Back from the Big Apple

Hey HEY hey! Wow, just got back from NY and I missed a lot!! So many posts to read! But I had a lot of fun doing it, sounds like you all have been really busy.

Before I go into anything else:

Happy Belated Birthday to Deanna!!!

Congratulations to Gina on the internship! (And although my uncultured self unfortunately has never heard of Bergdoff Goodman [and I don't recall seeing one while walking around...but maybe it was because I wasn't looking], I would have gone in and gotten you something if you wanted. Sorry we didn't get to talk before I left.)

Congratulations to Shara on the upcoming art show, and welcome to Union City! (I'd like to go, I guess I'll call you for more details when it comes up...and yes, if you can bear to part with a piece, I would totally buy your art!)

Good luck with the preschool stuff to Katie! Happy to have you back for the summer!

Jake, I hope you get to go to Modest Mouse, and hey, don't say that, your post was not "shitty"!

Okay, now for New York. I had a really good time, NY is a great place to be, but I have to admit that I don't know if I could ever live there...not enough trees, too many people. But it was awesome just to be there. Got to see the usual: Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Chrysler Building, Empire State Building (view from the top at night is GORGEOUS!), Central Park, Metropolitan Museum of Art (which I think was my favorite place to visit, so much stuff to see!), etc. Did a lot of wandering around in general too, though. Gotta say that I love the subway, $2 takes you anywhere you want, screw BART! Great street food (had $3 chicken gyros and $1.50 hot dogs almost everyday), crazy ass drivers who honk too damn much, really stylishly dressed people (I looked like a freaking bum because I didn't wear pointy-toed shoes and a matching business suit), and lots more. So much stuff happened that I don't really know how I'm going to describe it all, so hopefully this last paragraph gives a decent snapshot.

I do have to mention two things though:

1) So we stayed at a hotel in Midtown Manhattan, and I found out that Bill Clinton was going to be doing a signing for his book at the Barnes and Noble a couple of blocks down the street. So I decided, since I'm here, I should go to it, why the hell not. So Geng and I got to the book signing at 7AM (he was supposed to arrive at 12:30 PM) and stood in the line that snaked around several blocks. Apparently about two hundred people camped out the night before, and even more people came earlier the next morning, so being 5 hours early got us to about #500 in line. In addition, it POURED that day too, so Geng and I sat in the rain, hanging out with the people around us and WAITED. The Fox News Studio was right across the street, and a bunch of other news stations had reporters out, so we got on a couple of different news programs for the day, and at one point one of the Fox reporters came up to our part of the line and asked if anyone wanted to be interviewed. Geng and I jumped at the opportunity and got quickly interviewed, quite exhilirating.

So after 7 hours (Clinton showed up half an hour late), plus another 2 inching our way up to the bookstore, Geng and I finally got in, bought our books, went through 2 metal detectors, relinquished all our belongings to security guards, and approached the table where Bill Clinton his goddamn self was sitting signing books, surrounded by interns and Secret Service. I have to say that he is quite handsome! I felt kinda bad for the guy, signing hundreds of books, his hand must have been tired. Anyway, I handed the intern my book, who handed it to Clinton, and in my utter shock I mumbled "It's an honor to meet you", and he stopped signing, looked up and said "Why, thank you" and I almost went crazy. Shoook his hand, got my book back, and once Geng and I were out of the store we started screaming like groupies or something. Dude, I shook Bill Clinton's hand, and I have his signature in my book. CRAZY.

I had another semi-celebrity encounter, this one by chance. The whole family was walking through Times Square to go buy Broadway show tickets. I pointed out the TRL studio to Geng, and we noticed all the little teenybopper girls lining up with their signs already. We were looking up at the studio when I heard a familiar voice. Turned around to see Robyn from Real World San Diego standing right behind me talking to some dude. From what I gathered from her convo, they were going to be filming the reunion that afternoon, that's why she was there. I busted out my camera and asked for a picture. After I got it, my parents were like "Who's that?" and I tried to explain, but they didn't really get it.

Wow this post is really long. If you made it this far, thanks for bearing with me. Anyway, I'll stop it here, there's a ton of other stories to tell, but this post is waaay too long. However, before I go, I'd like to say that I think all of us should take a trip to NY together, seriously. It was fun to go with the family, but I think it would be even more fun to go with all of you guys. We could go to a Conan O' Brien taping, do some massive shopping, see the sights! Glad to be back though, I missed you guys a lot.

P.S. My mom just handed me two I Love NY T-shirts, one small and one medium, I guess she bought 5 because of some sale/deal type thing but only needed 3 of them. If anyone wants one of these let me know.