Sleep Deprived in the Restless City

So much to tell, so little time until I lapse into unconciousness. Let's get to it, shall we?


As you may have gathered from my previous post, I spent today in New York City (New York City?!). I arrived at about 7:30 am, having left SFO at 11 last night, on a largely sleepless red-eye flight that definitely lived up to the name. (I can't blame Virgin America for the basic discomfort of sitting for so long, or the guy in my row with the major sinus problems, but I can blame them for the bright video screens at every seat that wouldn't turn off and the total lack of even the minimal amenities provided by Jet Blue. For all its flashiness, VA is basically Southwest with trendier lighting.) And after disembarking, gathering my luggage, and discovering I would not be calling Lisa to tell her I was on my way, I caught the world's slowest subway train into Manhattan. Seriously, it took over an hour. (The conductor came on the intercom several times to explain that we were stuck behind another train which was, apparently, being pulled by snails.) But I did eventually make it to Grand Central, only overshooting my connection by one station, and when I got there I was able to get on the internet and both tell Lisa I was on my way and retrieve her address from my email, then walk the four blocks to her smallish but charming apartment with an Actual View of the Actual Empire State Building, I Am Not Kidding.

I was, of course, delighted to see Lisa, who is one of a disturbingly large and growing trend of people who are foolish enough to leave California for places that are not California, which I do not understand. (There appears to be some sort of fiance involved, but still.) We went out for breakfast at a local diner, and I had delicious homemade blinis, which went a long way towards restoring my faith in the world. Afterwards, Lisa had to go to work (which she can do from the comfort of her aforementioned nice apartment) so I headed off to see the MoMa. Which is closed on Tuesdays, so I just saw the museum store instead, which I figure is pretty ,uch the same thing. Then I poked around a bit in the Fifth Avenue shops, pretending I was fabulous enough to belong there, and had a severely overpriced late lunch/snack at the cafe at Bergdorf Goodman's (though, frankly, if you manage to get out of that store and the only thing you have overpaid for is hummus, then I think you have done pretty well).

By the time I had had my snack the weather (which had been gray and intermittently rainy) had cleared up, but I was fading fast. Which is why it was so nice to have a friend to stay with, because I could come back to the apartment and conk out on her bed while she finished up her workday, and then we could hang out for a while before going out to dinner at a very New York-cool Japanese/Peruvian/Brazilian fusion restaurant for dinner.

So, all in all, a very fine day.


I'm going to sleep now.