Day 39

Kristin woke me up early today to get me to help her leave. It took me a while to start up, like a 5 year old pc running Windows XP.

I made an ironpot of gunpowder green. Ironpot is just what I call the teapot we have in the apartment. It's an iron teapot we got in Chinatown last year. It's really heavy and can brew up to 24oz. I've already been using it, but I didn't mention it last post. Oops, sorry.

I gave Kristin my rolling duffel thats a year and a half old, because it's old, we have bedbugs, and my mom wants to buy me a new one. Kristin bagged all her stuff and she'll either get it cleaned when she arrives home or throw it out. Or at least I hope she will.

Kristin and I went over to Murray's bagels to grab some food for the road. Kristin got an almond Odwalla and tuna salad on a sesame bagel. I got my favourite, lox spread on a poppy seed bagel. We had to walk over to 5th ave to hail a taxi because taxis in NYC are bitches and you need to go with the flow of traffic or else you're not getting ANYWHERE. Especially if you've got luggage, they KNOW where you're headed. So we got a taxi and a ride down to Chinatown for the Fung Wah. I got Kristin a ticket and we waited around until a bus pulled up, at which we proceeded to help form the mob that always happens on these "China-busses". I threw on Kristin's luggage onto the bus while she boarded and she was off on her way.

Got a coconut water on the way home. Paid in quarters and the guy was really happy. They're $2.50 each and I can only imagine how much $0.50 in change he needs to give out. When I got home I threw some more of my clothes into the dryer and started to open up the coconut. My mom had a doctor's appointment so she wasn't home.

My mom called when I had 10 min to go to see if I wanted some pizza..... YES! So I finished up the coconut, threw it into a little container and went downstairs to Ray's. We had a cheese slice (crispy, please! You need to order it that way in the daytime because they try to rush the pizza..... not yummy.) each and had the coconut at the end. We did a little shopping at Food Emporium and then I went to tend to my laundry.

Made some more tea after I got home. Kristin got home okay so that was good.

+6

Day 38

My mom took the day off from work, today and tomorrow, so we can prepare the rest of the apartment for fumigation. We live in NYC, bedbugs live in NYC. The bedbugs are unwelcome visitors that have overstayed their (un)welcome... so we're going to gas them. Barbaric, I know. I wish there was a more organic and friendly approach to this but there isn't. We have to wash all clothing, and anything that is already clean needs to be thrown into the dryer for 30min on high to cook EVERYTHING. Over the course of the week Kristin and I have been dropping off garbagebag-fulls of dry cleaning at the cleaners. The total so far is ~$1000, but my mom's company will foot the bill because the office was found to have bedbugs. Non-clothing items like paperwork and... well anything else, needs to be put into giant plastic bags so they can be heat treated.

We decided to open up that mystery tea that my mom got for me from her travels. She said that one of the factory owners overseas gave it to her, so it's gotta be good. She read the label and said they were rolled into little balls or something, so they have to be gunpowder green. I've never had it before. It came in this vacuum packed bag:

It was cool it looked like a hunk of gold. When I cut the bag open, it made this SLUUUUUUUURRRRP sound. The tea had a really nice aroma and texture. The second infusion was definitely (and unsurprisingly) the best and smoothest. The first infusion is a little rough and the third infusion starts to get weak and bitter.

Kristin left in the afternoon to go hang out with her grandma. Her grandma was getting her hair done at some fancy hotel salon. Kristin told me it would take 15 minutes, and I was skeptical. It turned out to be more like 3 hours. Her grandma was getting her hair colored and Kristin got lots of complements on her looks. A lot of New Yorkers love Kristin's... er... exotic looks haha.

When Kristin came home, she decided it was better for her to leave on Friday. Which mean that we could see the midnight showing of Despicable Me. Went on Fandango and bought it for that night's 3D showing.

