Dingo - adventure

05:58 pm - adventure

I went for an adventure by my self in NYC saturday to go see my highschool sweetheart Renate in a Circus/theater performance thing. I leave the house at 11:30, catch every single light and blocked box intersection through down town because there was a parade and something going on at Ravens stadium that made people drive stupid and wear cowboy hats. I pull up to the Greyhound Station in the middle of the architectual salvage parks, convenient to nothing with no time to spare and find the parking lot closed for event parking. I get some street parking and trot back a couple blocks to the station. And then I wait for 45 minutes because the bus was late.

I get a seat and read, doze and what not while we spend 3 hours stuck on 95 in Delaware. We get into Wilmington and find that the bridge we want to take is closed so we go for a fun detour through some residential streets. Downtown Wilmington on a weekend is the perfect set for a zombie movie. Completely deserted city. We went by a sub shop I got a Cheese Steak that had catsup on when Trinity Project played there last.

So I in Wilmington about the time I was planning on arriving in NYC. Good thing I planned on a lot of buffer time to just wander around. As we pull into the big Apple around 7 I start really wondering if I could master the Subway system with my minimal planning and have it deliver me to my destination in time.

I grab some beef jerky from a bodega to break some change and ask where the subway even is. Time is potentially short so I get my pass, double check the line I need and decide not to second guess my self (but to verify when I can). I get on the A downtown and check the system map. The spanish speaking guy next to me is doing the same thing, but even more deliberately. I mime the route I am taking, he mimes the same route which includes a transfer. I point to the next stop as we pull into the station and point to the stop name on the pole. Then I point where we have to transfer and hold up 3 fingers for how many stops until then. I think he mimed asking me if I was a musician. I mimed playing a trumpet because it's almost the same for tuba and I don't know how in gestures knob twiddling keytar playing would be received.

Subway delivered me right on time to pick up my reserve ticket before they started giving out the no shows. I sit by Renate's parents and chat about knitting to her mom who saw me in the paper when they did their story on young hip knitting circles.

Renate is in a group called Cirque This! I'm still at a loss to fully explain their performance other than Fevered Dream like. I'll try and figure this out before their next show because it was awesome and you really should go see them. I get to spend a good couple of minutes after the show talking to Renate which is more than I have seen her in years due to only catching up on holidays when she is back in Baltimore and during her wedding.

I decide against going to the cast party and instead go to Mehanata, a Bulgarian bar known for Balkan Beat. I find my way there with only a street address and a vague recollection of what subway lines run that way and intersect. Hungry March had played there and the tuba player was leaving as I was paying to get in. I missed the Bulgarian buffet they had out to celebrate the new kitchen opening. Went downstairs and enjoyed the music and the laser lights everywhere. I forgot my earplugs and you only get so many hours of loud in your life so I took off and wandered around. I saw fancy bars with lines to get in and people posturing looking like they were too cool and well dressed to have fun. Mehanata was filled with nothing but smiles, I know which crowd I want to be with.

The corner Deli/Grocer was open 24 hours so I got a decent BLT for $3 and $0.89 cup of coffee that was really good.

I didn't feel like planning much, tracking down friends and finding a place to stay so I had a return trip ticket at 3:45am so there was some time to kill. I wandered around by Times Square a bit. The street kabob was really tasty. Then I saw the most amazing thing ever. There was a guy walking around with a cat sitting on his head. I had to call Amy. "What is the cat doing?" she asked. Me: "sniffing the awning of a strip club". I was getting tired of walking so I evaluated the choices of seeing a midnight movie or reading in Port Authority. I wasn't sure when the movies let out so I went to read until the bus came.

Bus took me back to Baltimore, I slept on my tailbone and hurt my neck a bit but sleep was sleep and I needed it. Car was safe and I got back home by 7:30am where the cats had replaced me in my spot in the bed.