Beauty, oddity, and real life rabble-rousing in NYC and DC

So NYC is definately fun, most sundays I get to see several cast members from SNL, Conan, and other TV comedy shows for free doing improv at the Upright citizens brigade (second awning in the picture).Every sunday we arrive circa 7-715 with hopes of getting actual "tickets" but generally resigning ourselves to stand by... both are free, but getting tickets when the line is long is risky, it means that you might get a really bad position in the stand by if you don't get tickets... though almost everyone in the stand by gets in (I don't know of anyone being turned away). The only draw back of standby is that you have to sit inline for 2-3 hours and can't leave (we actually do send out some scouting and foraging parties to grab grub for us all).

This is the stage of the UCB theatre... (it's flush with ground level) I usually end up sitting on the ground right on it... instead of a chair (better view as the chairs left over when standby gets in are not primo.)
This is Rosh and Chantal at central park... for a while when the weather was good we'd go to central park and claim to study between classes... if you were in such beauty would you really study?
I found this funny... it's the ice cream machine in the dorms... "hmm... which ice cream do I want???" "Ice cream sandwich, chocolate eclair, White castle burgers, candy center crunch, creamsicle, reese's bar, klondike?? Definately White castle"
This is Chantal... She asked for it... really really she did... no lie, ask her!
There was a festival in little italy a bit back that we went to... it was cute and had a really impressive opera singer, but was basically food stands... nice lights though!
This is the girls on the bus as we headed down to DC... we missed the first bus at 6pm and ended up taking teh 7pm... but that gave us time to find some chinese food in china town, nyc... as the bus was a china town to china town express. the ride was fun and filled with nutella, gatorade and other fun things like the toilet door behind chantal openning constantly and belching it's hideous stench into our polite conversations.

When we finally arrived in DC, Chantal and Rosh were attacked by a rather large puppy demanding that we adopt a pet.
This was outside Union Station in DC... I really like the bird in midflight.
This was inside. I really liked the light falling in.
This is the Capitol... we couldn't figure out how to go in, and the Brits really didn't want to... they apparently aren't at all interested in American Government... I don't blame them. The majority of Europeans I know really really really dislike Bush. And that also seems to go for New Yorkers.
This is Rosh, Reflecting at the reflecting pool outside the Capitol.
This is chantal getting wacked in the face by the map during a sustained gust of wind.
That's hetti hiding from the Capitol police... chickens are good at camoflage.
We decided while walking through one of the sculpture gardens to walk into a sculpture... and rosh came up with the idea for this fun shot...
We met a squirel during our lunch outside of an art museum that loved chocolate chip cookies from subway... but he couldn't hold his cookie... after eating a little bit he ended up running around and did a 360 spin in the air... too much sugar...
this is me in the Hirshorn... I love this shot... and Hetti had to get in it as well, but she was cooler than I and only is showing a leg.
This was in the Hirshorn and was a bit trippy... I don't know if I like it enough to want it in my house or if it makes me sick at all... but I what was I saying? I was confused by the colours...
Chantal decided to squash the washington monument...
Hetti decided to eat it...
And rosh won the coolnes competition by making it come out of her mouth.
Hetti also learned how to fly on the trip.


And then I went somewhere I hadn't been in over 20 years... the vietnam memorial.

I'm pretty sure I found my grandfather's name... but oddly when I went there I realised I didn't know his whole name... only that I'm Edward the second, Manuel the third, and Alonzo the nth... odd how something so common for most families to know is lost in families that struggled. I'm pretty sure it was Alonzo, Manuel Bustos from San Antonio, TX... If I would have had his death letter with me still I would have been able to corroborate his Unit affiliation also... but I think I have the copy in Iowa still... not sure.



We managed to hit almost all of the major monuments... and got to see the needle at dusk... it was beautiful.
AndI'm a freak.
This was a pretty shot from when we walked around the tidal basin...
(Jefferson memorial)
we also got aquainted with the DC metro system... it's a bit complicated compared to NYC where you pay only one fare for how ever long your ride is. In DC you have to figure out how far you are going, station to station, then where you want to return to, then add it up and put that much money on your card... sounds easy... except when you enter a station, it's really hard to figure out where you are going exactly (being new to the city), and then trying to find the station location on a rather impressively large board of names, do math and then figure out how to pay is a bit taxing... luckily the metro workers were nice and helped out.
the first night (friday night) we went to the Georgetown area after hearing from a DC cop (who was from Russia via a stint in NYC) that there was food to be had in Georgetown... so we caught the subway and hoofed it over... noticing all the college students dressed up to go clubbing. We ended up walking trying to decide what to eat, when we finally decided on this american-mexican restaurant (I don't even want to call the food it served tex mex...) I went online on my Cellphone and found out about a cool rooftop after getting a review about it... so when we entered, we were about to be placed downstairs, when I asked for the roof top (not knowing exactly what that was) and promptly being rewarded with this cute little roof top area in nice cool weather. The food was on the better side of okay, the service was okay, but it was a nice place to chill. Towards the end of our meal, the downstairs was flooded with a sorrority party... and girlish screams could be heard everywhere... sometimes I'm really happy I've never dated a sorrority girl... I think I'd want to kill myself if she behaved like that around me.

my cellphone came in handy again the next day in discovering another cool place... this beautiful park...