The rest of the night's events leading up to the movie was slow and aggravating. My mom's boyfriend criticized us for sitting around "doing nothing" and basically not being out. When I asked for some examples, he started talking about going out and "having a sip", and then my mom, Kristin and I all made a comment about doing something that didn't cost money, which then he said "get a job, that's free!" and continued to be obnoxious and sarcastically apologized a couple times ("WELL, SORRY! SOOOOOOORRRR-RYYYYY!") That really ticked me off and put me into a bad mood for the rest of the night. I cooled down a bit when we got a seat in the theater and the movie started.

The movie was cute. It was good, but I didn't think it was amazing. Kristin, on the other hand... she came out of that movie with her life changed. She really enjoyed it. She wants everybody to go see it. So what are you waiting for, go see it!

+6

Day 37

Kristin woke me up early in the morning with a call, James had already left to go back to PA and the magic from last night was on the clothes I sweated in that I was too tired to take off. Kristin was downstairs, so I went to get her, and we went back upstairs and finished sleeping. Then we took showers and it was already like 1pm. We set off into the city to finish the rest of the Tyra Mission. We had Pink and Gap left to hit, and there isn't a Pink in the area, so we only had to go to Gap.

The spa next to Red Mango caught my eye, and Kristin wanted to go inside and check their prices. It was a really nice looking Korean place (waaaaay better than the Indian place) and the staff was VERY friendly, and not at all pushy or offensive. The prices were also a little better, so Kristin called up the Indian place and canceled her appointment and decided to have the dermabrasion. Right there. The "menu" said that the procedure would take 70 minutes, and I just stayed until Kristin finished her paperwork. I walked home and played Skate It for 75 minutes, and went back to the spa. The treatment seemed to take something more around 90 minutes, but when Kristin came out her skin tone was more even and GLOWED! Anyway, she ended up gushing about it for the rest of the day. How she got a mask, and the lady massaged her body and everything was so great and she would really recommend it........... etc etc etc.

We went back to 5th Ave to go to the Gap. The fitting rooms were untidy with clothes left from the previous customer and the staff was pretty much not available, and when they were, they were arguing with eachother over who should be assisting who in the changing rooms.

We went to Red Mango for a little something (haha it's like Em&Kristin's staple-food). Their AC was fixed today too! It wasn't working in random parts of the place, but it was still comfortable. We had pomegranate with mango, mochi and kiwi today. It was ok.

Had a cup of iced tea at home.

 Kristin looking very nice in a blazer. From behind. Gap's fit model is a very flat lady with no hips. Or butt. Or waist. Or boobs. Gap's fit model could very well be a very expensive cardboard box.

+1

Day 36

Tonight is the night for LADY GAGAAAAAAA!

My aunt has been pestering me for a ticket for my cousin, so I went onto Stubhub and luckily, found tickets for the same section in the row behind us. Snatched it up for $250. We researched if cameras were allowed in MSG, and the site said only disposable ones were allowed. That's going to be hard to enforce with all the cameraphones being introduced to the market.

James arrived in the morning, and hung out in the apartment for a little bit while Kristin and I got ready. James got me honey and a teapot/cup set for my birthday, it is adorable and I love it!

The pot nestles onto the cup!

We would have to meet Leah somehow, but she conveniently lost her phone, so I had to setup facebook mobile to forward random things to my phone while we were out.

Then we headed over to Chinatown to meet my aunt, cousins and aunt's friend for lunch. We arrived too early so we ducked into the Starbucks on Canal. It was sweltering and I wanted an iced grande passion tea lemonade, sweetened.. but they were out. Of tea. Or lemonade. Something ridiculous. Kind of like when they run out of frappuccino base and customers go ballistic. But that's okay. Kristin started to crave some Vita Coco but I couldn't think of any corner store in Chinatown.... let alone a corner store that would stock it. I eventually thought of The Coconut Lady, the affectionate term for a lady that sells young coconuts on Canal and opens them up for you, and when you finish, she wields a cleaver to chop it open for you to eat the soft, young coconut flesh. Yum. So we left the shade and cool alcove otherwise known as Starbucks, to begin our trek to The Coconut Lady. Shelled over $7.50 for 3 and we went to the underground shopping center on Elizabeth.

