Gonna get me that Empire State of Mind

First off, thanks Jay Z for the title inspiration.

We're going to New York! Sorry, I'm just used to traveling as a group. What I meant to say was I'm going to New York! This actually makes the first time since traveling to Japan for the exchange program 6 years ago that I'll be traveling on my own. And yes, it is a very long and overdue trip, not necessarily to travel to New York, but to reconnect with an old friend

6 years! see you in a week

I know, I always meant to visit Terry after our semester at Keio, but just never got around to it. And I know I really should have earlier especially since, after the Plume IS people that are already here in Hawaii, I probably keep in touch with him the most. And you'll actually make the 7th non-Hawaii Plume IS dormmate I've seen this year (unless, you know, anyone else makes an unexpected stop within the next couple days). I know, it's been a pretty eventful year in terms of seeing old friends, most that I haven't seen since Keio. But 6 years!

Oh, but first, it's been 6 years! So what do I remember from that long ago? Oh, yes, let's have a short story time before we move on with whatever it was I was gonna write about (I've got stuff drafted, but this seems more fun). Well, I already wrote about how we met in that Thanksgiving post a couple years back. Umm, oh, we climbed Mt. Fuji together along with Ben C., Thomas, Dinah, Seul and some other people. And though we were the most unprepared, I think we made it up first (or at least close to first). I remember bringing just my hoodie and an extra t-shirt, thinking I was gonna change when it got too hot. And you brought shorts! Well, at least we made that video (ah, the memories)

And we went to Kyoto together along with Maki. Thanks for planning pretty much all of that trip. I've accepted that as punishment for doing none of the planning, I'm now forced to explain to everyone that we planned that trip before you met Maki and I was not just third-wheeling along with you and your new girlfriend for a week (Jane and Hui Hui, you both should've came). Oh, and, perhaps my favorite memory (which I promise I will be telling anyone you introduce me to while I'm visiting) was when we went to that hostess bar in Shinjuku. You know, the one from the picture above. I remember I kept trying to wuss-out, because honestly, what was I (a non-drinking, non-social, non-Japanese-speaking foreigner) gonna do at a hostess bar? But your reasoning made sense ("Alan, what makes a better story? Visiting Shinjuku and going to a hostess bar? or visiting Shinjuku and not going to a hostess bar?" no, that's not verbatim but you get the idea) and so I was in. Honestly, the best part wasn't even at the bar, but at the "Information Booth" where the guy told us about places we could get "Kyabakura" (I think I'm spelling that right) aka the hostess bar, something called "Sexy Kyabakura" which I never figured out what he meant, or "Lip Service" where he (I'm not joking) put his hand up to his mouth and motioned as if he was sucking a brushing his teeth. And then I remember him pointing at me and saying something which you translated as, "He says you can't do the last two because he knows you don't speak Japanese" though I hadn't said a word the whole time. And speaking of translating, thanks again for getting us those cellphones.

And now back to what I had planned to write. If you remember from my last travel post, I suck at planning. And, seeing how I'm the only one flying out this time, I now have a new responsibility - responsibility. Unfortunately, I'm unable to just go with the flow on this one and am actually in charge of directing the current (unless you wanna take care of that, Terry).

Before I start, thanks again to everyone I've ever traveled with for letting me mooch off of your hardwork and research. And now I'm sure you've all planned a trip before, but I haven't. First came just trying to figure out how long I wanted to travel for. How long is a good amount of time to travel for? How many things did I want to see? How many things did I want to do? How many vacation days did I have left to use? How long could I crash at Terry's place before he finally gets sick of me? All valid questions to contemplate and ponder before I just said, "Fuck it, one week sounds good." Then came choosing when to go. When would the weather be the best? When could I go sightseeing without all those other tourists around? Most importantly, when were the Mets playing? And then I found when the Mets would be playing a home game series against the Braves and decided, "Yeah, that's the week I'm gonna go!" And that's how I planned this trip. And if you know me at all, you know I'm not joking.

And then I was supposed to plan (or at least look for) some stuff I wanted to do. I've neglected doing this research so much that one of my co-workers has already said that he thinks I'm joking everytime I say that I'm gonna start looking up places to see and things to do. Honestly, this is all I knew about New York before I started planning earlier this week:

1. Empire State Building
2. Times Square
3. New York Yankees and Mets
4. Central Park
5. Central Perk
6. Fabletown
7. Brakebills Academy
8. John Quincy Adams Middle School (I promise I only watch the show for the nostalgia of seeing old Boy Meets World cast members)

And yes, I know that half that list is fictional. But I've got worse problems. With my horrible planning skills, it also turns out there are a couple of events that weekend I leave. As I said, the main reason I chose that time to go was to watch the Braves at the Mets (I've never actually been to a season game before, only a couple exhibition games). However, when I booked the tickets, the Braves were in third and poised to make a run at only three to five games back. Now they're in fourth at almost 25 games out. I'm not even sure I want to go anymore. But anyways, it turns out that weekend is also the second round of this writing competition I entered which means I'll be dealing with the stress of packing (I'm the type to worry that I forgot something, usually because I did) as well as coming up with a short story in 48 hours. And, I guess just to add it all on, it turns out the Honolulu Comic-Con is that weekend too! And Stan Lee is supposed to be coming! Sure I've never read any of the old comics he had a bigger part in writing, but you should always pay your respects to a legend. But at least I might get the weekend off from the farm so I guess that's a positive, right?

I figure I'll spend most of my time there wandering around, taking blurry pictures, and trying to stay out of trouble when my touristy-I don't give a fuck about anything-attitude kicks in. Hopefully Terry has got some time to hang out as well if only just to pull me out of the street everytime I stop and stare at things. I've also got no idea if I know anyone else in New York, but let me know if you're there and want to hang out. Honestly, I'm mostly looking forward to sleeping in, though hopefully not too much as 9am in Hawaii becomes 3pm in New York and then I've wasted the entire day. I finally got around to looking at things to do and see in New York and I was completely unprepared for the vast amount of things there is to do. I almost want to go back in time to punch past-Alan who decided that one week was enough time. Combined with the list of things I've found and others have suggested, well, it is so overwhelming that I've just accepted I'm not going to see everything and just take my time at whatever I can get to before I leave.

And yes, I promise some better stuff for my co-workers covering my work for a week than just those pens I bought last minute at the airport from my trip to Australia (hey, at least they said Australia on them).