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I’m moving to New York and that’s final!  This weekend was amazing on so many levels.  Above all I’m ecstatic that I was able to spend some quality time with my girlfriend and as a result of this visit I really feel so much closer to her.  But all of that is for another entry or two because this one is just about my time in NYC.  This is going to be a long post so sorry to bore the living daylights out of everyone but I want to make sure to cover everything in detail.

I flew into LaGuardia around 6pm on Thursday night.  It’s actually pretty cool because while we were taxing around I saw Donald Trumps plane out on the tarmac and there was a limo and a police escort parked by it.  Later while we were unloading it took off.  I didn’t see anyone but it could have been Trump flying out.

I managed to find my girlfriend and it was just pure bliss to see her in person again.  It felt so good to just give her a big hug and kiss.  We waited forever at the baggage claim for my suitcase but it did finally show up.  My girlfriend lives in queens very close to the airport so we just grabbed the M60 bus and headed to her place.  It’s a very nice area that she lives in.  It’s diverse and full of life, sort of a mixture of Greek and Middle Eastern people.  There are just tons of wonderful shops everywhere.

Her apartment is pretty darn small.  It’s really a one bedroom apartment but two people live there.  She does have the actual bedroom which is nice.  The roommate has a bed in another room but there are no doors and you have to walk through the roommates “room” to get to the bedroom.  Still it’s on a nice street that is pretty quiet and the apartment is cozy.  I could see myself living in a place like that.  The one thing I really don’t like is that there is no shower, just a bath.  Ugg!  I’d at least install one of those hand held sprayer thingies so you can wash your hair easier.

I didn’t sleep very well that first night.  I’m just used to my own bed so it was a bit hard to get comfy.  We got up Friday and headed into town.  She showed me where she worked and we went to the Ed Sullivan Theater to try to get tickets to see David Letterman.  They weren’t taping though so that was a bust.  We stopped at a coffee shop and I got a coffee and a morning harvest muffin (it has all sorts of stuff in it like nuts, raisins, carrot shreds, etc).  We walked over to Central Park and just relaxed.  We sat there talking and people watching for a while.  It was a fun time because I could just sit back and soak up the city.

We headed over and saw Times Square and then took the Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty.  That was neat because you could look back and see the whole city from the water and it was a very powerful image in my mind to see the city like that.  It is just so large.  We took the subway back to queens and I rested for a bit while she went and took part in a study she signed up for that paid 25 bucks.  She needed the money so I didn’t complain.  We then went to the east village for dinner and ate at this Italian place on 1st Avenue called Three of Cups. A bit salty but still good food! 

There was talk of rain for Saturday evening so we went to see the city from the Empire State Building that night.  NYC was beautiful and it was romantic to be up there with my girlfriend.  After that we headed back home and crawled into bed but ended up spending the entire night talking.  I can’t remember if we actually decided to go to sleep or I just passed out but last I remember was looking at the clock around 5am.  We woke up and got breakfast at a local place then goofed off rest of the Saturday morning.  Just hung around the apartment and talked about things.  It was our chance to have some quality time and play catch-up for the last month and a half being apart.

Later that afternoon we finally went out to finish seeing the places I wanted to go see.  We stopped at ground zero first.  It’s kind of weird.  The whole area down there is just a ghost town now.  It’s eerily quiet compared to the hustle and bustle everywhere else but it was in a way a relief to visit the site.  It’s just been such a powerful event that has become a part of our lives and to be able to visit the site and pay my respects helped in some ways to just make me feel better.

We headed to SOHO and just roamed around for hours.  We checked out a few stores including Urban Outfitters.  That’s a killer store and we ended up spending about an hour just roaming around looking at everything.  By then it was dinner time so we went into this bistro to eat.  The place was empty but the service was dead.  We sat there for who knows how long and no one even came to give us menus.  We walking out in disgust but ended up finding someplace better.  A BBQ place called Tennessee Mountain.  It was again good food and well worth it.  Besides it was my birthday so I was happy to be a bit gluttonous and eat a big ol’ plate of BBQ pork dumped ontop of biscuits instead of some crappy bistro sandwich.

We took the subway back to queens and walked to Astoria Park.  She loves to go running there so we walked along the water and looked at the city before calling it a night and going back to the apartment.  Watched a little local news on the TV then crawled into bed and just talked for a while before going to bed.

