My Tribute to Andreas Gurskey's beautiful work, 99c - 1999 (much more beautiful than my amateur photography) The epitome of poverty and excess wrapped up together as one in bright packaging.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
A walk (run) in the park
Ok so this entry is actually from November the 10th, quite soon after arriving. My stupid uni has decided to schedule my stupid exam on the second stupid week of exams instead of the usual first week and the stupid course coordinator wouldn't let me postpone my exam because my trip was for pleasure and not business and it was all just.... well.... stupid. So here I am, heading to the upper west side (posh) to a lady called Katherine's apartment on 72nd street right next to central park so she can watch me take my exam.
Her apartment is very Harry Potter like and I feel like I am in an old boarding house. The apartment is over 4 very small all open mezzanine floors. The first is a small hall (where I take the exam on a creaky wooden fold out table which takes up almost the the entire hall space) plus there is a small bathroom and tiny kitchen, up a few stairs and you have the lounge with extremely high ceilings (but again small in floor space) with a bedroom off it - the only room that can be closed privately. There is beautiful wall the ceiling glass french doors that you can open up to the noises of the street you can take one step out but that's all and I imagine the real estate considers it a proper balcony. A few more steps up and you are on the level directly above where I am taking my exam. It's a long thin hallway level with what seem to be another front door that apparently goes nowhere (hmm???) You can then climb a ladder to what the real estates refer to as the 2nd bedroom but really it's a 2 x 2 loft with a height of just over 1m. A crawl in bedroom I am told but really it just looks to be storage space to me, but with the prices of the upper west side - I would be calling it a suitable bedroom too.
There is a ginger and white fat cat called Sam, who meows a lot and is very friendly. He is super cute until I start my exam and then he just becomes bloody annoying. Katherine feeds him and this shuts him up. I had 120 minutes for the exam but I only took 60minutes. I think this may have been a combination of the simplicity of the subject and my eagerness to get back into exciting Manhattan.
Once out of the exam room I head towards the orange coloured park (the king of fall), I enter the park at Strawberry fields (an area they have named in honour of John Lennon as he was shot only a street away outside his upper west side apartment). Now some of you will think me crazy but I think it was one of the most beautiful ways to take in my first meeting of the famous central park.... I ran. I ran the entire way around the park which by my calculations was around 10 or 11km's - it's a really big park. It is a really beautiful run with nice hills and twists and turns and I suggest that if you can make the distance you try it yourself when you are here. I ran mostly on the road and sometimes on the path - there are people everywhere, fellow runner, tourists, bike riders (I also took a bike ride at sunset around the place - highly recommended), buggies, horse and carts and squirrels - gazillions of squirrels racing around everywhere - they run beside you looking like slinkies that have been thrown down the stairs only stopping occasionally to inspect the condition of a nut.
Running in central park was probably the closest I will ever feel to being a local, you are always more at one with environment around you when you are running in it. (It took me 60 minutes).
Her apartment is very Harry Potter like and I feel like I am in an old boarding house. The apartment is over 4 very small all open mezzanine floors. The first is a small hall (where I take the exam on a creaky wooden fold out table which takes up almost the the entire hall space) plus there is a small bathroom and tiny kitchen, up a few stairs and you have the lounge with extremely high ceilings (but again small in floor space) with a bedroom off it - the only room that can be closed privately. There is beautiful wall the ceiling glass french doors that you can open up to the noises of the street you can take one step out but that's all and I imagine the real estate considers it a proper balcony. A few more steps up and you are on the level directly above where I am taking my exam. It's a long thin hallway level with what seem to be another front door that apparently goes nowhere (hmm???) You can then climb a ladder to what the real estates refer to as the 2nd bedroom but really it's a 2 x 2 loft with a height of just over 1m. A crawl in bedroom I am told but really it just looks to be storage space to me, but with the prices of the upper west side - I would be calling it a suitable bedroom too.
There is a ginger and white fat cat called Sam, who meows a lot and is very friendly. He is super cute until I start my exam and then he just becomes bloody annoying. Katherine feeds him and this shuts him up. I had 120 minutes for the exam but I only took 60minutes. I think this may have been a combination of the simplicity of the subject and my eagerness to get back into exciting Manhattan.
