[119] Of New York state of mind

Below is the altered entry that I made to my diary. The real entry is longer and contained more personal stuff that need not to be published here. Forgive me for any grammar mistake. I wrote this entry for five long hours with approximately 2600 words. And I didn’t write this non-stop. I am not that crazy.

I’ve just arrived from New York on last Friday and currently I’m suffering post-holidays blues. This is on thing I hate about having everything off my shoulder for such a long time. I feel so sad knowing that the winter holiday is going to be the thing of the past in less than 48 hours.

Nevertheless, a week stay at Broadway and 107th was absolutely fabulous. The journey towards the financial city of the world took us 12 hours during a gay day and evening. It started at Ann Arbor with two cars. The party consisted of eight members and they were me of course, Satchi, David and Wee Hong in one car and Epol, Batcha, Hong and Wan Tin in another. Although that I was excited to leave Ann Arbor behind for a week, I can’t stressed more that I was disappointed that we left Ann Arbor later than planned.

Yet, the journey went fine and all went well until we found out that we were heading west instead of eastward. It took us 40 miles to realize that we were about a quarter of a journey towards Chicago instead of New York. Once we analyzed the situation, we get off the highway and got onto state freeway. Although the mistake cost us more fuel than necessary, I was glad that we took the wrong turn. If we would have taken the correct direction, I wouldn’t be able to see the beauty of Devil’s Lake. With the Sun setting at the horizon far across the almost frozen lake, it was a pity that I failed to take a shot at the lake.

Later part of the journey was uneventful until our car’s CD player played LB’s Rollin’. Ironically, a few seconds later, the other car which was driven by Batcha slammed right into our car’s back. All the four of us were dumbfounded. Luckily, nobody was injured. What was better was finding out that the car didn’t even suffer a scratch.

We continued on, and on and on and on until I had the helm of the car. By the time I had the driver’s seat, Epol in the other car was leading the way towards Cleveland (or was it Akron? Might be Toledo but I am certain that it happened in Ohio). Upon entering the city we had a wrong turn but that was nothing compared to another thing that happened upon exiting the city. As Epol was driving on the city freeway, he made a lane change at a decent rate. I followed him but moments later, he made a sudden lane change and I was unable to follow suit as a huge trailer was on my right. I cursed him silently in my mind (I did actually yelled “fuck”) but after accelerating I managed to go right behind him but immediately after I had his tail, he made a exit. I had my eyes wide opened and tried to follow him again. This time, I heard an air break coming from the back of the car. Adrenaline rushed inside of me as I took a peek at the side mirror to see the same trailer was trying hard to not hit me. Panicked, I pressed the accelerator powerfully and one could hear the punishment that the engine was taking if one were in the car.

We survived but we lost the other car. Later on, we found each other at the latter exit. From that moment on, I led the party. Our car had decided not to let the other car to lead until we reached our destination.

I drove during the dark evening and reached 180 km/h, an equivalence of 110 mph. I was driving so fast that when we were taking break, the other driver complaint of my speed. About 250 miles later, Satchi took over for our approach to the state of New York.

As we were entering New York State, the scenery was magnificent with mountains rise high towards the sky and at its feet, water laid undisturbed. Again, it was a pity that the approach happened when the Moon was high above.

As the night went deeper, the other car finally switched driver and this time it was Hong. We were pretty excited by this time and we cheered each time we saw a sign with New York City written on it. With each second, our excitement grew higher until our car saw a patrol car sitting quietly at the freeway shoulder. We slowed down and hoped that Hong saw that but apparently, he didn’t as he continued on speeding. Satchi flashed him now and then but the warning went deaf ears or rather, blind eyes. We were trying to warn but our tries failed when finally a patrol car drove right behind him. We thought the police was going to stop them but then, it patrol car disengaged the silence pursue and in turn, we were relieve. After all that, the other car still didn’t realize about what had happened. They only knew that only after somebody said that Hong received words that he had gotten himself a ticket. It was just fortunately for me that I didn’t suffer the same event while I was being a road devil earlier.

