This Sunday me and John headed down to the Park by foot since the subway was closed. We crossed the 11ths street, although we went the wrong direction. Now the park had signs saying it was closed, but we ventured on in, as most people around us. We passed and talked to a park-employee who was cleaning up after the hurricane. She did not seem the least bit interested in throwing us out so we kept going further into the park and had probably made it about ten streets or so when we where addressed by a car! It was a surreal situation when a car talks to you. It was a police car and they where throwing everyone out of the park. The problem was probably that mayor Bloomberg was afraid that a branch or a tree would fall down on some ones head. Which apparently happened to several people during the past weekend. We did as we where told by the car and left the park.
Today it was a different park that I visited during lunch. We bought take away at a place called Mangia, good but to price for me to become a regular, $17 for lunch... well it is mid town, but... anyway. Then we took the park and sat down in the green to eat and rest. Perfect weather, most like a good Swedish summer day: clear and exactly the right temperature. Yes those days are rare. We had a long lunch next to what looked like a fair. The park is grand, and houses all kinds of stuff. It was a good New York moment. And a good lunch.
NY
onsdag 31 augusti 2011
måndag 29 augusti 2011
Transport Nutcases II
And the second happening supporting the transport nutcase theory happened during the Saturday before the storm. We where three people sharing a car from a transport service company going from Brooklyn, Parkslope to Upper Manhattan, Hamilton Heights since the subway had been cancelled due to the Hurricane coming in.
We had just started rolling when the driver was called back to base to pick up another driver who was going home from work and had a similar destination as ours. So we went around the block and came back. You could immediately tell that our driver did not like the freebooter climbing into to front seat.
As we where chatting away in the back seat between friends the off-duty driver decided to break in, and not only that. He decided to start his one man routine on his former exploits. He was a former rocket scientist from Romania who had been part of sending Gagarin to space and then moved to the USA in 1966-1967 and worked for Nasa instead. He more or less denied being a driver but said that his job now was as superhero, or I mean vigilante-activist or I do not really know what to call it. He said that he made politicians incriminate them selves and then had them sentenced in court, he also told us that he was running for some kind of office in the next election by write in vote. He was apparently above answering questions: Just like any good politician he used the silence and anticipation of an answer following our questions to dig deeper in to his own storytelling. He came across as a full fledged mythomaniac, and as he got out of the car our driver confirmed all of our suspicions. There was such a wealth of material that this man spew out in only about ten minutes and then it was all completed and confirmed by the other man in less then 3 minutes.
So how come the transport sector attracts so called nutcases?
We had just started rolling when the driver was called back to base to pick up another driver who was going home from work and had a similar destination as ours. So we went around the block and came back. You could immediately tell that our driver did not like the freebooter climbing into to front seat.
As we where chatting away in the back seat between friends the off-duty driver decided to break in, and not only that. He decided to start his one man routine on his former exploits. He was a former rocket scientist from Romania who had been part of sending Gagarin to space and then moved to the USA in 1966-1967 and worked for Nasa instead. He more or less denied being a driver but said that his job now was as superhero, or I mean vigilante-activist or I do not really know what to call it. He said that he made politicians incriminate them selves and then had them sentenced in court, he also told us that he was running for some kind of office in the next election by write in vote. He was apparently above answering questions: Just like any good politician he used the silence and anticipation of an answer following our questions to dig deeper in to his own storytelling. He came across as a full fledged mythomaniac, and as he got out of the car our driver confirmed all of our suspicions. There was such a wealth of material that this man spew out in only about ten minutes and then it was all completed and confirmed by the other man in less then 3 minutes.
So how come the transport sector attracts so called nutcases?
lördag 27 augusti 2011
Transport Nutcases I
I am happy to say that I have a witness to the following, although anyone who has been in NY more than two weeks will easily confess that this is nothing out of the ordinary. My observation today is in two parts where this is the first entry. Field studies gives the following conclusion: In the sector of transport there is a higher than average amount of psychologically unstable individuals.
The last 24 hours I have had two encounters that underline this thesis and here I shall write the first one down:
Yesterday night going home with the subway there was a loud stinking man, who used the confinement of the subway car to sing and preach to us, the unfortunate audience of his madness and bad hygiene or possibly some other entity other then us, that only he could see and for about 15 minutes he kept us company weather we wanted it or not. At first he was only singing loud and between the short verses said or growled things that might be interpreted as begging, possibly for coin other then pennies. It is also notable that he as one of the misfortunate in this society choose to sing about the greatness of America. But I will leave that myth for another time. After the initial singing he choose to move down the wagon possibly basking but not being very apparent about it. When he had passed me he found a different man sitting down with his walker who also seemed to be a bit out there. The two men had a short exchange and it might have had something to do with military issues before the stinking man went back to stand to close to me, and threaten different passengers in his vicinity. He got angrier and angrier by the minute and went on to bark at us all as a collective and finally stormed out of the carriage shouting to silent passengers to shut up.