Once out of the exam room I head towards the orange coloured park (the king of fall), I enter the park at Strawberry fields (an area they have named in honour of John Lennon as he was shot only a street away outside his upper west side apartment). Now some of you will think me crazy but I think it was one of the most beautiful ways to take in my first meeting of the famous central park.... I ran. I ran the entire way around the park which by my calculations was around 10 or 11km's - it's a really big park. It is a really beautiful run with nice hills and twists and turns and I suggest that if you can make the distance you try it yourself when you are here. I ran mostly on the road and sometimes on the path - there are people everywhere, fellow runner, tourists, bike riders (I also took a bike ride at sunset around the place - highly recommended), buggies, horse and carts and squirrels - gazillions of squirrels racing around everywhere - they run beside you looking like slinkies that have been thrown down the stairs only stopping occasionally to inspect the condition of a nut.
Running in central park was probably the closest I will ever feel to being a local, you are always more at one with environment around you when you are running in it. (It took me 60 minutes).
Fall..... Fall?.....oh... Autumn
Oh my god the colour in this place right now is insane. The leaves are turning and falling and there is a range of 20 different colours the leaves are taking - red, orange, brown, yellow. It's like an amazing warm cosy rainbow of colours. The city seems to suit this season, the buildings/apartment housing (called brown stones and also called walk ups) totally suit the environment as if the buildings had literally grown out from the ground and stand old and tall like the trees themselves. The concrete stairs (called stoops - and often people have little stoop sales instead of garage sales - cute - sorry I'm digressing.... back to it) are covered in moss and gates and window rims are curly, twisting wrought iron which match perfectly together with the twisty turny branches of the trees. Both look like they are poised in dance together. Plants and greenery creep between cracks, holding strong position, the trees often push the pathways up making the journey for the walker (and his dog because everyone who is anyone has one) like a small roller coaster ride. The fallen leaves cover the path in a carpet of crunchy fire, however be careful when it's been raining the carpet turns from crunch to sludge very quickly and if you are not careful you may very well slip... arse over tit.
People totally get into the season with the pagan traditions we now know as halloween. Specially made small narley little pumpkins line peoples window sills, and straw and coloured corn pods make wreaths for doors or are tied to banisters of stoops. Larger pumpkins with cut out faces sit on the stoop steps looking like fat happy little men (I think they are supposed to be scary faces but they are way too cute for that) however over the 2 weeks we have been here - those happy fat men have begun to look like sad fat men as time has caused them to droop and has changed their smiles to frowns. People have also gone to a wonderful effort of also hanging skulls and skeletons and spider webs all around making every few metres of every street an amazing sight to behold.
People totally get into the season with the pagan traditions we now know as halloween. Specially made small narley little pumpkins line peoples window sills, and straw and coloured corn pods make wreaths for doors or are tied to banisters of stoops. Larger pumpkins with cut out faces sit on the stoop steps looking like fat happy little men (I think they are supposed to be scary faces but they are way too cute for that) however over the 2 weeks we have been here - those happy fat men have begun to look like sad fat men as time has caused them to droop and has changed their smiles to frowns. People have also gone to a wonderful effort of also hanging skulls and skeletons and spider webs all around making every few metres of every street an amazing sight to behold.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
No Smoking. No Littering. No Boom boxes.
Hey Y'all...... This is the G Train....... Heading to Church and 6th Avenue...... stand clear...... cos the doors are closing y'all.
The subway is a world unto its own. 30 degree heat engulfs you and pulls you down as you leave the above world of what at the moment is around 8-10 degrees. You better start peeling off the layers unless you want to pass out. The stations all stand with time on their side, a hideously beautiful sight. Once opulent or at least a consideration to the aesthetic, the walls are covered in once shiny tiles, mosaics rim the walls with patterns or form the stations name signage. Some stations even have sculptures or installations. However you know the sense of beauty is now an aged old woman, these once lush and considered designs are now somewhat buried under the leaking, um, "whatever that stuff is" from pipes, going somewhere. Everything is now layered with a film of grit, hiding the colour the brightness, created from the breath of fast paced people, the smokiness from fast paced trains, oil, litter, dust, it holds tight, a grumpy old ghost, that frames the history of artistry, pointing it out to keep reminding us of once was. Years of chewing gum, now black circular patti cakes have morphed and have become one with the ground, creating a distinct pattern of their own. The paints peels off the ceilings, in the shapes of autumn leaves threatening to fall from the tree, exposing the bare bones of the place.
