The 2005 NY trip--first entry
Wednesday, 27 July 2005 09:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
carose59"I Once Read Somewhere That It's Possible To Have an Orgasm Solely From Having Your Taste Buds Stimulated."*
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I think what was holding me back (besides a few crying jags and a seriously recalcitrant scanner--I wanted my own pictures to go with these pieces) was trying to put everything in chronological order. I don't know why I was trying to do that, but it's not working. So here's what I was thinking about today.
It was kismet, or maybe synchronicity. Or, I suppose, if you believe in such things, coincidence. As I was waiting at Port Authority for a cab, a girl driving a bicycle-pulled rickshaw rode up and did a spiel trying to drum up business. She looked like fun and so did the ride, but besides the fact that I had my suitcase with me, I was also going to Brooklyn, which was well out of her range, not to mention the whole bridge-or-tunnel on a bike? Um, no.
That was Wednesday. On Sunday morning, I got up, got dressed, and got on the subway to Manhattan. I was going to a play at three that afternoon and I wanted to hit the Empire State Building and have lunch someplace nice.
Well, I got off the subway pretty much as soon as I could after I saw the Empire State Building (obviously this--seeing it--was at a part where it was in fact not sub but elevated). I can't help it, that building just draws me like a magnet.
I waited as long as I could, but finally, at an underground stop, I got off, climbed up the stairs, and stared.
It was the right stop. I knew it was right as I walked past a park and heard two men talking and had to stop and write down what they were saying:
"You don't wanna hit him any more than you have to!"
"I know I'm gonna get fired! I wanna get fired!"
I started giggling and was about to walk away when I heard,
"You know what the dirtiest city in America is?"
"Yeah, Chicago."
"Yeah, but New York's number two. What's the difference between the dirtiest and the second dirtiest?"
OK, then! I thought, and again started to walk away, but then I heard,
"The nurse tells me my blood pressure's 92 over 62, why would my doctor tell me to lower my blood pressure?"
"To kill you."
That last sentence was the one that made me start walking away in earnest because I burst out laughing and didn't want the men doing the talking to realize I'd been listening to them and writing down what they were saying. (It was the absolute matter-of-factness of the way he said, "To kill you," that got to me.)
At first I just kind of wandered. I had forgotten to put on my earrings that morning, so when I found a man selling jewelry on the street, I looked with the definite intention to buy.
The earrings I chose are about four inches long and three-quarters of an inch across, rectangles of brushed stainless steel with no ornamentation of any kind. They kind of look like girders. More on that in a later post
Then I pointed my nose toward the ESB and started walking. I walked around Little Italy, and Chinatown. It was early, not yet noon, and the people were setting up tables on the street. I wasn't particularly hungry so I decided to wait 'til after the ESB to eat.
It was a long walk to the ESB, and I didn't quite make it--I finally grabbed a cab.
It also took a lot longer than I'd expected to do the tour, most likely because it was a mostly-sunny Sunday instead of the drizzly Monday when I was there before, but also because security has changed since '99.
When I came down and was heading for the exit, I thought, Port Authority's only a few blocks away, maybe I can walk over thereand find a rickshaw to take me to the theatre area (Greenwich Village, which I didn't know).
But there at the bottom of the stairs, talking to a cop and a security guard, was the same girl I'd seen the day I arrived.
Janine was thrilled that I wanted to take a ride with her, and even more thrilled that I'd been thinking about it for several days, that this wasn't just a spur-of-the-moment thing. I told her where I wanted to go--the address of the theatre, but she wasn't sure where that was. So I called them up, and when the man answered the phone, I said that I needed directions to get to the theatre and that I was going to put my driver on. (Janine got the giggles when I said that, and so did I. It's so lovely when you just spontaneously hit the same wavelength with someone you just met.)
When she hung up, she told me the theatre was in Greenwich Village, and that she could take me there, but it would be a lot more expensive than if I took a cab. She seemed really disappointed by this, which was one of the reasons I decided to go with her. "This's my vacation," I told her, "and this is something I really want to do. Let's go for it."
Janine gave me a personal tour of Manhattan, showing me cool buildings, and places she liked. We went through Washington Square Park and waved at her boyfriend, who was doing sketches of people. I told her about the play I was going to see, and she told me about how she wants to move to Toronto. She thought it was hilarious that I'd ridden the Cyclone 7 times in a row. We talked about Indiana, which is where her grandparents live and she's spent some time here. It was an absolutely charming trip, and when we got to the theater, she offered to take a picture of me sitting in the rickshaw.
My New York recommendation? If you're ever in Manhattan and you have a chance to ride in a rickshaw, go for it. And if Janine is still there and you're lucky enough to get her as your driver, you're really in for something special.