Kristin wanted to go check out the photobooths, because everytime we want to, it's closed. It was open today, and we decided to take some. It ended up taking FOREVER, but it was fun. My aunt & co. was already finished with eating by the time we went over to XO Kitchen after photobooth. I was in charge of ordering; James doesn't eat pork or beef, so it was a little bit challenging. I ordered curry fishballs, scallion pancakes and grilled teriyaki salmon. It wasn't half-bad. The curry sauce was thick but really good. For drinks, James ordered a red bean ice, Kristin got a sesame milk bubble tea, I got a milk bubble tea and my cousin got some weird kiwi ice cream desert thing. Kristin swapped with me because she didn't like the texture of hers. Also had a cup of tea from the establishment, because Chinese places always serve tea haha.

Afterwards we went back to the shopping center and looked around some more. Then we took my cousin along and went back towards my neighborhood. We got out at Union Square because we had banking needs at Bank of America. James went into RiteAid while Kristin, my cousin and I went into some Indian "salon" place. They did threading, and while on the Cape, my aunt was commenting about how my cousin had "Chinese brows". Soooooooo I said that my cousin could get it done there, and Kristin was like "They're Indian. They're good. Do it" hahaha. So she did it. The staff was pretty pushy about their services, trying to get me and Kristin to get our brows done, then suggesting that Kristin get all these treatments they offer, and making (what could be received as, and was) some pretty offensive comments about her face. The prices were right, so Kristin made an appointment for the next day, despite moral conflicts. 

After that business was done, we waited outside on the sidewalk for Leah. She showed up and then we went to Red Mango. Leah went over to Popeye's for some food, and we went over because the AC was broken at Red Mango and Leah would be a paying customer anyway. We started on our way back to the apartment but stopped at the pet store to look at all the animals. It always smells like a public restroom in there. Pretty gross, but it's something you get used to if you stay in there long enough. We also headed over to Rite Aid to buy 2 disposable cameras for the event. My parents didn't give me permission to go into the apartment, so we stayed downstairs in the community room. James took a nap and Leah and my cousin played hackey sack. Kristin and I did... nothing. We eventually got going when there was an hour until showtime. We stopped by Rite Aid again to pick up some energy drinks and earplugs. We had a 20-block trek in muggy New York weather and needed everything we could get.

When we got there and passed the security checkpoint, they barely even did ANYTHING. They just waved us in. We could definitely have brought like 92837410984 (non-disposable) cameras. At the venue, everybody started in a mob, moving through escalators and being sifted by the staff to different escalators at random locations. We eventually got to our seats, and they weren't bad at all. We were to the right of the stage with a really good view; not too high, not too low, and not too close. Any closer and we might not have been able to see everything going on on the stage.

Here's what the stage looked like from our seats before the opening act started :)

The opening act was Semi Precious Weapons. They were in Lady Gaga's Telephone video as some of the dead people in the diner. The lead singer, Justin Tranter seemed really bitter about the fact that Lady Gaga used to open for them, and now they're opening for Lady Gaga. He also pronounced it Gawhhh-Gawhhh. Big emphasis on the "hhh". Think French. The bassist (Cole Whittle) was probably the most exciting part of the band. Justin stripped and had an onstage costume outfit change. The venue's screens didn't show him again after that lol.

Then an hour passed by. And Gaga came out. She started out with Dance In The Dark, James' favorite song, so that was cool. All of her outfits were very awesome. Seen most of them before, but some were uh, interesting, to say the least. But it's Gaga, what are you expecting haha. My favorite outfit was her White-Angel-With-A-Black-Harp-Wearing-An-Odd-Fish-Headpiece costume. I think it was for So Happy I Could Die. The Disco Stick got a revamp. It's like Disco Stick 2.0. It's huge and had a built in floodlight in it now. It is soooo sick! Also The Orbit has like, 40 horsepower in it now. It's no longer attached to her, it's a stationary piece that she stands inside now... probably because the g-forces from it spinning now would most likely transform her into HovershipGaga. The show was amazing. I would definitely want to see it again. It felt more personal than other... well, concerts. This didn't even feel like a concert. Other musical acts are just song after song after song, a little antidote about the other day and they were in the supermarket, and then more songs. I don't know how to describe it, it was just a production. It was like a musical of sorts.

