Had no plans for Friday, apart from closing the training session that had been running for the last 2 days. I knew my roommate was going to have a mini party in our flat before going out to Brooklyn, so I thought I might get home in time to see those guys. An email came through from Mr D in the morning inviting people to a comedy gig, hosted by Comedy Central, playing on Summer Stage in Central Park after work. Haven’t been to anything like that yet, and thought it sounded fun, plus I want to go to some outdoor things while it’s still warm. Managed to close up at around 5.30 and made it to Central Park for just after 6pm. Turned up, bought myself a giant salted pretzel for $1, joined the massive queue that was starting to snake down the avenue, and Mr D rocked up about half an hour later. Turns out no one else could make it, so it was just us. We were an hour early, but by the size of the queue, I think that was a good thing. Filed in, grabbed a seat on the plastic grass that was just nailed down over concrete (come on guys, some authenticity please?)…dead legs.. and waited for it to start at 8. Was veeeerry busy. Most people had brought picnics and you could buy food there too. Should have thought ahead, but I was too busy trying not to get lost on the way there! I have too recent bad memories of the park!! lol.
The gig was absolutely hilarious though, Stephen Lynch was headlining and Mike Birbiglia, hosted by Julian McCullough were the performers. Mr D has apparently loved Stephen Lynch since Uni and was dying to go. He is a bit Bill Bailey-esque (if you are looking for a comparison) as he sings comedy songs and stuff, but he was amazingly funny. Very Un-PC, quite crude, which is quite unusual in the States, but I liked it. Might not be everyone’s taste, so don’t listen if you have a sensitive disposition!! Have discovered his website. (Spent most of last night YouTubeing him and singing along with the words) The Mike Birbiglia guy before him was also pretty funny too. Also has a website. But I was literally crying with laughter throughout. Stomach aching, it was so much fun. (I have now found out he played at the QMU at Glasgow Uni in March!! Whit!??!? Typical)
It finished at about 10, and then the entire park emptied at one time. Managed to get out, mainly because Mr D was navigating and not me (!) and took the subway to Washington Square to meet up with Mr C, who had finished a work night out. We decided to head into Greenwich village for some drinks and went to a bar called ‘Off The Wagon’ for a couple of hours. Tried to match the boys’ beer for beer with our pitchers of bud…Baaaaaad idea. Totally forgot that I had only eaten a pretzel in the last 4 hours. whoops. The bar was playing some good music and we watched some people playing Beer Pong for a while until fellow weegie, Miss N came and joined us later on (she works for the Consulate and had after dinner drinks there). We hung about for 3 pitchers more and then moved onto somewhere else. I have no idea where that was, as I was having trouble seeing straight by that point.
Ordered another beer, got half way through it and realized I was in trouble!! Apparently I was rambling with Mr C as we reminisced about Glasgow and talked about being homesick. If either of us start feeling homesick then we are just going to start telling stories about good ol'Sauchiehall Street together! lol. Stay there for a bit longer; watch Mr D tie a knot in a cherry stem with his tongue…impressing the barmaid and most of us. Mr C takes my beer off me and finishes it after watching me try to go downstairs to the bathroom (why are they always downstairs, it’s just unfair?) and then we decide to leave at about 2.30.
Being Friday, I am still in my work gear, while everyone else is in jeans and casual gear. (I don’t get dress down Friday’s, so I am in pinstripe trews and a white shirt, while they are all in jeans) Luckily for me, I am wearing my comfy ‘walk-to-work-hobo’ shoes, which allows me to stagger slightly more safely along the street than if I had been wearing high heels. We decide to get some pizza for the journey home, which seemed appealing at the time. Ham and pineapple pizza has never tasted so good. And only $3! Snarfle pizza in PATH station, after winding down the 3 flights of stairs to get to the platform…seriously, what are the stairs all about? Take really awful pics on my mobile that make us look half dead, especially poor Mr C. All 3 weegies start blathering about Sauchiehall and Buchanan Street bars in an extremely unintelligible fashion and poor Mr D looks on, having no idea what language we are speaking, heheh.
All attempt to stay upright in PATH train on way home. Not entirely successful, but amusing none the less, although maybe less so for the other passengers we nearly squash. Make plans to go to Coney Island beach tomorrow at some point.