As this apparently insane man left the carriage he left the scene clear for the man with the stroller to let out his thoughts. Where there previously had been no room for him to talk to himself and everyone around him because of the stinky singing man there was now silence and the stroller man saw his chance to tell us all about his willpower and how he could easily "take down a whole line if he set his mind to it".
The last 24 hours I have had two encounters that underline this thesis and here I shall write the first one down:
Yesterday night going home with the subway there was a loud stinking man, who used the confinement of the subway car to sing and preach to us, the unfortunate audience of his madness and bad hygiene or possibly some other entity other then us, that only he could see and for about 15 minutes he kept us company weather we wanted it or not. At first he was only singing loud and between the short verses said or growled things that might be interpreted as begging, possibly for coin other then pennies. It is also notable that he as one of the misfortunate in this society choose to sing about the greatness of America. But I will leave that myth for another time. After the initial singing he choose to move down the wagon possibly basking but not being very apparent about it. When he had passed me he found a different man sitting down with his walker who also seemed to be a bit out there. The two men had a short exchange and it might have had something to do with military issues before the stinking man went back to stand to close to me, and threaten different passengers in his vicinity. He got angrier and angrier by the minute and went on to bark at us all as a collective and finally stormed out of the carriage shouting to silent passengers to shut up.
As this apparently insane man left the carriage he left the scene clear for the man with the stroller to let out his thoughts. Where there previously had been no room for him to talk to himself and everyone around him because of the stinky singing man there was now silence and the stroller man saw his chance to tell us all about his willpower and how he could easily "take down a whole line if he set his mind to it".
In a time of galant knights and no forks...
Yesterday we went to NJs finest dinning restaurant (without cutlery): Medieval Times! In a rented party bus, sporting a strip pole. For those of you who do not know of the concept of Medieval Times here is the link: http://medievaltimes.com/.
Now it is time to stop being objective and start getting down and dirty subjective.
Medieval Times is a shameless stupidity, much like the Eurovision Song Contest, but for knights. And how dumb isn't that since there are no knights?
So what is it, what goes on?
Well a bunch of people with no acting skills dress up in fancy colourful dresses and fake armour and "act" out a story about good and evil, love and betrayal that leads up to and ends with very bad mock fighting, and ultimately a gift shop. Meanwhile the audience is divided into six different camps set up to cheer on a specific knight in the tournament while fed grilled food whit no cutlery. And I might add that the food was tasty although the chicken was a bit over cooked.
So there is a mock tournament in the end and the evil knight runs around and fights everyone else to the kings over acted dismay while the princess pretends to miss her beloved prince while she is shamelessly carousing the knights in the background (for the last part I have no prof except for the princess complete lack of interest in her betrothed and kidnapped prince while giving lip service to the contrary, and of course my own imagination, as so often before.)
Some people in the audience bring their own plastic cutlery, which the people running the show frown up on and try to stop through public humiliation and finger pointing, which I admit that I like. But still: the plastic cutlery has its place in Medieval Times as much as let us say nylon garments, industrially processed food, plastic chairs, smoke machines and coloured floodlights to just name a few.
Now we are getting to the good part: Our knight won! Go red!
Like any good American sporting event the outcome has been rigged, just like in wrestling in the WWE or boxing on ESPN.
So what did I do to make it interesting? Easy! Find a bunch of kids in any other team and start winding them up! Then continue winding them up for as long as it lasts and finally win the damn thing so that you may shove it down their annoying little kid throats. Then take the party bus back to Manhattan.
Will I go again: probably not. Did I wish to have my time and money back? No, I am happy that we did this and I am grateful that I was invited. If you get a chance you should try it, but it is a drunk event in many respects, just like the Eurovision... but for knights.
Now it is time to stop being objective and start getting down and dirty subjective.
Medieval Times is a shameless stupidity, much like the Eurovision Song Contest, but for knights. And how dumb isn't that since there are no knights?
So what is it, what goes on?
Well a bunch of people with no acting skills dress up in fancy colourful dresses and fake armour and "act" out a story about good and evil, love and betrayal that leads up to and ends with very bad mock fighting, and ultimately a gift shop. Meanwhile the audience is divided into six different camps set up to cheer on a specific knight in the tournament while fed grilled food whit no cutlery. And I might add that the food was tasty although the chicken was a bit over cooked.
