Adventures in NYC, both good and bad
Well, today was a pretty good day, even with the last part of it.
I went to the Mets-Phillies game in the afternoon to see Pedro Martinez pitch against Jon Lieber. I sat in a section full of Mets fans. There was this one super-newyork-lady sitting next to me who was really nice but totally talked the accent. "Heeyah, look in da binawkyooluhs, look at Michael [Piazza], ain't he gawt the best smoile? He's so gawgeous." I had specifically asked for seating under the cover, because I figured it would rain. Because I did that, it didn't rain for the whole game. And the Mets won. I spent the game pretending to be a Mets fan instead of a Phillies fan -- I was wearing plain clothes, so there was no team commitment there. I kept score, and the people in the section kept saying things like "You must be a big fan. Look at Pedro! Were you here when he almost gawt that no-hittuh?"
The highlights of the game included Todd Pratt getting himself thrown out early on (it was a 1-2 pitch and Lieber threw what honestly looked like a third strike, but the ump called it a ball, and Pratt must have said something because next thing we knew Pratt was walking off the field and Charlie Manuel was walking on to argue, and shortly after that he was also thrown off the field. Lieberthal came in to catch and the game continued. Unfortunately, shortly after that Lieber walked the bases loaded and soon enough the Mets were up 5-1. Even Pedro managed to get a single.
The funniest moment was probably late in the game. Carlos Beltran got himself walked, and then stole second base -- I'm not even sure Lieberthal tried to throw him out. On the very next pitch he stole third base! So of course the Mets fans start chanting "STEAL HOME! [clap clap] STEAL HOME! [clap clap]"
Yeah.
After the game I got Nick a birthday present of a Pedro shirt. He's such a Mets fan and he didn't have any Mets shirts. What a shame!
I went to meet up with![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rkane after that. I got lost trying to get to where he works, but fortunately, he had more work to do. First I got lost by going the wrong way on the subway, and then I got lost in Bloomingdales, which is attached to the subway stop by his workplace. Bloomingdales is SCARY. We stopped by Neutral Ground after that to pick up some card holders, and it was full of Magic the Gathering players, who are also scary.
Mark, however, is not scary. Mark is awesomeness, and I really wish I got to hang out with him more, but that'd require being in the same city more often, which would also require things like me coming to town sometime when he isn't leaving town the next day. We went for pizza at a place called Lombardi's, which is in or near Little Italy. It had reeeeeeeally awesome pizza. Then we walked around town for a while talking, and for lack of anywhere better to go, headed back to his and Mike's place. There's a joke about how Mark kept getting bigger and bigger TVs all through college, culminating in this gigantic screen TV that barely fit through the door when they were in Doherty. Well, Mark's TV has grown even bigger now, as it's pretty much the ENTIRE WALL of the living room, with a projector.
We ended up watching Stuck On You, that movie with Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear as conjoined twins. It was really really Farrelly-awful for a lot of it, and somewhere along the line it became entertaining. We were both shocked it got a 6.1 on IMDB, but as it went on I could sort of understand why. I'm glad I didn't pay to see it, but I enjoyed watching it and getting to comment all the times it was just like "aggh! this is so BAD!"
Mark walked me back to the subway, and we had a conversation about how real life sucks. It made me pretty sad and deep-in-thought as I was riding the subway back here, which may account for what happened next.
I took the yellow line to Times Square and went down to the platform where the red lines go. I got on a red train. I went to 116th. Normally I'd get off at 116th and Broadway and walk over here to 120th. Except, uh, I got out of the train and I was at 116th and Malcolm X Blvd. Well... I didn't remember seeing that road before but I figured maybe I had gone through a different exit. So I walked to 120th and started heading west. Except, uh... I was nowhere near any streets I had seen before. It was really confusing. I walked around for a while and started panicking since I also didn't see any cops, cabs, or white people anywhere.
I called Nick. He goes, "Uhhh... I better come pick you up. Think you can wait there for ten minutes?"
Turns out I was in the middle of Harlem wandering around alone at 1am. It was a pretty nerve-wracking ten minutes, but eventually Nick got there and got me and we got back here okay. I suppose it should be considered a testament to NYC being more safe nowadays that I was lost in Harlem alone for around 20-25 minutes total in the middle of the night and nothing happened to me.
Turns out I'd taken one of the wrong red lines. Sigh.
The other funny thing is that I had been thinking earlier in the day that I'd probably like living in NYC... now I'm sort of re-thinking that.
I went to the Mets-Phillies game in the afternoon to see Pedro Martinez pitch against Jon Lieber. I sat in a section full of Mets fans. There was this one super-newyork-lady sitting next to me who was really nice but totally talked the accent. "Heeyah, look in da binawkyooluhs, look at Michael [Piazza], ain't he gawt the best smoile? He's so gawgeous." I had specifically asked for seating under the cover, because I figured it would rain. Because I did that, it didn't rain for the whole game. And the Mets won. I spent the game pretending to be a Mets fan instead of a Phillies fan -- I was wearing plain clothes, so there was no team commitment there. I kept score, and the people in the section kept saying things like "You must be a big fan. Look at Pedro! Were you here when he almost gawt that no-hittuh?"
