Now with extra wordiness.
Last Friday night, TheBoy and I went into the city for the last part of his birthday present. I had found such a cool thing that I knew he and I would both love. While tootling around on ticketmaster, I found that The Samples were playing a concert cruise around Manhattan. How freaking cool. A concert on a boat. A boat that tours NY harbor. Fantastic.
Since we were told to be at the pier (at 41st & West Side Hwy) at 7:00pm, which was a little tricky, we figured we would take the train into the city to avoid driving there during rush hour and then take a cab to the pier. We get out at Penn Station and emerge at street level to find that the line at the taxi stand is enormous, so we walk a block or two over to hail a cab. Any cab.
Heellloooo, Cab! Right here! Two people who will pay you to take us somewhere! Cause its your job! Heeelllloooooo!
We keep walking. There are no empty cabs. We stop and wait and look and wait. No empty cabs. We walk another block. A cab! We see someone get out, so we run over. But the driver shakes his head 'no'.
No.
No?
What do you mean no? Are you fucking kidding?
No. No, no he's not.
Fucker.
We keep walking. 2 more blocks.
We hail a cab who stops for us like 30 feet away and some prissy bitch steals it as we're running for it. I scream. I curse her family. If I could bring myself to do it, I would have spit on the cab. But that would be gross.
It is probably important to mention that I had it in my head that day that we would be finding a ride to the Pier and not that we would be walking there. I had on 4 inch heeled suede boots that, while comfortable when you're, I don't know, sitting. Or say, walking across the street. Not so much comfortable while walking 15 blocks. Did I mention that we stood on the train all the way into the city? No I don't think I did. So, standing for an hour in 4 inch heels and then walking for about an hour basically cost me the feeling in all of my toes, and a tingly-dead feeling in the balls of my feet. But those boots? So sexy.
We walked the whole god-dammed way there. If you know New York City, you might be familiar with the part of town that we walked through . I'm not saying that it is a dangerous area. Really, its probably far from it, only because its completely empty. No people as far as the eye can see and maybe one or two cars passing (which, not for nothing, is creepy). Until you have to walk through the plaza of the Lincoln Tunnel. Plenty of cars there. Going fast and not caring how hard it is for a stupid girl to walk quickly in 4 inch boots when she can't feel her toes.
Ugh. We got there, that's all that matters, but it was so painful I had to laugh all the way there.
The actual concert and boat ride were wonderful. It is such a great venue to see a band play. There is an outside deck to sit on and watch the city skyline as you're passing by. There is an indoor dance floor where the band plays. Upstairs, a balcony with tables and windows and stuff. Really, really nice. Also, two bars. Booooze.
We spent a good portion of the night outside looking at the city. Sadly, my camera was not as impressed as I was and did not want to take any good pictures. The scenery was unbelievably beautiful and I could not capture it well at all. The city didn't even look real; it looked like some kind of model:
Hard to tell. Here's another try:
That there on the right is the Empire State Building. Believe it or not.
This is probably the best picture I got:
Not too bad. The highest point on the right side is the Empire State Bldg again, the bright point of light a little lower and to the left is the Chrysler Building and that's about all of the landmarks I can point out. I'm such a good New Yorker.
I just thought this mess of a shot came out interesting:
Squiggles!
Anyway, this was the highlight of the whole deal:
The Statue of Liberty. I have lived in New York my entire life and I have Never Ever seen the Statue of Liberty in person. EVER. And dude, she's huge. HUGE. I really had no idea. I mean, I knew she was big, but, you know not HUGE.
I'm not a particularly patriotic person, I don't support what our country is doing right now, I think our president is a twat. But seeing the Statue of Liberty right in front of you is truly awe-inspiring. It sounds so trite, but I was really impressed with the presence it has in the harbor. You can just imagine what people coming into Ellis Island must have felt when they saw her standing there as they were coming to start their lives over. Amazing, really. If you have never gone, I highly recommend it. I know that the Circle Line Cruises does this run and the prices seem to be pretty reasonable. It is SO WORTH IT.
And then my batteries died. Yay! No more pictures!
Luckily TheBoy had his camera phone and was able to take pictures of the band that we went to see. We were literally standing about 8 feet away from Sean Kelly, the lead singer*, which was just so cool. He looked at me. Like in the eye. He watched me watch him. I was acknowledged by a mildly famous person. Sort of.
The show was really good, the band seems like a bunch of really nice guys who just love what they're doing. TheBoy is a big fan of theirs and I think he enjoyed seeing them again and I know that if something like this comes up again we're going to jump all over it.
