.(not.)) to our pre-scouted breakfast diner, ej's. three blocks up from our lovely hostel. breakfast burritos slay me like ... only avocado and egg can. i'm gonna have dreams about that burrito. or nightmares, when i realize i won't ever get THAT burrito ever again. until i return.. just you wait ej's. just you wait. since we were the 'early' risers, we went back home, only to walk straight back as the rest of the group had a hankering for some breakfast diner action. since i had already partaken of the sacred sacrament of pre-wandering sustenance, i post-food (minus a stop at a fruit stand ($1 for 4 bananas is just.. the *expletive*)(shit)) wandered with my friend nate, getting a feel for the blocks in and around the place we called home. daylight documentation of our whereabouts began and continued from this point onwards. there is no chill thrill greater to me than getting familiar and intimate with a new city. being lost? hell yes challenge accepted and encouraged.
today was the day we were going to wander around chelsea and see all the galleries they had to offer. i wasn't so stoked on much of it, but the key point was needing to take the subway to get there. metro pass, $39 for 7 days of unlimited travel. if you are ever there, get it. holy crap second best NY purchase ever. it's like the c train, but way shakier, more storied, vaster, expandy-er, and JUST as good at lulling me to sleep. and no buttons needing to be pressed. well done subway system NY. you are ferociously missed.
my tues-first-actual-day in NY motto was 'see shit. do shit. take shit'. doubly. it was an excellent adventure, with which i started with my new and old friends dave, lindsay, hannah, and brittney. there were a lot of galleries closed which really sucked, but it was still sweet to see a place so chalk full of opportunities for the likes of people like us should we decide to plan B our asses straight to NY. after awhile hunger prevailed for me, and the foursome i was with had higher priorities of central park carriage riding, so i bailed and met up with ashley, lindsay, kris, dan, and nate at 'the park' wickedawesomeamazing restaurant, where i had my first slice of NY pizza (/ whole pizza) and first documentation of toilets (which serve no justification other than the fantasizing of my murder via james bond. which made 'relieving' myself in need of ""). we wandering our way through chelsea and into greenwich, knowing no destination and enjoying the company of each other and being bamboozled into conversation with a dude wanting money. he ditched me the minute all he saw was hunger compassion and a failure to include him in my expenses of the day. BUT. i really enjoyed just being with my folk and finding out my lovely friend ashley had gone to abe, no bigs, but then surprise SPB, then balls out balderdash ranchlands elementary. cool small ass world sometimes...
eventually we got home, and after a quick stop at our grocer/liquor store, decided it was time to play catch up sociables with the previous four who had already been going at it for awhile. dave was losing. i had my fill and decided to ditch with dave and dan to go on an aimless stroll northbound, where we had a pint at one bar, apparently (for i do not remember past my extremely incessant hiccups) a club discussion then dismissal, and finally wound up in spanish harlem for some disgusting white castle. our 30 block walk back was art/drunk discussion filled and good bonding/exhausting times. decision making was our bitch on this night. i may or may not have purchased sushi. no. no i did not. confirmed.
May 13, 2011
once there was a monday
and on this monday, i went to the airport at 7:45 in the morning. it's story time!
i knew immediately the expectations i had upon this trip when i awoke, excitedly and with the anti-grog of a short anticipation period. the previous day i had handed in my final assignment (of which i am well pleased) and until that point had no time to be excited about my first trip to new york. satisfaction appeased, and after hooking up with my 17 other painting comrades, we did our travel jig and ended up at the newark airport at... some time later in the afternoon. we spent a few hours trying to find our vans to take us to our hostel and once we did, embarked on the perilous and extravagantly exciting ride through jersey and into manhattan. traffic sucks. i'm going to try really hard to never drive in new york. BECAUSE! they drive like ACTUAL mad men. it shocks me we didn't crash or kill anyone. our driver was calm and collected (in the midst of honking and swearing and aggressively non-shoulder-checkingly lane changing) and we inevitably arrived unscathed, minus far quicker heart rates and appreciation for canadian driving hospitality.
once we checked in (which took a loooooooong time... language barrier, misquoted prices, no computers and paper mathematics) and settled in as best we could with only ONE cockroach siting. and slaying. via hannah's foot. the crunch was... unsettling. new sounds for a new city and curious ears. the group kind of separated (as it is impossible to travel as an 18 person unit) and i ended up with the lovely dan, nate, lindsay and kris (aka the amazing race (who had organized the whole trip and handled all the crap thrown their way with patience and the correct amount of assertion)). we joked how cool it'd be to walk aaaaaaaaall the way to times square, but laughed it off knowing the distance was further than we'd care to walk.