After the show, we got a surprise ride from the local relatives. I made an illegal immigration comment, because we were all stuffed into the back of a minivan sitting on various boxes and the floor. After we got dropped off in front of my apartment ("America!), Leah went west to Cubbyhole to brag about being at the Lady Gaga show. James, Kristin and I went to Ray's for a some pizza. I got EATEN by mosquitos there. But the pizza was good. It's always good.

Mosquito bite on my knee and halfway down my shin. :( It was soooo itchy!

Kristin and James left to go to her grandma's cool westside highway apartment so that James could stay the night. I went home, scratching my leg the entire time and went to bed after a loooong hot day.

+3

Day 35

Kristin and I were invited to have dimsum with my aunt, my cousin and some other (local) family. I declined the invitation because it was just too much confusion trying to hammer out the details last night, DURING MY BIRTHDAY DINNER. Through next message. With my cousin. We agreed on Chinatown back in Cape Cod, so when they kept saying that they would pick us up at some subway station, I told them to just pick us up at the apartment. It took so long for them to finally reveal the fact that dimsum was going to be in Brooklyn. It was already too much hassle.

After they had their dimsum, my cousin and aunt didn't have plans, so Kristin and I got chauffeured to Central Park so that I could take my cousin and Kristin on their first lap. We were lucky and got parking right on Central Park south. It took a while before we got started because we had to find a shady spot for my aunt and the baby. My aunt forgot to bring the baby stroller, so all we had was a baby in a carseat (that probably weighed 6x the baby) to be lugged around.

The lap was okay. My cousin wanted to pick up and walk multiple times. Kristin and I didn't let her. At one point she felt faint and her ears popped and we had to walk over to the shade and take a water break. I brought the Camelbak Kristin bought me. The three of us didn't finish it until the very last stretch. We held hands for most of the downhills. We made it out of there in 2 hours. I hope my cousin practices while I'm not with her.

A longboard pileup when everybody bailed but I kept footbreaking. This is the aftermath/recreation.


We head back to my apartment and find parking right across the street. Everybody seemed to need to go to the bathroom, so we went to Red Mango. We found out the bathrooms were out of order, so we placed our orders and went back to my apartment building. We went downstairs to the community room. Which also had the community bathroom across the hall. We finished our froyo, and then went back out to Chipotle for some fine fast dining. Only Kristin and I planned on going to Chipotle, but my cousin wanted to come along, so my aunt canceled a dinner date with local family members. It was good, as always. Had a cup of iced tea with copious amounts of lemon and sugar there.

We had cake at home that night. We had this chocolate mousse cake from Citarella, the same one we had last year. It's really one of the only chocolate cakes I like, because I'm not a big chocolate, or cake fan. Call me a weird person, but that's just how I am. I was never too big on sweets, but I'll eat it. It's not like I abhor them or anything, but I like other foods more. After dinner, I got my birthday present:

LADY GAGA TICKETS! FOR TOMORROW NIGHT! And I thought my parents were coming with me and Kristin, but actually Kristin got my friends James (coming in all the way from PA) and Leah (known her since freshman year of high school) to come! Very very cooooool.

+2

Day 34

Today was hot. But not nearly as hot as the upcoming week. It's going to be in the 100s this week. Ugh.

Tonight we would celebrate my birthday.

We went to Elephant Castle in the morning for breakfast, my parents, me and Kristin. We went ahead to grab seats while my parents were getting ready. We ate all the bread by the time my parents arrived. They definitely took their time. I ordered a pot of English Breakfast. Kristin thought about getting the bowl of hot chocolate, but ultimately decided on OJ. Not a bad choice. It was freshly squeezed, and pulpy!