After the show was over and they unloaded us back at the pier, we had to figure out how the fuck we were going to get back to Penn Station. A whole mess of us were standing at the entrance to the pier as traffic is whizzing by us about 4 inches from our feet and waiting for cabs to come by. The crowd had set up a first-come, first-serve system where the first people there got the first cab and so on. 2 groups left and then it was our turn. We waited. And waited. Finally. A taxi is driving up, I flag it down and it pulls over about 20 feet past us. Where there are other people waiting.
A girl (a stupid, stupid girl) starts walking and reaches out to open the car door.
I break out into a full-out sprint. It felt like slow-motion. I was running and screaming. Screaming at the girl that she had better not fucking take my cab, that is my cab, get the fuck out of the way, you lousy whore (or something). I am half-drunk and running on my bloody stumps that I can't even feel anymore along the West Side Hwy, screaming at some little hippy girl that I don't know, to back the fuck up before I tackle her and throw her into the bushes.
You better fucking believe I meant it. I would have thrown her. I would have hurt her. I didn't care.
But I didn't have to. She saw a crazy person coming at her and backed up.
Damn straight.
Happy Friday, all.
*Who we know now is NOT on heroin, by the way.
Since we were told to be at the pier (at 41st & West Side Hwy) at 7:00pm, which was a little tricky, we figured we would take the train into the city to avoid driving there during rush hour and then take a cab to the pier. We get out at Penn Station and emerge at street level to find that the line at the taxi stand is enormous, so we walk a block or two over to hail a cab. Any cab.
Heellloooo, Cab! Right here! Two people who will pay you to take us somewhere! Cause its your job! Heeelllloooooo!
We keep walking. There are no empty cabs. We stop and wait and look and wait. No empty cabs. We walk another block. A cab! We see someone get out, so we run over. But the driver shakes his head 'no'.
No.
No?
What do you mean no? Are you fucking kidding?
No. No, no he's not.
Fucker.
We keep walking. 2 more blocks.
We hail a cab who stops for us like 30 feet away and some prissy bitch steals it as we're running for it. I scream. I curse her family. If I could bring myself to do it, I would have spit on the cab. But that would be gross.
It is probably important to mention that I had it in my head that day that we would be finding a ride to the Pier and not that we would be walking there. I had on 4 inch heeled suede boots that, while comfortable when you're, I don't know, sitting. Or say, walking across the street. Not so much comfortable while walking 15 blocks. Did I mention that we stood on the train all the way into the city? No I don't think I did. So, standing for an hour in 4 inch heels and then walking for about an hour basically cost me the feeling in all of my toes, and a tingly-dead feeling in the balls of my feet. But those boots? So sexy.
We walked the whole god-dammed way there. If you know New York City, you might be familiar with the part of town that we walked through . I'm not saying that it is a dangerous area. Really, its probably far from it, only because its completely empty. No people as far as the eye can see and maybe one or two cars passing (which, not for nothing, is creepy). Until you have to walk through the plaza of the Lincoln Tunnel. Plenty of cars there. Going fast and not caring how hard it is for a stupid girl to walk quickly in 4 inch boots when she can't feel her toes.
Ugh. We got there, that's all that matters, but it was so painful I had to laugh all the way there.
The actual concert and boat ride were wonderful. It is such a great venue to see a band play. There is an outside deck to sit on and watch the city skyline as you're passing by. There is an indoor dance floor where the band plays. Upstairs, a balcony with tables and windows and stuff. Really, really nice. Also, two bars. Booooze.
We spent a good portion of the night outside looking at the city. Sadly, my camera was not as impressed as I was and did not want to take any good pictures. The scenery was unbelievably beautiful and I could not capture it well at all. The city didn't even look real; it looked like some kind of model:
Hard to tell. Here's another try:
That there on the right is the Empire State Building. Believe it or not.This is probably the best picture I got:
Not too bad. The highest point on the right side is the Empire State Bldg again, the bright point of light a little lower and to the left is the Chrysler Building and that's about all of the landmarks I can point out. I'm such a good New Yorker.I just thought this mess of a shot came out interesting:
Squiggles!Anyway, this was the highlight of the whole deal:
The Statue of Liberty. I have lived in New York my entire life and I have Never Ever seen the Statue of Liberty in person. EVER. And dude, she's huge. HUGE. I really had no idea. I mean, I knew she was big, but, you know not HUGE. I'm not a particularly patriotic person, I don't support what our country is doing right now, I think our president is a twat. But seeing the Statue of Liberty right in front of you is truly awe-inspiring. It sounds so trite, but I was really impressed with the presence it has in the harbor. You can just imagine what people coming into Ellis Island must have felt when they saw her standing there as they were coming to start their lives over. Amazing, really. If you have never gone, I highly recommend it. I know that the Circle Line Cruises does this run and the prices seem to be pretty reasonable. It is SO WORTH IT.