The highlights of the game included Todd Pratt getting himself thrown out early on (it was a 1-2 pitch and Lieber threw what honestly looked like a third strike, but the ump called it a ball, and Pratt must have said something because next thing we knew Pratt was walking off the field and Charlie Manuel was walking on to argue, and shortly after that he was also thrown off the field. Lieberthal came in to catch and the game continued. Unfortunately, shortly after that Lieber walked the bases loaded and soon enough the Mets were up 5-1. Even Pedro managed to get a single.
The funniest moment was probably late in the game. Carlos Beltran got himself walked, and then stole second base -- I'm not even sure Lieberthal tried to throw him out. On the very next pitch he stole third base! So of course the Mets fans start chanting "STEAL HOME! [clap clap] STEAL HOME! [clap clap]"
Yeah.
After the game I got Nick a birthday present of a Pedro shirt. He's such a Mets fan and he didn't have any Mets shirts. What a shame!
I went to meet up with
rkane after that. I got lost trying to get to where he works, but fortunately, he had more work to do. First I got lost by going the wrong way on the subway, and then I got lost in Bloomingdales, which is attached to the subway stop by his workplace. Bloomingdales is SCARY. We stopped by Neutral Ground after that to pick up some card holders, and it was full of Magic the Gathering players, who are also scary.Mark, however, is not scary. Mark is awesomeness, and I really wish I got to hang out with him more, but that'd require being in the same city more often, which would also require things like me coming to town sometime when he isn't leaving town the next day. We went for pizza at a place called Lombardi's, which is in or near Little Italy. It had reeeeeeeally awesome pizza. Then we walked around town for a while talking, and for lack of anywhere better to go, headed back to his and Mike's place. There's a joke about how Mark kept getting bigger and bigger TVs all through college, culminating in this gigantic screen TV that barely fit through the door when they were in Doherty. Well, Mark's TV has grown even bigger now, as it's pretty much the ENTIRE WALL of the living room, with a projector.
We ended up watching Stuck On You, that movie with Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear as conjoined twins. It was really really Farrelly-awful for a lot of it, and somewhere along the line it became entertaining. We were both shocked it got a 6.1 on IMDB, but as it went on I could sort of understand why. I'm glad I didn't pay to see it, but I enjoyed watching it and getting to comment all the times it was just like "aggh! this is so BAD!"
Mark walked me back to the subway, and we had a conversation about how real life sucks. It made me pretty sad and deep-in-thought as I was riding the subway back here, which may account for what happened next.
I took the yellow line to Times Square and went down to the platform where the red lines go. I got on a red train. I went to 116th. Normally I'd get off at 116th and Broadway and walk over here to 120th. Except, uh, I got out of the train and I was at 116th and Malcolm X Blvd. Well... I didn't remember seeing that road before but I figured maybe I had gone through a different exit. So I walked to 120th and started heading west. Except, uh... I was nowhere near any streets I had seen before. It was really confusing. I walked around for a while and started panicking since I also didn't see any cops, cabs, or white people anywhere.
I called Nick. He goes, "Uhhh... I better come pick you up. Think you can wait there for ten minutes?"
Turns out I was in the middle of Harlem wandering around alone at 1am. It was a pretty nerve-wracking ten minutes, but eventually Nick got there and got me and we got back here okay. I suppose it should be considered a testament to NYC being more safe nowadays that I was lost in Harlem alone for around 20-25 minutes total in the middle of the night and nothing happened to me.
Turns out I'd taken one of the wrong red lines. Sigh.
The other funny thing is that I had been thinking earlier in the day that I'd probably like living in NYC... now I'm sort of re-thinking that.
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Subways are always referred to by their letter or number. So you took either the 2 or the 3, when you meant to take the 1.
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We used to walk down Malcom X from 125 through central park (and to SoHo on a good day), but we were never there when it was dark. (shopping is my cardio!)
Really, once you get the hang of the subway, and don't mind the occasional mess up from construction, New York is pretty fun.
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I have occasionally forgotten to get off at 116th street, which results in much the same sort of action as the further up town you get off the sketchier things are.
I'm glad you enjoyed the game and proved your ability to survive in The City.
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By the way, how many people did you see in Vote For Pedro t-shirts at the Mets game? It's unusual for a catch phrase to get worn out for two different reasons, but in New York it did indeed happen.
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NY Subways
After many visits to NYC to visit my sister, I'm getting better at the subways there. Amy navigates them like she was born there. I found London the easiest, and then Paris. Well, Philly's the easiest since you basically have two-three choices (and there is where you call the lines by color). But I found Paris easier despite it being in French. Anyway. I can see how you made your error. Laurie, Denise and I accidentally got on an uptown B/D and they didn't realize we were going the wrong way until I noticed that EVERYONE was wearing Yankee outfits. Hmm, could we be on some sort of an express in Yankee stadium? I checked this cool card in my wallet, and sure enough, we were. We got off the next stop in Harlem (135th I think) and caught an A/C south.
If you're going back, I'd recommend picking up this little map. You can find it here: http://www.antonmiles.com/ I got mine for free in a display in Teacher's College at Columbia, but I think you'd have to order it.