Our Longest Date Yet

I know it has been a long time since I posted a blog. So much has happened that I don't know where to start. Let's see...term papers, no sleep, finals, no sleep, graduation, no sleep, graduation party....the list goes on. Graduation was great. The actual ceremony wasn't that exciting, although the guy who marched next to me made it a lot more interesting. The whole time he told me all about his boyfriend, their celebration and imminent move to Kansas and their Canadian wedding this summer. I hope you don't think I'm homophobic, it's just that I'm not used to people being so open about alternative life styles, especially to a stranger. In retrospect, that was all about to change.

To celebrate my graduation I decided to give myself a trip to New York City. I had actually been planning this trip since I got back from Europe last summer. Having planned it so far in advance, I was naturally very excited about going. As graduation approached I found it a convenient answer to questions like, "what are you going to do after you graduate?" I know that when people ask that question they don't want to know what you're doing the week after graduation, but rather they want to know about your career plans and all that grown up stuff. At that time however, I hadn't figured all that out, so it was a convenient answer to say, "I'm going to New York City."

What to say about New York? I think the most intersting thing to do in New York is people watch. We found a great little hotel in Manhatten. It was small and in a residential area, and it was pretty reasonably priced. All the reviews we read were really great, so we were pretty excited about it. The reviews however, failed to note that the hotel was in the gay part of town. One of my hobbies is going to the book store and reading travel guides, and I always find it intersting that many travel books have a special section for "Gay Paris," or "Gay New York." I always thought, "how can gay traveling be different from straight traveling?" I now understand a little better. The neighborhood was great; it was quiet, there were a ton of restuarants and the subway was real close. But it was definantly the gay part of town...transvestites and everything. We also saw some interesting characters on the Subway. A few drunks, a lot of homeless people and one weirdo ranting on and on about innappropriate things. Chris and I observed that there are different kinds of beggars in New York. There are some that just sit on the sidewalk or on the subway holding out a cup. It is up to the passer-by to figure out that the extended arm is a request for money. There are others that sing for their money. They sing hymns or they make up their own catchy songs about being down-and-out, complete with harmony and different parts for different singers. After they sing their song, they go through the subway car asking for money. Then there are others that carry signs, only the signs are typed, laminated and have color pictures of the starving children at home. Ironically, we saw this same sign more than once...either that one person really gets around the city or the sign is just a ploy. Chris and I decided that they put so much work into the begging because it's their job...you can't expect them to get something for nothing. Of course, if they can put so much work into begging, it seems like they could put some of that energy into looking for a real job...but that's just my opinion. At first you do feel sorry for them, but after a while you get burned out and start to think it's all a scam.

The city is great. There are so many people, so much to do and so much walking. Among my favorites were the Brooklyn Bridge, Rockefeller Center and Battery Park. We both really enjoyed eating at the Tom's Restuarant, the restuarant from Seinfeld. The guy who works in there, Pete, was really funny. One night Chris and I were craving cereal. It was pretty late and we knew that Tom's restuarant would be open and served cereal, so we jumped and the Subway to satisfy our late night craving. Upon exiting the subway station, we went East instead of West, and knew that something was wrong when we noticed that we were surrounded by shady characters, liquor stores and what appeared to be low income housing. After walking a few blocks we turned around and headed the right direction. Once we got to Tom's Restuarant, we took out the map and realized that we had accidently wondered into Harlem...at midnight. But the cereal was really good. The Empire State Building was somewhat of a let down. It was so crowded. The observation deck is really small and they let people keep coming up, even when there isn't room for them. But the view were awesome, and almost worth the crowds. I would reccomend going up the Rockefeller tower instead. The observation deck is much larger and the walls are glass so you can really see everything. Chris was most exvited about going to the Guggenheim. It was desiged by one of his favorite architects, Frank Lloyd Wright for those of you who don't know, and the building is quite famous. He was bummed out the day we were going because it was raining. Oh yeah, it rained on us a few times. The first time it happened we were totally unprepared. By the time we got to the Subway station we were totally soaked. Anyways, it had rained the morning we went to the Guggenheim and Chris was disappointed because he wouldn't be able to take any pictures of the outside, but once we got there we realized that was the least of our worries. Not only was the outside of the building covered in scaffolding for renovations, but the majority of the inside was closed off for the installation of a new exhibit. Chris was so upset. I guess we'll have to go back sometime...

All in all, Chris and I were there for a week. When he dropped me off after we got home, he told me it was the longest date he'd ever been on. It was a fun date though, and I'm so glad we went.