NYC: 10/31/13 ~ 11/3/13

This post is way delayed (like 4 weeks), but better late than never.  (In fact, when I look back on this months and years later to see what I was up to, I'm sure I'll give 0 shits that the blog entry is posted on November 29th instead of November 3rd.  But I digress!)

Here are photos Gloria and I took while we were there, followed by some ramblings of impressions I had of the city.

Awesome street art of B.I.G. in Bushwick, right by Steph and James's apt. 

More street art. No idea what it means but it looks cool lol.

A few of the TONS of project housing buildings around Brooklyn.
Yes they look just like the towers in The Wire lol. 

Cool area pretty close to the Bkn Bridge.  It was seriously like half a block away from another project building, crazy. 

View of the water from the Brooklyn Bridge.  That tiny-ass speck you see in the distance is the Statue of Liberty (and this is the best view we ever had of it, to my dismay lol). 

Old ass plaque on the bridge.  I'm not sure why I always take pics like this one. 

Inside the Brooklyn Night Market.  Its just a ton of local vendors with booths selling t-shirts, food, arts&crafts that they've made. 

The live musical performance / stage area of the Bkn Night Market. 

Random ping pong room they have @ Brooklyn Night Market.  

Quick look at Chinatown

View from the Highline. The Highline is an old unused raised train track that they turned into a walkway.  It has some nice plants, nice views of the city, and is surrounded by BALLLLLER apartments. I feel like walking around the city admiring things owned by disgustingly wealthy people is a big thing of NYC, btw lol.

More views from the Highline. 

Looking down the street from the Highline

They have some nice seating/chilling areas on the Highline too.  Wow this pic just reminded me it was cold as fuck that night. 

Typical tourist shit I wanted a pic of. 

More touristy shit!

Apparently this thing is really famous and I live in a cave lol. Don't mind the subliminal Bank of America advertising in the background -_-

NYC, the land of excess.  J/k this was a random supermarket, this is just how they decide to display their cereal.  Probably pretty inconvenient most of the time, I'd imagine. 

Artwork at a coffee shop.

New-York style Pizza!  That white one was so fucking delicious!

How I feel about how fucking delicious that pizza was lol.

Brooklyn
We spent most of our weekend hanging out with Steph & James in a few areas of Brooklyn.  I liked it there, it was interesting to see the demographics, different kinds of restaurants and stores, street art, etc.  Brooklyn seems like a big melting pot of mostly-white hipster types with their hip bars and restaurants, mixed into neighborhoods that are historically very predominantly black or hispanic.  (James and I had an interesting conversation about gentrification in these areas, but I can't say I'm knowledgeable enough about it to have a very informed opinion on the matter to share here.)  I did get a little extra kick out of being here because so many of my favorite rappers are from here, but Brooklyn is fucking huge, and I did not see drugs being dealt, freestyle cyphers happening, or any b-boys doing headspins on cardboard boxes (lol) so that was disappointing.  

(Midtown) Manhattan
We saw a lot of skyscrapers, baller-ass designer stores, famous studios and concert venues, but overall I am not a fan.  I think I'm just too much of liberal/cynic to overlook the fact that right around here is basically the epicenter of where a lot of the evil shit that caused the US's financial crisis originated, and the streets are full of stores that 99.5% of the residents of New York can't afford to shop at, and apartments/condos that 99.99% of New York can't afford to live in.  This area and the landmarks in it are the ones that probably get the most publicity on TV and all that, but...meh.  I did thoroughly enjoy Central Park though, I regret not taking Gloria for a ride on a horse carriage.  And on a related note, sometimes it smells like horse shit because of said carriages lol.  

*Sidenote: We got a $6 place of chicken and rice from Halal Guys, that shit was SO good, highly recommended.  Highlight of Manhattan for me lol.
**Sidenote 2: Gloria is not as cynical as I am so she appreciated the sights of the city a bit more than I did, in full disclosure.  

"The Village" - Manhattan

This area was fun, a lot of small boutique-style stores and bars.  I think it's also where we went to the Comedy Cellar, that was HILARIOUS.  Highly recommended for any stand-up comedy fans who visit NYC.  The only comedian I recognized was John Mulaney, but we saw maybe 8 comics and almost all of them were very good.  Also a quick (somewhat) walk from there is the High Line, the now-defunct train line that I posted pics of above.

Other Observations
There is something sort of...awe-inspiring about the sheer number of people you pass by in New York on the streets and subways.  Everyone has their own shit going on, places to get to, and in that sense the city did feel very full-of-life...The subways are fucking disgusting, and while it is amazingly convenient to be able to get around almost anywhere using them, there's like a hundred different train lines, it's ridiculously confusing, and apparently like once a week someone dies (accidental or suicidal) by getting hit by a train.  Gross... 