After breakfast, we walked over to Magnolia. I had no idea we had one in the area. I only knew of the one in the Upper East Side. The didn't have any red velvet cupcakes (the best!), so we left.

My parents got talking to Kristin about fit modeling... eventually my mom took Kristin's measurements and then we were sent off on what I dubbed the "Tyra Mission": Go to Gap, Banana Republic, J.Crew and Pink to find Kristin's size in t-shirts, shirts (the [button-down] not-as-stretchy-as-a-tshirt kind), blazers, pants and jeans. We stopped at the stationary store first so I could pick up some pocket Moleskines, then we went to Red Mango to share what we call "The Usual" (Pomegranate w/ mochi, mango and blackberries). We went to Banana and J.Crew before it was time to head home to get ready for birthday celebrations.

We went to a place called Steak Frites. The specialty there was--you guessed it--steak! I ordered the rib eye. Rare-rare. When I got it, it seemed more like medium. Next time (if there is one) I'll ask for it raw.

Afterwards, we headed west to try and get stuck on the west side highway, because last year my parents got stuck there and ended up getting the best seats for the fireworks. Didn't work this year, because the police & barricades were prepared. My parents pulled over at a gas station and Kristin and I got out and watched the fireworks. It was nice. It was the closest I've ever seen fireworks.

Some crappy phone pictures of the fireworks. The streetlights are in the way, and my cameraphone has bad timing haha.

+2

Day 33

Today was pretty crazy. My uncle decided early in the morning that the baby was fine and that he would drive my aunt and two cousins down to NY. This didn't really make a difference for me because I was traveling with Kristin, and since my uncle was driving, there wouldn't be room for Kristin. No big deal. I had the chance to make a quart of tea for the road. I didn't. I would come to realize that this was a horrible decision as the day unfolded.

Managed to catch the express to Boston, so I got to South Station early. Kristin still left on schedule since she couldn't really do anything about it. I stood on a long line for the bathroom. Traveling with a longboard, a duffel, and a backpack was more challenging than I thought it would be, but I'm not sure what I thought it would be. I bought tickets for the Fung Wah afterwards and proceeded to wait for Kristin. She texted me to say that she had arrived when in fact the train was just pulling into the platform, and not actually stopped yet, so I thought we would make the next train. We didn't. Oh well. She arrived minutes after the bus left. She stood on the long bathroom line as well. I checked out Kristin's board, because she had just gotten new bushings (after much pestering from me). She put the washer under the bottom bushing and didn't have another bushing on top, so the top bushing actually started to stretch around the nut. We couldn't fix it there, but I told her and she really didn't know that would happen and thought that she put the wrong bushing on top.

What's wrong with this picture?

The workers had us stow our longboards underneath the bus, but I was able to keep it in the overhead compartment on the way up. It was a little annoying, but we did end up getting seats right behind the driver so we could be the first ones out.

The driver was talking on his cellphone for a good amount of the trip. We made a rest stop at a McDonalds on the I-95 I think. We went to the bathroom and bought cracker-cheddar Combos and wild berry LifeSavers.

When we got to Chinatown, my parents said they were coming, but took a while to arrive. My mom handed me a bottle of tea, I don't know what its called in English but in Chinese it is "Haa Gu Cha", on the bottle it said something like "fruit spike drink" which sounds pretty ominous. Shared it with Kristin. We drove through Little Italy and Soho to eventually get back to the apartment. We weren't hungry so we brought our luggage up while my parents went to lunch. I fixed Kristin's bushings with pliers and a skate tool when we got home.

We tried the limeade in the fridge (Simply Limeade or something like that?) and then had a mug of iced tea (Gold Peak ick). They were both a bit too sweet.

Later we skated around the city and went to Hyline Park. It was cool. I'm so tired and dehydrated.

+3