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I just spent the better part of a week in New York with some friends of Charity’s (AUG 2003). I was fascinated by the city and felt compelled to write this travel log. I was there for Blackout 2003. You can jump to that or keep reading. I was inspired by an article written by Dave Barry about New York. I strongly recommend reading mine first. (If you read his first, you won’t find mine even remotely funny.) Davebarry.com This is a shortened version. I also have a long and boring version. Check out these cool postcards. Checkout this music vedio by Tyler Lyme. Directed by Patrick McCabe. Its about hating New York and hating other things too. |
BLACKOUT 2003
The rest of the day was about to take a turn for the worse. Impending
horror like I have never known before would soon consume me. There was
little I could do to prepare myself: Fortunately there was an enormous power outage that took out the entire north-eastern region of the United States and some of Canada. Whew, talk about your close calls! At first we weren’t sure what to make of it. It took a while before rumor (via radio) informed us of the magnitude of the blackout. Of course your first paranoid instinct is that it’s some sort of terrorist attack (Damn you Bin Laden!). But then the radio assured us it was just the Canadians. (Damn you Quebec!). Later, (days later) after all the buck passing and finger pointing they have concluded that Ohio was to blame (Charity and all her friends are from Ohio). I say we invade at once! Probably some fundamental Amish extremists! Nuke’em all, I say! You might consider the great economic loss to the city with such an outage, but just think of all they’re saving on their electric bill! Even though all the stores had closed, most things went on as though nothing had changed. All the traffic lights were out. This of course had no adverse effect on the way people were driving. Soon enough traffic was totally gridlocked, cars honking, and the streets were filled with hordes of angry pedestrians cursing at each other as they make their way home. So it was pretty much just like any other day here. Ah, to sleep again with no air-conditioning. Fortunately I am too dehydrated to sweat.
DAY FOUR Power is still out despite being encouraged by the radio that it should have been on last night. Damn, that Bin Laden! Er, umm.. I mean Ohioans!
We all stink to high Hades and is going to be another hot day. Rumor has it that some places have power, so we decide to go and see if we can go buy water. (Water wasn’t working either). Nobody is keen on the idea of walking so we attempt to catch a bus (subways are still out of commission). It was like mass chaos and anarchy to get on a bus. Those things were packed beyond full. I simply wasn’t aggressive enough to get on the first four that came. Little old ladies were shoving me out of the way to get on (no joke). I wondered how it was on normal days. Conclusion I’m standing packed in a city bus and my BO is so bad that I can’t even bear to be beside myself (we had no water to shower with in our building). I hate everyone here as much as they hate me. I reach my arms up to grab the hand bars and allow full ventilation of my armpits so the rest of the bus can get the full effect of my stench. I notice sitting right below my armpit was someone who had shoved me while trying to get on an earlier bus. Ah, the sweet smell of revenge. So this is New York. If you make it here, you’ll make it anywhere. It’s hot, I feel like mugging someone. I hate New York. |
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Sunset During Blackout, with
Charity. |
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Traffic Jam During Blackout.
(Detail) |
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Old-schooled Building Juxtaposed
With New-school |
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Graffiti wall in Little Italy |
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Charity and me. Top of Empire
State Building |
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The Gang at Time Square |
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The Gang on Queensboro Bridge
During Blackout |
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Crowded Street During Blackout |
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Queensboro Bridge From Far We were staying on Roosevelt Island which is spanned by the bridge, but you can't get to it from the bridge without a parachute. So we had to walk over the bridge then around Queens a few miles until we got to another bridge that would take us to the island. |
Cool postcards.
Long and boring version