From a conversation I had yesterday it seems that I never wrote the following down, so now I will do it for sure. It might also have been a slight oversight in tagging, but if so I have unravelled some new evidence that is astonishing and will be given in the end of this posting.
It has everything to do with that Air Wolf entertainment that goes by the name of Medieval Times. And also with the American School system.
This started several weeks ago when I meet one of the participants in the splendid entertainment that was the victory for the red knight that I wrote about here. For lazy people: When we went to Medieval Times.
She is American and told me that she had last been to MT when she was 14 years old and that she had gone there with here class in school, a normal school, no tinfoil religious institution, but a regular American school. They went to MT since they at that time where studying Knights and the middle ages in history class! This I took as a joke until she assured me that it was all true. I laughed of course. But on the inside I was screaming in horror. What else could you expect from the schools? Maybe when studying math and economics they could use the terrible SMS-loans as examples of a "normal" and quite acceptable way of finance or when studying the Neolithic age there are so many films to choose from to look at as absolute prof of how life looked "when man and dinosaur walked the earth together". Flintstones - the documentary.
Anyway I was relating this story to my friend who actually was the reason for me to go to Medieval Times in the first place. And then he confirmed that he had also been to 'the Times' with his school, but this time it was the minimally more acceptable History Club, an after school activity for those interested in history. Which tells us that this is not a unique event perpetrated by a single deranged teacher.
NY
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
Bike sales
I have been trying to sell my bike through Craigslist and it is now looking up. We will see tomorrow. But it seems to be a full time occupation. You really need to be on it if you are to make the sales or buys going by on Craigslist. The pace is high.
Football overdose
Today we went to a bar in Downtown and watched about four games simultaneously while greasing our faces with piles of wings.
Our teams won their matches and new games started. It finally got to be a bit to much football for me, could not decide where to look and when I found something I wanted to see they went to commercials. But it was a real American Sunday in a bar getting drunk, no not me watching football and shooting shit.
Our teams won their matches and new games started. It finally got to be a bit to much football for me, could not decide where to look and when I found something I wanted to see they went to commercials. But it was a real American Sunday in a bar getting drunk, no not me watching football and shooting shit.
Moving on...
The other night I decided to book some tickets out of here. After some searching I found a flight to Portland for $190. A little more than I found earlier but OK. I was going to book it when I realized that that flight would have me change planes in Seattle. And that Seattle is only one hour away from Portland. So then I decided to take a few days in Seattle before I continue. So it will be Grunge-museums and maybe the famous tunnels under the city. Reports will come, I promise. So my first stop is Seattle and from there I will work down the coast.
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