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Solo adventure

There are tons of people who don't like to wander around alone. I must admit that these past few months I've been one of them. I became used to having a league of buddies to go places with that I forgot how much I like exploring.

Today started out rough. I will not go into details but I think I do need to get some pepper-spray. Walking around Hoboken is better than walking around Harlem but it's still kinda ghetto. Specially when it's all foggy. Compliments are welcome just not in a creepy manner at 6 am and then following me when ignored...

Today was General Conference (it's a semi-annual Mormon thing for those who don't know). I like going to all the sessions because I'm awesome that way. After the 2nd session I was supposed to go hang out with a couple of friends. When I got to where we were going to meet up, they decided they wanted to go somewhere else. I was annoyed because I didn't want to go there. I'm not one for the bar scene and they know it.

I was hesitant to leave them because of my little adventure this morning but I pulled myself together and went on my own.

I went to the Roosevelt Island Tram. It's pretty cool. The ride is short but the view is amazing. Yes you can see me in the picture... I don't have a camera I have a phone.

After the short tram ride I decided to walk around. I get lost pretty easily so I ended up not really knowing where I was. I ended up at Bloomingdales. The first thing I thought was "FRIENDS!!!" As I was pondering whether to go in or not... because the temperature dropped tonight and I was wearing flipflops and a skirt. Anyway, as I was pondering the whole freezing vs not, I saw a display thing. I had a fan girl moment...

Yup they had a display of Once Upon a Time! I was like eeek!!! I stood there in the cold taking pictures of the displays...

People were staring at me like "What's this crazy chick doing in flipflops and standing outside taking pictures?"

I didn't like their take on Rumpelstiltskin. he looked like a dude out of a gay boy band.

That one was kinda cute... except for the whole twirling and stuff...

After about 15 mins of staring at the displays and taking pictures without people walking in front of me. I don't get why people do that by the way. I mean they see someone is taking a picture and BAM let's photo bomb them! It's so aggravating. Oh anyway after the pictures I kept walking. I found the coolest place ever! If only I was able to eat...

before when I said I wasn't for the bar scene... I lied. I'm all about the Candy Bar scene! I continued to walk and I found something that made me chuckle. Only in New York can there be such random shops...

If you need a lightbulb... you know where to go. Instead of taking two trains I decided to walk all the way to Columbus Circle just for giggles. Plus, it's on my tough list of things to do... walk in Central Park at night. I'm so tough!

I was so happy to see lights when I walked out of the park... it's just as scary as it is in Home Alone 2. Yes... I just made a Home Alone 2 reference... it's the second one this week.

I made it home safely. I'm now wrapped in blankets wearing a hoodie and a hat. I'm so cold! But the solo adventure was worth it!

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Airports

Airports... I love traveling but I hate airports. There are some that are cool. JFK is one I like. There's tons to see and it's always busy. I like the Las Vegas airport cuz you can gamble. I liked the Greensboro North Carolina airport cuz the chairs are comfy. I am currently sitting in the Phoenix airport on my way to Utah. I don't like this airport. I don't like the people here. I'm tried of listening to stupid conversations.

I was just at the Charlotte North Carolina airport. I liked it. People are nice and super friendly. I overheard some interesting conversations, the bathrooms were clean. It was overall a pleasant airport to wait at. I'm stuck here in Phoenix for another 45 mins. I've been here an hour already. I'm now complaining about it here.

Here's the main reason why I'm hating it here. I am sitting in the chair just minding my own business and behind me are two old ladies talking. I'm charging my iPod so I'm not listening to music, therefore I can hear their conversation loud and clear. They are talking about how disgusting Arizona has become due to all of the immigration. They are tired of going everywhere and people speaking Spanish.

"We're in America! They should be speaking English all the time!" one of them says as she looks at a Hispanic man clearly not Mexican. There's a Venezuelan flag on his backpack... "Our state has gone to the dogs. They need to close off the boarders."

"Send all of them back to their 3rd world countries! Let's include the terrorist from the middle east as well." Man this ladies are dumb! No more blogging. I'm gonna go and tick this ladies off. I'm Mexican and proud of it.

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Ah Lifehouse. Jason Wade is pretty. There are some relationships that are a sick cycle carousel. They go round and round...

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Morning adventure

Having the weekend off is one of the great benefits of being a nanny. I have most weekends off so that means I get to do whatever I want. I had these amazing plans all ready and stuff! A thrilling adventure with one of the few friends I have in the city. Of course the laws of the universe conspire against me (as they have this past year) and suddenly my plans fall in the toilet.