we stumbled across it as we were trying to find a place to eat the ice cream we bought (I'm quite notorious for eating at least one or three servings of icecream a day!)... Earlier in the day we had eaten at a rather tastey new orleans cafe and found an incredibly cool area of dc (the name of which escapes me right now). After sitting in the park, eating ice cream and studying abit, we headed out, but decided to head back as my cellphone/pda once again saved the day and directed us to a series of jazz clubs in the area (louie armstrong used to play near this park) where we were directed to a really cool bring your own beer, food, etc. club that had an incredible atmosphere, good music, and a great reason to exist (to propagate jazz and education on Jazz... it was a nonprofit initiative of several groups).... the place had four distinct but continous "zones" the first was when you entered, a few chess tables, the second along the right wall was dinning tables, on the oposing wall was couches facing the stage, then as you went in further, you stepped down a few stairs into the last area which was the club... several small round tables with chairs, dimly lit, as music from sax, piano, bass and drum vibrated the air that surrounded people seemingly suspended in a trance but also seeming so alive that their realness seemed to verify your existence.

Few times in my life felt more like a movie or a dream.

The next day we all slept in again, checked out and headed downtown where we meandered abit, was unimpressed by the minuteness of the white house and then headed back to NYC.

quick note

so, if you haven't noticed my blog looks different... it crashed... again... so while i'm currently too busy to be bothered with trying to rewrite the code here and there, I'm leaving this canned one up... enjoy. also it's been almost a month since I last posted! I'll definately get on to that soon...

Brooklyn bridge

9/25/06
535pm (i should be in class, but instead I'm on my way, taking the subway)

Have you ever entered a place and realised that the employees genuinely want you there, more than any of their other customers? I just had this odd experience and then found out both of them were texans, one having grown up in brownsville, the other living and frequenting the same bars I did in austin.

Crazy, random, new york.
540p

capital break

9/24/06
655p
This weekend was fantastic, I spent it withtwo beautifu brits in our nation's capital. We realised early last week that we had a three day weekend, and decided to do a random road trip. It was great fun, from cheking out the public mnuments to viewing a smithsonian modern art gallery to walking along the potomac under the stars and planes flying low overhead. We also had chances to walk though more industrial ghetto areas (our hotel was in one) figure out the public transport system, visit georgetown in search of good eats (the alamo grill? Is okay, and mostly worth it, but make sure you ask to sit on the roof) and accidentally run amok in adams morgan.

Adams morgan was perhaps the most fortuitous of our trip, in finding a nice new orleans style restaurant that actually was somewhat akin to cajun and creole food (though not so much that they served ever trendy café du monde coffee instead of the true louisiana staple of community coffee.) and though they asked if we wanted beignets to "complement" our meal (when have beignets ever been a complement to a meal? Aren't they more of a separate snack meal usually served with coffee and chickory?) I forgave them as the food was quite good and rather reasonably priced.

After our dinner we walked around a bit, grabbed some maggie moos ice cream (akin to marble slab and amy's ice cream) and headed to perhaps one of the most incredible parks ever stumbled upon. (pictures will follow when I get to a computer and am not sitting on a bus typing on a pda). It was gorgeous set in a part of town which has still remnants of former wealth, but now mostly an african and hispanic neighbourhood of the lower working class. The site apparently was an alternate location considered for the whitehouse.

It had whispering water steps, grand views, greenery, ponds and other beautiful things that turn studying into a relaxing occupation and one's body a tad satisfied and a great deal lazy.

Later on, I stole away into our enemies bathroom (starbucks) and then regrouped with the girls to review the attack plans for the night and assess the one most likely to lead to success.

We decided to search the historic u street district (which fortunately was a stonesthrow away) for signs of jazz. (Duke ellington and various others played here.) After being turned away from various bars due to minimum ages, and having a bouncer in th very HEART of the district swear there was no jazz around (there were a few next door to his place in fact) we were finally directed to two possibilities that might cater to all ages... The first sounded a bit like they were using sythesizers and also had a steep cover ($15)... So we decided to trek to the last choice which proved a fair distance away. But also proved to be an amazing gem; HR57. The place was all ages, served wine, beer, and dinner and had three distinct, but comingled atmospheres. From the music club, to the social lounge to the chess parlour, the place offered quite a bit in moods and pleasures.
The jazz was fantastic as well, with a pianist that as chantal said "is perhaps the most animated" any of us had ever seen.
And the food by the way was delish... Fried chicken, collard greens, and red beans and rice for $6. Oh how I miss the south sometimes. Chantal being our token veggie friend had to eat some veg lo mein from a nearby store, which she said was quite good.

We also managed to keep our tradition of oversized large cups (aka, the various plastic containers you find in grocery store salad lines) alive and well with the intoduction of a half gallon of oj and a liter of sparkling water from the neighbourhood wholefoods. (we were allowed to bring in our own food and drinks, and alcoholic ones had a $3 per person "corking fee" that tough reasonable coupled with our severely mild interest in drinking quashed any chance of us buying spirits at the store to the south.)

All in all this is a long post, its 737 and I'm on a bus from chinatown to chinatown (dc-nyc) for 35$ roundtrip... My finvgers are tired and my friends need some attention. So au revoir.
741p

gifts added to insult

9/20/06
1258pm
But others made fun of the believers, saying "these people are drunk" ~acts 2:13

Its odd to think of faith as a cross even though Jesus said it would be. He promised us great affliction great struggle and our own crosses.

He promised pain where other faiths promise escape.

