Getting lost less, and more old friends.

I wake up at my usual time, around 9 or 10. It's funny how as soon as I adjust to jet-lag, my body is on the exact same schedule that it would have been on at home. I've adjusted a bit to the disgusting heat wave that is my mezzanine bedroom in the mornings, and it would seem that I am not as light of a sleeper as usual (though maybe the fact that I have been going to sleep a little bit drunk every night). One thing that I have realized about the beer. Ok, so american beer has less alcohol in it than canadian beer, right? For someone like me, who just loves drinking beer, and who perpetually needs a glass in my hand, this is actually a VERY GOOD THING. It means that I can have 7 beers in an evening, and be pleasantly drunk rather than loser drunk. Who would have thunk it??

Anyways, I make breakfast, dress, blah blah blah, and I'm out the door. Today is the day that I am going to see the AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. HURRRAY!!!!
It takes an hour to get there, but today, I take that Hudson River Greenway on the West side of Manhattan rather than the godawful whatever the unfinished bikeroute on the East side is called or 6th avenue. For once, I DON'T GET LOST. I ride the greenway until I hit about 70th street, then head East to Central Park, which the Natural History Museum borders. By the time that I get there, I am already hungry again. Biking takes a lot of energy! I decide to look for some New York pizza, and stumble upon Ray's pizza which, according to New York Magazine readers, is one of the best places for pizza in the city. I'm not surprised with this assessment. The pizza is HUGE and DELICIOUS. Today I am really glad that I am no longer a vegan. I get a huge slice covered with several types of cheese and a whole swack of spinach. I'm in heaven. The pizza here is about 4 bucks rather than the dollar slices that I am use to in Vancouver... but then again, it also doesn't taste like re-heated cardboard like Vancouver dollar slice. Once I've scarfed down my slice, I walk over to the museum. Like all government/museum/whatever buildings, the facade of this one is impressively ornate, and there is a huge memorial statue at the front. I wait in line for about 25 minutes, and pay 5 dollars to get in (the suggested donation is 12 for a student, but they don't hassle you if you pay less) I BRIEFLY considered paying a dollar but didn't want to seem like a COMPLETE asshole.
I'm in!
Let me just express.... the SIZE of this museum is absolutely shocking, and the quality of the exhibits is just phenomenal. The curators here must me the coolest biology and anthropology nerds to ever roam the Earth; working here would pretty much be my biology nerd dream job. The museum covers EVERYTHING: dinosaurs, sea creatures, gem stones, the creation of life on earth, indigenous people's from across the globe, both past and present... bacteria, plants, the evolution of vertebrates, mammals, small creatures and birds from around the Earth. EVERYTHING. It seemed like it was impossible that every turn I made, somehow there was just MORE... it was like being inside the carpet bag of museums. I spent 6 hours there, and still had to skim some of the exhibits. You could easily spend a full week here, so if you go, I'd recommend that you at least give yourself a full day!!

Around 5, I text Malcolm to see what the deal is with his show tonight (thankyou cheap disposable cellular technology!!!) He says that I should meet him at the Blackbird Parlour on Bedford street at 6:30, and gives me subway instructions for how to get there. I briefly consider biking, but know that it will take me well over an hour. Time for my first subway experience!! I get in line to ask the subway attendant for the best way to get to the L train, as I can't find the line on the giant map on the wall. She is grumpy and unimpressed and acts as though I have just asked her if she could please give me 25 cents, because I am just trying to find enough money to get into a hostel for the night, also, could she please buy me a slice of pizza. She doesn't explain anything, so I ask her if there is anywhere that I can get a map that I can carry with me. She hands me one, and I walk away. After staring at the map for a few minutes, I find my stop, and it's only one transfer to get to where I'm going. Hurray! Buy a ticket, shove my bike through the gate, and I'm on my way.
I get to the Blackbird 5 minutes late, but Malcolm's not there yet anyways, so I grab a beer and write in my sketchbook for a bit.
20 minutes later, Malcolm is here! What is better than seeing a friendly face in a strange city. I feel like it's a strange thing for our generation. The other day, in my brain, I came up with the term "debt-setters"; it's a combination between debt and jet-setters. Get it?? (I thought that it was clever... am I right??) When in history has it been possible for people living on mediocre incomes to just hop on a plane and travel all over the world basically whenever we want. It's fucking crazy! I mean, how is it possible that I travelled to New York, and completely BY CHANCE, I will meet up with at least 4 different friends from Vancouver who will just happen to be passing through town at the same time I will??

