Day: 66
I was expecting New York to be much colder, especially after spending so much time in Europe I had sort of become accustom to the cold, today the sun was shining and it was up it the 80’s, I think I even got a little sunburnt. After getting up around ten-thirty, my NY tour guide and I set out to see as much of Manhattan as we could before she had to go to work at 3:30pm. We started off with an obligatory stop at B&H camera store, where I buy all my gear at online, because I wanted to get a slim polarizer for my 24-105 lens so I would stop getting the vignetting (the dark corners in some of my pictures) that came with using the polarizer I have on that lens. B&H was like a giant toy store for photo geeks and I could have spent hours there if my time in the city wasn’t limited to two days, as it was I ran in got what I was looking for and we grabbed the subway to the hole in the ground where the World Trade Center was. It was all fenced off so didn’t spend long there, and I didn’t even get one picture that I like so I can share.
We started to work our way up the island, stopping to look at anything of interest, which included every two dollar jewelry stand so Jandiz could find all kinds of cute necklaces and earrings. After a few blocks the sun was getting to me and I took out my Table 67*(see below for story) sunglasses which Jandiz thought looked ugly and made it her new mission to find me some badass $5 sunglasses. We found a street fair, ate Falafel, and I must have tried on a dozen pair of glasses, but none of them live up to what she had in mind. We countinued our way through China Town, where we finally found a pair of D&G knockoffs that pleased both her and I, and Little Italy, where sat in a cafe and enjoyed some afternoon dessert. It was just passed 2:30 so we began to head in the direction of her work (where she cocktail serves 3 nights a week) through Soho and some other parts of Manhattan. After powering through 30 blocks we had her to her bar at 46th street only ten minutes late.
During the day, I had contacted a couple other college friends, Joel and Brooke, who also both live in NY. Brooke is a really good friend of Jandiz’, and who had arranged for her to come into town and party with me while Jandiz was at work. After I had gone back to the apartment, showered, cleaned up and went out to grab something to eat, Brooke came over at six-thirty and we had a couple of cocktails before jumping in a cab and heading to the yuppie bar (where I was the only one not wearing slacks, a button down shirt and nice shoes) where Jandiz works. The drinks and snacks at the bar were pricey (I don’t know about the drinks but they sold a basket of fries for $10) but after a few rounds of beer, a couple of shots and a Cape Cod I never saw a bill. I love my friend Jandiz. Brooke and I tipped and left, we started walking and Brooke showed me Times Square and Rockefeller Center at night before we headed back to the apartment where my friend Joel (who I haven’t seen since he moved out here last July) and his boyfriend were coming to meet us.
The four of us (me, Brooke, Joel and his boyfriend Aaron) sat around for a couple hours having a few more Cape Cods and a smoke and talking about college and our lives since. After traveling alone for such a long time I forgot how nice it was not to have to re-explain your entire life story each time you meant someone new. Just hanging out like old times. After a while Aaron and Joel had to leave to head to another commitment, and Brooke and I just zoned out until Jandiz came home a little while later. We all hung out for another hour or so, until Brooke and I were to exhausted to stay awake any longer and just headed off to bed.
*Table 67: Once upon a time, in the far off land of Islands, I was serving burgers and fries to a table of seventeen year old guys. These guy seemed cool but when it came time at the end of the meal to take care of Rob’s fiduciary needs they failed. Slightly disgruntled at the $2 tip on a $90 bill I set to cleaning up their baskets and what do I find? A brand new pair of Electric sunglasses (they go for about $90 at Pacific Sunwear). These guys left me the perfect tip, I don’t even know how they knew that I was at the time without UV eye protection. The glasses got dropped in my apron and ever since whenever someone comments about my ugly sunglasses I just tell this story and I get the respect I deserve. The only problem is that the sunglasses have been bumping around in my bag for the last 9 weeks and been scratched somewhat. The scratches being the only reason I let Jandiz talk me into a new pair of eyewear, or else I would keep wearing my ugly Table 67 glasses on a matter of principal.
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