  

All in all, Gloria and I had a great time.  It was fun hanging out with Steph and James again (formerly known as our Go-To Couple *tear*), and they were excellent hosts in every sense. Link (their kitten) is really cute, and watching The Shining on Halloween night were good times.  Jack Nicholson is creepy as shit lol. 

10/30 J. Cole @ Paramount

Great performance, weak production.  And Wale flaked!  

Guess who's Bizzack!

I'm back, bitches!!!

A little crass, I know, but since nobody is reading this, nor was anyone waiting for me to be "back,"  I think I can pretty much say whatever the fuck I want haha.  

It's crazy to read through some of my old shit and see the kinds of things I thought about... I feel like I was always kinda hypersensitive to my own self.  Since high school, the summation of all my entries basically run like "damn, I'm like this... no wait, I'm likethat...  holy shit! I'm soooo this!"  And so on and so forth.  Not to say that I didn't ever have anything substantive to say, but in general everything was just so self-absorbed.  And it's extra weird now because I don't really think so hard about how I am anymore, at least as far as self-identity.  I do think about how I may be acting towards those around me, and how it may be affecting them, but as far as the different facets of my own personality... meh.  I feel pretty secure in my own skin now (and perhaps this was not so much the case in past years), so it just seems like a moot exercise to think about whether I'm a funny guy, or an extravert or an introvert, or what-have-you.

One random thought that comes to mind about how much life has changed from college is how when you get older, you really have to be deliberate about creating the experiences that you want.  When you're in school, you can just coast through everything and you still get engulfed in the wave of experience that is adolescence and young adulthood, and you really can't help but meet tons of people and do a lot of things you didn't think you would.  After you've been in the working world a few years, situations don't just sweep you up like that.  You have to decide that you enjoy ___, and then go seek after that and try to attain those experiences.  If you don't, you end up just going to work everyday, eating and shitting, and watching TV in the evening and maybe drinking your sorrows away.  Not to say I don't do my share of working, eating, shitting, and watching TV, but I'm aware enough to know that if you aren't careful, your entire working life can slip away without you even noticing until it's too late.  

Anyway, enough rambling.  Hopefully I can use this to keep track of some thoughts, write about experiences, and post pics of cool stuff Gloria and I do.  Hooray lol. 

Dumb people don't get a free pass?

I could've started this blog with some sort of introductory post about everything I want to do and say... but nobody really gives a shit about that stuff so I'm just gonna dive right in.

Most disabilities/handicaps get a free pass. Here's what I mean: imagine you see a person in a wheelchair - they're paralyzed from the waist down. Now obviously they can't do anything about it, so everybody (with any tact at all) would give them a free pass when it comes to things they can't do... if the paraplegic couldn't run and jump and climb stairs, obviously none of us would give him a hard time. He just can't do anything about it, right? It kinda goes the same for other disabilities...it's okay that blind people can't see, it's okay that an autistic kid can't communicate openly, it's okay that the mentally disabled man can't do calculus.

Now with those situations in mind, think of a couple really dumb people that you know...like REALLY dumb. Try to remember that one time you were trying to explain something even slightly complicated to them... and they either looked confused, or thought they understood but really they didn't at all. And then remember how frustrated you got, to the point that you just wanted to bitch them out for being so dumb, and called them an idiot/noob/dumbass.

Now what has the dumb person really done wrong? I'm sure he's TRYING to understand. It's not like he's purposely slowing down his brain-speed just to get a kick out of pissing you off, right? He's using the brain God gave him and probably trying his hardest to understand whatever it is you're talking about (he's actually probably trying EXTRA hard to understand, nobody likes feeling stupid). It's just that...it's not enough. The brain he was born with is running at top speed... and it's still not enough to understand what the fuck you're talking about. So they either give you this horribly blank stare or nod their head and say really vague remarks like "yeahh i guess" so you'll get off their ass and hopefully not notice how confused they are.

Dumb people are just trying to be themselves and we give them shit for it...like their normal selves aren't good enough. It's pretty sad, really. And I'm not saying I'm exempt, I get pretty pissed when I'm dealing with people who are being dumb. But the crazy thing is...nobody feels bad. I certainly don't. And it really doesn't make sense... like what's so different about being born dumb and being born blind? Why does the first one get clowned and the second one gets a free pass?


I guess I should just be thankful I'm not dumb... all you other reasonably intelligent people out there, be thankful too.

And for the rest of you.... go read some books and play Sudoku.

Or go cop this... consider it an investment.