Escape to New York
I survived my journey to the center of the universe. It's amazing how long it took to get here. I flew Southwest out of Nashville, went to the airport about 8 a.m. flew to BWI, 1 hr layover, then onto Islip, Long Island, then 30 min waiting to ride over to the LIRR, then another 75 min into Penn Station, then a 25 min walk through Times Square to my hotel. Deep breath. Finally arrived at 4:45. That's about 9 hours, plus the time getting up in the morning, going to the office to print my borading pass (2 hrs early and still on 25th). I could drive to Baltimore in that time.
Some thoughts on the trip:
- Flying on the east coast with the Jersey Shore to the left, you can see the wake of boats and jet skis on the surprisingly blue ocean. It looks like sperm viewed in a petrie dish under a microscope, moving chaotically in search of a river-cum-fallopian tube.
- Judging from a brief aerial survey of central Long Island in the neighborhood of MacArthur Airport, I would have to say this is the above-ground swimming pool capital of the world. On one block 9 of 10 homes had a pool, 8 of which were above ground, with a couple that were "decked-out." Who knew?
- Judging from a visual sampling from the LIRR, it appears Queens is trapped somewhere in the early 1980s, with a stray Starbucks thrown in. Passing by some of the homes, it looks like a reverse-angle shot of "All in the Family." The houses are so narrow and so close together.
- As I looked at the trash strewn all along the streets, I thought, "Wasn't Giuliani supposed to have been the cleanliness mayor?" Either things have deteriorated in two-plus years, or he was simply the mayor of Manhattan (and maybe Brooklyn).
- Apparently Sunday is trash day for midtown Manhattan. That explains most of the smell.
- My hotel rocks. It's like it was designed for blogging. Cushy full/queen-ish bed, flat screen tv hanging off the wall over the desk, free wireless Internet. I was ready to move in. Ijust need to put a dresser in here, and I'd be set. I guess there's no kitchen, but I could figure something out.
- I made it to Assscat 3000 at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. Amy Poehler is my female improv crush of the year. (T.J. Jagodowski is my all-time male improv crush.) She just exudes positive attitude on stage, in addition to being incredibly smart and insightful as a player. In fact, I was really impressed with the overall pacing and sense of fun in the show compared to Monday's Armando Diaz in Chicago last Monday. It's probably a difference in the nature of the shows (plus the cast size), but Assscat was more consistently funny and found all manner of fun games in the scenes. However, when Armando found a solid scene, it really nailed it.
- I wandered up from UCBT along Eighth Ave up to 54th St. and over to Brodway to visit the Ed Sullivan Theatre. Sadly, Dave is on one of his two week vacations. I also doubt I'll get to live out my mid-life dream of seeing Kelly Ripa...unless I get up early and just hang out around the building. Hmmm....
- Strip clubs are nearly as popular here as in Austin, Tex. with plenty of t.v. and billboard advertising. Apparently Giuliani merely moved the adult bookstores over a block from Times Square.
Tomorrow I'll explore a bit of Central Park, the Upper East Side (for my job interview), and maybe drop by to see President Clinton in Harlem, before he heads over to tape The Daily Show.
Christ, this is fun. I need to get a wireless, high speed Internet in my house. I think it might drive me sane to get this random crap out of my head. Or, maybe I just need to travel more so I have better material to draw from.
Oh yeah, with a weight loss commercial on t.v. now...I was down to 198.4 as of Saturday afternoon. Just shy of 55 lbs. We'll see how I do diet-wise while I'm gone. Maybe I'll sample the exercise room in the hotel Monday a.m.
posted by RSaunders at 8:48 PM
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