But I digress... Malcolm and I grab a beer and catch up. I haven't really hung out with Malcolm in ages, and it's really nice to hear about what is happening in his life these days.
When we're done our beers, we head over to the Knitting Factory for his show. The actual event is an anniversary party for Numu which, I am told, is some kind of art collective. There are a few poetry readings, some comedians and then a few bands. The poetry and comedy acts are pretty hit or miss; but the bands are all pretty phenomenal. Malcolm introduces me to friends, and I drink beers, buy a poster, get a raffle ticket, and get my face painted. Though I ask the girl painting faces for "cat face" (surprise, surprise), I come out looking more like an angry zombie with my eyes bleeding, which is also pretty cool (this will prove not to be so cool on my bike ride home). Marshall shows up a few minutes before Malcolm's set and he is frazzled and manic and he can't stay long, but we agree to meet up on Friday night when he has a show.
While Malcolm's band plays, I talk to one of the poetry readers who did a fake self help visualization exercise, which was pretty hilarious. It was his first time ever performing, and he's pretty stoked to have some positive feedback.
When Malcolm is done, there are cupcakes for everyone. They are covered in coconut and totally delicious. It's not that late, but Malcolm is leaving in the morning and decides to go home for sleeps rather than staying out for a late night. I get directions back to Flushing Ave from one of his friends, because that is a street that I remember, and that will easily get me home. I say my goodbyes, and head off on my bike and immediately get lost. Asking strangers for directions and biking around when it looks like your face is an angry bleeding zombie is not the greatest thing ever. I probably bike around for about 30 minutes continuously getting lost and trying to find my bearings, before I finally find Kent which will take me to Flushing, which will take me home. As I coast down the hill to John street, I feel relieved and tired and happy to be near sleep.
My roommates are standing around outside and comment on my face paint and we laugh and then head inside. I have a bowl of cereal and then I'm off to sleep. Hurray!!!!

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I decide that today is a day to take it easy because if I try to go to museums every day of the week, I will probably die. Tomorrow I will try again at the MET, but for now I am going to head into Williamsburg and sit in a cafe all day writing and editing photos.
My roommate Rian is awake and we chat a bit, and she says that she will probably come to Marshall's show with me on Friday. YAY!! I still need to ask the roommates if it's ok for me to stay for longer, I suspect that it will be, but my time is up tomorrow, so I had best figure this shit out!!! Worse comes to worst, I think that I can sleep on the couch at Mikey's place. I guess that the benefit to that would be that it would likely be free??
Woot woot woot!
I bike over to Williamsburg, and decide to head for Bedford, because that is a street where I know that there are awesome things. When I check google maps to get there, I realize that the route is actually EXCEEDINGLY STRAIGHTFORWARD, and I wonder why it was so complicated last night. Bedford actually basically turns into Flushing... I basically need to make only three turns to get there, and it takes about 20 minutes. I walk up and down the street a few times looking for a cafe, and then decide to just pop into the Blackbird Parlour where I was last night. I have a waffle and a coffee and am very content as I sit here writing.
And now we are at the present. 13 days remain!

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Now, a side note.... have I mentioned how many handsome men there are here?? It's enough to overwhelm a girl. They walk around in droves. In Vancouver, it seems as though you scarcely see a boy who is not surrounded by a flock of girls, let alone an ENTIRE GROUP of handsome young men walking completely unaccompanied by any women. They are well dressed, and pretty and they open doors for you and pay for cab and buy you drinks. WHAT THE HELL?!?! When was the last time that a boy in Vancouver opened the door of a cab for you and then helped you into the backseat, or did the same when you are getting out?? NEVER? Oh, right.
I mean, I'm all for equality, but sometimes it's really nice to feel like a girl.
Other things I've noticed about being here:

- I am a huge fucking hipster. Maybe you're thinking, "Gee, Thanks, CAPTAIN OBVIOUS!", but I really didn't think that I was exceedingly hipstery. Maybe just a little bit? I guess that I was wrong. For one, despite the fact that I have a PERFECTLY GOOD BIKE to ride around, I keep wishing that I had MY bike; contrary to what you might be thinking, the reason is not that it rides better... the reason is that it's super flashy and I want to be a show off!! It's because I want boys with pretty bikes to look at my bike and think, "damn that cute girl has a sweet bike, I bet she is so cool and we should probably make out!" (Good logic, right??)
SNOB! RIGHT OVER HERE! THAT'S ME!

- Vancouver is a very small city, (no shit) so when you are heading to a party, generally speaking, if you know the approximate location, you can bike around until you see people who look like they would also be going to the party that you are going to, 99.5% of the time, it will be the right place. This method does not work so well in New York. I tried it when I was attempting to get into Jen's birthday rooftop party, and quickly realized that I am a small town idiot.

- People in Vancouver are cheap (myself included). Catching a cab, you will split it down to the dollar, four ways in Vancouver. Here, it seems, one person will grab it, and there is just an assumption that you will get them back at some point in the future. I'm not sure if this example captures exactly what I am trying to say, but suffice it to say, people in New York are not as cheap as people in Vancouver. Maybe I'm just cheap, and I'm labeling other Vancouverites along with me, but it just seems like people here are more friendly and generous (with both their money and time). They will grab you a drink just because and are perfectly happy to show you around or invite you out for a good time. They love their city and they want you to love it too (and you will).

- I don't know what else. I guess that that's it for now. I hope that some of you are enjoying reading this despite the fact that I am just posting ridiculous amounts of unbroken text. I am taking a ton of photos and some video, so hopefully I will get a chance to post this at some point in the near future. I can't believe it's only Wednesday (I have literally been here for only a week), and I'm overspending every day and I hope that I will have enough money to make it through until the end of my trip. I still need to finish the annual report for old work, which I was planning to do today, but then I forgot everything at home and realized I don't have Word on my computer so that is a total wash. I don't have a job for September (except for a few weeks) and I should probably be looking, but I can't even bother to care right now. Life is great and I feel so lucky and this is probably one of the best experiences of my life. Despite the lack of money and the stress from jobs and not knowing where to stay and whatever, I am so incredibly fucking happy. In the words of our good friend, Kurt Vonnegut, "If this isn't nice, I don't know what is".