May 10, 2004

• Now more than ever, I NY...

  
  

  ...especially after putting in a 23-hour workday doing a trip down there.

  
  

  5 AM yesterday morning. Jon and I both punch the clock, get our crud together, get started on the paperwork, pick up our group, and are supremely relieved to find that we have 42 passengers. We were expecting 45, which would have been a complete bitch because we had a 45-seat bus and we needed an extra seat for one of us to rest during the drive. So there's the day's first stroke of luck...

  
  

  I drive down while Jon gets some shuteye - we get to the Big Apple in precisely five hours. Despite the fact that I told the passengers we'd make their drive as comfy as possible, the Massachusetts Highway Dept. seems determined not to let that happen, bunch of arrogant Mass-holes. *grr* Buuuut, anyway...We drop our group on Eighth and 45th to attend their first Broadway show and then make tracks over to 11th and 44th - yay for the sketchy west side of Manhattan. Nevertheless, the day's second stroke of luck furnishes us with a lovely big tour-bus parking space on 44th within a few blocks of the Port Authority subway stop (although it took us the better part of a half hour to find it). Aaaand right on its heels is our third stroke of luck: we were still a safe distance ahead of bingo fuel.

  
  

  First stop, Times Square for lunch - after an eye-popping view of a huge billboard ad for ROTK on DVD, May 25. Even though I'm holding out till the Extended Edition, that's reeeeal nice to know. *shifts eyes amongst upcoming birthdays*  After lunch we mosey on over to the Loews on 42nd Street for the 1:00 showing of Van Helsing, which I think of at first as a rather cheesy rip-off of some other great flicks - but no no no! It was very well done, I thought by the end, and David Wenham is grand in a role of comic relief. Like so many other supernatural adventure movies these days, there was a bit too much goop for my liking, but I loved the ending. Bittersweet, poignant, and overall nicely done. Props to the stops for Hugh Jackman.

  
  

  And THEN, Jon embarks upon his first-ever ride on the NYC subway - I rode it a couple of times on a similar trip last year, and in some spots it feels like we're going down I-495 in MA all over again. We peruse Ground Zero for a little while; those of you who haven't been there recently, it's now very clean and very quiet, and eerie. I can still remember visiting New York at the tender age of eleven, going with my uncle to the top of the south tower and viewing the entire city from up there.

  
  

  It's creepy to think that you were actually standing in a place once upon a time, and now that place is gone forever.

  
  

  I take a few snapshots to show the folks how the area looks now, and I'll share them here as well if anyone's interested. From there, Jon and I proceed up to Washington Square in the fleeting hopes that Kristy is somewhere on the premises; but grr to the Bobst Library's disallowance of visitors. We do, however, get a kick out of watching this wacky guy from Kung Fu Comics performing a bunch of outrageous stunts in the midst of Washington Square, involving amongstotherthings a bullwhip, a cigarette, a cucumber, a samurai sword, firelit boards and one poor bahstid whom the guy yoinked out of the crowd to be his guinea pig. Boy, am I glad we got there too late...And double-glad that the weather has turned out the way it has. Chilly and rainy in the morning, but bear in mind that New York is almost always fifteen degrees warmer than the rest of the Northeast. Meh, I'm glad I wore shorts.
  

  Back to the bus for a couple of hours' rest. I'm constantly amazed that we've yet to be waylaid by any panhandlers - Boston is crawling with them, but New York is surprisingly panhandler-free. Go, Rudy!! 7:00 PM. We arise, mosey on back to 42nd Street, catch the subway to Little Italy, and grab a quick dinner at a sub shop - and boy are we cutting it close, because we have to pick our group up around 9:15 and the wait for a train is insanely long on Sundays. So you can well imagine, we're hoofin' it back after dinner - I was NOT about to bum a ride in a New York City taxi. Some things never change. Yet there lies our fourth stroke of luck, returning just in time to get warmed up and get our rear in gear.
  

  Aaaanyway, we pick 'em up from "The Lion King" on 42nd Street at precisely 9:20 and are underway five minutes later...and now, luckily, Jon's driving and I'm riding shotgun, awaking and a-dozing over and over again. Must've woken up about four times - first, needless to say, was going over those Godawful escarpments of pavement on I-290 in Massachusetts. Ergh, I hate that state. One of these days I've half a mind to move to Pittsburgh or Ohio. But I digress. Blessedly, I sleep through most of that miserable clunkwhammy bounce up 495 and doze the rest of the way back to UNH.
  

  Once again, five hours on the tick. Go us.
  

  By the time we've cleaned up the bus, figured out our petty cash and credit-card charges, and replaced the 76 gallons of fuel we used getting down and back (which means we had 24 gallons to go before sucking air ), we're both off the clock at 4:15 this morning. I know how management handles a nine-hour violation of DOT regulations, but let 'em sweat - a day in NYC is truly an experience. How glad I am that it's probably my last UNH trip for a very, very long time, if ever again.
  

  The only thing that would have made it better is if Jon had abstained from taking every word that I said yesterday, wrenching it around and making me sound like an imbecile. But then, he does that to everybody who sees things differently from him. Won't be a big deal anyway in a couple of weeks.
  

  Anything interesting happen during your blusterpaced and airborne weekend?

  • 5:47 pm
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