At exit to PATH, we have to split up as Mr D and Miss N are in one building and Mr C and I are next to each other in 2 others in the opposite direction. Chris and I then wobble off back to our respective buildings. Once in the flat, I find that Miss J is still out in Brooklyn with her friends, after having the flat party in our flat, which is surprisingly un-trashed. I proceed to then fall into bed and pass out, although not before somehow managing to log onto Facebook and Bebo to post some garbled messages. (When will I learn to stop doing this? *sigh*) Never heard Miss J when she came home at 5.30.
Woken by the other flat mates being far too loud at about 9.30, manage to fall back asleep. Wake up again at around 10.30 after apparently Miss J has been out the room and asked them to keep it down. Have shower. Feel slightly more human. Apart from the crashing headache. Thinking that only having a giant pretzel since lunch yesterday probably wasn’t the best way to line my stomach before the beer. Whoops. Have raisin bran. Feel better. Dress, dry hair. Miss J gets up and tells me of her shenanigans the night before. Impressive. Long story. Involves pole dancing on the PATH and some other details that I'm not going to go into ( impressive though). I volunteer to go to the new supermarket that opened almost next door. They apparently have Lucozade and she would like some. Only $3.85!
On the way out I then spot a raisin and biscuit Yorkie bar….Bliss! 'Not for girls', pah! Actual real chocolate for the first time in months!! Loving it!! $1.28 though… but so worth it. Come back into flat with care package and proceed to sit and savour my chocolate. And a giant sports drink.
It’s about 1.30 and I’m not sure what time we were supposed to be meeting to go to Coney Island, so I call Mr C. No answer. Call Mr D, he thinks pretty soon but will call back. Calls back. Mr C is off doing something at work, Miss N is on her architecture tour but will join us shortly and Miss R is somewhere on the way there, but will get us there. So Mr D and I meet up to head off.
The trip involves catching a PATH train to 14th street and then getting a subway train to Brooklyn, straight down to Coney Island, which takes about an hour. Was a bit stowed due to the influx of people with the same idea. Both of us plug into iPod’s and doze for the journey.
When we got there, the Mermaid Parade was still going on, no idea what this is in aid of, it seems like an excuse for a lot of loonies to dress up like mermaids and other unidentifiable things, sing in a parade and then go to the beach still dressed up. Interesting. Will have to snaffle photos off other people soon.
Made it through the crowd and onto the boardwalk eventually. The view is great, long expanse of sand, sparkling water, then you turn around and are faced with the Cyclone rollercoaster and a ferris wheel. Two others roll up just behind us, so they make off to get some ice cream before we attempt to make camp somewhere on the waterfront. Find a good spot and lay down towel. Then comes the worse part. Generally hate the beach due to the dress code, so make the most of a bad situation with swimsuit and shorts and then sit down as quickly as possible! And then give into the whole aaaaaahhhh!!!!!!!!! I’m on the beach!! feeling. Tis' awesome!!! Lol.
After about 20 minutes of me lazing, they decide to go in the water. Go down to waters edge thinking we are just going to paddle. Nope, they have gone straight in. sigh, fine! So I scoot back up to towel, strip off shorts, scoot back and follow them in. %^%&!!!! It’s fricking cold!! So cold that I’m gasping for the first few minutes when I am up to my neck. Slowly get used to it. So we splash about for a bit. Miss R is still wearing her shorts and t-shirt, as she doesn’t have a swimmy with her, and someone else is wearing her sundress. Only 3 of us were actually dressed for the beach! After dodging the waves for a bit, we come out and go back to lazing in the sun. Except for Miss R who wants to dig a hole, purely with her feet. Decide to leave her to that one.
Soon enough, some other interns’s start arriving, including Miss N who quickly lies down and we all just ignore each other for about half an hour until Miss R starts kicking sand at us from the giant hole. Some other guys start turning up, which then just evolved into chaos. Mr J (one of the Melbourne lot) picks up ickle Miss N and carries her into the water fully clothed and dunks her in. You can hear her screaming half way up the beach. It is hilarious. So I sidle up to the water’s edge and take photos of her misfortune! She is completely soaked through, but stays in a surprisingly good mood!
3 of the guys help Miss R and I dig the hole, and eat my Pringles when I’m not looking. I started taking photos round about this point, mainly when people weren’t paying attention, as it was more interesting. Hehe.. I think some of them are quite funny. After a bit more malarkey, most of the boys leave to avoid the rush hour but we stay and wait for Mr D who has gone off for food. Once he comes back, we all decide we are hungry and do the same. Wait in MASSIVE queue to order chips and cheese. Which is foul. Squeezy fluorescent plastic cheese all over chunky fries…bleaugh. Bin!! Want proper chips and cheese please!
