The Big Apple (day five)

Well, it was finally the big day. Twas the day of our return to earth.

We woke up with a knowledge that anything else on our 'to do' list must be accomplished by noon, which was the time that our shuttle would arrive at the hotel to bring us to the airport.

Mom and I started out on a stroll around the park, just to get a last look at the place. We found this guy who gave tours of Central Park via a rickshaw ride. (For those who don't know, a rickshaw is a sort of bicycle attacked to a two-passenger cart...). So, we decided to take the tour.

For like fifty bucks, we got a ride across half of the park. We saw the Balto statue, several famous fountains (like the one the cast of Friends played in), a lot of famous status, Strawberry Fields (the John Lenin tribute), and several celebrity houses. Oh yeah...we saw the hotel from Home Alone 2 and the Ghostbusters tower...etc etc.

We walked to a mall, in which I bought and ate my first Godiva chocolate bar. Then we went to Central Park to buy a few hot dogs, in order to get the ENTIRE New York experience. Next, it was back to the hotel to finish packing and wait for the shuttle.

As we were sitting in the lobby, a lady came up to the doorman and said, "Hey, you're that guy from survivor, aren't ya?!"

He said yes, and then got his autograph and took several pictures of themselves with the celebrity.

It was really cool, because we had NO stinkin idea that the guy who had been opening the DOOR for us the ENTIRE trip was a big celebrity. As we were leaving, we took several snapshots of the front of the hotel, in order to get him in a photos to bring back home. It was funny.

Ummm...we get to the airport...our flight is cancelled...we spend an extra several hours in New York....waiting...and waiting...and waiting....

We end up on a flight to Atlanta that didn't even leave the Big Apple until like 5:3o. So, we get to Georgia, and then almost missed our flight, because we had 10 minutes to get all the way across the airport and board our next plane. Luckily, the crew for our second flight didn't show up on time, so we were able to catch the flight back to Springfield.

We get to Springfield at 11 pm and then embark on our adventure towards home...we get there...we go to bed...we sleep.

THE END....

woot.

The Big Apple (day four)

Today was our last whole day of touristy opportunities in the great Big Apple. Mom and I decide to visit several historical places that can be found within the city. I figured I might as well mix some education in with my fun…seeing as how I had nothing better to do.

We began the day on Staten Island, where we made the journey to some park of which the name has escaped my memory. I think it was something like Battery Park. There were several monuments there….but I really never stopped to look at them. It’s kind of off topic…but I saw a really big bird wandering through the park. I would swear that it was a turkey, but I have no idea why a turkey would have been there. Mom took my picture with it…just because it was odd.

We went into this building to buy ferry tickets to Liberty Island. There were a few park rangers there, and they had three squirrels running around them like crazy. The squirrels would crawl up their legs, and then just sit on the shoulders of the rangers. It was so amazing. One of the furry critters came right up to me and put its front paws on my foot. I guess that it was looking for food or something. Mom took plenty of pictures of these little guys.

In order to get inside the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty [everything from there up is blocked off], you must first go through two security checkpoints. These consists of about 1.5 hours standing in line total. You have to go through two metal detectors, two x-ray machines, and a ‘puffer’. I had never seen a puffer before…but it is basically this big machine that you walk into. It blows giant air puffs at your entire body. It can detect harmful chemicals…like explosives and junk. I know, because I asked the security guy.

The museum at Liberty Island was pretty cool. I took a picture standing right next to an exact replica of the statue’s face. The museum basically just described how the statue was built and stuff. As far as the actual statue goes, it really wasn’t that amazing to me. Big copper thing. Really tall. I’ve seen better.

I’m not dissing the statue, because I know that it represents so many wonderful things about America. It is truly an inspirational American artifact, but the plain and simple truth is that it is quite boring. You climb stairs, and then look out at the skyline. You can see New York and New Jersey skyscrapers. That’s really about it.

We ate lunch at an outside patio. There were all types of various sea birds there that I could never think to identify. They basically attacked any spare crumb of food that they could see. These birds were so brave that they would actually LAND ON the table at which you were sitting, and then STARE at you…just WAITING for you to die, so that they could eat your lunch, and then have your carcass for dessert.

At one point about halfway through the meal, Mom got up to make a phone call. She called me over to help her, so I left our lunch on the table. I turned around less than three seconds later, and my ENTIRE meal had literally flown away. The stupid birds were covering out table, and my food was gone. I shooed them away immediately, and soon found that the only remnants were a handful of my mom’s fries. I was very sad.