I, being as stubborn as I am, don't let that get me down. I decide to go to the gym to vent my anger towards the universe *waves angry fist*. As I'm walking down the street in my huge University of Utah t-shirt (go Utes!) and the biggest sweat pants I own, I hear "hey sexy momma." I mean seriously? I can't possibly look worse and you say hey sexy momma to me? I just don't get it! It's not the first time it happens. When I look my worst 8 times out of 10 I get a comment of that sort. It seems that I shouldn't try to look nice because it makes me a sexy momma. Unless these men decide that irony is the best way to go... If that's the case... shame on you!

So I'm pondering this as I'm walking right, I'm standing there waiting to cross the street when another guy says:

"Hey do you want to be my 7th wife?" Seriously? Any other day I would've chuckled about it but I was having a cranky morning. I turned to look at this fellow. I give him my best stink eye. He looks very pleased with himself thinking of what a great joke he just said.

I sighed and just replied with a "I'll have have to check with my 6 husbands but the odds aren't looking good for you." He didn't really know what to say to that. I know, I should've been quiet but meh. It's the universe fault.

After a refreshing work out, I walk to catch the subway. Per usual, I always meet interesting people on the subway. Today it was a man with his two little daughters. One was a baby I'd say about a year old. The other I'd say was about 4. The baby is sitting there laughing at my face (kids do that a lot) and I'm making faces at the baby cuz she's so darn cute. The 4 year old looks at me and asks:

"Why are you all wet?"

"It's sweat. I was at the gym exercising," I replied as her dad was trying to shush her. Hey 4 year olds are known for asking questions. I knew what the follow up question would be.

"Why?" she asked ignoring her dad.

"To be healthy. It's so I won't be so fat anymore," I said laughing. She looked very serious. It seems my fat joke didn't go far with her. She turned to her dad.

"Daddy, we need to tell mommy to go the gym so she won't be fat anymore," she said still looking very serious. The man turned beet red. It was hilarious! Children say the darn-est things!

I don't think my post has any real adventure in it but I was amused. I guess the moral of the story is: the universe is a brat *waves angry fits*... again.

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This kind of logic is what I deal with everyday. Kids these days...

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Reading on the subway

Another exciting day in New York City! This morning my faith in teenagers was restored. It's not that I don't like teens because I do. In fact I like them better than adults. It's just recently I have seen a lot of ignorance when it comes to teens and the written word. It seems as if less and less teens are reading! That kills me because I LIVE for reading!

So anyway today I was on the subway on my way home. Since I now live in the ghetto, I take a ghetto-er subway. Nahhh it's not that bad! Anyway, as I was sitting there observing just like Sideshow Bob taught me, I noticed a kid who looked about 14 reading. I couldn't help but notice that it was "The Divine Comedy." I must say I was rather impressed. It wasn't only the fact that he had a legit book in his hands, (because now you see people with their Nooks and kindles everywhere) I was impressed he was making notes in the margins. It seems like I wasn't the only one who noticed. A girl who looked like an art student (yes I'm stereotyping but she really did look like one because she had paint on her shoes!) asked him about it. Their conversation went something like this:

"That's a good book. Do you have to read it for school?" the art chick asked the kid. The kid looked up from his reading and shook his head. "It's not for school?"

"No, I'm reading this for fun," the kid replied shrugging. Seriously a 14 year old who dressed like a skater. Again I'm stereotyping but the kid had a skateboard so...

"If you're reading it for fun then why are you taking notes," the chick asked him clearly as impressed as I was. The kid smiled.

"I do that with most of my books. I take notes because I like to know what my thoughts were the first time I read the book. I like to go back to certain books and see how my thoughts vary from the original reading," he replied looking back as his book. "We constantly change as we grow. Someday I want to pick up this book and know what I thought it was about at my age."

Holy smokes deep right? I wanted to stand up and clap. The only thing I did was smile at him. That's why I was reminded of the quote by Oscar Wilde. This kid made a lot of sense. We are constantly changing. His way of keeping a record of his thoughts is marvelous! A book can mean something different to you each time you read it. I never thought about making notes in the margins just because I love books so much that writing on them seems wrong. Now that I heard this from a kid, I think I might do that. I was schooled by a freshman today. It was refreshing...

