The last days were spent in NY to reminiscent on my time there and say my good-byes to the friends who could find time in their busy schedule to see me. It has been really nice and I thank you all for the energy you have given.
Now sitting at the Airport waiting to leave this continent I feel some longing for home although this trip is far from over. Although on my last traveling legs there is an island of ice awaiting me for a week before I can finally greet my homeland and friends again.
My plans for Iceland are very sketchy and I have as I usually do asked my network for inspiration and ideas. I got a few but I fear I will miss out on the real Icelandic experience. The time is short and as I understand the situation Icelanders are not easy to get under the skin on. It remains to be seen what I actually manage to get out from the trip but my aim is to leave Reykjavik as soon as possible only returning for the weekend.
NY
Visar inlägg med etikett NY. Visa alla inlägg
Visar inlägg med etikett NY. Visa alla inlägg
onsdag 16 november 2011
onsdag 19 oktober 2011
Leaving NY
To catch my 7:25 flight out of Newark in NJ I had to get up before 4. I set my alarm to 3:45. My body, this old machine woke me up at 3:42. Wide awake. Thank you body, you are the best sometimes. Tiered as you might be at this hour especially since I did not go to sleep before midnight I thought, let me rest these last 3 minutes until my alarm goes of. I closed my eyes for what felt like a little to long and 10 minutes passed. No alarm. I checked it and it turns out it was set to repeat on certain days, not today.
Up I went a little late and got dressed, picked up my bags and said by to my flate-mate. Out the door and down the street. According to Google Transit the F-train would pass my station at 4:10. I ran about 50 meters of the street since I felt a bit late and came down in the deserted subway.
At 4:06 the train came in at 4:07 it left. Lucky to be early I started to wonder about the other times and information that Google had provided me with.
At Penn-station they where on the money and I did not have any problem getting to the airport, except buying the wrong ticket as several other passengers. I would like to look at the UI of that machine again. It seems that if three persons make the same mistake at roughly the same time there is a problem with the information flow.
Writing this I am sitting on the airplane about one hour away from Seattle and it is about the most boring flight I ever flew. Looking forward to landing. Someone said that I could look forward to splendid weather these days, and that is most unusual in this city. It remains to be seen.
Up I went a little late and got dressed, picked up my bags and said by to my flate-mate. Out the door and down the street. According to Google Transit the F-train would pass my station at 4:10. I ran about 50 meters of the street since I felt a bit late and came down in the deserted subway.
At 4:06 the train came in at 4:07 it left. Lucky to be early I started to wonder about the other times and information that Google had provided me with.
At Penn-station they where on the money and I did not have any problem getting to the airport, except buying the wrong ticket as several other passengers. I would like to look at the UI of that machine again. It seems that if three persons make the same mistake at roughly the same time there is a problem with the information flow.
Writing this I am sitting on the airplane about one hour away from Seattle and it is about the most boring flight I ever flew. Looking forward to landing. Someone said that I could look forward to splendid weather these days, and that is most unusual in this city. It remains to be seen.
Brooklyn residency
Since becoming a homeless I was fortunate to have a friend to put me up in central Brooklyn for my remaining days in NY. So now I can say that I have lived in Brooklyn as well. It is something else. I can not put my finger on it exactly. Part of it is location of course and some part may be me missing my bike, my dear old bike. I hope that guy rides you as good as you deserve and that he parks you with a gentle hand.
Butt Brooklyn is different in looks, sounds and smells. The number of yellow cars compared to Manhattan is meager. The noise screen is at least where I stayed is much less invading, sometimes it is almost quite.
The apartment where I had the opportunity to rest my tiered homeless body and mind was also much more of a home than the room I rented these last months. It was quite large and very nice in comparison. I had a some good days before elevating NY and walking down a street in SoHo just yesterday with the yellowing leafs flickering by in a gust of wind over the side walk with two of my friends in a somber mood I felt how I will miss NY. The streets, the looks, the pace. Riding my bike through Midtown in full traffic, taking some zesty thing which name I can obviously not pronounce from a restaurant or street vendor for about half the price it would cost in Sweden, go a block in i different direction and explore something new, have another adventure. That I think I will miss.
Out of experience I also think that I will miss the people I have come to know here even if it was very short and even if we did not yet develop that deep relationship. But I am sure I will feel at loss for those faces and laughs and words and conversations.