After we left Liberty Island, we took the ferry to Ellis Island. I had never heard anything about the place, other than its name, until today. Ellis Island is where all of the immigrants went whenever they first arrived in New York. It was just a honkin’ big building filled with hundreds upon hundreds of pictures of immigrants and things concerning their lives at the island. All of the pictures had captions beside them, and there were a few good quotes written on plaques on the walls.

That’s really about all that was there. I’m sure that this would have been way more interesting to me if I had learned some more background of the place before I visited it. I just couldn’t get into the groove of reading caption after caption after caption. I guess I’m just not a very good history buff.

Our next stop was Ground Zero. The memorial is still in the construction phase, so there was not much for us to do there. A fence surrounded the place, and there were a few signs describing what had happened there as a temporary display for tourists to look at. Through the chain fence, you could see the area that the Twin Towers used to be located. It looked like a disaster zone, even though there was no wreckage left. Apparently, a memorial museum is supposed to open this spring, but it was not open yet for the public to see.

We then decided to head for the Empire State Building. It cost $16 per person to go to the top, so we decided to just go into the ground floor, simply so we could claim that we had ‘been’ there. I considered buying a toy gorilla, but then thought better of it. We took several pictures, and then left. All I can say about the building is that it is tall. Really, really tall.

Ummmm…then it was to Grand Central Station. We saw Michael Jordan’s restaurant, which was kinda cool. It was too expensive to eat there, so we just ate a really big pretzel from the fast food places. We shopped in a few of the stores…and I even bought a book. I haven’t decided if it is for me or Gary yet. LOL. I think that I’ll give it to him, but then state that he has to share it with me. I don’t know if that is considered being an Indian giver or not, but I don’t care.

By then, it was time to head back to the hotel. I worked on packing for the trip home tomorrow, and then took a shower.

Well, it’s time for the end of yet another well-documented day in the life of me.

The Big Apple (day three)

Well, we got up in the morning with a simple mission. We had two hours to spare before Jason had to be back at the hotel for his shuttle to the airport. We had decided to take our very first subway ride. The destination? Chinatown.

After asking various people which train to get on, we swiped our tickets and hopped aboard. We rapidly discovered that we were traveling in the opposite direction of which we wanted to go. So, we tried a few more times...and a few more...and a few more. An hour had went by, so we spent a few more train rides trying to get back to the hotel. At last, we arrived there just in time for Jason to check out and get on the road.

Sooooo, Mom and I decided to try our venture back to Chinatown. We finally figured out how to use the all-important subway map, so we got to our destination within like 15 minutes. I will have to say that this road was not exactly what I had expected it to be. There were rows upon rows of stores, all of which had the same types of product [purses, watches, jewelry, perfume, porno [yes...I said it], and t-shirts). It was kind of funny, because the people would just come right up to face and say random brand names as fast as they possibly can, in order to spark your interest. If you pointed out an item that you were interested in, then the automatic response would be $10. If you should your head no, then the price would go down to like $5 or $8. It was hilarious.

I ended up buying a few shirts and some various gifts for Gary and his whole family. That's all I'll say on this subject, because their presents are surprises...hehe. Of course, I got an "I [heart] N Y" shirt, just because everybody needs one of those.

After our Chinatown escapade, we went to the aquarium. It was pretty cool, but the animals weren't as lively as they were at the Central Park Zoo. I fell in love with a sea lion, because it did not leave my side for like 5 minutes. I mean, it was staring RIGHT into my eyes, and it looked SOOOO CUTE!

They also had an entire building dedicated no nothing but stinging creatures of the sea. Mostly jellies, of course, but also eels and stuff. It was kinda cool, because they had backlights and scary music going on in there to help set the mood. Yeah...

We ate at McDonalds because we needed some cheap, familiar food. Big Mac combo meals were $5.99...I don't know what they cost in town, so I have no idea if that was more expensive than usual. OH YEAH...the golden arches in NYC serve soup! Sorry. That just kind of entered my mind...

Ummmm...yeah. And then it was too dark to do any more sight-seeing, so we returned to the hotel, which is of course where I am.

I hope Gary calls, or sends me a message, or something.

I am lonely.

:(

The Big Apple (day two)

At like 7 AM on Sunday, my family took a walk around the hotel, to see the sights and get acquainted with the businesses within a 20-minute-walk radius from our hotel. Our first "official" tourist attraction visited at New York?

Central Park.