I got up Sunday and just felt so damn depressed.  I hated the fact that I had to leave.  I knew by then that I wanted to live in NYC and all I could think of was how much I wanted to just stay.  Forget flying back home I would just stay and start living in NYC right then and there!  I couldn’t though so I got packed up and left the apartment.  Took the bus back to the airport and got my ticket.  I sat outside of the security check for the longest time with my girlfriend just wishing I didn’t have to say goodbye.  I finally had to go through and waved goodbye for the last time as I headed to my gate. 

Funny thing happen while I was there.  I saw a movie star get off the plane I was going to get on!  The plane had already unloaded but about 10 minutes after everyone else was gone Giovanni Ribisi walked thru the door.  He’s currently in “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow” and was in “Lost in Translation”, “Gone in Sixty Seconds” and “Boiler Room.”  Plus he played the goofy brother of Phoebe on Friends.

So that was my visit to New York City.  I’m going to try very hard to go again soon.  Now that I have the touristy crap out of the way I can just go to spend more time with my girlfriend and not be so overwhelmed with running around the city.  Spend the whole day at the Metropolitan Museum of Art or go have a picnic in Central Park or whatever to just do something relaxing and fun for the weekend.

I’ve trained my realitives pretty well to not send chain letters or ubran legends so when I checked my email and I saw a forwarded message from my aunt I was a bit surprised to say the least.  I figured it must be something important if it came from her.  Boy did a bust a gut laughing when I read this!  It’s worth a post here just for the laugh.

Subject: Thank you!

This made me laugh today…thought I would pass it along

To all my friends and family, Thank you for making me safe, secure, blessed, and wealthy by sending me your damn chain letters (and urban legends) over the last year.

Because of your concern:

* I no longer drink Coca Cola because it can remove toilet stains.

* I no longer drink Pepsi or Dr Pepper since the people who make these products are atheists who refuse to put ‘Under God’ on their cans.

* I no longer drink anything out of a can because I will get sick from the rat feces and urine.

* I no longer use Saran wrap in the microwave because it causes cancer.

* I no longer go to movies because I could sit on a needle infected with AIDS

* I no longer check the coin return on pay phones because I could get pricked with a needle infected with AIDS.

* I no longer use cancer causing deodorants even though I smell like a wet dog on a hot day.

* I no longer go to shopping malls because someone will drug me with a perfume sample and try to rob me.

* I no longer receive packages from UPS or FedEx since they are actually Al Qaida in disguise.

* I no longer shop at Target since they are French and don’t support our American troops.

* I no longer answer the phone because someone will ask me to dial a stupid number and will get the phone bill from hell with calls to Uganda, Singapore, and Uzbekistan.

* I no longer eat pre-packaged foods because the estrogens they contain will turn me gay.

* I no longer eat KFC because their chickens are actually horrible mutant freaks with no eyes or feathers.

* I no longer look at the opposite sex because they will take my kidneys and leave me taking a nap in a bathtub full of ice.

* I no longer have a cell phone because I don’t want brain cancer.

* I no longer have any sneakers because I would hate to see all those poor kids in the sweat shops overseas suffering because I wanted a pair of Nike shoes.

* I no longer buy expensive cookies from Neiman Marcus since I now have their recipe.

* I no longer worry about my soul because I have 363,214 angels looking out for me.

* I no longer have any savings because I gave it to a sick girl about to die in the hospital for the 1,000,000,000th time.

* I no longer have any money but that will change once I receive the $18,624 that Microsoft and AOL are sending me since I participated in their special e-mail program.

I want to thank all of you soooooooo much for looking out for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now if you DON’T send this e-mail to at least 12,000,000 of your closest friends in the next 60 seconds a large bird with diarrhea will crap on your head at exactly 5:00 PM tomorrow

Happy Birthday To Me!

Today, I’m happy to announce, is my birthday!  Unlike the previous year I’m actually happy on my birthday.

There are still plenty of negative things going on in my life and for all accounts I should be just as depressed and hateful as I was last year but there is one very crucial difference.  A single and all so important thing that has changed in my life.  I’m with someone special that I love and that woman loves me back!

For the first time in my life I can honestly say I’m happy.  This isn’t some funky “Well… I guess I’m happy” feeling.  This is truly feeling content.

So what’s on the plate for today?  I’m not really sure.  I guess I’ll just be running around the city trying to visit all the places that I still want to see.  There is that one sad thought that will be with me all day.  Tomorrow I’m going back home.  I won’t be seeing my girlfriend again for who knows how long.  I can’t let it bother me though.  I need to enjoy today as much as I can.  I’m lucky enough to be with her now so I need to make the most of it!

So, I’ll post again when I get home tomorrow night.  All you out there have a great day!  I know I will!