Butt Brooklyn is different in looks, sounds and smells. The number of yellow cars compared to Manhattan is meager. The noise screen is at least where I stayed is much less invading, sometimes it is almost quite.
The apartment where I had the opportunity to rest my tiered homeless body and mind was also much more of a home than the room I rented these last months. It was quite large and very nice in comparison. I had a some good days before elevating NY and walking down a street in SoHo just yesterday with the yellowing leafs flickering by in a gust of wind over the side walk with two of my friends in a somber mood I felt how I will miss NY. The streets, the looks, the pace. Riding my bike through Midtown in full traffic, taking some zesty thing which name I can obviously not pronounce from a restaurant or street vendor for about half the price it would cost in Sweden, go a block in i different direction and explore something new, have another adventure. That I think I will miss.
Out of experience I also think that I will miss the people I have come to know here even if it was very short and even if we did not yet develop that deep relationship. But I am sure I will feel at loss for those faces and laughs and words and conversations.
måndag 17 oktober 2011
Bike is gone
"He will buy it for a hundred dollars" she says. And she also says that he does not speak English. She tells me many things on an unusually good phone line. She asks what brand the bike is but does not listen to the answer I never give. That was just a lead up to trying to lower the price. Haggling. Over the phone. Over a product that the buyer has not seen, in a language that the buyer does not command. Haggling through an interpreter. I momentarily hate Craigs list and emotionally do not want to sell. But I know that I have no leverage and no reason not to sell. I say yes.
Sure we can meet tomorrow in Washington Square park. Yes yes, I make all the faults and give away everything, even stated that I was relocating in the classified. I have not sold the bike yet but I have sold everything else just to sell it. I am in the lowest and worst position for a salesman leaving tomorrow.
Today, sunshine, in the park, just took the bike for my last ride, walking through the park looking for my buyer. There he is. He speaks English, although broken; we can communicate easily. The only thing in our way is my insecurity.
Then it comes, the question: "What is the lowest price". Today I am strong, I am not backing any further, then I could as well just give it away to my friend. I say a hundred dollars, and explain that I thought 150 was a fair price. He has tried looking on the bike and testing the brakes but all that charade is not meaningful any more. I have decided it is a hundred or nothing.
I walk away, he bikes the same direction, I shout to him: is it working well? He smiles and says yes. It is a sunny afternoon in the village, my last day in NY.
Sure we can meet tomorrow in Washington Square park. Yes yes, I make all the faults and give away everything, even stated that I was relocating in the classified. I have not sold the bike yet but I have sold everything else just to sell it. I am in the lowest and worst position for a salesman leaving tomorrow.
Today, sunshine, in the park, just took the bike for my last ride, walking through the park looking for my buyer. There he is. He speaks English, although broken; we can communicate easily. The only thing in our way is my insecurity.
Then it comes, the question: "What is the lowest price". Today I am strong, I am not backing any further, then I could as well just give it away to my friend. I say a hundred dollars, and explain that I thought 150 was a fair price. He has tried looking on the bike and testing the brakes but all that charade is not meaningful any more. I have decided it is a hundred or nothing.
I walk away, he bikes the same direction, I shout to him: is it working well? He smiles and says yes. It is a sunny afternoon in the village, my last day in NY.
söndag 16 oktober 2011
Best dressed homelessman in NY
Today I became homeless. It was a planned action, but never the less energy consuming. I moved out of my room in Harlem. Took all my belongings somewhere around 50 kilos of clothes, computers and crap and left the apartment. My plan was to leave the bike and walk but I could not carry my stuff so I made use of my bike to roll the biggest of my three bags. First stop was the laundry.
After that I went to Brooklyn, Parkslope to be precise felt that I wanted to say good bye to a friend I have come to know here in NY. Stopped by a phone store to revive my phone. Still hating T-mobile so much, but Verizon will not take your money if they can't have all of it: they demand to sell you a phone as well. By the time I had gotten to Parkslope, by riding the subway with about 50 kilogram of luggage in three bags and a bike I was a bit tiered. With a working phone I managed to set up for myself a place to sleep according to a previous arrangement with another new friend here in NY: a truly nice guy, actually the nicest guy in NY.
After that I hung out in the Parkslope club for about 8 hours playing Robo Rally and Call of Duty - miniatures. It was really just what I needed.