Now, there are signs EVERYWHERE in this park stating that all dogs must be leashed, and that you must pick up 'after' your dogs. Simple to understand, ain't it? Well, I would have to say that there were at least 100 dogs in this park, no kidding. I only saw one dog in the entire park that had a leash on. Seriously....ALL of the dogs were running around, playing, sniffing, greeting the tourists, and just generally having a good time. It was really awesome, because they were all friendly...yeah. It made me happy.

I saw a sheltie that reminded me of Troy, and it made me think of my bubba. I really think that he would LOVE Central Park, because there was just so much happiness there.

We went to the duck pond, and there was this dude feeding the birds there. You could tell that the birds knew and trusted him, because they all flew straight towards him the second that he was within their sight. He told us that he feeds the birds every Saturday and Sunday...Apparently it is a tradition that his mother started.

Anywayz, Mom was taking a picture of me and Jason by the pond and he asked if he could take a picture of the entire family for us. He said he was a photographer. My initial response was the thought that he would take our EXPENSIVE camera and run. Fast. But, he seemed nice so we gave him the camera.

He turned out to be a nice guy. He took the pictures, and then made suggestions of other places that would be good backdrops for other great pictures.

We went to the Central Park Zoo...and amazingly enough, we were the FIRST people in line at the beginning of the day. It was kinda cool to be the first person to enter the zoo...hehe. It was a small zoo, but they animals were of high quality funniness. My favorite part was the penguins...there were at least 100 of these suckers, and they were absolutely hilarious. They would swim RIGHT up to the side of the aquarium, and then just sit there bobbing up and down, staring at you.

The worst part of the zoo was the fact that it was SOOOO cold. The tropical area was awesome though, because it was a building with a miniature rain forest within. It was hot, and it felt good.

We watched the sea lions get fed, and that was really cool. You all have seem shows like this on television, so I won't go into much detail. But still, it was awesome.

We had breakfast at some random cafe near the hotel. It was $36 for french toast, one egg, and one waffle. Plus hot chocolate, skim milk, and a bottle of apple juice. If you ask me, that is absolutely ridiculous.

Back at the hotel, we got changed for the play and then headed out. It was a ten minute walk to "Ring of Fire", which is the play that Lari is in. We watched the show, which was AWESOMENESS by the way. After that, we had a backstage tour with Lari, followed by dinner at the world famous Ruby Foo's. This place was really fancy, and we had no reservations.

It was packed, but we got in within a minute of entering the door. How? Of course! We told them that we were with a Broadway star. Of course, this was ENTIRELY true. How cool is that? Someone that I have known for 12 years is now on Broadway, knows me by name, and even sends me Christmas cards. WOOT! We instantly became VIPs at a very fancy schmancy restaurant.

The food was a mixture of Japanese-Chinese-Taiwaneese-anyother'eese' you can think of. It was expensive, but it tasted all right. I'm not a fan of this type of food, so I can't say that I would ever go back again...but oh well.

After leaving Lari behind, we walked to the Hershey factory. It was packed, and the food was waaaay too expensive. We continued our trek through Times Square, going through various shops and stores. I bought a t-shirt for myself, and searched for items to buy for Gary and his family. I found a shirt for him, but it was like $25. Sorry babe, but I didn't buy it. I plan to continue my search for gifts tomorrow...

Before returning to the hotel for the night, we stopped at the Carnegie Deli for cheesecake. Yes, I spent $8.75 for a piece of strawberry covered cheesecake. I meant to order cherry, but it tasted good anyway. I mean, it tasted extraordinary. This is the best cheesecake that I have ever tasted....I guess that this is why the cheesecake of New York is so popular.

We walked back to the hotel, and now here I sit. So, my plans for the rest of the night are to hopefully get a hold of my boyfriend, take a shower, and then hit the sack.

I don't have a sack to hit, so I guess I'll just have to punch my suitcase. Can you tell I'm tired? Like duh.

The Big Apple (day one)

I awoke at 5:55 AM this morning. At this time, I finished a few last minute details concerning my suitcase contents. (In other words, I put my toothbrush, contact solution, pajamas, etc. into my suitcase). Along with the last additions to my suitcase, I also had to make sure that the dogs and cats had enough food and water to get them through the duration of our trip. After the car was loaded, we departed our driveway at approximately 7:14 AM.

My carry-on luggage got searched when we were checking in at the airport. It was no big deal....they just randomly selected my laptop bag to be invaded. Yeah. Invaded is a good word for that.

