Participating in the 2011 NYC Halloween Parade

            Every Halloween there's a parade in NYC down in the Greenwich Village area. As long as you have a costume, actually even if you don't have a costume, it's open to anybody who wants to join. It's widely known for display of creative costumes, parade floats featuring loud music and dancers, plus members of the gay community who take advantage of the open spectacle to wear certain arrangements they normally wouldn't be allowed to on any other normal day.

            Two years ago I walked in the parade for the first time, and after missing last year's event I wanted to make sure I didn't miss it again. The only factors that would have prevented me would have been the weather and not being able to find a costume worthy enough. It snowed just the other day and had been bitterly cold the past few days, but tonight's forecast was bearable. As for the costume, luckily I was able to find one I really liked in a Ghostbusters uniform. When I was small I was a huge Ghostbusters fan, watching the movie over and over, watching the cartoon versions, collecting all the toys, etc. At the store the clerk said they might've ran out of that one, which would have been a big disappointment since I didn't see any other costumes I found interesting enough, but there was good news as they still had it in stock.

             The parade assembly time was around 6:30pm, so I took the subway to the village and lined up with everyone else in their costumes. While on the line some group was handing out condoms to everyone, not sure what that was all about. The police kept everyone barracaded in till about 8pm which was getting annoying as everyone was cramped together, but finally they put the gates aside and let the parade begin. The route went up 6th Avenue (Avenue of the Americas) from around Spring St. to 17th St. Along the sidewalks behind the police fences were large crowds of people with cameras flashing like the paparazzi. When I went two years ago there was some rain that night which might've kept some people at home, but this year with no rain there seemed to be more people participating, and even more watching from the sidewalks. I got a fair number of calls from people in the crowd yelling out "Ghostbusters" or "Who ya' gonna call?". In fact, even one of the cops on duty gave me a 'who ya' gonna call?'. A few fellow paraders also asked me to take a picture with them, and I happy oblidged. I was quite satisfied that there was no one else who had the same costume I did. Maybe there was someone ten block away I couldn't see, but as long as I didn't see it that was good news to me. From people's reactions I think I might've been the only one, or at least one from a very small group. The only thing about the parade that I found surprising was the minimal-to-none amount of gay people in their usual raunch-filled outfits. This year seemed mellow with that compared to what I saw a couple of years ago and had been seeing on the news for many years.

             Once the parade reached 17th Street then the police had everyone turn off 6th Ave. and from there the parade would end and everyone was to disband. After that I walked from 17th and Broadway all the way over to Union Square to take the subway back home. Through the blocks there were still people in costumes roaming around, and when I got to Union Square it seemed many from the parade had gathered at that spot and there was a little scene going on. Some played musical instruments, some took pictures with each other(I took a picture with the Stay Puff Mashmallow Man - Villan of the Ghostbusters), skateboarders were doing tricks off the steps, but the strangest of all was a couple who were fencing with eachother. I stayed around there for about ten minutes to take it all in and then finally decided to call it a night and head home on the subway. During the middle of my ride a mother got on with her three kids, and after seeing my costume, one of the kids told the mother they want to be a Ghostbuster for next year...

When the Bluejay Shows Up

            Three Monday's ago was Columbus Day and during that weekend there was a last hurrah for the summer weather with temperatures reaching the 70's and 80's. I spent the afternoon of Columbus Day at the beach getting some sun, although with no lifeguards on duty anymore for the year, swimming was prohibited. The water wasn't as kind as the weather was that day either, so it was a little too cold to swim in anyways. Not that I didn't take a few quick dips while I was there.

            Fast forward to this past Saturday morning, it started out weird and only got weirder. I tend to wake up in segments and then fall back asleep, such as 6:30am, 7:00am, 8:30am, etc. On Saturday morning I was up around 8:00am and while laying in bed I heard what sounded like a crow on my windowsill. It's common for smaller birds to perch on the windowsill and make their usual chirping noises, but this bird made a noise similar to a crow, and then starting hitting against the window. It seemed very unusual, so I got out of bed to check it out and it turns out it wasn't a crow, but a different type of bird in a bluejay. I hadn't seen a bluejay in nearly a year.

            I was able to watch it for a few seconds, and the tapping noise against the glass was actually it pecking at the window, like a woodpecker would. Unfortunately, when I motioned to get the camera to take a picture, I must have scared it off and it flew away. Still sleepy, I decided to go back to bed for a while. The next time I woke up it was around 10:00am, and what stood out in my mind at the time was the sound of wet car tires coming from the nearby street, indicating that it must be raining out. Not ready yet to start the day, I went to bed for about another two hours and finally woke up for good around 12:30pm. Looking out the window again I got the surprise of the month seeing snow all over the ground and still falling from the sky. It was more of a wet snow causing slush to accumulate, but luckily alot of it was melting as soon as it hit the ground. Overall it was enough to be a nuisance covering cars and making driving more of an obstacle.