If they insult you, remember they did it to me first (paraphrase of some gospel).

Insults. We're to expect them and embrace them as the Fool embraced and kissed His cross.

But how hard it truly is to embrace something our dignity rejects, and that our sense of rights, our feelings of justice finds utterly detestable.

Especially when it comes from the very place He said it would, from the faithful (they will persecute you in my name). Perhaps instinctually one wants to assume that it is only "in name" and not "in reality" that they persecute us in His name, but perhaps our instinct is wrong! Perhaps it is just as he said "in my name", for is it not so that all things come from God?

And that is precisely where the persecution and insults of true believers are clearly seen as gifts, truly great gifts of humiliations.
113pm

what what and what not.

9/20/06
248am
I incessantly tear at newspapers looking for both mischief and a place to sleep the night, week and possibly month.
Maybe weekly rent in questionably safe harlem or unsavoury southern bronx is the way to go? Or perhaps nightly rent in hostels? Either would be cheaper than rent in a traditional and difficultly gained appartment in lower, midtown east, or upper east side manhattan. Which are the places I want to live.

I'm tired of having my life divorced from the people I want to be near. From the people my age, and who know what it's like to be a twenty something, moderately affluent and in new york.

This city is magical, if you have enough money or luck to live in the midst of it all.

I'm too old to not live my life to the fullest, to live life focused on trifles on issues and things so small they hardly dignify a person. And what is money to someone who knows God will always provide?

When you live far away you miss out on the perchance happenings that always seem to require stumbling blindly and unto something magnificent.

I stumbled unto something I didn't expect in the least. Something I actually decided to actively resist. A girl. I have had several women in this city give me the all too long stare of interest coupled with the smirk that advertises availability and interest. Several have tried to talk to me, several have put out what they see as safely ambiguous flirtting that is not ambiguous and thus not truly safe.

But this one found a backdoor. I've not quite figured out which door I left open, but apparently I did leave at least one open. She very very different from who I am now, yet at the same time so similar that I've never felt so cared about, so cherished by anyone i've ever dated. She can't figure it out either, as a similar confusion is about her head.

Yet worst of all she's one of those small islanders that we rebelled against ever so many years ago to gain our obvious deserved independence.

Anyhow this is me signing off from the throne room in jazz on the villa in harlem.
318 am.

lately.

(a display on ellis island)

lately life has been quite enchanted (aside from the housing situation, being that NYC has a whole new set of rules for apartment searches/leases).

I've gone to central park numerous times, for various picnics, various dinners with friends, and various beautiful and exciting experiences in the city that I was finding trite until I discovered it's culture, (and a few londoners and a spaniard.)

NYC is filled with wonders, from starbucks, mcdonalds, subway, barnes and nobels, and duane reades (super-drug stores like eckherts or cvs) on every corner.




Life here is very odd, aside from email and making calls and searching for suitable apartments, I have class and friends I keep up with as best I can.

Some time a week or so ago, I ate lunch on Broadway, just west of central park... and when I say on Broadway I mean I ate it ON Broadway. There are islands on various avenues that they occaisionally put benches up on, aside from very beautiful landscaping, so one day I saw it, said why not? and ate a chicken, mashed potatoes, sparkling water and steamed veggies.



I also have a new cell phone, so if you're interested, you can email me and I'll send you back the number.


One of my classes rocks (well all of them really but this one especially). In my Geology of NYC, I basically get to look at the urban development of NYC by walking around it. It's pretty amazing, because I basically have to get to know this city more intimately than most people do who live here for as short a time as I expect to. On one of my trips through harlem, I saw quite a bit of things I never thought I'd see, albeit things I never even thought of. It was quite interesting to see racial divides still in place, and shame about the name "Harlem" (various businesses have changed their names over the last century to take out the name Harlem from their titles).

I also found how alive racism is... how hurt and blaming some african americans are. While on our walk through, we had one man scream "Cracka, WHITE CRACKA" repeatedly at us, and we also had a waterballoon and some eggs thrown at us. I missed the waterballoon, but luckily was the one hit by part of the dozen eggs. I can't explain why I like things like that. They're very humbling and they surely make me face my pride and sense of justice, but most of all in some weird way when someone treats me in a way contrary to dignity, I feel like I'm getting exactly what I deserve, and that oddly excites me and brings me joy. I honestly don't understand it. I really don't, I just know that I feel like a better person a more honest and true person after being denigrated and despised.