The beauty of these places has now moved into it's passengers; all differently glorious and wonderful. Musicians play their bases and their sax with such pleasure on the platforms, leather pants, high hair dos, poor men and woman, stand as if on trial, pleading their cases as loudly as they can to a full carriage in the hope of at least one offering help. Skins of all colours ride this train together, different shapes and sizes, ages and dress types. Suits, NY yankees caps, velvet red pants, prams, shiny gold go go boots, square and sparkly diamond earrings, braided hair, shiny coloured weaves, dazzling bling, more prams, bright eyes shadow colours, gold teeth, nerd glasses of large proportions. The body seems to be a canvas in which the palate can create an infinity of looks and types. This plethora of individuals sit, stand, even squish together talking, singing, laughing, yelling, keeping to themselves with their ipods in their ears - a marketplace of possibilities really.
Each train guard covers a variety of accents, with not one you can understand properly. The smells of the place, although you would never describe as pleasant, has an all too distinct and familiar scent - it's now become the smell of going places, going home, going to work, going out, going to the park, going to the shops. Going anywhere, going fast, just going... 24 hours a day, 7 days a week - there is no shut eye for this old lady, yet she still stands strong.
PS so the line I am staying on is the G line. Probably the worst line ever. One has a love hate relationship with this line and from this there is now a blog dedicated to the g line (see below) and there is a pageant that is currently looking for Miss G train (also see below) Too funny
http://gloriousgtrainseries.blogspot.com/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wires/2009/11/13/williamsburg-miss-g-train_ws_357123.html
The subway is a world unto its own. 30 degree heat engulfs you and pulls you down as you leave the above world of what at the moment is around 8-10 degrees. You better start peeling off the layers unless you want to pass out. The stations all stand with time on their side, a hideously beautiful sight. Once opulent or at least a consideration to the aesthetic, the walls are covered in once shiny tiles, mosaics rim the walls with patterns or form the stations name signage. Some stations even have sculptures or installations. However you know the sense of beauty is now an aged old woman, these once lush and considered designs are now somewhat buried under the leaking, um, "whatever that stuff is" from pipes, going somewhere. Everything is now layered with a film of grit, hiding the colour the brightness, created from the breath of fast paced people, the smokiness from fast paced trains, oil, litter, dust, it holds tight, a grumpy old ghost, that frames the history of artistry, pointing it out to keep reminding us of once was. Years of chewing gum, now black circular patti cakes have morphed and have become one with the ground, creating a distinct pattern of their own. The paints peels off the ceilings, in the shapes of autumn leaves threatening to fall from the tree, exposing the bare bones of the place.
The beauty of these places has now moved into it's passengers; all differently glorious and wonderful. Musicians play their bases and their sax with such pleasure on the platforms, leather pants, high hair dos, poor men and woman, stand as if on trial, pleading their cases as loudly as they can to a full carriage in the hope of at least one offering help. Skins of all colours ride this train together, different shapes and sizes, ages and dress types. Suits, NY yankees caps, velvet red pants, prams, shiny gold go go boots, square and sparkly diamond earrings, braided hair, shiny coloured weaves, dazzling bling, more prams, bright eyes shadow colours, gold teeth, nerd glasses of large proportions. The body seems to be a canvas in which the palate can create an infinity of looks and types. This plethora of individuals sit, stand, even squish together talking, singing, laughing, yelling, keeping to themselves with their ipods in their ears - a marketplace of possibilities really.
