Random stuff about New York...
May. 22nd, 2009 11:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
uiscerosSo my NYC trip. It was, uh, interesting. Fun, but interesting. I'm not really a city person. Well, I'll amend, cities are hit or miss with me. Like, I don't really like NYC, Dublin, or Prague all that much (with my limited experience). On the other hand, I ADORE Washington DC, Munich, and Florence, and did on sight. I'm a suburbanite through and through. I like trees lining the streets, and the quiet the suburbs provide. I also have issues with the general dirtiness of cities. I'm, um... a little preoccupied with cleanliness.
But it's not like I was in a really gross part of New York... I was in the upper west side of Manhattan. Still, the traffic was distinctly unfun. And I thought Boston was bad! But one super fun part about it was that I actually got to drive around a lot. As much as I'm not a city person, I'm very much a city driver. I'm all super aggressive while driving, which was quite the advantage in dealing with opportunistic taxis. I get a thrill from difficult driving, so that was fun for me. Also, I now basically know how to navigate between Central Park West, Columbus Ave, and Broadway fairly well. (I would give an arm and a leg to live on Central Park West. God, it's beautiful there...) We then drove down 5th avenue, which was also entertaining.
After all that, we finally went to Chinatown, which was super fun. I visited two music stores there. I was looking for the Big Bang Japanese releases, but no go. Though both stores had a plentiful amount of Taiwanese music. I had to restrain myself from buying everything. I was amusingly the only non-Asian person in the music stores, and the workers were looking at me kinda suspiciously (which is weird to me, I was never a person people look at suspiciously), but I knew the music, damn it! I hate it when people assume I don't know anything because I'm white, or a girl, or American, or... something. I know it's not the worst prejudice to have on me, but it's still irritating. Prejudice = not fun. (That's my PSA for the day, apparently!)
Anyway, have some pictures! I didn't take many, and the ones I DID take were of bridges. I have a weird fascination with bridges. I got super excited when they built the Zakim bridge in Boston. I think my love for bridges is due to this bridge, which is a major player in my childhood memories.
The George Washington Bridge, taken from Manhattan.
The Queensboro bridge from Roosevelt Island.
I'll be posting my CD stuff later. It's late, and I'm tired now.
But it's not like I was in a really gross part of New York... I was in the upper west side of Manhattan. Still, the traffic was distinctly unfun. And I thought Boston was bad! But one super fun part about it was that I actually got to drive around a lot. As much as I'm not a city person, I'm very much a city driver. I'm all super aggressive while driving, which was quite the advantage in dealing with opportunistic taxis. I get a thrill from difficult driving, so that was fun for me. Also, I now basically know how to navigate between Central Park West, Columbus Ave, and Broadway fairly well. (I would give an arm and a leg to live on Central Park West. God, it's beautiful there...) We then drove down 5th avenue, which was also entertaining.
After all that, we finally went to Chinatown, which was super fun. I visited two music stores there. I was looking for the Big Bang Japanese releases, but no go. Though both stores had a plentiful amount of Taiwanese music. I had to restrain myself from buying everything. I was amusingly the only non-Asian person in the music stores, and the workers were looking at me kinda suspiciously (which is weird to me, I was never a person people look at suspiciously), but I knew the music, damn it! I hate it when people assume I don't know anything because I'm white, or a girl, or American, or... something. I know it's not the worst prejudice to have on me, but it's still irritating. Prejudice = not fun. (That's my PSA for the day, apparently!)
Anyway, have some pictures! I didn't take many, and the ones I DID take were of bridges. I have a weird fascination with bridges. I got super excited when they built the Zakim bridge in Boston. I think my love for bridges is due to this bridge, which is a major player in my childhood memories.
The George Washington Bridge, taken from Manhattan.
The Queensboro bridge from Roosevelt Island.
I'll be posting my CD stuff later. It's late, and I'm tired now.
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no subject
Date: 2009-05-25 02:29 am (UTC)You know what is weird about going into asian stores in the US is that you often feel out of place. Like, this store is in America, yet you feel like you aren't supposed to be there or that the people working there are like "wtf, why are they in here?" I don't know, maybe only I get that feeling XD
no subject
Date: 2009-05-25 02:37 am (UTC)I've only been there twice. The last time was probably 15 or so years ago...
I feel the same way in Asian stores! I visit a few Asian grocery places, and even though I know most of the food, and what I'm looking for, it always feels to me like they're thinking I have no idea what's going on. It's probably just me being paranoid, but still! It's weird, since I've never had that feeling of being a minority before, so I don't know how to deal with it well.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-25 03:25 am (UTC)