Annie and some of her Kids in connecticut, She's amazing and they love her so very much!
Superman one time use cameras are really really really expensive... I'll just stick with my cheap 150$ digital camera, and have to deal with not throwing it away after 24 exposures... though buy one get one free really is a nice deal! I'll have to rethink my position on this whole camera thing... it IS superman.
This is in the church that Annie works at... isn't He gorgeous! I love Him so much!
This is Serendipity 3, the place that inspired the movie Serendipity, and has an awesome frozen hot chocolate!!! (though its 15$ and can serve 3 easily).
A common street scene in (West) Harlem
This is the beautiful church I get to go to mass to every day when I'm at school, it's only three buildings down from school!
This is the ceiling of the Grant memorial. NSE (National Student exchange students) and the few International exchange students, went on a double decker bus tour of NYC last saturday, and apparently Ulysseus S. Grant is buried in NYC. He chose not to be buried in DC, and his wife chose NYC out of his short list of acceptable burial sites. His tomb is the largest in the nation.
The end of the civil war (I think).
Hetti playing dead, and trying to get old Ulysseus and his wife to stop being so boringly dead.
Just a beautiful photo outside of the tomb.
On top of the double decker... that's Chantal. (She's from Houndslow, aka part of London)
This is the site of and construction on the WTC.
That's Roshni and Paloma (a Brit and a Spaniard) on our picnic in central park... after our tour we decided to scout out central park for some fabled water falls, and brought along some picnic food... a baguette, jam, oj, water and maybe some other small stuff.
Central park is pretty at night... isn't it!
This is looking at Downtown from the Jackie Onasis reservoir (AKA the Lake) in Central park... gorgeous!
These are my friends again!
Manhattan from the boat to liberty and ellis island (we went on sunday after our saturday bus tour).
Lady liberty. She's surprisingly small... I wasn't very impressed by her stature.
But I am impressed by her being so meaningful to our country, and the world.
Ever viligant, she stands looking on the city and land she loves.
The docks at Ellis island.
The hall where immigrants would line up for immigration into the USA.


This was a cool display about the impact of the Statue of Liberty on post 9/11 nyc. Read the photo... its quite powerful. And then wonder what she means to you.

The ceiling to the hall of immigrants... I love old ceilings.
Hetti and Roshni became quick friends! This was at the Salsa dance show on battery park... it was by far the single best dance show I've ever been to... and we just stumbled unto it! And it was free... one of the girls from "so you think you can dance" was part of the dance group (she obviously wasn't very important compared to the rest, as she wasn't introduced until the end of the show... the dance group was some broadway show's cast, Mambo nights?).

This was from today... this is a train yard in poor manhattan... Just north of harlem on the west side (Inwood?).

This is actually an atypical scene in NYC... most elevated trains were torn down in the 50's and 70's, and replaced with subways.

couple quick things

so I'm not contagious and not a public health risk at all.

and this whole apartment business is really really getting to me. It's so much easier in Austin, TX.

9-11-06

there's something powerful about walking in a place 3 hours by foot
from the wtc and stumbling across people standing and seemingly
staring.
Staring perhaps at those 40 boquets of flowers sitting there against
the building.. Perhaps. Or maybe since that building is a fire
station, in remembrance of all firemen. Or by chance its that framed
thing on the wall. Those uniformed pictures of their men who died.
Their 9.

Mass today was equally surreal. A roll call of the 11 firemen from
the hunter college area that died. I don't know these men, I don't
know how they lived wether in virtue or vice, but I know their simple
response to duty inspires."yes, i choose to serve."

And they died, perhaps never truly realising they were in such danger.

......
as I walked home today we notied a searchlight to the south...
perchance illuminating some celebration... but as we looked a sense of
profound awe came into my soul, and two beams were discernable.

New York Lunch

I just had a New York lunch... A Hot Sausage (with Ketchup, Mustard and onions), a Pretzel and a Gatorade as I walked to the post office.

Thats it. That's all I wanted to say.
What is that not enough for you?

Fine. I'm getting a cell phone.

Happy now?

Well are you?

See what you did!

Queerness in NYC

So NYC is a bit queer, odd and downright confusing at times.

For example, I've yet to understand if it's noble, pharisaic, virtuous or greedy for a person to ask for change from the collection basket (an occurence that has happened nearly every time I go to mass, and I try to go daily).

I'm slowly catching onto the Street vs. Avenue system, (avenues in Manhattan are N/S and Streets are E/W)... and slowly connecting the random parts that I know of NYC together into one whole mental map.

I missed class again today (Dr.s appointments at the city clinic are long and rarely rarely rarely on time.). But luckily my Prof is cool about it. As for the TB, they're still trying to figure out if I have it (in the meantime the suspicion is that I do, and thus they have me on meds.) They're doing DNA tests on my Sputum... I gots the consumption.

I ate lunch at a bakery north of campus that was okay... not fantastic, but pretty tastey. Their desserts look awesome though.

Last night, I went to Carnival of Dreams with TIA! Yes, a long lost friend from Austin (UT Austin)... it was fun to catch up with her, hangout with her B/F friends, and eat good food! I love the village area, it reminds me of home... and when I say home I don't mean any place that I grew up as much as the home that your heart knows and is always searching for... the eternal Fatherland that we are longing to return.

It's perhaps a bit odd that the village area is so Weird (weird in the good "keep Austin wierd" way) and most likely liberal, but that sense of diversity, life and living is what I suspect makes it feel so comfortable.

Oh and my dinner was an exquisite "live" burger... basically completely uncooked vegan food. Crazy? yes. Delicious? Also yes. The burger was served over a salad instead of a bun, and my dessert was a berry chocolate cake that was gorgeous. (The waitress said reluctantly "it's not live" to which I responded "that's okay.") I also had a Watermelon fancy dietary water whose name I couldn't tell you if I was interrogated for 15hours and then three days more... but I do remember it was something completely overly-intellectual and affected, and it didn't make it taste any less or more like watermelon juice. And with my cake I had a "grain" coffee... it was made of some random non coffee substances like chickory and beets and stuff... it was pretty tastey and akin to coffee.

And I tried to get a PO box, but apparently you need an address to get one... Uhm... Yes?
Anyone else see a prob with this???