Each train guard covers a variety of accents, with not one you can understand properly. The smells of the place, although you would never describe as pleasant, has an all too distinct and familiar scent - it's now become the smell of going places, going home, going to work, going out, going to the park, going to the shops. Going anywhere, going fast, just going... 24 hours a day, 7 days a week - there is no shut eye for this old lady, yet she still stands strong.
PS so the line I am staying on is the G line. Probably the worst line ever. One has a love hate relationship with this line and from this there is now a blog dedicated to the g line (see below) and there is a pageant that is currently looking for Miss G train (also see below) Too funny
http://gloriousgtrainseries.blogspot.com/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wires/2009/11/13/williamsburg-miss-g-train_ws_357123.html
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Holy Crap it's cold
Finally here after 20 something hours. It's a funny feeling that you get when you walk out expecting an alien world completely different from your own only to realise it's pretty much exactly the same.
It is subtly different though - and the place is HUGE, and we are definitely going into winter here, the place is freakin freezing. Totally impressed with the heating that comes with apartments here (it's included in the rent) sometimes it's almost too hot!
Lauren hadn't come home yet from work (she works ALL the time) so we went to conneticut muffin for a chai and waited for her there, we had thought this lttle cafe was quite cute and homely like - and we were very disappointed to find that there is literally one on every corner - I reckon it outnumbers starbucks, so many chain stores.
Chats and red wine for the rest of the night. Then bed...... knackered
It is subtly different though - and the place is HUGE, and we are definitely going into winter here, the place is freakin freezing. Totally impressed with the heating that comes with apartments here (it's included in the rent) sometimes it's almost too hot!
Lauren hadn't come home yet from work (she works ALL the time) so we went to conneticut muffin for a chai and waited for her there, we had thought this lttle cafe was quite cute and homely like - and we were very disappointed to find that there is literally one on every corner - I reckon it outnumbers starbucks, so many chain stores.
Chats and red wine for the rest of the night. Then bed...... knackered
Monday, November 9, 2009
Better 12 hours early than 12 hours late
Excitement. All packed. Lists checked. Rechecked. Passport? Yes. Stuff? Yes. Do I really need 5 hats? Yes. Have a quick dinner. Pack the car. Buckle up. We are on our way. Arrive at airport. No queues. Man, it is our night tonight. Everything is going swimmingly.
Air check in Chickie (ACC): Good Evening
Us: HI! (Excitement way to evident)
ACC: Where are we flying tonight?
Us: New York?
ACC: Are you sure?
Us: (slightly nervous response) ahh, yes.
ACC: Are you flying with us?
Us (larger nervous response) Um YES
ACC: Could I see your itinerary? (Looks through details) hmmm I see...... you are 12 hours early for your flight...... you are flying at 12pm tomorrow.... in the day..... not midnight.
After laughing hysterically for a good 5-10 minutes, and the Air Check In Chickie assuring us that this kind of thing happens all the time (thanks but yeah right) I have possibly just experienced the biggest anti-climax in my life.
Call Danno. Through her laughing hysterically she gets a sentence out that sounds as if she will turn around and come get us. Get home. Go to sleep. Morning. Get up. Back in car. Drive to airport (again)
Attempt 2. Success. So there is a sunny end to this story. New York. Here we come.....
Air check in Chickie (ACC): Good Evening
Us: HI! (Excitement way to evident)
ACC: Where are we flying tonight?
Us: New York?
ACC: Are you sure?
Us: (slightly nervous response) ahh, yes.
ACC: Are you flying with us?
Us (larger nervous response) Um YES
ACC: Could I see your itinerary? (Looks through details) hmmm I see...... you are 12 hours early for your flight...... you are flying at 12pm tomorrow.... in the day..... not midnight.
After laughing hysterically for a good 5-10 minutes, and the Air Check In Chickie assuring us that this kind of thing happens all the time (thanks but yeah right) I have possibly just experienced the biggest anti-climax in my life.
Call Danno. Through her laughing hysterically she gets a sentence out that sounds as if she will turn around and come get us. Get home. Go to sleep. Morning. Get up. Back in car. Drive to airport (again)
Attempt 2. Success. So there is a sunny end to this story. New York. Here we come.....
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