at first we were alarmed at how much trash their seemed to be, lining the streets in piles sometimes 6 feet tall... clearly they have a system down, and it works, and it works every night. it's just shocking how much trash actually comes out of people's apartments. we learned where it all went later. BUT- on this night, we got slightly familiar with our own little neighborhood, and continued meandering up and down avenues and streets, trying to soak up as much of the atmosphere as we could. if this city never slept, we'd find out where and how they did it. eventually we came across the chrysler building, and opted to walk in that direction because... it's the chrysler building. the first familiar sight to us all. it wasn't as tall as we thought, but it was beautiful and we couldn't get in, so we kept walking a few blocks and SURPRISE! grand central. this was tops on the list of things to see and so we headed in pronto to discover the coolest most massive barreled ceiling and massive pillarsandwindowsandniceness LALHGL AH Hhhhhhh. ohhh it was super cool. in the perfect way. like the movies, minus the people, plus the expectation multiplied by exceeding that expectation. it was 11:30pm after all... and there was STILL a wicked art exhibition open at one of the entrances with 4 ushers. money money money.
once we finally got outside and after a few more pictures of it's pretty much awesomenessineveryway design, we found another bright tall looking building and headed that way, when we got distracted by the new york public library (more later) and THEN spotted the empire state building, a few blocks away. done and done. i had no idea that the empire state building was still the tallest building in new york (after 9/11) so excitement was pretty high as we made our way effortlessly through the disneyland-ride line up of ribboned aisles with only three or four people ahead of us. yeah it was $21 to get to the top, but so worth it for no wait and a midnight viewing of the city from 86 stories up. did you know the foundation is only one or two stories deep? that scared the shiz outa me. all i could picture whilst looking over the edge is what i would do if it suddenly decided to tip over. it would not be good. not good at all. i do this at work often, and think about what i would do should a situation of terror arise, but at the top of the tallest building i've ever been in... i think i'd just pass out and soil myself. we stayed up top for about an hour, because in the very near distance we found a spot of daylight, right in the middle of the city. times square! we shouted together, in bountiful joy. and we laughed and laughed at how far we had actually wandered.
so we headed down. made our way to noon, and came upon one of the most famous places on earth. it was ridic... not nearly crazy busy (1am is not prime time it seems) but the intensity and STILL energy level it had was super super surreal. you see it all the time in movies and on tv and always at new years, but this was real and we were there and we could smell it and taste it if we so chose. after the awe and shock wore off we agreed it was time to start wandering home (after we found some NY pizza... because.. we could. and did. lots). it actually only took about 45 minutes to wander home from there, but the energy we gained by seeing so many sights on our first night kept us going. and my constant fantasies of shoving people into the piles of trash. and into the open storefront manholes. pretty much shoving daydreams. someone had to think it, i've NEVER felt safer in my life than walking around in manhattan. it's a weird feeling expecting a slightly hostile environment, but i was faced with nothing but courteous hurry and freedom to go mostly where i pleased. we grabbed some late night snacks from our (yet to be discovered as favorite) 24-7 corner store and headed to our rooms for some sleep. 3am was a perfect bedtime for an amazing first night.
i knew immediately the expectations i had upon this trip when i awoke, excitedly and with the anti-grog of a short anticipation period. the previous day i had handed in my final assignment (of which i am well pleased) and until that point had no time to be excited about my first trip to new york. satisfaction appeased, and after hooking up with my 17 other painting comrades, we did our travel jig and ended up at the newark airport at... some time later in the afternoon. we spent a few hours trying to find our vans to take us to our hostel and once we did, embarked on the perilous and extravagantly exciting ride through jersey and into manhattan. traffic sucks. i'm going to try really hard to never drive in new york. BECAUSE! they drive like ACTUAL mad men. it shocks me we didn't crash or kill anyone. our driver was calm and collected (in the midst of honking and swearing and aggressively non-shoulder-checkingly lane changing) and we inevitably arrived unscathed, minus far quicker heart rates and appreciation for canadian driving hospitality.
once we checked in (which took a loooooooong time... language barrier, misquoted prices, no computers and paper mathematics) and settled in as best we could with only ONE cockroach siting. and slaying. via hannah's foot. the crunch was... unsettling. new sounds for a new city and curious ears. the group kind of separated (as it is impossible to travel as an 18 person unit) and i ended up with the lovely dan, nate, lindsay and kris (aka the amazing race (who had organized the whole trip and handled all the crap thrown their way with patience and the correct amount of assertion)). we joked how cool it'd be to walk aaaaaaaaall the way to times square, but laughed it off knowing the distance was further than we'd care to walk.
at first we were alarmed at how much trash their seemed to be, lining the streets in piles sometimes 6 feet tall... clearly they have a system down, and it works, and it works every night. it's just shocking how much trash actually comes out of people's apartments. we learned where it all went later. BUT- on this night, we got slightly familiar with our own little neighborhood, and continued meandering up and down avenues and streets, trying to soak up as much of the atmosphere as we could. if this city never slept, we'd find out where and how they did it. eventually we came across the chrysler building, and opted to walk in that direction because... it's the chrysler building. the first familiar sight to us all. it wasn't as tall as we thought, but it was beautiful and we couldn't get in, so we kept walking a few blocks and SURPRISE! grand central. this was tops on the list of things to see and so we headed in pronto to discover the coolest most massive barreled ceiling and massive pillarsandwindowsandniceness LALHGL AH Hhhhhhh. ohhh it was super cool. in the perfect way. like the movies, minus the people, plus the expectation multiplied by exceeding that expectation. it was 11:30pm after all... and there was STILL a wicked art exhibition open at one of the entrances with 4 ushers. money money money.