I went to Mass today at St. Patricks, and I'm really unimpressed by the cathedral and by the priest who presided the mass... he went through it as if it was a sprint and not something to be cherished and loved. St. Patricks is by far less beautiful than the chruch we have nextdoor to Hunter... St. Vincent Ferrer. Which is a French Gothic styled church... and impressively beautiful.

A couple of Sos and one also.

So I started laughing when I went to the restroom... Not only is my urine orange, it's gatorade orange... I'm really glad they told me ahead of time or I'd have been not only laughing but also quite a bit worried.

Also, if you come to NYC and plan to be an illegal street food vendor, BEWARE the cops here check... I saw a guy getting arrested and his cart impounded after I had lunch this afternoon (which by itself deserves some comment.)

So my lunch I went to soup salad sandwhich place near the college called "Hale and Hearty"... It was absolutely fantastic. I had a roast beef sandwich and a tomato basil soup that was delisch.

Sir Hair: Public Health Hiccup

(I was just about to post some pictures but I discovered the lab computers are locked from anything other than certain tasks).

Anyhow, back to the Hiccup thing. So today I spent several hours at the Chest Clinic in Manhattan (the NYC public health system is awesome by the way). I have a "nodule" in my lung that the doctor suspects is TB, given my exposure to TB in India, my previous test being negative and my general medical hystory. He said if it is TB, its an extremely early form, so to prevent me from coming back in in two months coughing up blood, he's put me on the meds. As such, I am now on a seven pill a day program for the next two months. (All free thanks to NYC!)

I also get the wonderful cross of possible side effects... some of which he said would occur daily for a few hours, but that it's important the I kept taking the drugs.

The side effects are... (*ahem* drum roll please!)
Nausea
Vomiting
Dark Urine
Skin rash
Loss of appetite
Numbness of hands and feet
Yellowing of Skin and Eyes (aka. Jaundice)
Fever
Easy Bruising
Flu-like symptoms
Urine turing orange or red
The drugs may stain my Soft contact lenses (not harmful apparently)
Joint Aches
Blurry Vision
Changed color vision

The only ones I have to worry about are the jaundice, numbness and vision, the rest I pretty much have to take as they come.

Aside from a chest xray, they gave me a blood test, vision test, checked my weight (which for the last few years has been pretty much stable at 145lbs or 65.8 kg), took a sample of the mucus in my lungs (sputum) and had me dance a jig for all the patients in the waiting room (well maybe not the last one, but only maybe not.)

The doctor and I talked a little bit (he even asked if I was thinking of becoming a priest after I told him what I did this summer). Apparently the MC sisters in Manhattan (the AIDS house) come to his clinic all the time for checkups. He also comented on how people in the US are unwarrantedly paranoid of TB and TB patients, and said at this stage I'm most likely not a public health risk (in laymans terms, I don't need to be locked up in a cage and observed by scientists and doctors, nor do the people I've come in contact with).

Still not sure about housing, but I looked at a nice loft apartment last night... and by loft appartment I mean crawlspace cum loft apartment, its about 10 feet square and 3 feet high... but it is really cheap and it is in an AMAZING location (right near hunter, i.e., "one of the richest zipcodes in the US") and a great price, so I might still take the "hole in the wall" as Tim so eloquently put it. But I'm hoping on a miracle that the dorms open up a male room... primo location, primo price...

Adventures in NEW YORK! NEW YORK!

I might have TB... well I do, but I might have more than just the TB bacteria in my body... like full blown TB... More on this later. Meanwhile please enjoy these nice after dinner mind refereshments.

So today I went on an accidental fire stairs escapade... I was trying to get to the computer lab on the 7th floor of Hunter East (we have three buildings, north, west and east, occupying the Northwest, southwest and southeast corner of 68th and Lexington, well we actually have four buildings at this campus, but the north building and the Thomas Hunter building are seamlessly adjacent, and the difference between the two is only noticable from the outside, not the inside.)

Well, I've seen the 7th floor lab from the bridgeway (we have three bridgeways, one on the 7th between east and west, and two on the third between east and west and west and north). But there doesn't seem a way to get to it from the seventh floor bridgeway... there are a few dummy computers (not full stations, just client computers) but there is a wall and elevators between them and the lab that you can see from the bridgeway. so there appears to be no way to get to it from the 7th floor, so I tried the eighth floor, but there didnt seem a way down into the lab, so I thought there might be a way up from the Library on the third floor, figuring that the lab might be part of the library and thus only accessible through it. So I tried the elevator, but when the elevator showed up it was obvious I and my luggage (more on the luggage being with me later) would not fit. So I decided to go down the stairs. So I go down the stairs... and a sign on every floor access door says "no entry, reenter on the 8th floor or go to the first and exit street level" or something of the sort. so thinking that I can't take the elevators and going down hill is easier than up, AND that the first and third floor are a heck of a lot closer than the 8th and 3rd, I procede down to the first floor, where I come to a door that looks like it goes out.

SO I check for alarms and finding none on the door, I push through.

then I see that I'm actually in a longish hall and I can see some daylight through the cracks at the door on the other end, as I approach the exit door, I notice two things. First I notice the door behind me click closed. Second I notice that the exit doors have two alarm systems wired to them.

So I debate about sitting down and reading the rest of Narnia.

That won't do, because I'd be in the same situation as this area seems seldom ventured into.

So I look around, the elevator requires a key... I don't have a key.
The other two doors in the room are locked, as is the door I left.
All that's left is an emergency call box.