Now I found my way to bed and I feel less homeless and more excited about the rest of my trip. But having to much luggage and no direct plan is a very stressful situation. It will be interesting to see what else this trip will bring.
After that I went to Brooklyn, Parkslope to be precise felt that I wanted to say good bye to a friend I have come to know here in NY. Stopped by a phone store to revive my phone. Still hating T-mobile so much, but Verizon will not take your money if they can't have all of it: they demand to sell you a phone as well. By the time I had gotten to Parkslope, by riding the subway with about 50 kilogram of luggage in three bags and a bike I was a bit tiered. With a working phone I managed to set up for myself a place to sleep according to a previous arrangement with another new friend here in NY: a truly nice guy, actually the nicest guy in NY.
After that I hung out in the Parkslope club for about 8 hours playing Robo Rally and Call of Duty - miniatures. It was really just what I needed.
Now I found my way to bed and I feel less homeless and more excited about the rest of my trip. But having to much luggage and no direct plan is a very stressful situation. It will be interesting to see what else this trip will bring.
onsdag 12 oktober 2011
Time is running out...
This is my last week in NY even though I have not bought my tickets out yet. Soon I will be leaving for the West Coast. Should I then change the name of my blog since I will neither be in the city or at the company?
Probably no.
Time here has gone by to fast even though at times I do feel like the German lady: "NY is so lame". But eventually I understand that it is mainly my friends who are lame and work to much. There are things to do here if you can just muster the energy. With me that usually means find some good people to do it with and that might be the shortage in this city: Good people. I am leaving, mind you good reader.
Probably no.
Time here has gone by to fast even though at times I do feel like the German lady: "NY is so lame". But eventually I understand that it is mainly my friends who are lame and work to much. There are things to do here if you can just muster the energy. With me that usually means find some good people to do it with and that might be the shortage in this city: Good people. I am leaving, mind you good reader.
söndag 9 oktober 2011
The Accomplice
We went to experience "the Accomplice" a tour, a game, a show but foremost an experience according to their homepage.
In reality it was an old-school live action role-play. And I mean really old with the exception of no present game-master. But they had everything else: a linear plot, some locations to visit to get clues and meet cast-members who would point you further and give you things.
I will not divulge any parts of the story since I do not want to ruin it for you. But I will tell you some of my experiences and observations.
We bought the 3 last tickets for the tour according to the website. Even so we would have been the only three if 4 Florida girls had not been drinking so hard the night before. But they did and one of them was sick and missed their slot 30 minutes prior so they joined us. This was strange because I would have invited one more friend if we had thought that there was any tickets left which there should have been. Made me think that the tickets left was just a marketing stunt, and a bad one.
Anyway the tour started a few minutes late and it all seamed very out of place, so much so that I thought for a moment that the Florida girls where even part of the story. Everything just went strange very fast. The only people I could trust where my 2 friends. As time progressed we could develop our interactions somewhat but still we parted as strangers. The whole thing was jolly fun and I recommend it. It is not tiresome or hard but the experience is dependent on what you put in. So if you look for something different to do for a couple of hours in NY, LA or London and can pay for it then this is it.
According to the people who makes it there are two more in NY and one each in LA and London.
As far as storytelling goes there where glitches and clichés to go around and I think that it was written under the influence of weed, when to the authors the connections might have made sense. I understood it all, but only in the greater context not as a free standing story because of the faults and holes in the story. Having said that I still think it was great fun and I also think several of the actors did a great job with handling the situation.
Interaction wise you got your fair share. Comparing to most other theatrical activities I would even say that I got a 1000 times as much. Even compared to "Sleep no More" which I wrote about here, this experience is much more interactive. Still for someone with extensive interactive experience this was a bit under-developedand it is easy to understand that more freedom would break their production budget and time frame.
In reality it was an old-school live action role-play. And I mean really old with the exception of no present game-master. But they had everything else: a linear plot, some locations to visit to get clues and meet cast-members who would point you further and give you things.
I will not divulge any parts of the story since I do not want to ruin it for you. But I will tell you some of my experiences and observations.
We bought the 3 last tickets for the tour according to the website. Even so we would have been the only three if 4 Florida girls had not been drinking so hard the night before. But they did and one of them was sick and missed their slot 30 minutes prior so they joined us. This was strange because I would have invited one more friend if we had thought that there was any tickets left which there should have been. Made me think that the tickets left was just a marketing stunt, and a bad one.
