So close!
Originally uploaded by Matt & Nayoung
Yeah, I realize I'm a bit behind the times as far as the whole Wii craze goes. However, that doesn't diminish my recent accomplishment in the world of professional digital bowling.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
So I've got this list.
I didn't realize I had a list of things I wanted to see or do that counted as very "New York", but during this trip I witnessed or did two things that were retroactively put on just such a list and then checked off as “done”. So far these are the only two items on the list, and I think future items will be presented in a similar fashion, without my prior knowledge of their existence.
The items on this list are things I'd only expect to see or do in New York City. Not necessarily tourist attractions but more local events, and these events are small and trivial happenings. You might even classify them as stereotypes. But even if they are stereotypes they came from everyday events that make NYC feel like home to locals. The type of thing you might see if you lived in NYC, and on the 100th visit to the store you noticed a homeless man chasing a pigeon (or maybe visa versa). Or someone peeing on a passing subway train. Now those may not be the best examples, but it’s the scale of event I’m referring to. Nothing big, or grand. Just New York. Hopefully I’ve explained myself, but if not maybe relaying the incidents will do the explaining for me.
The first item I checked off the list is something I witnessed, as opposed to experiencing first hand, and it was New York City temper. The event involved The Couple in the line to buy Broadway show tickets and The Man selling the tickets. The Couple was an elderly, sweet seeming couple and The Man was a rather large, red-faced native (assumed). The Man handed The Couple their tickets and The Couple, with their gloved hands, dropped one of their tickets. The ticket then slid into a crack between the sidewalk and the ticket booth, never to be seen again. The Couple informed The Man, and The Man disconnected his headset and disappeared for a moment. The Man returned visibly frustrated, but he did have an answer. The Man told The Couple to present the theater box office with the receipt that showed two tickets purchased. Now, here is where the New York temper revealed itself to me.
The Couple asked, "Will that work?"
The Man then said, "No, it won't work."
A short pause ensued where The Couple didn't know how to respond.
Then The Man yelled, and I mean really yelled, "OF COURSE IT WILL WORK!" slammed his hands on the desk and then raised his hands up in the air in disbelief.
The Couple walked away and The Man disconnected his headset and again he threw up his hands. He then starts to yell something to his coworkers within the multi windowed ticket booth. Nayoung and I view all of this as a pantomime because without his headset connected the sound of his fury cannot escape the booth. Once he stops yelling and slamming his keyboard against his desk he reconnects his headset.
The Man then says to us, “Wadda’you want?”
The second item on the list is something I experienced myself. An actual event that I took part in. Having this event happen to me has always been a dream of mine, but I just didn't know it until it happened to me. I figured this type of thing only happened to bike couriers or high powered Wall Street execs from the 80's with those big brick cellular phones. So you can imagine my surprise when this dream happened to me.
As Nayoung and I crossed the street we were assured that it was OK to cross by the symbol of a little white man in the crossing signal. Halfway across the crosswalk I notice that a cab was stopped by the curb and the driver was conversing with someone on the sidewalk. As I watched the two men exchange words I could all of a sudden see the events of the immediate future. I was positive that two men's conversation will end, and that the cab driver will start to drive in our direction with out looking. I was also sure that these things would happen just as we crossed in front of the taxi.
As we aligned with the center of the cab's hood, sure enough, the cab driver began to accelerate. At that very same moment is when my previously unknown dream was simultaneously born and fulfilled. The engine revved, the car lurched forward, and in one motion with out slowing the pace of my walk I slammed my hand on the hood of the cab, and then raised that hand above my head. In my mind I shouted with a New York accent, "I'M WALK'N HERE!"
Just like in the movies.
Two New York moments that I can now mark off the list that I didn't know I had until there were two things to put on it... and then mark off. I love lists.
M
The items on this list are things I'd only expect to see or do in New York City. Not necessarily tourist attractions but more local events, and these events are small and trivial happenings. You might even classify them as stereotypes. But even if they are stereotypes they came from everyday events that make NYC feel like home to locals. The type of thing you might see if you lived in NYC, and on the 100th visit to the store you noticed a homeless man chasing a pigeon (or maybe visa versa). Or someone peeing on a passing subway train. Now those may not be the best examples, but it’s the scale of event I’m referring to. Nothing big, or grand. Just New York. Hopefully I’ve explained myself, but if not maybe relaying the incidents will do the explaining for me.
The first item I checked off the list is something I witnessed, as opposed to experiencing first hand, and it was New York City temper. The event involved The Couple in the line to buy Broadway show tickets and The Man selling the tickets. The Couple was an elderly, sweet seeming couple and The Man was a rather large, red-faced native (assumed). The Man handed The Couple their tickets and The Couple, with their gloved hands, dropped one of their tickets. The ticket then slid into a crack between the sidewalk and the ticket booth, never to be seen again. The Couple informed The Man, and The Man disconnected his headset and disappeared for a moment. The Man returned visibly frustrated, but he did have an answer. The Man told The Couple to present the theater box office with the receipt that showed two tickets purchased. Now, here is where the New York temper revealed itself to me.
The Couple asked, "Will that work?"
The Man then said, "No, it won't work."
A short pause ensued where The Couple didn't know how to respond.
Then The Man yelled, and I mean really yelled, "OF COURSE IT WILL WORK!" slammed his hands on the desk and then raised his hands up in the air in disbelief.
The Couple walked away and The Man disconnected his headset and again he threw up his hands. He then starts to yell something to his coworkers within the multi windowed ticket booth. Nayoung and I view all of this as a pantomime because without his headset connected the sound of his fury cannot escape the booth. Once he stops yelling and slamming his keyboard against his desk he reconnects his headset.
The Man then says to us, “Wadda’you want?”