           According to the news it had been nearly ten years since it had snowed in October in New York, but I don't remember that ever happening. This year alone we broke a record in the amount of rainfall, and I hope this early snowstorm isn't an indication of all long nasty winter to come. Looking back at the bluejay on the windowsill a few hours earlier it all made sense, they tend to show up when its time for winter...

The Tranquility of a Diner at Midnight

            Earlier tonight I found myself bored and in need of a snack. During the late hours the options are pretty much limited to either a 7-11 or a 24 hour diner. Since I was more interested in eating at a place, I chose the diner and it turned out to be a great idea.

            After getting a seat at the empty counter, I went with a slice of lemon meringue pie and a hot cup of coffee to satisfy my craving. The pie wasn't anything special and the coffee was average at best, but taking in my surroundings I had an excellent time. There were only about two or three other patrons in there at the time, so it was quiet, the music was real low, the workers were mingling amongst eachother in whispers, something about made it an ultra-relaxed environment. Whatever concerns or worries I had seemed to have vanished in the twenty-minutes I was in there, plus I got to learn something new. At this particular diner only the management is authorized to slice the cakes. I'm guessing there was an episode in the past were a worker gave an bigger than standard slice to a patron, and as a result, a policy was created. It was the first time I ever heard of something like that.

           Perhaps it was the fact that it was late at night, and since it's a 24 hour establishment, there was no rush for me to finish quickly, or perhaps it was the fact it was so quiet, but whatever it is I think I found a solution for relaxation. The check that night came out to $5.44, I also left a dollar tip at the counter, but the check could've been $20 for all care and it still would have been worth it...

Bad Economy is a Hoax

            Well...sort of. Put it this way, do you remember a time when someone said the economy is good? No, of course not. It's only done in revisionist mode; It was good during the Clinton years, the economy thrived after WWII, Obama got us back on track after the 2008 depression, etc. The fact is the economy is the economy, good experiences for some, bad experiences for others, but its all up to interpretation.

            Using the unemployment rate as a measuring stick offers no real insight. How many people are working 'off the books' yet declared themselves jobless? How many people were listed as unemployed found work by the time the results came out, and visa versa? Where are these statistics pulled from anyhow? Saying the economy is bad and drumming that same message over and over into the population is simply a tool to keep people afraid. "You better be good to your boss and work hard, or else you'll be homeless". "Well, you can leave at 5pm or 6pm as per what we're paying you, but if you can stay till 9pm or 10pm for free, guess who won't get laid off when the next round of cuts come?". More work!! Longer hours!! More stress!! This leads to profits flowing upwards as it originates from work being done outside what's covered in employees' salaries.

           For a chance of pace, let's say the government and the media put out a message that the economy was good and a reasonable amount of jobs were available. Would the workforce strive as hard to hold onto their current jobs and grind out extra profitable efforts? No way!! It makes so much more sense for the government and the business world(both of which dictate the media) to instill a mindframe that jobs are scarce and workers need to be in fear that if they don't work superhard, they'll be in major trouble. In fact, once the Nazi Germany system went into full effect, the middle class was depleted through several different means and the weekly work hour rate shot up from 40 to 60(sound familiar?). If that's not enough stress, the media also pushes these images of how celebrities and the ultra rich live their lifestyles, walking around in a $2,000 shirt and vacationing in the south of France every weekend.  If you're just some average joe with a $50,000 a year salary, how are you going to feel about your life? Depressing, yes? There's also ads and infommercials to keep pouring the negativity on; Build more muscle immediately, order these pills to have a better sex life, get this DVD to lose weight, buy this cream to get rid of the acne and wrinkles on your face. All this is designed to keep people on edge and in constant fear of something, even if they don't know what that something is.

            When it's asked why do Americans have the highest levels of heart disease, it's mainly because of these type of shananagans. I'm sure the triple-decker cheeseburgers and fried oreos don't help much either, but one can't ignore the negativity and stress put on people doesn't contribute to poor heart health as well. If it isn't heart disease, it's depression, or it's insomnia, or erectile dysfunction, whatever a visit to the doctor's office and a pill on a TV commerical can solve. If you want to ignore these messages being conveyed, you almost can't anymore. Thanks to the new generation of cell phones with the iPhones, touch screens, 4G, or whatever is going on now, these messages and images are being delivered to the individual from the time they wake up in the morning to the time they finally fall asleep at night. With TV and the internet at home, internet at the workplace, and now these new age phones, basically we're looking at a screen of negativity 18 out of the 24 hours of the day.