Anyway the tour started a few minutes late and it all seamed very out of place, so much so that I thought for a moment that the Florida girls where even part of the story. Everything just went strange very fast. The only people I could trust where my 2 friends. As time progressed we could develop our interactions somewhat but still we parted as strangers. The whole thing was jolly fun and I recommend it. It is not tiresome or hard but the experience is dependent on what you put in. So if you look for something different to do for a couple of hours in NY, LA or London and can pay for it then this is it.
According to the people who makes it there are two more in NY and one each in LA and London.
As far as storytelling goes there where glitches and clichés to go around and I think that it was written under the influence of weed, when to the authors the connections might have made sense. I understood it all, but only in the greater context not as a free standing story because of the faults and holes in the story. Having said that I still think it was great fun and I also think several of the actors did a great job with handling the situation.
Interaction wise you got your fair share. Comparing to most other theatrical activities I would even say that I got a 1000 times as much. Even compared to "Sleep no More" which I wrote about here, this experience is much more interactive. Still for someone with extensive interactive experience this was a bit under-developedand it is easy to understand that more freedom would break their production budget and time frame.
söndag 2 oktober 2011
The end has begun
This Friday we celebrated the Ladies of the Burg at the soon-not-to-be-their-place. They worked their last day Friday and are leaving NY and the states on Thursday. It was a completely adequate party, saved by Norwegian people when everyone else failed. This means that I have less than 2 weeks left in NY. Then again it also means that I will soon be going west to Oregon and California. So I do have things to look forward to. Still it is sad to end this, it is to early and I would like to come back and work some more/longer here in the future. It also means that I have to plan my goodbye somehow.
söndag 14 augusti 2011
The best place in the world...
"This is the best place in the world" said her eyes and her stature. I wanted to ask how she, 15 years old could know such a thing? Probably having visited about 5 states, the five closest, never seen another country. But she was sure. I could see that in her eyes as the flashed in anger at me. And even so sure that when this strange Swede she had meet in the street said that there where both good and bad things with her city she had no other tool in her tool kit but the stance so often seen in the Ricky Lake Show. Bad things with HER CITY, the best place in the world? She demanded to immediately hear what could possibly be wrong with New York? What?
I encountered a gaggle of young girls in the street when I went to buy my bike. They where open and enthusiastic like youngster but narrow-minded and ignorant like slum dwellers at the same time. Both charming in their straight forwardness and a horrific example to why the USofA does not work.
I was at first a bit surprised by her question or demand to know what I could ever critique in her most adorable NY, the greatest city on earth? I thought it more than a bit rude, but collected my self and pointed to the piece of garbage just beneath us in the street. I actually did not need to say much; I could see in her face that it had disarmed her and she looked a bit ashamed.
There was really nothing else to it, but analysing the situation afterwards I think that she at first was as surprised from my honest answer to her question as I later was from her supplementary question. Her view of the greatest city on earth probably did not hold any room for criticism. Now I was barging in to this world and demanded to put down some "bad things" in her NY. I actually did not. She was the one who asked me what I thought of my new home town? And the rudeness of her demand to know what I possibly could find bad with NY was probably completely warranted by my rudeness of answering honestly when she was just making conversation. Our ways are very different, but this meeting in the street was open and honest even though much to short.
I encountered a gaggle of young girls in the street when I went to buy my bike. They where open and enthusiastic like youngster but narrow-minded and ignorant like slum dwellers at the same time. Both charming in their straight forwardness and a horrific example to why the USofA does not work.
I was at first a bit surprised by her question or demand to know what I could ever critique in her most adorable NY, the greatest city on earth? I thought it more than a bit rude, but collected my self and pointed to the piece of garbage just beneath us in the street. I actually did not need to say much; I could see in her face that it had disarmed her and she looked a bit ashamed.
There was really nothing else to it, but analysing the situation afterwards I think that she at first was as surprised from my honest answer to her question as I later was from her supplementary question. Her view of the greatest city on earth probably did not hold any room for criticism. Now I was barging in to this world and demanded to put down some "bad things" in her NY. I actually did not. She was the one who asked me what I thought of my new home town? And the rudeness of her demand to know what I possibly could find bad with NY was probably completely warranted by my rudeness of answering honestly when she was just making conversation. Our ways are very different, but this meeting in the street was open and honest even though much to short.
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