these little town blues are melting away

part deux

6) ground zero was a very surreal experience. these days it's just a construction site, but it sure felt like i was on hallowed ground. there was a giant bronze mural with name after name of firefighters who had died. definitely an emotional place.

7)i hate to say it, but i was almost dreading new years on times square. standing in one spot for 8 hours in the single digit temperatures is not my idea of a good time (usually). but, oh my word, it was the best new years ever. after eating my birthday lunch with rupert at the hello deli we wandered over to times square. it was 2:30 pm so we thought we were early, but no, several thousand people had beaten us to the free mascara and pom-poms. somehow, through no effort of our own, we ended up with the BEST spots on times square. 20 yards from the ball, at the fence (nice to do some leaning in those 8 hours and not have people on ALL sides), right on the road. that means that we got dibs on all the free stuff (bagels and stupid hats) and the best view of celebrities (none of whom i recognized without the help of emily and the guy standing next to me, who evidently watches WAY more mtv than i do). i was actually more excited to see the bomb squad than the celebrities. i did, however, recognize ryan seacrest who is short, yes, but attractive. so were the college boys next to us, whom emily secretly planned to kiss at the stroke of midnight (yes, all of them). i flirted it up with one of new york's finest (and by flirted it up i mean, i asked him what street i was standing on).








and to make it more magical, what song did they play 3 minutes before midnight? that's right, imagine. HOW DID THEY KNOW?!?! and what song did they play after the ball came down? frank sinatra's new york, new york. truly magical.

8) i found out the hard way that there are 2 mets. we ate our lunch on the steps of the met (the museum, not the opera) because we weren't allowed in with our contraband sandwiches and carrots. the security guard reassured us that it wasn't personal, but she couldn't risk us puncturing our plastic containers and having our carrots leak out. a) what is going to puncture my tupperware? my shiv? 2) in all my experience with tupperware, carrots and sandwiches are the least likely things to leak out. anyway, the met was nice. i followed a cute boy around. oh, and saw some art.

9) they would not let me climb the empire state building, except from the 80th to 86th floor because the elevator was broken. this was rather unfortunate because


10) i ate everything in sight. it was a week of gluttony, which i have totally earned after living on salad and tuna for the last year. of course, my digestive system disagreed, but i paid no mind to him. we frequented the deli on our corner, ate turkish food with my friend juliane, got french fries at every turn, ate a GIANT cookie, had some brekky at the diner in our hood, and on and on and on. my crowning achievement was on day five when i got a falafel sandwich at the street vendor (according to everybody you should stay away from those street carts, but that is the worst advice i've ever heard. there is no finer food on this earth than street food.) and emily said, "i want some ray's pizza." a normal person would have said, "darn, i shouldn't have bought this delectable sandwich." i said, "hang on, let me finish this delectable sandwich." then we went into famous ray's pizza and had a chicken and bacon slice. it was huge. and delicious. then to finish off our new york style dinner we went to junior's for some cheesecake. i felt guilty (not because i was overeating, mind you) because it was busy and i felt like a chump ordering just cheesecake. plus, i saw a word against which i am powerless: reuben. so i got a reuben. with fries. oh, and don't forget the cheesecake. and it was also scrumptious. and just like that with no planning (or self-control, obviously) i ate three dinners (+ dessert) in one night. no, in less than 2 hours. i know i shouldn't be proud of that...but i kind of am. plus, i didn't eat ALL of the cheesecake. i took some of it home and ate it for breakfast the next day.

intermission.

ps. i added pictures to the last post. there has GOT to be a faster way to do that. pps. in some of these pictures i am wearing 3 pairs of pants and 4 shirts. can you tell which ones?