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9/11

Today I stop to remember. I take the Path train to NJ at the World Trade Center. The first few times I saw the memorial and stuff, I stopped and thought "wow". Now that I see it on a daily basis, I just walk right past it. Today I'm taking the time to stop and ponder. I'll try to do it more often. I never thought I'd see Ground Zero, let alone walk by it everyday.

People think that New Yorkers are mean. They think that since it's a huge city everyone is always rushing. For the most part they're right but I have seen first hand the kind of chivalry that still exists. I was thinking how Ground Zero seems to be a place where people are more inclined to be kind.

About a week or so ago I was on my way to work. I was running a bit late so I was trying to walk faster. I don't do walking fast very well. I'm very clumsy so as I was walking next to the World Trade Center, I fell down. I hurt my knee quite a bit. I didn't expect anyone to stop and help me up but I suddenly saw a hand in front of my face. I quickly took the hand and saw it was a construction worker helping me up. Around him were other people looking concerned about me. I was touched.

A little over a week ago I found myself in a very difficult situation. I had to pack up all of my stuff and find a place to live. I won't go into details because I'm not going to trash talk anyone (ahem even if they deserve it). I was able to pack most of my worldly belongings into 2 big suitcases. I had to roll them over to the Path. One of the suitcases got stuck on a curve. I stood there trying to pull it up when a nice man in a suit came up and did it for me. There are always soldiers standing at the entrance of Path. They saw me come up struggling and one of them helped me take my suitcases all the way to the platform.

What I'm trying to say today is that kindness is embedded into each of us. Regardless of where we are from. It's not only in tragedies, like 9/11, that people show what they are made of. Even years later people are still showing their kindness around a place that has now become sacred to a nation. The first time I went to the 9/11 Memorial, there was a woman with some children standing near a name. A NYPD officer came up to them and gave them a piece of paper and chalk. with tears in their eyes, the woman and the officer watched the children trace a name onto the paper. People walked by and gently patted the woman on the shoulder in sign of support. I dunno who they lost, maybe it was a father, a mother, an aunt, the support everyone shows there is amazing.

I know this sounds like a ramble but let's face it, everything I post here is me ranting and rambling. All I wanted to show is that even 11 years later people still show kindness. If there is anywhere in NYC where people are kind and respectful, it's in the 9/11 Memorial.

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Once upon a time in NC

So there are certain people who think I'm all sorts of crazy... maybe they're right. This weekend since I had a few days off, I decided to come to North Carolina. I've never been to North Carolina and I have the desire to visit as many (if not all) 50 states as I can. So I packed a bag, which isn't hard to do since I'm currently homeless, and caught a plane to North Carolina. 

One thing I noticed right off the bat is that people are rather nice. This old lady chatted my ear off as we waited for the bag. The airport people were nice... everyone was nice! Even the motorcycle bar was full of nice people! Granted I still didn't want to take a picture of them just in case one of them was murderous. They were nice and made no rude comments. i was pretty shocked! Another thing about NC is that everything is so green! It's absurd!! NYC is full of buildings and stuff so when you're trying to look around all you see are buildings. Here in NC when you're trying to look around all you see are trees!

It was a successful weekend. I got to spend time with my dearest friend. I went to church with her and it turns out she's part of a ward full of genius people. Most of them are students at Duke or UNC. It was refreshing to hear intelligent conversations. Even random conversations about "How I met your Mother." 

After this wonderful weekend was over, I caught the Amtrak to Greensboro to catch my plane. The train was quite the experience. I sat next to a nice young man with very long blue/purple hair. He was reading Games of Thrones or whatever. We had a nice conversation about the book and his thoughts on it. He asked me why I wasn't scared of traveling alone. I told him I was carrying a gun so that I was good. The look on his face was priceless. Maybe I shouldn't say things like that... I might get arrested or deported!

Smurf hair was a cool dude. He got up to get me some water. It was very nice of him. He was nice enough to move so I could take a picture of Chewbacca next to the window. He said I was: "the most bizarre girl I've ever met on the train." It's interesting how I don't get offended when people call me weird. I think it's awesome!

When I got into a cab to the airport, the cab driver was also very nice. He told me all about his puppy breading. His dog Bella just had 8 puppies. He's taking care of them but it's turning out to be more work than he expected. He then asked me where I was headed. I told him NYC and he stared at me in awe. Apparently he went to NYC a few years back and had a horrible experience. He was mugged, it rained a lot, his motel smelled like rotten food and all sorts of fun stuff. He thought I was a hero for living there. It was funny.

