ah, new york

so it was a great weekend. earlier this week i was hanging out with some friends and preparing to watch '24.' before the show started, my friend sara said, 'hey, if anyone wants to go to new york this weekend, i can fly you there for free with a buddy pass.' i immediately looked over at her as i have an interest in new york and even more of an interest in free trips. however, no one really responded, so i figured that either, a: no one heard her, or b: she didnt really say anything and i was just hearing things. but then her brother spoke up and said, 'yeah, sara has to fly out there for a work meeting (she works for jet blue) and she has a bunch of buddy passes she has to use, i'm going to go and anyone else that wants to go is invited.' still, no one said a word. i already had doubts about the crowd as they are all WAY too into the show 24, but now i was completely dumbfounded and embarassed to be in the same house as them (they honestly talk about how its good to watch the show because jack teaches valuable lessons on how to get out of certain situations and defend yourself. they eat up the show like its reality. and what sorts of lessons does jack bauer actually teach? he only has one lesson: whenever you are in a hostage situation, no wait, scratch that, whenever you are threatened in any way, by any person, in any situation, find the nearest object and use it to murder the person). anyways, i finally spoke up and said, 'um....yeah....i dont know if youre serious, nor do i know what exactly i have going on this weekend, but, um, if you really are giving away flights to new york, uh.....i'll have one.' 'ok great,' said the brother. and just like that i was off to new york.

so it was a crazy weekend and really short. we had to fly standby. we flew out friday morning and got into new york around 5 pm. we were planning on leaving sunday late afternoon but because of the extremely bad weather that hit the east coast, we had to try and catch the early flight out on sunday. which meant getting up at 4:30 am on sunday morning and heading to the airport. luckily, i did make it on the flight and wasnt stranded in new york for a few days - which is nice because i do have to get back to work and study for my final. although, if i had to be stranded anywhere, i think i would want it to be new york. i was fully prepared to just head over to columbia or nyu all day, check out a law book and study for my final all day, maybe see a show in the evening, go to bed and then repeat until i could get out of the city. not really my idea of a bad time. in fact, it sounds like a great week. part of me was actually hoping to be stranded. but probably for the better, i made it out.

but, ah, new york. my friend karl described it best when he said: 'you [new york] make me feel poor, ugly, unintelligent and untalented.' so true. yet somehow i am still completely drawn to the place. i felt completely inferior, overwhelmed and intimidated all at the same time and then instantly incredibly desirious to try and conquer the city and sure that i would stay there and die trying until i did. so weird that it does that. i kept wondering if i could transfer out there for my final year of school. it was a short, fantastic time. and we didnt even do anything 'spectacular.' but the place has a way of somehow grabbing you and sucking you in. its indescribable. we went on a walk through central park on saturday, and went to a movie and a comedy club. stanard activities that one can do in most places, yet they by no means felt standard. did i enjoy it so much because it wasnt everyday southern california, or was it the company, or was it just because it was new york? friday night for instance we played pool. i realized im a terrible pool player. just horrible. i kept on losing. yet it was still so fun. part of me actually wanted to keep losing and in a way hoped that i would continue losing and that we could play all night. i left a pool hall wanting more and regretting i didnt play a little more, and even lose a few more games. it was a great time. playing pool! how can a city do that? was it the city? or something else....? ah, new york.