9/12/08 First night in the city

Took the subway into Manhattan from JFK. It is so quintessential New York, with the diversity of people, with the infrastructure of the transit system, and with the grime and scum of a big city (especially as compared to San Diego - quite possibility the most sterile city in the United States). Jon and I shared a piece of luggage. It’s not unusual to see people on the subway with luggage, but they don’t usually ride the subway all the way in to Midtown. Subway etiquette is similar to elevator etiquette, but the duration is longer and it’s on a different axis of movement. You see and notice everything but you don’t make direct eye contact. We didn’t directly stare, but we did notice someone else staring. He was staring at this Asian girl applying eyeliner. She just kept circling her eyes with the liner that I was certain she was a cast member for a Broadway show with singing raccoons. It takes a lot of skill to apply makeup on the subway. It’s not a smooth train ride; no, quite the opposite, it’s a bumpy ride of twists and turns with varying velocities. I couldn’t imagine getting something that close to my eyes while on the train. There was another woman putting on makeup as well. The train jerked and all the contents of her makeup bag spilled out onto the floor. That floor … Everything just went right back into the makeup bag (I’m sure she’ll spray it all down with Lysol later). I guess as a regular subway rider, one would get used to having people around. Americans have a big bubble of personal space, and people who are used to commuting in their own cars have even bigger space bubbles. More on this later. Other things I noticed on the ride in to Midtown: an indigent older man took a long pull from a fifth of vodka he had stashed in his pocket. (He seemed a bit clean for a subway bum) We took the E train and changed lines to get off at 42nd Street/Bryant Park. Our hotel was just a few blocks away, but it was raining up top and everything was wet coming up to the street. Not good weather for a baseball game in the Bronx.

Working for Steinbrenner
After checking into the hotel, we headed out to Yankees Stadium. We’ve been there before, so there was no pressure to see a game there. But still, we spent a lot of money on these lousy seats. Got there around 7:15pm. Game was delayed; the tarp was cratered with pools of rain water. We walked around, and went to look for our seats. Because of the delay, the stands were only half full (and most likely all tourists). The line for Monument Park was wrapped around the concourse. We decided to go get a hot dog; just a snack, didn’t want to fill up because we were planning on going to dinner after the game (can’t waste a meal in NYC). While waiting in line to order, someone came up to the counter asking for packets of mustard because they were out at the condiment stand. Hearing this, Jon asked for mustard as well, and the lady behind the counter got a paper tray, filled it with handfuls of mustard packets, and asked him to go refill the condiment stand for her. And he did. And he did a good job, even cleaned up a little. It was the least he can do after paying Steinbrenner hundreds of dollars for these tickets. After the game was officially rained out, we took the subway back to Midtown/East side. The subway was packed. It was like getting on to the morning commuter train in Tokyo. You just slam yourself into the train and make sure you’re inside the door. We got pushed in by the humanity who were still trying to get in. Stop it people – you’ll have to wait for the next train. So my personal space bubble totally popped. I was spooned up against this guy from out of town who came to see a game in the house that Ruth built. Since he was practically cradling me, I made a joke about it and introduced myself. He was upset the game was rained out because he wasn’t going to make it to the make-up game. (You’re probably wondering where Jon was during this conversation. He was right in front of me and I had my arms around him because I had nothing to hang on to)

Took the 4 train down and had dinner at Houston’s. We were so distracted with the bad weather and Hurricane Ike coverage at the bar that we totally forgot to order the spinach dip (who goes to Houston’s without ordering the dip?) After dinner, while we waited for the subway at Lex and 53rd to take us back across town, we listened to a guy singing and playing guitar. It was John Lennon’s Imagine. What a great song. It never fails to remind me of NYC; and now, it will always remind of that moment late night. We listened for 45 minutes before we realize that the V train doesn’t run after midnight. Had to drop some money into his case. Instead of going to Birdland, we have Mr. Subway guy entertaining us with his acoustic guitar. And all the while, we watched the gutter rats run around the tracks, feasting on the fine refuse provided by careless big city litterers. We took the subway over to Port Authority and had to walk through the theater district to get back to the hotel. I saw a man hailing a cab in front of us, and then waving him off after the cabbie pulled over. As we walked pass him, I turned to Jon and mentioned that was Tim Curry. He turned to look and confirmed it was Dr. FrankNFurter himself. You just never know who you’ll see on the street in New York.

Subway Stations:
Sutphin Blvd/JFK
Queens Plaza
42nd St/Bryant Park
161st St/Yankee Stadium
Lex/59th
Lex/53rd
42nd St/Port Authority