*Sydney, Hot, Throbbing Dykes To Watch Out For
-:- -:- -:-
I think what was holding me back (besides a few crying jags and a seriously recalcitrant scanner--I wanted my own pictures to go with these pieces) was trying to put everything in chronological order. I don't know why I was trying to do that, but it's not working. So here's what I was thinking about today.
It was kismet, or maybe synchronicity. Or, I suppose, if you believe in such things, coincidence. As I was waiting at Port Authority for a cab, a girl driving a bicycle-pulled rickshaw rode up and did a spiel trying to drum up business. She looked like fun and so did the ride, but besides the fact that I had my suitcase with me, I was also going to Brooklyn, which was well out of her range, not to mention the whole bridge-or-tunnel on a bike? Um, no.
That was Wednesday. On Sunday morning, I got up, got dressed, and got on the subway to Manhattan. I was going to a play at three that afternoon and I wanted to hit the Empire State Building and have lunch someplace nice.
Well, I got off the subway pretty much as soon as I could after I saw the Empire State Building (obviously this--seeing it--was at a part where it was in fact not sub but elevated). I can't help it, that building just draws me like a magnet.
I waited as long as I could, but finally, at an underground stop, I got off, climbed up the stairs, and stared.
It was the right stop. I knew it was right as I walked past a park and heard two men talking and had to stop and write down what they were saying:
"You don't wanna hit him any more than you have to!"
"I know I'm gonna get fired! I wanna get fired!"
I started giggling and was about to walk away when I heard,
"You know what the dirtiest city in America is?"
"Yeah, Chicago."
"Yeah, but New York's number two. What's the difference between the dirtiest and the second dirtiest?"
OK, then! I thought, and again started to walk away, but then I heard,
"The nurse tells me my blood pressure's 92 over 62, why would my doctor tell me to lower my blood pressure?"
"To kill you."
That last sentence was the one that made me start walking away in earnest because I burst out laughing and didn't want the men doing the talking to realize I'd been listening to them and writing down what they were saying. (It was the absolute matter-of-factness of the way he said, "To kill you," that got to me.)
At first I just kind of wandered. I had forgotten to put on my earrings that morning, so when I found a man selling jewelry on the street, I looked with the definite intention to buy.
The earrings I chose are about four inches long and three-quarters of an inch across, rectangles of brushed stainless steel with no ornamentation of any kind. They kind of look like girders. More on that in a later post
Then I pointed my nose toward the ESB and started walking. I walked around Little Italy, and Chinatown. It was early, not yet noon, and the people were setting up tables on the street. I wasn't particularly hungry so I decided to wait 'til after the ESB to eat.
It was a long walk to the ESB, and I didn't quite make it--I finally grabbed a cab.
It also took a lot longer than I'd expected to do the tour, most likely because it was a mostly-sunny Sunday instead of the drizzly Monday when I was there before, but also because security has changed since '99.
When I came down and was heading for the exit, I thought, Port Authority's only a few blocks away, maybe I can walk over thereand find a rickshaw to take me to the theatre area (Greenwich Village, which I didn't know).
But there at the bottom of the stairs, talking to a cop and a security guard, was the same girl I'd seen the day I arrived.
Janine was thrilled that I wanted to take a ride with her, and even more thrilled that I'd been thinking about it for several days, that this wasn't just a spur-of-the-moment thing. I told her where I wanted to go--the address of the theatre, but she wasn't sure where that was. So I called them up, and when the man answered the phone, I said that I needed directions to get to the theatre and that I was going to put my driver on. (Janine got the giggles when I said that, and so did I. It's so lovely when you just spontaneously hit the same wavelength with someone you just met.)
When she hung up, she told me the theatre was in Greenwich Village, and that she could take me there, but it would be a lot more expensive than if I took a cab. She seemed really disappointed by this, which was one of the reasons I decided to go with her. "This's my vacation," I told her, "and this is something I really want to do. Let's go for it."
Janine gave me a personal tour of Manhattan, showing me cool buildings, and places she liked. We went through Washington Square Park and waved at her boyfriend, who was doing sketches of people. I told her about the play I was going to see, and she told me about how she wants to move to Toronto. She thought it was hilarious that I'd ridden the Cyclone 7 times in a row. We talked about Indiana, which is where her grandparents live and she's spent some time here. It was an absolutely charming trip, and when we got to the theater, she offered to take a picture of me sitting in the rickshaw.
My New York recommendation? If you're ever in Manhattan and you have a chance to ride in a rickshaw, go for it. And if Janine is still there and you're lucky enough to get her as your driver, you're really in for something special.
*Sydney, Hot, Throbbing Dykes To Watch Out For