The journey almost ended safely until we reached George Washington Bridge. Here, the other car was leading and missed a turn and went deep into unknown territory. We were behind but Satchi and David had us into the right turn, leaving the other car to explore upper New York without the help of and atlas.

As a result, we reached Broadway and 107th first and waited for the lost others until about 0400 hours.

A few hours after we had a good rest, at 1100 hours to be precise, we walked Broadway St. and treated ourselves with Malaysian styled cooking for lunch. Once full, continued our walk but instead all along Broadway, we headed for the famous Central Park. We took some photos and explored it from the middle to 5th Avenue. By the time we reached 5th Avenue, it was already dark and cold but that didn’t deter us to enjoy 5th Avenue. There, we visited some toy store and didn’t hit the bed until midnight loomed.

The next day, all of us were fine except for Hong who was having flu. We left him behind with Wan Tin and went to the world renowned Metropolitan Museum. On our way there, we gave Central Park another round of visit as it was in situated at the edge of the Park. The museum was impressive even from the outside. We had to pay for six bucks to enter the museum but I tell you that it was worth every penny. The first section that we visited was the ancient Egyptian collections. In that section, everything that you read and see in the tubes and in the book was there. The mummies, the coffins, the gold coins and lots were for everyone to see. The museum even housed a small tome. The next section the American Wing we didn’t even lift an eye for it.

Once we walked passed the American section in a matter of minutes, the armor section impressed. The phrase knight in shining armor perfectly describes the armors exhibited here. Satisfied, we went to European section and saw a lot of interesting artifacts like, ehem, nude statues and paintings. Next was art collection from other part of the world and more nudity. There were even a whole set of totem that seem like the act of masturbation.

With the first floor covered, we climbed the stairs and visited the Islamic, Middle East, East Asian a few other sections. All in all, it took us the whole day to finish up the round. Imagine, a whole day inside a museum.

Day 3 was the day we gave Chinatown, Little Italy and SoHo a visit. Only one word could describe the day – food. While in SoHo, I bought a lovely painting from an artist. It is not a painting to be exact but more accurately a Polaroid photo that is being altered to bring on an appealing effect. Later that evening (I might have mistaken the date), Batcha and I kicked Chrysler Building and spent a few snapshots in Grand Central Building. Its function is the same as Chicago’s.

On December 30th, we went, quoting James, up close and personal with Lady Liberty. We took a ferry for Straten Island. From the boat, Manhattan looked impressive with imposing skyscrapers rising up from the waters. If only the two towers still stood tall, the view would have been better. The to and fro journey on the ferry took us more or less an hour. After we returned to shore, we visited had lunched nearby Wall Street and visited NYSE. Afterward, we went to the birthplace of Broadway Street and paid respect to the fallen Twin Towers. While on Wall Street, we saw these two girls taking photos of themselves with NYSE as the background. Letting not chance passed, I asked Epol to take a shot at them with his digicam. Their pose was fascinating.

Naughty but the picture is worth the shot. Next, we visited Macy’s and unfortunately, I was not impressed by it even by a bit. We might had went to Pier 17 on the same day but I can’t recall the exact date.

The day after, we visited the Chrysler Building, Empire State Building and the Rockefeller Center before we headed for Times Square. We had our dinner at Rockefeller Center. At about 1800 hours, we went to the Times Square.

Security was tight with snipers on top of some building and several helicopters hover above the crowd. The presence of the police was certainly felt by the crowd.

Nevertheless, nothing bad happened to us save some pushing by the crowd. When we arrived at the celebration venue, we were checked by the police but the inspection was lenient. The crowd was allowed to approach Times Square stage by stage with police fence blocking each stage effectively. Every time one wants to pass a stage, one will have to be inspected by the police who are standing guard at every stage. Our movement towards Times Square took several hours. In total, we stood six friggin hours waiting for the passing of the last second of year 2002.