So there is a mock tournament in the end and the evil knight runs around and fights everyone else to the kings over acted dismay while the princess pretends to miss her beloved prince while she is shamelessly carousing the knights in the background (for the last part I have no prof except for the princess complete lack of interest in her betrothed and kidnapped prince while giving lip service to the contrary, and of course my own imagination, as so often before.)
Some people in the audience bring their own plastic cutlery, which the people running the show frown up on and try to stop through public humiliation and finger pointing, which I admit that I like. But still: the plastic cutlery has its place in Medieval Times as much as let us say nylon garments, industrially processed food, plastic chairs, smoke machines and coloured floodlights to just name a few.
Now we are getting to the good part: Our knight won! Go red!
Like any good American sporting event the outcome has been rigged, just like in wrestling in the WWE or boxing on ESPN.
So what did I do to make it interesting? Easy! Find a bunch of kids in any other team and start winding them up! Then continue winding them up for as long as it lasts and finally win the damn thing so that you may shove it down their annoying little kid throats. Then take the party bus back to Manhattan.
Will I go again: probably not. Did I wish to have my time and money back? No, I am happy that we did this and I am grateful that I was invited. If you get a chance you should try it, but it is a drunk event in many respects, just like the Eurovision... but for knights.
My first Hurricane (TM)
Since I moved to NY about 2 month ago I have been witness to one of the worst heat waves of the past hundred years, one of the very rare earthquakes of this area and now one of few very rare occasions when one of the hurricanes makes it all the way up here. That is quite some collection for a brand new NYC boy. The Hurricane named Irene is expected to hit us during the small hours between Saturday and Sunday. The city panicked and cancelled all communal transportation from noon on the Saturday. At five or six it had started to pour but no winds had yet penetrated this far. Now at ten the rain is steadily pouring but the hard winds are still to emerge, although it seams like it is blowing up some. Most of the city has been quite and calm during the day, the calm before the storm is fitting in two ways. The Hurricane has been down graded to a one now so it does not seem to be much danger, except that people on the waterfront will have some flooding to deal with. But the exact outcome of this remains to be seen. I am sure I will have to come back to this tomorrow or sometime in the future.
What I may add is that my visiting friend misses out on some of the he was expecting but he has gotten some other very unique experiences instead.
What I may add is that my visiting friend misses out on some of the he was expecting but he has gotten some other very unique experiences instead.
torsdag 25 augusti 2011
John in NY
So he is here, the man the myth the legend. Yesterday we made some tourist things such as Time Square, China Town, Little Italy, Rockerfeller Center and of course the Sony Building... and Central Park by night.
Tonight we might even get to Empire State. But that will be after work, gotta go so I can go and hang out. It is nice to have a friend at all hours. That I have missed. Welcome John!
Tonight we might even get to Empire State. But that will be after work, gotta go so I can go and hang out. It is nice to have a friend at all hours. That I have missed. Welcome John!
onsdag 24 augusti 2011
Dude me this!
Dude! How are you dude? What is up dude? Dude, how is it going? Dude me all over the place. Every one in the office is a dude. You can not be dude-enough! The dude flies over my head as people move in the office space and are forced by social convention to greet and ask each other questions they are not going to listen to, also by social convention. But we are all dudes. Where does the dude come from, and who was the first dude? Is it good or bad being a dude?
We all know the most famous dude: the Dude. And being compared to him, is beyond good or bad it just is. Just like the dude.
Googling for a dude definition gives this: (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/dude)
We all know the most famous dude: the Dude. And being compared to him, is beyond good or bad it just is. Just like the dude.
Googling for a dude definition gives this: (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/dude)
1. Informal An Easterner or city person who vacations on a ranch in the West.
2. Informal A man who is very fancy or sharp in dress and demeanor.
3. Slang
a. A man; a fellow.
b. dudes Persons of either sex.
I don't take the first one to be a word made out of appreciation, the second one seem to me to have lost that meaning long ago. I had never heard anything like that and do not think anyone in the office thinks that everyone else has fancy dress and or demeanour.
So definition 3a goes for about half while 3b marks us all except for that strange looking fellow in the corner: kind of short, kind of round, glasses and hair lengths is intermediate, no clue there. Name is probably, if you where to know it, something ambiguous as Pat, Sam or Alex. An unclear person of unknown sex. I guess that is just the person I would be calling a dude.
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