NYC Day One + Day Two

11/12/05. the diner is gone, so is the camera. film stuff later.

before going to sleep yesterday i called the taxi dispach to order a cab for this morning. we needed to be at the bonanza bus terminal at 6:30 in the morning for the bus to NYC, so that we will have enough time to get from the station to eddies party. i googled the whole thing and it seemd close or walkable like anything in new york. i orderd the taxi for 5:45 so that we will have enough time to be late to bus station that is about 10 minutes away. we got up just before 5 after going to sleep later then 1 am. i was really tierd but e got up and going and got all the gear together. at 5:30 i called the cab place and they said the driver is right on the way 2 minutes away. at 5:45 when he still was not here i called again and the dispacher was getting the driver on the radio, it was funny, he called him "car 10? how long to that waterman?" no answer. "guys everyone get of the radio for a momnt, car 10 car 10? how about the waterman?" no answer "car 1o? bob you there??" and then the radio answerd, " uhh yeah just on exit 4 2 minutes". my plan was that after reading the awfull reviews form googlers about the cab compnaies of providence and east providence alike i had enough time to tell off the cab driver and take the car down to the bus terminal. i was going to actualy drive down there the day before to find out what parking is like there but i never did, and when we got there we found out that we could have taken the car there for 2 bucks in guarded parking lot for the 2 days we would be gone, and not have to get up so early or scramble to get a cab ridethe way back. i guess there is only one way to learn, though i like to be informed. i met this girl once who had all these sex books, sex guides and manuals and when i asked about it she said she got them as a teenager cos she wanted to be good at it... i guess there is more then one way to lean. but the cab was there after that long radio call, and it was an old cabbie that gave us a 16$ extra ride because he dident want to use the highway... never mind. all this money spent, i guess you spend more then you need to the first times untill you know what things actualy cost or worth. the bus termianl was just waking up with only a few other poeple there, infact there were about 9 other poeple on the bus in total for the whole ride to new york. we got student tickets that were about 20% cheaper, and never got asked for an ID that was nice. the driver was an gram-pa with good manners and seemed like a nice old guy. we got a bagel and coffee in the DD that just opened 2 minutes before the bus left. after finding out about the parking thing we found that the bus went through kennedy plaza, the main bus station for providence where we could have taken a bus... and left 30 minutes later as well. this was the day of the providence marathon so the roads were partialy closed and it took a few more minutes to get there. its a shame we missed the marathon here, we also missed the Times sqaure bomb thing that was the day before and missed the boston water crisis the day we left... well what can you do. the ride was ok and we got to the port athourity bus terminal just after 10. we had time to go to BH to get films and then move on to eddies party not far from there. i always like going to BH especialy if i need to buy somthing there as its a fun experiance even though they are all these yids everywhere and there antics never end. last time i was there it was quite awfull because i ended up not buying anything and just beeing an annoying customer, i guess they expect it with such a big store and so many things to see. its really more of an amusment park then a store. the real camera poeple say once needs to go to adorama. ive never been next time thats where we will go. but we did buy film and i think it was quick and painless. i asked about imacons and got only a few answers.

as we were walking out i was telling tess all about the american fire fighters and how they are respected and poeple behave diffarently then they do in israel when a fire engine is flying down a ceowded street, and just as i was saying that 3 trucks were tearing down the road next to us just out side BH. we ended up going half a block down to see whats what, and found a huge T bone crash between a car and cab. they had to cut off the door of the car to get to the girl inside. the cabbie was not there. but there were about 10 diffarenct rescue and police cars in the middle of the road. we hung around to see whats gonna go and i was getting some news worthy stuff out of the mamiya 7.. it was fun... i think i just missed the frame i was aiming for, but time will tell. when ever i finally get the jobo up and running and a scanner that works.... tess read about this thing were the shutter lens blog or whatever its called wanted poeple to take pictures exactly on 1100 tha day and send them in, this happend to be about 10 minutes too late or so. but tess thought initialy it was gonna be at 3 or somthing so she wasent preapared for it. we got to eddies party after about 30 minutes of heavy walking in the soup soup wet humid hot and yucky NY style typical weather that was going on. we were bith sweating and wasted by then. but eddie and eric are genuinly extremely nice poeple so much so that it dident really matter. the party was funny as it was mostly a crowd made up for eddied old NY friends who are all his age or so in their late 70's. it was a nice little thing and always enjoy hanging out wiht eric, even though the last 2 times we actualy were in the same place at the same time i was behaving terribly and i was upset and making everyone else upset because of it. i guess i cant have anyone in m family for mroe then 2 seconds except for him. they yacked and rambled and made speeches and had a nice lounch and cake. we said goodbye and left for horesh and tals house in lower manhatten. suprisingly i felt verry confident navigating the NY subway system and we were able to use with relative ease (and lots of $$$$) over the 2 days, well expect for our last ride. we got out of the station in astor place, wich is 2 blocks away from the house, this was a good thing to do since this was move out day for the NYU studios or somthing and the shit was on the floor lining all the way to the house. as we were walking by there was a guy loadin ghis car wiht stuff and lots of stuff still on the ground, among them a canon Pro9000 PIXMA that seems to be just sitting there. i figured as this was not broken or trashed that the guy is loading sutff for moving. i said ill walk down in 30 minutes to see if its still there and if it will be ill take it wiht me. ofcourse it was still there and i took it. fuck it was heavy. but this was a good deal, it had all the inks in it and it works! i was happy it kinda made the whole truble and the NY thing worth it. i dont really like new york and it was really hot and stucky, i later found that i am allergic to this place.

