Friday, August 12, 2005

New York, New York, It's A Hell Of A Town

The Bronx is up and the Battery's down. I should have remembered that when I mistakenly got on the F train and realized that I was headed for Coney Island instead of uptown.

Meet Me At The Met
If you like art, as I do, and you are in New York, as I am, I highly suggest that you visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art.


(btw- that's just one of the wings inside the building)

Too large to really see everything in one day, I roamed the museum for about two and a half hours yesterday.

There is a phenomena that did not exist the last time I visited the Met, taking photographs of the art. Once considered taboo, the museum now allows it probably because so many people are doing it that they couldn't police it. I chuckled often at the thought of all of these pictures being stored in digital shoeboxes throughout the world.

The Camera's Eye, The Photographer's Shake
I have a great eye for photograhpy (in my opinion). What I don't seem to have is a great set of arms and hands for photography. Many of my pictures, including the one of a painting that I took inside the museum, are coming out blurry. Rats.

Eat, Drink, And Be Merry
Yesterday's New York diet consisted of a diner breakfast (eggs, corned beef hash, potatoes, and coffee), a lunch stop at the restaurant at which my friend Sother was working, and a late-night (by my standards) slice of pizza.

Did I mention that I also had six beers? The final of which was one of New York's oldest, Rheingold. Anyone want to wager on who will be starting a diet Monday?

Always Be Closing
The impetus for this trip was finding out that "GlennGary Glen Ross" was being revived as a play (starring tv's Alan Alda). Not that I really needed reason to justify a trip to New York, coming up just to see a play seemed like the type of trip I would normally like to do, but wouldn't. It also didn't hurt that I was able to get a ticket in the center of the second row.

While I enjoyed the play immensely, it didn't have the impact on me the way the movie always has.

Strange Days Are Here
After finishing up drinking with Sother I caught the 6 train headed to lower Manhattan. As I was walking down Lexington Strange Thing #1 happened -- I ran into one of the three people who I know in Manhattan. That's right, in a city of millions I coincidentally ran into one of the three people I know who live here. Go fucking figure!

Strange thing #2 occurred later in the evening. As I walked back to the hotel from the theater I noticed an arrow, then another. At the next corner I looked down to find what I had supposed -- a hashing checkpoint. Yep, in the middle of lower Manhattan I accidently stumbled over Wednesday night's New York City Hash trail.

And now for some ideas stolen from LiveJournal...
Current Mood - wishing I was a better photographer
Current Music - none
Website Of The Day - Apparently garden gnomes are being oppressed. Free The Gnomes is out to change that.

Off to explore Manhattan before heading to the Bronx....

Cheers!
Paulie [eatl/ga] in [nyc/ny]