The crowd was restless, counting down the last 10 second of every hour. It was a huge crowd but a well-behaved rowdy crowd. The eight of us were tired standing and every now and then we sit in the street with strangers surrounding us. While in the crowd, we talked to some people, trying to pass the time faster.

Our movement towards the center of celebration was stopped at the 49th St. and we stayed there until the final countdown. In about two hours before midnight, Avril Lavigne performed some of her song on stage live. I didn’t see her directly but the large TV screen up at the Times Square was enough for me to join singing. The fun didn’t stop with her. Every time there was no live singer singing on stage, there were songs played over the PA system. The crowd usual sang along with the songs. Through my observation, lots of Beatles’ songs were played. I sang along quietly for the lyrics that I remember.

A group of British people was behind me and only God knows how happy of them to hear some familiar voice. At one time, a sweet old lady from the group gladly remind that The Beatles sang All You Need is Love.

To our left, there was a group of friends sitting down playing a card game while waiting for midnight. To the right, some pretty but sad looking girls sitting serenely. They were tired no doubt. I myself kept on complaint about having to stand for six straight hours in the street with the cold wind blowing. Farther to the left and a few stories up, a party was going on. From time to time, some of the party people yelled out to the crowd. The crowd most of the time reply with the word “jump!” over and over again. Other phrase was “show me your tits”, “we want girls”, “throw some drinks out” and “boo”. Whatever it was, the crowd was loud.

On the other side, restroom paper towels flew gracefully downward from Renaissance Hotel. Farther up front, the same thing happened. The crowd was amused by the paper towels. I would imagine that by the next morning, all the restrooms in the hotel will be exhausted of paper towels. Sometimes, the length of the paper towel thrown out was almost half of the hotel height and I have estimated that the hotel is more than 40 stories high.

While we were singing and shouting and talking and everything, Discover Card distributed small bell to the crowd in its pursuit to make a world record. After all was done, I doubt a world record was made that night. Other than that, balloons were almost distributed for free.

During the final minutes, the large screen up at the Times Square started to count time and when the number hit 30, the crowd joined in. It was 29, 25, 20, 16, 12, 11 and all the way to 1. Everybody counted it but most started at 10 till 1. Once the number one was gone, the crowd went ecstatic and everybody greeted everybody Happy New Year. Firework went off in a few places. The most notable sites were Times Square and Empire State Building. The British group behind me sang Auld Lang Syne while the others started jumping, hugging and kissing. I saw a couple kissing each other and it was a beautiful sight. Plus, it was expressionful =)

Minutes later, the crowd began to disperse. The dispersing surprisingly was made in an orderly manner but the aftermath was hideous. Mass of trashes lay on the street with the garbage ranging from paper towel from the hotel, plastics, and bottles to some unrecognized materials.

Nevertheless, the journey back home took more than two hours. The streets were full with people and the situation below ground was just as ugly. Nevertheless, the subway system was still working efficiently, keeping the amount of people getting out of the station just as fast as the people was entering the station.

Once we reached our hotel, all of us went straight to bed. It was a brand new year.

The next day started late but just as eventful as the others. Today, we visited Museum of Natural History but I must say that the visit was not worth the money. The reason is that we had time constraint. Visiting such a huge museum for only two hours is by far worthless in my opinion but I joined my friend after being persuaded.

Finally, on January 2nd, it was our last day in NYC. First thing that we did was visiting the United Nations. There, I found a new whitish Teddy with soft fur if you may. I’ve been hugging the thing since I woke up yesterday. I know it is girlish but I can’t help. Cuddling it seems to remind me of my cat back home. An hour later, we went up to the venue of Sleepless in Seattle and marveled at the sight of Manhattan from high above.

After all things said and done, we left NYC at about the time the Sun was setting. The journey home was marred with terrible weather. The other car almost had a terrible accident with an almost completed 360 degree turn. Luckily, they were alright.

Well, sorry for the late wishing by Happy New Year dear diary.

Happy New Year