entertainment

these last few days have been nothing but entertainment....it's as if my nyc experience has been fast forwarded, packed with a whirlwind of activities. it's perfect for the adhd-ness(is that word?) in me. i don't even know where to begin or how to begin describing the people/sights/things/sounds/colors/dancing/performing/wierdos that i've come across...
firstly, on friday night- well, i guess it was only 4:00 pm , but it gets dark so early here- i caught the subway to times square to meet up with chan and teresa. i almost forgot it was black friday- why is it called that?- then i was quickly reminded by the swarm of tourists, people selling tickets on the street, cameras, new york guidebooks in the middle of the times square. times square is so big and crazy that although i technically arrived at the times square station, i still had to walk 6 or 7 blocks before meeting them in times square, at the tkts booth. next to tkts is a set of red stairs....to...nowhere. yup. only in new york city can there be stairs to nowhere- that are red- and it's totally normal. oh yeah, also only in nyc will you see a pink plaid stretch limo, and a guy in a suit in the subway...wearing tabbies for shoes. yup. tabbies! i mean, it was wet out side today, but that's just hilarious!. anyway, so i meet up with chan and teresa and the line is actually moving quickly. our top three choices for shows to see are 1)rock of ages 2) spamalot and 3)boeing boeing. we ended up with rock of ages, once again, an 80s rock themed musical. we were the most asian/brown people there. the theater was full of old school older 80s rockers and new school 80s rockers. the story is about a girl from kansas who comes to LA to come to the city to live the dream. very standard story but incredible dancing and music. hit songs include journey's don't stop believing, foreigner's i wanna know what love is, and bon jovi's dead or alive, to name a few. the best part is they passed out fake lighters so we can all wave them in the air. the show was hilarious, not at all pretentious, and a blast! i highly recommed it to anyone who just wants to belt out great rock songs and be totally entertained.

after that we met dave, and a girl who graduated from JABSOm last year and is doing her residency on long island, at ps 450, a small bar. very chill, very fun.

i woke up the next day and wished i hadn't drank! sheesh! it's all good. we had a full day ahead- we wanted to go to ellis island, statue of liberty, shop in soho, ice skate at the rockfeller center, go to the museum of natural history, eat good food, see the graffiti art in harlem...i call teresa and she had gotten us tickets to the new york city ballet nutcracker that night!

one of the interns i worked with had forgotten her wallet at the hospital, so i had brought it with me on the shuttle back to save her a drive back to new jersey, so she came by and picked it up. she also gave me a cd full of surgery lectures! yippee! such a nerd. so exciting. we were gonna take the bus across the park to the west side, where the museum is, until she offered us a ride. sweet! it was weird to be in a normal, non-taxi car in new york city. her car looked exactly like every other med student/resident car i've been in- basically lived in. even across the ocean and nation! haha.

we crossed the park and went downtown a little bit to 81st, then realized we were really hungry and hadn't eat breakfast. i busted out my not for tourist book, as every time i've eaten at a restaurant from that book, i've been completely satisfied. first we wanted to go to garlic bob's...to find it no longer existed...then we wanted to go to another italian restaurant...to find out it was only open for dinner. we were STARVING and ninja by now, so went into the first restaurant we found open, which happened to be a large bumping italian style restaurant called carmines. mmmmm! two huge plates of pasta- one with clams and white sauce, the other with sausage, broccoli garlic and olive oil. so so good! and way too much food. in new york it's hard to take a box home because you're on the subway or you're usually not going straight home.

our inner hungry demons were satsified and off we cruised through the upper west side to the museum.

the museum was incredible. it has the normal exhibitions, separated by geographic location and era in history - such as 'african mammals' or 'the deap ocean' or 'pacific peoples', plus special exhibitions such as 'cosmic collisons', 'sea monsters', 'climate change' and 'horses'...the special exhbitions had certain show times, so we both chose cosmic collisons, and i chose 'sea monsters' while she chose 'lizards and snakes'. i'm so drawn to the ocean! while waiting for our 'cosmic collisions' show to watch she wandered off to the dinosaur section and i wandered to 'the deep ocean' section. it was dfinitely cool..but lots of the animals were fake and it's definitely more for 8 yr olds on their science field trip or 5 yr olds who love to soak up knowledge. cosmic collisions was awesome! it's a theater, but the theater is circular, and the seats all face the middle and are slightly reclined. the 'film' is the dome- shaped theater. it felt like you were floating through space and i learned about asteroids and the formation of the moon and earth and milky way. very cool.

it was great to see something bigger than me out there. i know it's cliche but it's so true that we (i) get caught up in my little world. i forget there's an entire earth and universe out there. even other states.

we then cruised through the museum shop- sometimes these are cooler than the museum themselves!- and i bought a book in the bargain section called 'why we love- the science and chemistry of romantic love', and 'spook', by roach, who also wrote stiff. of cousre i buy books:) such a nerd!

hungry again, (it's dinner time!- it's dark after all:), we pick a 'classic nyc pizza joint'- according to not for tourists, in the east village, ride the subway there , and walked through the village. so so cute. smaller streets and stores, more hip, a small theater, a puerto rican coffee shop, very cute. arturo's pizza was great, it has a jazz piano player, it's small warm and the staff is really nice. and of course the pizza was great!

off to the nyc ballet. i'm exhausted by this point but still excited. our seats were on teh first ring, basically a balcony, but to the immedate right of the stage, and our view was amazing! i could't take pics during the show but i took some before the show to show you the view we had. i've never ever ever seen the nutcracker, had no idea what the story was about, didn't know that tchiacovsky did the music to it. no wi know. the dancers were fucking ripped, danced on their toes, wore the tightest of all tights and still looked fabulous...the decoratoins and costumes were of course breathtaking- i couldn't decide what i like more- the dancing or the decorations/costumes.

anyway...i was so tired after the show i immediately went home and slept. i'm tired now..will write more later:)