The bad part of this rambling is that once I finally made it to the airport, my flight was delayed. I am sitting at the airport hoping and praying it's not delayed again. I need to make it back to work. I work at 8pm... if I don't make it I might just have to kick someone in the face. Even better, I'm going to write a letter! I'm so ready to have a BF. I'm kiddingish hahaha. 

What I learned this weekend was... if it says Japan in the title it must be Chinese food, puppies are a hassle, Game of Thrones is an awesome book which I must read, I need to pick up a Southern accent, if Barney Stinson said it it must be true,  I look young for my age, and last but not least... I have awesome friends!

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Observation game

Well since I spend a considerable amount of time on the internet at night because of my job, I've decided to blog about New York. I post a lot about my silly adventures on Facebook and a few people have suggested I should blog about it. Seeing I have a knack for doing random things, I think it's a great idea!

Today's adventure was quite hilarious... well at least it was to me. I work as a nanny in Hoboken New Jersey. Since I live on Staten Island, I take the Path to Manhattan, then the subway and then the ferry. It's quite the trek I must say. Well apparently the Path trains run differently on Saturdays. I didn't know that. Of course I ended up getting on the wrong train. It was going to a place called Journal Street and then to Newark. When I realized my mistake, I got off on the new stop. A lovely little station called Newport. There I went to look for a map. As I was trying to figure out a way to get to Manhattan a young man approached me. He looked like Sideshow Bob from the Simpsons. Our conversation went like this.

"Nice shirt," he said to me as I was staring at the map. I was wearing my Foo Fighters t-shirt. Of course it's cool. I looked up at him and saw the hair.

"Nice hair," was my response and I looked back at the map. I'm not the friendliest person in the morning.

"You look lost," he said still standing there. I rolled my eyes.

"I'm not lost, I'm just not certain where I am," I replied taking a train schedule. "Tell me something Sideshow Bob, where can I take the train to 33rd street?"

"Follow me Dave Grohl, that's where I'm headed," he replied smiling. This dude looked like the dude from LMFAO except not quite as ugly. We got to the platform and sat there not saying anything. He finally broke the silence. "Wanna play a game Dave?"

"As long as it doesn't require moving Bob, I'm down," the train had arrived. 

"It's an observation game. You have the time between stops to notice everything you can about a person. You put all the clues together to try to form the person's personality," Sideshow Bob explained as we sat down. Seemed like an interesting game so I nodded. "I'll show you with you."

"Wait, so you think you can figure me out in the 2 to 3 minutes it takes to get to the next stop?" The distance between Path stops is much greater than the subway. He nodded. "Okay go for it."

"You have decent taste in music. You've got a cold. You've walked for at least 25 minutes. Given the dark circles under your eyes I'd guess you work nights. You have a Toy Story sticker on your shirt so I'd say you work with children. You aren't from New Jersey or New York. You like to write. You have different colored eyes. You're not a natural red head," he was muttering looking me up and down. "Okay here is my personality analysis. You're an 18 year old who works as a nanny in New Jersey. You're an aspiring author from California."

"Not 18 and not from California. The rest is dead on! You're good!" I was very surprised. In fact a wee bit creeped out that my appearance gave away so much. 

"Now you try," Sideshow Bob smiled. I've gotta say, it's not until you purposely try to look at someone to know then that you notice things. Like this guy had a portfolio with what looked like drawings inside. I assumed an artist. His jeans were faded but his shoes looked new. I'd guess he was about 23. I was almost out of time. 

"Art student at NYU. 23 years old from Boston," I said noticing the Red Sox's logo on his bag. "Decent taste in music. You like LMFAO a bit too much."

"Not 23," he grinned. This game was interesting. It was my stop so I got up and he did too. I looked at him. "I'm going to Chamber's street. Don't give me the stink eye."

The game continued on the 1 train. 

I guess the lesson that Sideshow Bob taught me was that we should stop and notice things around us. We're sometimes to caught up in our own existence that we forget that we're part of a society. He stopped and noticed I was lost. Yeah it's a small thing to stop and give a stranger directions but maybe to that stranger it means more than someone noticed they were lost. Sideshow Bob is just another person I met on the train but I learned something. 

If anyone one is ever in New York City, the subway is a great place for the observation game. Just remember not to stare to blatantly at the person. Some don't like to be stared at... ahem. 

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You can observe a lot just by watching.

Yogi Berra