once we finally got outside and after a few more pictures of it's pretty much awesomenessineveryway design, we found another bright tall looking building and headed that way, when we got distracted by the new york public library (more later) and THEN spotted the empire state building, a few blocks away. done and done. i had no idea that the empire state building was still the tallest building in new york (after 9/11) so excitement was pretty high as we made our way effortlessly through the disneyland-ride line up of ribboned aisles with only three or four people ahead of us. yeah it was $21 to get to the top, but so worth it for no wait and a midnight viewing of the city from 86 stories up. did you know the foundation is only one or two stories deep? that scared the shiz outa me. all i could picture whilst looking over the edge is what i would do if it suddenly decided to tip over. it would not be good. not good at all. i do this at work often, and think about what i would do should a situation of terror arise, but at the top of the tallest building i've ever been in... i think i'd just pass out and soil myself. we stayed up top for about an hour, because in the very near distance we found a spot of daylight, right in the middle of the city. times square! we shouted together, in bountiful joy. and we laughed and laughed at how far we had actually wandered.
so we headed down. made our way to noon, and came upon one of the most famous places on earth. it was ridic... not nearly crazy busy (1am is not prime time it seems) but the intensity and STILL energy level it had was super super surreal. you see it all the time in movies and on tv and always at new years, but this was real and we were there and we could smell it and taste it if we so chose. after the awe and shock wore off we agreed it was time to start wandering home (after we found some NY pizza... because.. we could. and did. lots). it actually only took about 45 minutes to wander home from there, but the energy we gained by seeing so many sights on our first night kept us going. and my constant fantasies of shoving people into the piles of trash. and into the open storefront manholes. pretty much shoving daydreams. someone had to think it, i've NEVER felt safer in my life than walking around in manhattan. it's a weird feeling expecting a slightly hostile environment, but i was faced with nothing but courteous hurry and freedom to go mostly where i pleased. we grabbed some late night snacks from our (yet to be discovered as favorite) 24-7 corner store and headed to our rooms for some sleep. 3am was a perfect bedtime for an amazing first night.
May 2, 2011
don't you feel safer now knowing that the bus that is going to hit you tomorrow wasn't sent by osama?
i don't often get disgusted by people buuuut... i'm super sarcastically stoked with the outcry of joy that someone has been murdered. i don't give a shit how much he deserved it... i firmly believe that there is always another way. i'd die for that. to celebrate so ignorantly about the death of someone seems so anti-everythingwestandfor (we as in the people who appreciate life and love, if you happen to fall in that boat) that i think we're making ourselves a bigger target. is it actually fine to think that because one man is dead that the hatred and violence thrown towards our culture will cease in any measure? or that there isn't a dozen capable of the exact same things waiting in the shadows behind where he was killed? sure we have enemies. but i think we goad them on to further atrocities by showing our lack of sensitivity and lack of respect for someone who was once a child. nobody is out of the reach of grace, and it's up to us to extend that opportunity to ANYONE.
in lighter news...
i'm goin to themerica! to exploit my new found discovery of panicked freedom. new york, new york. i'm gonna walk all over you. and you're going to like it. and me. and we'll be friends because i've heard you're pretty awesome, and i know i'm pretty awesome, so it's only a matter of time before i come home happily exhausted knowing i've made a new friend in you. suz gave me a list of pubs i need to visit, an jef gave me a challenge to eat a lot of pizza. and discover new things for him to visit when he goes back in october. and claire in november. i haven't had a chance to feel excited about this trip yet, and it JUST hit me tonight in the face. hard. i got excited. screamed a little. let the shakes take over and got giddy at the thought of waking up and takin off to the airport to take off. i am currently waiting for laundry in which i can pack, which won't take long at all and until then, i count down until i'm allowed to fall asleep, dreaming sheepishly about flirting with cute girls and fighting off fluffy monsters with cardboard swords (except it's never EVER that innocent).
i'm out. taking this angst and anger and turning it on the american people- i'm gonna shoot them with smiles.
in lighter news...
i'm goin to themerica! to exploit my new found discovery of panicked freedom. new york, new york. i'm gonna walk all over you. and you're going to like it. and me. and we'll be friends because i've heard you're pretty awesome, and i know i'm pretty awesome, so it's only a matter of time before i come home happily exhausted knowing i've made a new friend in you. suz gave me a list of pubs i need to visit, an jef gave me a challenge to eat a lot of pizza. and discover new things for him to visit when he goes back in october. and claire in november. i haven't had a chance to feel excited about this trip yet, and it JUST hit me tonight in the face. hard. i got excited. screamed a little. let the shakes take over and got giddy at the thought of waking up and takin off to the airport to take off. i am currently waiting for laundry in which i can pack, which won't take long at all and until then, i count down until i'm allowed to fall asleep, dreaming sheepishly about flirting with cute girls and fighting off fluffy monsters with cardboard swords (except it's never EVER that innocent).
i'm out. taking this angst and anger and turning it on the american people- i'm gonna shoot them with smiles.
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