So with me heading to NYC this weekend and having a terrible memory I decided to jot everything down in my little Moleskine. I’m going to write it up exactly as I wrote it down in the journal, mistakes and sillyness will remain unchanged. I have also decided to start posting this posts on blogspot just to put them out there to the general public too. I also want to apologise for lack of photos. It’s pretty difficult to get film put in digital media so I’m saving up for a scanner!
So here goes nothing:
8/29/09
I wanted to save this moleskin for a special occasion. Today is a special occasion. I’m heading to NYC for the first time + I’m going solo. Nervous, excited, nervous. Also surreal. Another epic trip, hopefully for an epic time, that time being 3 days. I have a book to accompany me, music to drown the sound of the world + several cameras to catch its beauty/uglyside. This is NYC, the beginning of the story
After dropping to and from consciousness I finally come truly awake in Albany, the state capital. Grim weather, reminds me of home. A good + bad thing. Kind of just want to arrive there now + familiarise myself with the City. What I see out of my window is very much the same as every other train ride so far, but what was I expecting to see though ? Unicorns maybe !? Infact just a waterfall pulling into Poughkepsie, seemed out of place but nevertheless impressive!
Heading into Penn Station in half an hour, the hills look amazing, covered in trees with mist rolling down up into the air like it’s trying to escape. mesmerising.
After a journey of sleep + non-sleep I arrived in Penn Station (note the switch from present to past). I get out into the city air and my perceptual senses are overwhelmed, flashes of yellow, a shrill horn, the rattling subway, the taste of the air and the stellar mist covering the tallest buildings, truly amazing, but expected I guess. That makes me sound ungrateful, I’m not. My expectations were high + they were met, full stop.
I wonder up (+down) 8th Ave for a while + shoot off a text to DC aswell as shooting off a few snaps with the Diana(mini). Mosts shots are of taxis, don’t ask why but I was fascinated. So I end up taking a ride downtown instead of uptown, these things happen I guess. So I decide to walk all the way from 14th st to 34th street, stopping off at the triple crown. Here I discovered I was starting to turn into a dreaded beer snob, not so good. What was also not so good was the fact that my hostel had no vacancies left (sold out as the put it). Thankfully DC had offered me a place to crash ( Praise Jésuz)
So me + DC meet + take a trip downtown + hit 1894. A nice bar + grill style place. For some reason our server ran outside after ‘us’ thinking we were dodging out on the cheque. We were just in the bar area, bless her huh !? So we head to a few shops, 3 different heavens in the form of WeSC, Burton + DC (the brand) shops. I got some new cans I have been after for a while + some nice Nike SB kicks.
We hit one final bar before I retire to DC’ pimp bachelor pad + he heads to see his girl. I’m sat here writing this (back to the present) while chilling to some Bon Iver and obviously reflecting on the day. Honestly I’m exhausted, but its to be expected to a certain extent. It’s going to be fun typing this up exactly how I have written it, poor sentence structure, grammatical errors, important things missed + the refusal to use the word ‘and’.
I wanted to sign off saying something profound or something with heavy weight behind it. Only thing I have (is weak) is that sometimes you gotta get away to the city. I guess thats it, I’m off to make more progress on the Gunslinger, half way through the book already. It may turn into a long night indeed. Every word I add reduces my attempt at a profound sign-off, guess I just don’t know when to shut up.
8/30/09
So I get up at midday + clean up the mess of inflatable bed + sleeping bag and chill out for a few minutes. I head out to broadway where I’m finally greeted by some sun + blue sky, get snap happy + finish off my roll of Diana. I rinse some chicken fajita panini and head to central park (the direction of Central Park anyways). I stumble upon a little seating area with a dark iron statue in the middle, it stands on a pillar 8ft high + the statue another 8 more.the horses front leg (right) is off the floor, this means that the guy died out of wartime I think, horses on hind legs means he would have died during battle, I dunno. All thats important is that it looks amazing, Puzzled by the fact it looks like plate armor the statue is wearing, so he might not be American. At this point I think screw it why don’t I just look at the front of it. Turns out its Joan of Arc (edit: the main picture at the top is the best view of the statue I got on the old iPhone), ‘nuff said.
3/4 quarters of the way through Gunslinger, getting quite interesting to say the least. Just waiting on DC before we head to CP on the bikes, should be epic! Ended up heading DT again. Spent far too much in the Lomo shop. DC got hooked up with the latest Fisheye2 too. Back at the apartment + prepping to hit CP, just had the realisation that it’s my 2 month anniversary today, its so craaaaazy!
31/8/09
The rest of yesterday was amazing. I fell in love with CP something rotten, pure stellarness, cannae beat it. Cruising around, awesome views, like nothing else, utopia for me. The night time was just as fantastical. Off the wagon for a few drinks then Club Wha? It was crazy, food, good beer, good friends + amazing live music. Such an eclectic set, All Night Long by Lionel Ritchie blaring out, Creep by Radiohead later, I’ll be missing you by sting, 70’s funk that would make the god father proud. I’m back at home as I write this, happy in the fact I have had an amazing day, amazing night + connected DC to Lomography, ‘nuff said yet again.
31/8/09
I was going to write about last night before I realised I had done it last night, only had about 7 or 8 beers, light weight. O I did remember last night that I had a double order of wings for the table, apparently most were vegetarians so I had to eat them all one (bar one). there were equal amounts of awe and disgust, make that mostly disgust ha.
It’s weird, I’m sat in CP surrounded by what seems an infinite amount of people, yet I feel alone, not lonely, but alone. Its invigorating to sit and look out at the lake nd write in here, yet I’m saddened as to not be able to share it with anyone. This + a couple of earlier conversations has led me to the conclusion that I’m ultimately an experience sharer. I like doing a lot of stuff on my own, but to be able to share somethings with someone else special + talk about that + have that memory + bond forever, that to me is more worthwhile than having a solo story to share.
Excuse the terrible 5 minute sketch (edit: my moleskine has a little stupid sketch on the previous page), just one of those things. So I spent the rest of the evening getting food + ended up locking myself out out of DC’s apt. Neighbour found me face down alseep. Once DC got back we shot the shit + ended for some fine Chinese cuisine. Wasn’t too bad actually, good value for money at least.
Now back at the apt solo listening to Bloc Party, Silent Alarm (re-mixed) crazy album! Gonna hop in the shower, bang on my jim jams (shorts + a stolen shirt) + read esquire for the rest of the night. Up bright + early for a 7 hour journey again. A Journey worth every second!
Post edit: Gunslinger is now finished, bring on The Drawing of the Three!
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