Join the even bigger queue to get into the subway home. I had to give Miss R my spare t-shirt as hers was still wet and she would have been freezing in the air-conditioned carriages. Miss N was in a similar state. We all dozed and chatted on the rammed subway home, before making plans to meet in Ole Ole Ole for some frozen margarita’s after we shower. Quickest turnaround ever, mainly because Miss J was away meeting her parents, and I had the room to myself and therefore could spread my stuff everywhere! Go back downstairs and across to the bar to sit outside in the street. Gorgeous warm evening, so sitting outside was lovely. Think we stayed till about 11.30 and 2 drinks before we gave up because we were so damn tired!! All that sea air! Lol. Managed to stay up till about 2 again in my room faffing on Facebook and adding the photos.
Woke about 11 on Sunday, two whole hours after I had set my alarm, so no laundry for me this morning! Met some friends at the PATH station and we headed into Greenwich for brunch to meet Mr C. Little café down a side street had tables in the street in a patch of sunshine, so we plonked ourselves down there. Brunch menu looked very tasty, but I went for my usual and had waffles and fruit and whipped cream. Fabulous. Discovered some markets down further side streets and had a wander about some of stalls, where I bought the most gorgeous silver ring. Most likely not a realy blue topaz in it, but it matches my set perfectly and has marcasite set in it too, and all for £14! Feel pleased, before going home about 2.30 ish. It had been raining in the morning when we left with threat of thunder, but now it is glorious sunshine and I am melting in my jeans.
Decide to put on laundry and then head to supermarket for supplies. On the way back up in the lift, I run into Miss J’s parents and they invite me to go to Target with them. They are lovely!! They also think I am awesome because I do her ironing, so it starts us off on a good foot! Toddle off with them. I spend about $50 on some food and other stuff. We pack up, and leave the store. To find it raining. We stand about under cover for a while, and then realize its not going off, I suggest make a run to the end of the car park to get back on the road. It starts hammering it down. Ah. In the end, there are four of us taking refuge under a tree, very unsuccessfully. Completely soaked. Completely. Decide to give up, rescue our bags and trudge back home. Squelch squelch squelch. So funny. Arrive back in flat like drowned rats.
I sat and talked to her parents between collecting laundry and drying off. They leave for Times Square where they are staying, and invite me for dinner. Unfortunately I already have plans, and also don’t want to pay for a big dinner after my brunch, even though the thought of an actual dinner is so very tempting. Finalize plans with people after dinner. We go see ‘The Happening’. Miss K and I cower down in the seat behind my jacket for most of it. Is a good film, little woodeny, Mark Walberg doesn’t take his top off (sadly), and kind of trashy, but good. Is scary, but not a ‘someone stalking you’ type of scary, so there has been no recurring nightmares so far!
Found out yesterday that Maroon 5 are playing a free set in Bryant Park on Friday morning at about 8am… really want to go, so I have asked Mr L the other intern that I work with, very nicely, to cover for me in the morning and sort the course out for me! Woohoo! So I will just have to make sure that I don’t oversleep! Coldplay are also playing in Rockefeller on Friday morn, but I don’t fancy it. Not my kind of music. Mr D is going to get up to go though. He will prob have to queue from 4am knowing the turnout for Coldplay. And then he has a 2-hour commute to Stamford to get to his work afterwards. Nice.
Starting to get majorly excited that people are coming out to see me soon! Souxie and McV will be here from the 11th July till the 14th, so plans will need to be made for where to take them etc. Brother dearest then joins me on the 17th till the 27th, and I will need to make different types of plans, because he is classed as a minor as he is under 21. Grrr. So can’t take him to any bars or anything, will just have to buy in the booze for the apartment! Maybe beach it one day if it’s still nice and find lots of touristy things to do for a while!
4th of July weekend in 2 weeks. We get the Friday off, so it’s another long weekend. No plans as yet, but would like to go somewhere to watch the fireworks. Technically we have the best spot because we are in Newport, and we get the view across the Hudson right into Manhattan, but I fancy being in Central Park or the beach or something! We’ll see. Anyway. I think this is long enough! I think I may have broken the site!!