The second item on the list is something I experienced myself. An actual event that I took part in. Having this event happen to me has always been a dream of mine, but I just didn't know it until it happened to me. I figured this type of thing only happened to bike couriers or high powered Wall Street execs from the 80's with those big brick cellular phones. So you can imagine my surprise when this dream happened to me.
As Nayoung and I crossed the street we were assured that it was OK to cross by the symbol of a little white man in the crossing signal. Halfway across the crosswalk I notice that a cab was stopped by the curb and the driver was conversing with someone on the sidewalk. As I watched the two men exchange words I could all of a sudden see the events of the immediate future. I was positive that two men's conversation will end, and that the cab driver will start to drive in our direction with out looking. I was also sure that these things would happen just as we crossed in front of the taxi.
As we aligned with the center of the cab's hood, sure enough, the cab driver began to accelerate. At that very same moment is when my previously unknown dream was simultaneously born and fulfilled. The engine revved, the car lurched forward, and in one motion with out slowing the pace of my walk I slammed my hand on the hood of the cab, and then raised that hand above my head. In my mind I shouted with a New York accent, "I'M WALK'N HERE!"
Just like in the movies.
Two New York moments that I can now mark off the list that I didn't know I had until there were two things to put on it... and then mark off. I love lists.
M
A hell of a town
Nayoung and I traveled far from our home in the sticks this past weekend and spent a few days in New York City. The main reason for going was to attend the New York Comic Con, but we arrived a day before the convention and left a day after so we would have some extra time to spend in the city.
On Thursday we landed at Laguardia airport around noon and made it to our hotel near Times Square around 1pm. The high temperature that day was somewhere in the teens, so before leaving the hotel we bundled up to ward off the low temperatures (Nayoung could hardly bend her appendages due to the number of layers). If we kept moving the cold wasn't so bad, but when we waited in line for an hour to get tickets to a Broadway show the bitting wind was brutal. The ticket line wound back and forth two times, so that after you made the first turn you were between the earlier parts and the upcoming parts of the line. Nayoung made the observation that all the people in the line were like penguins huddled against the arctic winds. The ones on the outsides took the brunt of the chill while the people in the middle still froze, but just not as severely. We decided to see Marry Poppins, and before my manhood is called into question I will state these two things for the record: 1. It's Broadway, I was going to see people sing and dace no matter what, so what difference does the subject matter make? 2. I happen to quite like the movie version of Marry Poppins, so there!
After we purchased the tickets for our evenings entertainment we decided that we needed to thaw out back at the hotel. Once we could feel our extremities again we bundled back up and set out for the night. We had dinner near the theater and then walked onto the show. My favorite part of the show was the sets. The house set was the most impressive, like a life sized doll house with the one wall removed to allow the audience a view. Most of the songs from the movie made it into the play, but usually in an altered form, usually longer or in a different part of the performance. There were a few new songs as well, but the best was still Spoon Full of Sugar and Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
The next three days were spent at the convention and the majority of happenings there probably aren't that interesting to many people but me. However I did want to mention that we purchased some new art.
I bought a page of original comic art from my friend Sean Murphy.
We bought a print from an illustrator named Celia Calle.
We also bought a few other prints however I can't find examples of them online. The other great purchases were these two 2gig thumb drives from Mimbot.
The one I really wanted was sold out in the storage capacity I wanted and once you see this pic I'm sure you'll understand why I was upset about them being sold out...
Nayoung wanted to visit the mecca of photography lovers everywhere, the superstore for B&H Photo Video. The experience was amazing, and really needs to be seen to be believed.
So, it was a great trip and we'll see you in a year or so, NYC.
M
On Thursday we landed at Laguardia airport around noon and made it to our hotel near Times Square around 1pm. The high temperature that day was somewhere in the teens, so before leaving the hotel we bundled up to ward off the low temperatures (Nayoung could hardly bend her appendages due to the number of layers). If we kept moving the cold wasn't so bad, but when we waited in line for an hour to get tickets to a Broadway show the bitting wind was brutal. The ticket line wound back and forth two times, so that after you made the first turn you were between the earlier parts and the upcoming parts of the line. Nayoung made the observation that all the people in the line were like penguins huddled against the arctic winds. The ones on the outsides took the brunt of the chill while the people in the middle still froze, but just not as severely. We decided to see Marry Poppins, and before my manhood is called into question I will state these two things for the record: 1. It's Broadway, I was going to see people sing and dace no matter what, so what difference does the subject matter make? 2. I happen to quite like the movie version of Marry Poppins, so there!
After we purchased the tickets for our evenings entertainment we decided that we needed to thaw out back at the hotel. Once we could feel our extremities again we bundled back up and set out for the night. We had dinner near the theater and then walked onto the show. My favorite part of the show was the sets. The house set was the most impressive, like a life sized doll house with the one wall removed to allow the audience a view. Most of the songs from the movie made it into the play, but usually in an altered form, usually longer or in a different part of the performance. There were a few new songs as well, but the best was still Spoon Full of Sugar and Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
The next three days were spent at the convention and the majority of happenings there probably aren't that interesting to many people but me. However I did want to mention that we purchased some new art.
I bought a page of original comic art from my friend Sean Murphy.
We bought a print from an illustrator named Celia Calle.
We also bought a few other prints however I can't find examples of them online. The other great purchases were these two 2gig thumb drives from Mimbot.
The one I really wanted was sold out in the storage capacity I wanted and once you see this pic I'm sure you'll understand why I was upset about them being sold out...
Nayoung wanted to visit the mecca of photography lovers everywhere, the superstore for B&H Photo Video. The experience was amazing, and really needs to be seen to be believed.
So, it was a great trip and we'll see you in a year or so, NYC.
M
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