we later met uri lenz and had drinks at a cool soho bar. it was funnt for me to see tess and uri in times square doing their thing as if they were both outside the zion police station in jerusalem waiting for arraignment's to come out. it was really cool. they did that for a good part of the time we were together.

tals house in NY has a huge collection of Z rated movies on VHS of all kinds wich i usualy enjoy watching at the end of a long hot day with the AC on there, but it was fun enough this time just reading out the whole list of tapes there. uri came up to have another beer and spy on the poeple in the niehgboring buildings and then we hit it. we made plans to meet early and get stuff done. this was after a mission to fnd sellery for tess and beer for us, wich in NY after 6pm is not an easy thing with all these silly liquer selling laws... and of course the fact u cant just have a beer on the street. well actualy i guess thats not such a bad thing, as it prevents all the arsom and other poeple u would rather not meet having a beer on the steet corner by your house as they often do in other places. so no one can drink on the street, is actualy not so bad. but not beeing able to buy beers in the super market is kind of stupid, even more so in NY where you can buy a beer in s uper market but no other liquer like wine for wich u need to go to a special store. all this nervousness is kinda the same as with the guy in the bank that is now closing all the barn doors after all the horses have already died from aids...

monday is the definitly the worng day to get any culture in NY as all the fucking galleries and museums are closed for no good reason. on the other hand having a press card is pretty nifty as mostly you do not have to wait in line for ticketes and of course you dont need pay. this was fun the moma and the googenhiem. we found a place for food early enough but tess feet were already wasted and i was not in much better shape i could have stayed another hour or so at the moma, but it was time to go and get ready to leave. the moma had a HUGE show of cartier bresson, and when i say HUGE it was really extremly very bigf so much so that after just walking through it, it was way to much for me to see and understand, not to mention i have seen much of this work before and so i really needed more time to look at it closly but here was just so much there that i couldent really do that. i guess thats what lving in NY could give one, that chance to see the never ending photo show at the moma met and whitney and numeros other galleries. in the main entrance hall of the moma there was a small ircing penn show who also dies last year.

the plan was to get ready and get the printer to the nearest subway station and go to the station. i read the map and it said that we need to either swich a train or walk 5 blocks to the right trains station to the bus terminal. so we left a bit early as i had to carry the printer by hand about 20KG all the way to the bus. we had flafel and a salad right outsude the house and (of all things a falafel MAOZ sounds like somthing i would not want to eat anywhere thats out of jerusalem, but it was the only place we foudn that had a real salad bar. and it was on the way. they also had real shivka perers that are hard to find here unless you want to buy abother thing made in israel...

the station was further away then i though and tess foot was hurting wich meant we walked slower and carrying the printer was prooving ot be harder then i thought it would be. when we got off the train at the station i saw that we could have taken the fucking train that runs under tals house and not have to walk anywhere, and it would have also been a shorter walk through the station to the bus terminal anyway. shit. well next time we will know.... the bus had a safty video, wich said the bus was at least twice as fuel efficiant as a train... who knows maybe thats why they dont have trains here. i read a long article about it and i know what the real reason is. the same as with the drinking and economy, if more poeple take the train and not the highway, the highway will be less congested and people will see this and imideitly use the highway so trains will never work.... what a stupid equeation but both democrats and train enthusiasts as well as republican bulshitters think this just the same. just like one of those what of every one did... this or that. what a waste.

slowly the smell of the old america i knew and remmebered so well is comming back to me here and there and its exciting. i like this smell. the smell of a new better world.