So I debate briefly about looking foolish and then realise it's foolish to put off looking foolish, when you might as well at the soonest convienence (keeps ya humble and all).

At which point I push the button, hear the ringing and blush.

After a few rings the guy on the other side asks "Public safety how can I help?" or some other polite and genuinely loving and unimposed-upon words.

I blubber something about being outside elevator bank A on the first floor and unable to get out without tripping the alarm (I had noticed the sign earlier and thought it would be easiest to describe where I was to someone on the other side, but now that i think about it, they probably knew exactly where I was, considering it wouldn't be too hard to have a light saying which emergency call box was tripped.)

He said to just exit, but I questioned if that would trip the door alarms.

"One minute"
As he went off to converse with his colleagues I had to let out a little smile, chuckle and "crazy".
Then I overheard "yeah just have him exit".
"Yeah just exit to street level"
"you sure it won't trip the alarms"
"yeah just exit."
So I walk up to the doors and without pausing take a deep breath as I push the doors open.
I hear the alarm go off, in my mind, but no where else.

I later discovered that there may not be a public lab on the 7th floor, the lab I'm thinking of maybe a workspace or private... in any case no body knows about it, not even the people in purple shirts that say ask me questions(our colours are yellow and purple for the Hawks) or the campus security.

So luggage. Last night I arranged to go to a hostel in the east part of queens (about 45mins from Hunter). I'm supposed to meet the person before 530 or after 11. (maybe after 10, but she wasn't so sure she'd be there). so I go and wait outside from 11 until 1230 waiting for her, and calling her and buzzing the apt... at which point I realise how tired I am and how much I'm going to need sleep. So I decide in a last ditch effort to call a hostel that didn't have rooms earlier, but whose number was the only other one I had, thinking if nothing else I can go stay at the Missionary of Charities Shelter in the Bronx (they invited me to stay if I ever needed a place). Well lucky tired me got a welcome answer on the otherside saying "yes, we have rooms", "all you have to do is show up" and "30 to 36 dollars". I'm excited to be almost asleep in a bed. But I give her one last try to no avail. I head down little India (thats what I'm going to call this area, as there were so many Indians, and it even had the random Indian "taxi" driver in a personal car asking "Taxi?" and not believing me when I said no.) to the train station (the subways are considered trains, and they are sometimes above ground, especially off of Manhattan Island).

Now please note at this time that its between 1230-1am that I'm walking down to the subway station in NYC... everyone has heard the horror stories of gangs and seen movies so they briefly pass through my mind, but it didn't bother me much as I know God wouldn't permit something that wouldn't be for His glory. (So what if I die in a lynching... maybe souls would turn ever more to Him because of it? Not that I'm trying to dredge the fathoms of God's wisdom, but just that I could see it happening.)

So I get on the train eventually and notice a group of what appears Europeans and one suitcase amongst them. Now during the train ride up manhattan Island I'm trying to figure out if they're sharing the suitcase or if that satchel on the guy's arm is his toilletries case thus signifying that it's his suitcase... whatever. At some point in the daze of 130am I stumble ever so gracefully off the train and into the w 103rd st station. Noticing that the suitcase is carrying a small and cute slavic looking girl. So I try not to make much eye contact, other than a cordial smile, as I walk beside her out to the exit (I didn't want a single girl to be worried that I was a threat or that she was in danger by engaging her in conversation). But she at somepoint seemed to say something, but as I couldnt understand I just chalked it up to self-talk. Then she repeated it but louder and directed at me, "Are you going to the central park hostel?" I say no "Jazz on the Park, How much is that hostel?" "I don't know, do you know where it is?" "No, do you have an address for it?" "no." "well I know there is space at the hostel I'm going to, so you're welcome to come."

The rest of the night proceeds with her saying "what would we do without boys" (I lugged her luggage up several flights of steps), us ending up in the same room (the only two occupants of a four-bed room), free clean towels, and an nice comfy bed around 2am.

Well that was what we thought was the rest. But at 4 am we were awakened by some really loud noise, our door openning (which it shouldn't since there was a key card access), some really really really loud talking and laughing (including "A girl!") for 4am in the morning, and two guys that appear in to be in some oddly outdated uniform. I thought they were drunks at first, then staff, and after a bit we discovered they were travellers who had just gotten in. They left. and we returned to sleep, to be woken up again at 7am by them stumbling back in loudly, and going to sleep on the bunks above us (we had the bottom bunks, and they had gone to see the sun rise in Brooklyn). Around 940am Anna wakes me up (I've been in and out of mostly restful sleep the whole time due to the random interuptions confusing my sleep cycle). saying that breakfast is almost over... I say I'm going down are you? she said in a bit maybe. So I go down and enjoy a nice and free bagel with 3 packets of jelly a coffee and grab an orange for after. Around 1005 Anna stumbles down to find that they had already closed up the free stuff, but also to find an orange that I saved for her.

In other news, I'll talk about Subway confusion (I've been going the wrong way alot lately) and a rental Scam later. But now back to our main course.

Yes my skin test was POSITIVE. Though the way she explained it was "it just means you were exposed to it and have an infection, not that you have TB" I think she was differentiating between a carrier and an active case, but I'm not sure. So tomorrow morning I have an Xray and Dr.s appt. to find out what the dealio is, Yo.

And I'm off... gotta find housing for tonight and beyond... checking out an appartment in a second.

Somewhat settling

So.
I've got my classes squared... Intensive French, Geography of NYC, and Geology/flora/fauna of NYC.

