Then God Made NYC.

Just after I got back from Texas, I was on yet another plane to New York City. It wasn't fun, it was for work. I love New York City, I cannot really explain it, but I have always felt I should be living there. These tiny trips just reinforce it, and it is dangerous, because I don't want to move there. But I do! But I don't. (But I do.)

When you step out into the air of New York, it just feels amazing, you can feel the energy in the air, hear so many different noises, see all the diverse people, smell the smells...it hits me like a ton of bricks, and sucks me in, and makes me never want to leave.

So many cabs, here is the taxi rank outside the door at the airport:



All those cabs are waiting, lined up to get people. I got in a screaming fight with the cab driver I landed, though. I told him I had no cash, at all, so he needed to take credit cards. He said that was fine. Then we got to a bridge and the toll was $5.50. He started screaming at me to fork over $5.50, I had to yell back and tell him, look, I TOLD YOU I didn't have any cash BEFORE I got in this car. You deal with it. He was screaming back, "Just give it to me! It is only $5.50, just give it to me! Come on!" "Did you not hear when I said I have NO money on me? That means NO MONEY. I can't give you something I don't have." Eventually he used his own money and added it to the fare, and I left him a $3 tip on a $50 cab ride. Jerk.

I stayed at a nice hotel in midtown Manhattan.



I slept in this bed:



Super cozy and nice. I didn't want to get up.

Gorgeous bathroom:



Even the toiletries were gorgeous (not very high end, though, kind of cheap):



The drinking glasses were Pyrex beakers:



So cute and thoughtful. I really liked this place. Buuuuut it is NYC, and I am tough, but not New York tough, so I rigged up a great security system. Ironing board under the door handle.



I ate at O'Casey's, because of course if you see a restaurant called O'Casey's, and you're a member of my family, you have to eat there.



Unfortunately the food wasn't good, but they had Leffe Blonde on tap. You can't get Leffe Blonde on tap anywhere in Boston.

These were the tall buildings on my street, I just love looking up in this city. I don't understand the scaffolding, though. Every time I have been there, the buildings are covered in it. Does this ever go away, or is New York just constantly regenerating?



Alas, the wonderfulness had to end, and I had to go home. This was waiting for me by my ZipCar:



I felt like I was back on Swiss Avenue in Dallas. Oh the memories of crack whores and drunken homeless people eating chicken wings on my stoop, and throwing the bones in the grass.