Went up for a day trip into New York City this past Saturday. First time I'd ever driven there, believe it or not. I'd always taken a bus or flight previously. Now, what that means in practical terms is that I had no idea what the hell to do with my car before I caught a train into the city proper. I'm trying to cut down a little on the ranting that I put here, but my God, what the hell is wrong with Jersey City? I spent an hour wandering around the dark labyrinth that is the Jersey City "history waterfront." Apparently it's so historic that they don't even have traffic lights. Hey, no problem, though. Stop signs work just fine, even on four-lane avenues. It especially helps if you put up buildings so that it's impossible to see around any corners.
I did finally happen across the commuter rail, though, and its attendant parking. Of course, next I had to figure out how to buy a ticket. Actual human beings are an intolerable waste of resources, naturally, so they only had machine kiosks. I'm not an idiot (I promise--look, I haven't used "teh" even once in this entry) but I could not figure out what ticket to buy from the damned thing. I asked some guy, who told me, "I'm from Kenya, I don't really know." We tried to figure out together, then tried to ask someone else, who told us, "I'm from Israel, I'm not familiar with these." Eventually a Japanese man showed us that there are two types of kiosks, only one of which is on a given side of the station, and only one of which sells the tickets we wanted. Nice going, New Jersey.
Tribulations in America's Armpit behind me, I finally met Esther in Penn Station. This was the first time in well over a year that I'd seen her: last time was September of '04, in my "well, I have to get a job, but first I think I'll tour New England visiting people" phase. It's always gratifying to see someone after a long absence and find that you still have the same sort of rapport with them. Not to say Esther hasn't changed: I'm not going to go into her personal business here, but she's gotten a slightly meaner edge to her these days. (It's ok, though, I always liked her penchant for playful violence oddly endearing, and I still do.)
So, we went out to dinner at an Australian restaurant, and had, among other things, kangaroo sausages. (Hey, Aaraa, your little buddies are delicious! Kinda tough, though.) Afterwards, we just spent the evening in a hookah lounge down the street and talked. She was a little flirty, which was weird since she's still attached to her current boyfriend, but whatever.
Also: she invited me back up for another [non-specific] Saturday evening so that we can attend Lesbian night at a strip club near her place. I'm not sure what to make of this, since she used to be kind of a prude.But hey, I'm not turning that offer down, especially since she apparently knows management there and can get us in for free.
On an unrelated note, I'm not sure where I'm going for my next vacation. I'm thinking maybe somewhere in Europe, since I did Asia this past time. Or maybe out in the Western U.S. Thoughts? Anyone been anywhere good?
I did finally happen across the commuter rail, though, and its attendant parking. Of course, next I had to figure out how to buy a ticket. Actual human beings are an intolerable waste of resources, naturally, so they only had machine kiosks. I'm not an idiot (I promise--look, I haven't used "teh" even once in this entry) but I could not figure out what ticket to buy from the damned thing. I asked some guy, who told me, "I'm from Kenya, I don't really know." We tried to figure out together, then tried to ask someone else, who told us, "I'm from Israel, I'm not familiar with these." Eventually a Japanese man showed us that there are two types of kiosks, only one of which is on a given side of the station, and only one of which sells the tickets we wanted. Nice going, New Jersey.
Tribulations in America's Armpit behind me, I finally met Esther in Penn Station. This was the first time in well over a year that I'd seen her: last time was September of '04, in my "well, I have to get a job, but first I think I'll tour New England visiting people" phase. It's always gratifying to see someone after a long absence and find that you still have the same sort of rapport with them. Not to say Esther hasn't changed: I'm not going to go into her personal business here, but she's gotten a slightly meaner edge to her these days. (It's ok, though, I always liked her penchant for playful violence oddly endearing, and I still do.)
So, we went out to dinner at an Australian restaurant, and had, among other things, kangaroo sausages. (Hey, Aaraa, your little buddies are delicious! Kinda tough, though.) Afterwards, we just spent the evening in a hookah lounge down the street and talked. She was a little flirty, which was weird since she's still attached to her current boyfriend, but whatever.
Also: she invited me back up for another [non-specific] Saturday evening so that we can attend Lesbian night at a strip club near her place. I'm not sure what to make of this, since she used to be kind of a prude.But hey, I'm not turning that offer down, especially since she apparently knows management there and can get us in for free.
On an unrelated note, I'm not sure where I'm going for my next vacation. I'm thinking maybe somewhere in Europe, since I did Asia this past time. Or maybe out in the Western U.S. Thoughts? Anyone been anywhere good?
<3
love Tea
xo