Hmm

And I have a place that is somewhat stable i.e., I know I can stay for a while.

And I might have TB. YAY!
Okay so that maybe a weird thing to Yay about, but I also Yay'ed about getting a two hour plane delay on our way back from Delhi, after we had already been switched planes and had to take two instead of one to get to Amsterdam (where we were to leave for the US).

Apparently a positive test is " A positive skin test results in a raised bump (induration) at the point of administration" And I have a slight one, and its reddened. Tim doesn't so maybe I do, maybe I dont, I think I do.

Also about the Yay! I figure you might as well thank God for your Crosses, since you're going to get them anyway. :-) And they make you rely more and more on Him! So only good can come from it!

Cancel that... did more research: "Redness alone at the skin test site is a negative reaction meaning you have not been infected with TB bacteria. A firm red bump is a positive reaction to the skin test meaning you have been infected with TB bacteria at some time."

My bump isn't firm.

NYC... 'nuff said

So I'm working at a men's shelter in the Bronx with the CFRs for the last two days. It's really cool, and I might get the chance to work with the youth center. Which I think I would love to do! For some reason, the Bronx feels like home... (assuming, of course if I stay here.)

Tim and I got free TB tests today at the city clinic, we find out our results on thursday. (I needed one since I just got back from India).

so the subway system in NYC is actually amazingly easy to navigate and very cheap and convienent... like 74$ for unlimited rides for a month.

Also, New Yorkers are NICE PEOPLE... maybe you don't believe me, but they aren't as mean as they're portrayed. Example. I was on the train from CT to NYC the other day and found out they don't take credit on the train. All I had with me was some change, so I asked the conductor where I should get off to purchase a ticket, he said some city, and then asked if I had any money at all. I said maybe $5 in quarters (I had just done laundry). He said smiling and quite nicely "count it up, and I'll be back". I counted it up and it was $10.25.

He took it, gave me a $1 back and said aside, "so you have some money" then said "We'll make you a senior Citizen today." So I ended up having more money than I thought and paid less than half the cost for the train ride.

NYC... Pshaw.

so I'm all a jumble lately, with random thoughts that I thought had been put out of my mind and the queerness of moving/maybe not moving to NYC or another city.

I have until tomorrow or so to make a final decision on the whole thing... thats when I register for classes, which is something I should have been able to do earlier, but due to a switch concerning my social security number and the repeated forgetfulness of the director of the exchange at Hunter, my earlier attempts failed. Yesterday I spent getting paperwork done, and changing my ssn from some random number, that didnt even match mine in any way, to my actual. I also tried registering but had the pleasant surprise of being unable to, because of the whole deal. But tomorrow I can register. Praise God.

That is assuming that I decide it best, I'm leaning more and more into staying, though several things still seem a bit out of place. I do expect I'll stay, but I'm not going to say I'm staying until later.

yes, so its crazy.

I met some of the CFRs I may soon be working with yesterday, and I'm going to two of their events saturday, one during the day, and one at night (the Catholic Underground concert). They are really amazing men (and volunteers). And they were really happy to see me.

Crazy.

We also ate at Serendipity today, yes the place from the movie, they make an amazing drink (big enough for three people) called a frozen hot chocolate.

I'd post pictures, but alas, I am unable to get to a computer that I could connect with my camera (same reason I haven't posted on faithorbust.blogspot.com much lately).

anyhow, love you all, keep my housing in prayer.

Ciao!

NYC... well not quite

So I still haven't seen NYC, though I've been in it... or perhaps more precisely put, under it... I took a train from Newark (NJ) to New Haven (CT) and stopped briefly in Penn Station (NYC).

Unfortunately it cost a bit more than I expected (because I had to take amtrak instead of Metro north, and because I had to take business class instead of normal class). But I did get a free NYTimes and two free drinks. When I arrived in New Haven, I was still a bit far from Clinton, where I needed to meet up with Annie, so I asked the amtrak peeps how close they could get me (a taxi was 55$)... they said about 10 miles, and I'd have to wait 4 hours... but suggested I try the Greyhound... so I went to the greyhound and the guy put me on a bus to middletown, claiming that it was closer. I asked how close, but he didn't rightly know, and he also didn't rightly know where the heck it was.

A brief Geography interlude. New Haven and Clinton are both on the Shore of CT. And now back to the story.

While riding the bus I noticed that I hadn't seen any ocean yet, and that from the maps I've seen I should be able to at least occaisionally see ocean from the highway... then it hit me.

why would you name a place Middletown?

At that point I suspected correctly it was in the middle of the state... and instead of getting closer, I at best would be keeping my distance, but changing my direction from Clinton.

well I get to clinton and carry my pack and roll my suitcase to the police station and ask how far clinton is, hoping that they would say 10 minutes walk... His first response was promising "How are you getting there?"
"I haven't decided yet"
"By walk it's about... " (hope was in my ears at this) "4-6 hours" (correct the hope, insert disappointment) "by car about 25 minutes"

So I ended up calling Annie and begging a ride (the taxi was 57.50 from Middletown). And three-four hours later (she was in the middle of youth group) my valiant friend walks up the church steps where I'm reading and with a shocked smile (she hadn't seen me without long hair-- ever) welcomed me to the Nor-east.

So that's where I'm at. Most of my recent story is a bit boring and bland, involving sleep, dinner, scrabble, amazing weather, and prayer, so I'll not pain you with it.