And then my batteries died. Yay! No more pictures!
Luckily TheBoy had his camera phone and was able to take pictures of the band that we went to see. We were literally standing about 8 feet away from Sean Kelly, the lead singer*, which was just so cool. He looked at me. Like in the eye. He watched me watch him. I was acknowledged by a mildly famous person. Sort of.
The show was really good, the band seems like a bunch of really nice guys who just love what they're doing. TheBoy is a big fan of theirs and I think he enjoyed seeing them again and I know that if something like this comes up again we're going to jump all over it.
After the show was over and they unloaded us back at the pier, we had to figure out how the fuck we were going to get back to Penn Station. A whole mess of us were standing at the entrance to the pier as traffic is whizzing by us about 4 inches from our feet and waiting for cabs to come by. The crowd had set up a first-come, first-serve system where the first people there got the first cab and so on. 2 groups left and then it was our turn. We waited. And waited. Finally. A taxi is driving up, I flag it down and it pulls over about 20 feet past us. Where there are other people waiting.
A girl (a stupid, stupid girl) starts walking and reaches out to open the car door.
I break out into a full-out sprint. It felt like slow-motion. I was running and screaming. Screaming at the girl that she had better not fucking take my cab, that is my cab, get the fuck out of the way, you lousy whore (or something). I am half-drunk and running on my bloody stumps that I can't even feel anymore along the West Side Hwy, screaming at some little hippy girl that I don't know, to back the fuck up before I tackle her and throw her into the bushes.
You better fucking believe I meant it. I would have thrown her. I would have hurt her. I didn't care.
But I didn't have to. She saw a crazy person coming at her and backed up.
Damn straight.
Happy Friday, all.
*Who we know now is NOT on heroin, by the way.
posted by claire at
9:11 AM
5 Comments:
Yea! Awesome post!!! I love blurry pictures. (really, i do... long story) But those pix of the city are fun. I was at the Statue when I was a kid. Went to the top of it. Very cool views. Also went to the top of the Twin Towers that day... I guess there's a whole post in that story somewhere.
Sorry you had to deal with all the cab asshats.
Glad you enjoyed the show!
By
minijonb, at 10/06/2006 1:13 PM
Yeah, uh definitely not on heroin, and I'm not sure what kind of assmunch would say that, you know, without any SUBSTANTIAL REASON, when we all know our boy is perfect and nice and never even drinks, right?
(Glad you had fun! Don't you expect Sean Kelly to be cuter than he is? Like, I want him to be hot and yet...he's not. Not even a little. Oooh, or is someone going to FIND ME FOR THAT TOO.)
By
Anonymous, at 10/06/2006 2:20 PM
"Squiggles!" Hee!
Yeah, Libby (as she likes me to call her) really is impressive close up. It's too bad you can't climb up her, anymore. When I was a kid, my dad surprised me by not waking me up for school, but taking me into the city to climb to the top of her crown, instead (the torch was closed, by then). I actually think that trip is one of the biggest reasons I moved to NYC, 10 or 12 years later.
Glad you had a good time. Although if that guy is playing in a band that's on a harbour boat tour? Not so famous. ;o)
By
Da Nator, at 10/06/2006 4:55 PM
minijonb - well, thank you. i did have the opportunity to get to the top of the twin towers a couple of times. my uncle worked at the Port Authority for a whole lot years and i got quite a tour. years later, had dinner in the restaurant at the top. was glad i did.
jonniker - i have no idea what kind of person would say something like that either. i mean, that would be evil of them, don't you think. and he was only drinking water while performing, so of course he doesn't drink. gah, no. but you know, he's not hard to look at or anything. he just looks like a middle-aged irish guy.
da nator - that is so cool of your father. i never did anything like that on a SCHOOL DAY. heavens no. the band isn't a harbor boat band or anything. they were playing for a concert series that happens to be on a boat: The Rocks Off Concert Cruise series (i linked to it in the post). they're not the Rolling Stones or anything, but they're pretty popular in certain circles. dirty hippy circles, really. :)
By
claire, at 10/07/2006 6:48 PM
that sounds so cool! particularly if youre me and they're spraying liquid manure on the fields across the street. i can dream along with you of being somewhere you can say 'shit' in public without people fainting, and go to great shows and ride around in taxicabs and not see ANY MILK COWS.
sigh. SO envious. glad you had a good time! (xpt for the feets, and the hackies)
By
FirstNations, at 10/09/2006 10:39 AM
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