We made it through our first flight with no complications. Oddly enough, for the first time ever, I got kind of scared on the plane. I just had a feeling that something was going to go wrong, and that I would never see Gary again. I dunno...it was probably just the fact that I had a lot of stuff on my mind.

Yeah, it scared me (the plane ride, that is). Gary and I had parted in not-so-friendly terms last night, so I was really concerned about our relationship. I really wanted to call him, but that's just not an easy thing to do with like 100 people surrounding you, listening in on a phone conversation. So, I decided to wait until we landed in Cincinnati, so that I could type him a quick email at the airport while waiting for our next flight.

We got to Cincinnati. We were supposed to switch plans in an hour, so we snarfed down some chicken sandwiches and returned to the terminal to await our departure. We waited. And waited. And waited some more. Finally, we figured out that our second flight to Newark was cancelled. Whoopie!!!!! Apparently, there were "high winds" that would have made landing difficult. Sooooooo, we were stuck spending an extra four hours and some odd number of minutes at the airport.
I realized that I had packed my laptop's power cord in my checked luggage, so I couldn't use my laptop. I couldn't email Gary until
we got to the hotel. It was a big bummer.

Mom and I went shopping while Jason watched our coats (slept). It was during our walk that we discovered something very odd. All of the stores had souvenirs from the state of Kentucky, but none from Ohio. NOTHING said Ohio on it. Seeing as how we were in Cincinnati, we found this to be quite intriguing. Finally, I got the nerve to ask a saleslady what state we were in. Oddly enough, we were in Kentucky. I never knew that there WAS a Cincinnatti in Kentucky. Yeah. You learn something new every day.

The good part about our flight being cancelled? We got meal vouchers. Mom, Jason, and I made $21 in meal vouchers just because of our "inconvenience." So, we went to the TCBY store and got ice cream, and then to the cookie shop. We spent like $18 just in snacks. It was great.

OK, next topic.

The plane came, we got to Newark. Yay.

Our shuttle ride to (undisclosed location....I don't want no boogie man knocking at my door) was quite odd. I would almost swear that our driver was speaking German half of the time he was trying to communicate with us. Let's just say it was a VERY
VERY HARD accent to translate. His last name was Yuulikiv, as his nametag stated. I don't know where that is from...

We got to the hotel. After a few complications getting checking in, we found out that Jason would have his own separate room. This made me happy. I realized that I was very very very tired. So, I opened my suitcase and discovered that it had been searched by the airline as well. I guess that I just have suspicious looking luggage or something. Oh well.

I talked to Gary.

I went to sleep.

End of day one.

I would like to direct everyone's attention to the new site listed underneath the "go here" thingymajiggerbobbermawhig.

It is called

Dialectizer

Go there, or just click the link that I just provided...it's purty nifty.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, it is time for the main event!

Or, at least the event that will take the main amount of my time from here until May 16th, 2006.

Yes, you've guessed it! My senior portfolio! How did you EVER know?!?

I just started writing chapters for this stinker today, and I've spent about a five hours on my laptop typing away. So far, I have 9/20 of these things done. I think that now I have a pretty good head start...so maybe I won't be so stressed out about this thing later on...or maybe I will. Who knows?

Anyways, these are the chapters that I have done so far:
1) "Who Am I?" (Amanda)
5) "I Discover Poetry" (about a poem I wrote in 9th grade)
8) "My First Boyfriend/Girlfriend" (I chose the boyfriend side of this chapter title...Stephen)
9) "I Wish I Could See _______ Again" (a girl named Kamber)
10) "Junior High" (uhh...yeah...junior highish stuff)
11) "Let's Go to the Movies" (my media memoir from earlier this year)
13) "Let's Take a Vacation" (the cruise I took freshman year)
17) "My President's Paper" (Chester Alan Arthur)
18) "My Senior Research Paper" (The Benefits of Companion Animals)

I think that the next one to tackle will be Chapter 12, "I'm Really in Love This Time, Mom" .....hehe....that one is gonna be G-O-O-D!

Well, yeah. I am tired of typing now, so I'm gonna take a shower, rub some ointment on the rash on my wrist (like you REALLY wanted to know that), and then possibly come back and type some more.

Until next time, I'll be gone. Duh.

A message from the other side...

OH KLAHOMAN RUNNER DUDE!!!!

Somebody actually read this!

Whoaness!

Whoever you are, mr blind prophet dude....I wish to thank you for proving to me that someone else on earth is alive (and literate)!

YAY!