God Bless!

Confused like the Dickens...

I have NO clue where I'm supposed to be in the fall... I thought it was supposed to be NYC, but several things have gotten alot more complicated (like registration)... that should have been simple affairs.

I fear that I might have to go to Iowa... or abroad... or Louisiana... or Texas... or Colorado...

Though I actually do think I'll end up in NYC, the events of late have been hard to read. And it's not that I'm worried, it's simply that I'm confused. I know God will take care of all the details...

In fact, I'm praying for a special intention that might change everything... don't ask me what the intention is, because frankly I don't even understand it.

Another funny thing is that I have been suggested to work with the Missionaries of Charity in the Bronx. They'd provide my meals and probably a place to sleep... which would make my whole life a lot easier... but the trade off would be working night shifts at the mens shelter... hmm

The Missing picture

Its the end? What?

(there is supposed to be a picture here, but the comps aren't cooperating and my friend leaves tomorrow morning so I'm jetting... loves you all.)

So I have about a week left and it's really getting to me already.

Luckily, one of my friends will be escorting us to Delhi on the train and everything, Zoe has been here with us since we began, and she's leaving the same time (and yes I have been misprounouncing her name for the past 3 months... its not Soh-E it's Zo-e) ... so it's really nice... its a bit depressing to abruptly leave all your friends, so its nice to have a weaning of sorts.

Everything is now taking on the tint of "this maybe the last time"... that bittersweetness that makes one cherish moments that otherwise would be mundane.

Its funny how watching T.V. even has become a bittersweet thing... its one of the last times I'll be with these people...

Tearful goodbyes

I've never been one for good byes. Ask my NET team about them, and I'm sure they'll tell you how cold I was about the deal. Even from the first day we met, I told them I'd probably not expect to talk to them again, save once a year or so. Which in most cases (if not all right now) is actually the fact. I've never been one for sentimentalism or the such.

But over the last few years, I've met more and more people that I've wanted to let into my life. And many of them I've had to say good bye to. I find it hard, sorrowful, tearful, sad.

Some of them I know I'll see again (I miss Louisiana SOOOOOO much!) and some I just hope to see again. The second are the ones that I've met here. Why don't I know I'll see them again?

I'm in Kolkata, and I'm leaving here too. Few of my friends are staying, and rarer yet are those that plan to be here in two years. In Louisiana, I just have to go to one place to find all my loved ones. For Kolkata, I have to hunt them down and throw a net over them, and then hope they don't spoil while I gather everyone else.

The Kolkata summer of 2006 is something that will never be played again. My friends even if we do keep in contact with, will never all be in the same place (unless I die, then I hope they all come to my funeral).

I'm not so sure I like this new warmth in my heart. It sorrta hurts, alot.
(7:40am July 31, 2006)

I've had a lot of time to think...

(those are bed bug bites on my head)

These past few weeks, I've had an inordinate amount of time to think and pray... and I've learned about myself in ways I never knew I would. Here are a few things that I'm willing to share ;-)

The people that annoy us the most, annoy us because they are the very mirrors of the things we hate about ourselves. The very things we struggle with are incarnate in them. There is only one rare exception to this, and that's when they display characteristics that we desire to have, but lack and their virtue convicts us of our failure to be virtuous.

Its an odd situation, but a person will not annoy you UNLESS there is something about them that sheds light upon your own struggles.

Due to this insight, which was at first a seed of a thought that was then fed by my spiritual director to a budding, I realised many things about my own struggles. How I hate people who teach me things, I hate people who order others around, I hate people who always have some reply to everything I say, I hate people who bring attention to themselves, I hate people who lead without humility and care. But I really learned that I really don't hate that person, but the source of the reflection, myself. I hate that I'm not as virtuous as I had hoped I would be by now. I hate that I'm not perfect. I hate that I'm not holy.

This insight has helped me to begin to see where I need to change and how I need to do that. I just pray and hope that God will bring to fruition this that I know I can't do.

Hmm ( I think I've used this title before, but I think its a good one.)

(A place setting with our water urn and hand washing sink in the background)

So I'm back and life is about the same as it was. I'm excited. I'm dulled. I'm alive. I'm dead.

Sometimes you just can't capture emotion with words, or the complexities of the movements in a soul.

Lets just say I'm blessed.

(I totally missed this shot)

I had only 145 emails when I got back from my trip to the Father's house on a "Come and See". Which was nice because it only took two hours to go through. Today I got something that I didn't really expect to read... an email with a guy I had been talking with asking me to consider working in Ireland... I had earlier discerned it, and God told me that I'm supposed to be in NYC, but on the off chance that God wants to change His mind, I'll pray about it.

But an odd sense of peace is about my soul... and I expect God is assuring me that NYC is where I need to be. Even though in a way I'm terrified. But... on the other hand, after this past week, I think a year of ministry would do me good... in fact I think it would be a crucible that would greatly purify me. A cross that when I look back I was unwilling (and unable even) to bear when I went on NET.

Its amazing the things that come about in your soul when you sit with Christ for 3+ hours a day.

Talk is cheap

Ever hear yourself talk and wonder what the heck you're saying other than "me"?

I hear myself often and wonder why I even bother opening my mouth all the time.

"The simplest of all love songs I want to bring to you,
so I'll let my words be few
Jesus, I am so in love with you."

(From Let My Words Be Few by Matt and Beth Redman)