So I made this blog and, like Will, I never wrote anything in it. The reason for that is simple: I thought I'd wait until I got to college to start, also like Will, but he asked me today why I didn't write anything and made it pretty clear that he wanted to stalk me and I wasn't making it any easier for him. So for my first post, I will relate my New York City adventures of Saturday, 25 July, 2009.
But to tell the story of Saturday, I need to start with Friday night. I was early for my mini- dance competition [called the Team Match] so I stopped at a place called "Lung Yung" for dinner when I got a phone call from Liam out of the blue. He asked if I was free Saturday, because he was stranded in NYC with nothing to do and no one to do it with. So we made 'plans' to hang out. We didn't actually know what to do, so we decided to wing it. Good idea? We'll see about that...
Good morning! Rise and shine! This is the earliest I've been up all week, and it's only like 9:30am. I needed to shower, and fast, so I got to it and then I had breakfast [Frosted Flakes mmm lol]. We headed to South Orange to get the train, but we were moments too late! Stopped at a red light, we watched the train pulling away from the station, mere yards ahead of us. So Mum had the brilliant idea to drive me to Newark. We probably would have caught a train there if she could find a place to park, but there was nothing. Then, on a caprice, she decided to simply drive me in to the city. We drove to 77th and 2nd and found Liam and his mom eating brunch in a cute restaurant called Pain Quotidien [daily bread]. I said goodbye to my mother, ordered a croissant, and had a nice chat about France, language, etymology, and how quaint the restaurant was, with Liam's mom, during which Liam sloshed hot water from his tea all over the table, completely unaware.
After the restaurant, Liam and I headed to central park, and I told him how that morning on Twitter I noticed that Uncle Yo had mentioned a cosplay picnic in Central Park. Well, we figured, Central Park is a big place, but if we find it, we should check it out. While wandering, we noticed some cosplayers and stalked them for a while, but they seemed lost. We also climbed rocks and watched some triathalon, and stalked more cosplayers. Eventually we gave up and resolved to find our way out of the place, and after walking around there for about two hours, we actually found the picnic!
The cosplay picnic was crazy! Obviously, everyone was dressed up, so Liam and I actually felt pretty left out. We took a lot of pictures and watched some real-life yaoi, some sword and gun fights between our favourite characters, and even got to talk to Uncle Yo! That was exciting for me, because the first time I 'met' him, I was following Ying and had no clue who he was. The second time, it was 'Can I buy a CD, can you sign this, can I have a photo?' etc. So this time, actually shaking his hand and introducing myself and having a real conversation was cool. When Liam mentioned that he was from Hong Kong, Uncle Yo just asked, rather obnoxiously, "Why!?"... then ammended it to, "Why are you here? And why can I understand what you're saying?" He also asked, "You're not the guy shipping me those bootleg DVDs are you?" to which Liam replied, "Oh no that's my neighbour." He told us about the show he'll be doing on the eighth [I really want to go!! I probably will if I can find a person with a penis to accompany me, to put Mum's heart at ease.] Any way, after a while, we felt like outsiders, or voyeurs, and so we decided to head out. check out the photos below:
Sitting on the corner of eighty-somethingth street, we decided to find Times Square. Guess what street that's on? 46th or something in that ballpark. We also decided to walk the whole way there. Probably a big mistake. On the way, we found a HERSHEY STORE. Oh my gosh [lol]. Of course, everything was terribly over priced and made for tourists, but we didn't mind. We bought a small box of varied chocolates, a giant KitKat, and some Jolly Ranchers. GLaDOS was there too! Check it out:
Once there, we stopped in a McDonald's because we were, understandably, dying of thirst. Classiest looking McDonald's I have ever entered... that is, until the homeless guy came in, asking for cash, and began brushing his teeth in the middle of the floor. Classy.
After that, it was pretty much just a lot of wandering. We saw Mickey Mouse and the Statue of Liberty [dress-ups, not the real things], and we marvelled at the incredible power of consumerism. Even the Times Square police station had florescent lights, and the subway signs were sparkly too. We walked over to Rockefeller Centre and had dinner in the café, but that was pretty expensive and had more the air of a formal restaurant than a café. Oh well. Good pasta, at least.
We were so full from dinner that we didn't get to stop at the Ben & Jerry's we'd passed on the way there. We went back to Times Square and got some pictures of us drawn. They were really really really really really really really crappy. Such a waste of money. Lol. I made Liam keep both of them at the end of the day ;P Then we saw that giant Toys R Us, and decided to spend the next hour and a half in there, culminating in a ride on the big ferris wheel.
Well after the ferris wheel, we decided to hike back to Rock Centre for some ice cream, but it was closed. We needed to sit though [so much walking!!], and there was a fountain thing and it was all lit up and very picturesque.
Finally, we had to walk another ten blocks to get to Penn Station, since Mum made Liam promise he would stay with me right up to the track. At first we walked the wrong direction, up a street to the wrong avenue, and then had to turn all the way back and do it again. We never found an ice cream place, so we made a last-ditch effort to get some frosties. We did. They were super delicious [mostly because we were so thirsty / worn out / etc]. That's when we divied up the candy we'd bought, and then we headed to the station. We didn't have to wait long before the next train back to South Orange came in, so we went down to the track. I gave Liam a hug, but disappeared onto the train before he could force me to bring that crappy picture with me [lol]. The train was a double-decker, which excited me minimally. Mostly, I just had to make sure I didn't fall asleep and miss my stop =P Don't worry, I didn't. All was good, except for the hurt in my feet and shoulders, and the heaviness of my eyelids.
A video from the experience (audio is unnecessary and loud):
You can see all the photos here on facebook, but I don't know if it will work if we're not friends =P