           People are put through a ringer - telling them the economy is bad, they're inadequite physically and financially, with the only salvation being working hard at their job for long hours, taking a list of pills, and the necessity to have the latest iPhone to keep those messages pumping to the public whereever they may go 24/7. It's a never ending cycle caused by a long string of hoaxes...

An Afternoon at the Bronx Zoo

            It had been quite some time since I last been to the Bronx Zoo, so one afternoon I wanted to check it out to see if there was anything new. I've been there a countless number of times, and even if I'm familiar with most the animals and exhibits there already, I can never get tired of the zoo.

            Instead of driving and worrying about parking or possible break-ins, surrounding neighborhood not all terrific, I decided to take the Bx12 bus which would only be a 15 minute ride. The prices have gone up drastically, I believe it was around $24 for an adult. Granted the zoo does offer entrance for free on Wednesdays, but I had my mind set on it that day and didn't feel like waiting any further. Plus, since its free on Wednesdays, that's when there are the more chances of getting class trips and other large groups which makes for a less enjoyable experience. As soon as I entered there were free roaming peacocks walking around. For whatever reason, the zoo allows them to walk around with all the visitors. A few years I remember I was sitting at an outdoor cafe the zoo has and fed one a piece of pizza crust. More recently I saw in the news that one of the peacocks had left the zoo somehow and had gotten about a half a mile away before being captured.

            I made sure to see the seals which occupy the large pool-like structure in the front past the great lawn they have. Afterwards, I visited alot of the usual places; the reptile house, the dark house, the bird house, the rain forest, tiger mountain, the African plains, the mouse house, the monkey house, and a newer one they opened recently for Madagascar. I also tried the Butterfly Garden, which cost an extra $3, and you can walked around inside this greenhouse structure and has butterflies all around. In addition, there's also a room on display in which you can see them being bred and transforming from cocoon to butterfly. In the reptile house I saw Mia the Cobra, who made worldwide headline news earlier in the year of being an escapee, even though she never got outside the reptile house itself and posed no real threat to the public.

           The monkey house was humorous, but there's not much lighting and the monkeys never sit still, so it was difficult to take any decent pictures. Same with the mouse house and naturally the dark house. What was lightened up nicely and a good viewing experience was the bird house. There were birds flying around all over which made for excellent picture taking opportunities. It would have been ideal to get some good tiger pictures, but there's always large crowds taking up the good spots and I didn't have the patience to keep waiting. The polar bear was quite underwhelming with his back turned to the crowd and sleeping, but the activity of the brown bears play flighting in the water made up for it. I did a great deal of walking and saw most of the exhibits, but as the afternoon was coming to a close, some of the houses started to close and I wasn't able to visit the gorilla congo or JungleWorld. I probably should've gotten to the zoo in the morning to make sure I would have chance to see everything, but I can always go again some other day.

           After the zoo I walked a few blocks away to the Arthur Avenue section, which has become a tourist attraction for its row of Italian resturants and shops like bakeries, butchers, fresh pasta, etc. I was in the mood for clams so I settled upon Umberto's, an extension of the more infamous location in the Little Italy section of Manhattan. I had my clams as an appetizer and moved onto linguine in clam sause as the main dish. For dessert I ventured around the corner to one of the sit-in bakeries and had a slice of strawberry shortcake and a cup of coffee. Usually a slice of cheesecake would be my dessert of choice in that situation, but the presentation of the strawberry shortcake looked too good to pass up.

           I wanted to take a picture of my piece of cake, but since alot of mobsters frequent those establishments, and the group of guys in line with the cake shot looked like good candidates, I felt it was best to not use any surveillance equipment...

2011 US Open Women's Tennis: Ah, Why Not?

            On the opening Sunday of the 2011 NFL season I had spent that morning reading a number of sports articles in preparation for the string of football games that day, but in addition to the football and baseball articles in the sport sections, I also read that day was going to be the Finals Match for the Women's US Open Tennis in Flushing, NY.

            I'm not a tennis fan at all, in fact I really don't like the sport at all. I've tried playing it a few times and its interesting in that aspect, but I've never wanted to watch others play either in person or on TV. One of the articles I read that morning was that the final match was between the #28 seed in Serena Williams, who was a major star a few years back and has more recently been faced with setbacks and injuries, and the #9 seed Samantha Stosur, who I never heard of in my life. The backstory of Serena, one half on the Williams sisters who are both former champions, being a #28 seed underdog fighting the odds to win it all seemed enticing enough to go watch the match. Although I don't like tennis, I did one day want to at least see a live match, so with that in mind I figured that was the right moment to finally do it. I went on Stubhub and was able to find a good seat for a very reasonable price.

            I arrived at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing, NY very early so I would have time to walk around the area and get something to eat before the match. Low and behold when I first enter the grounds there's a small crowd gathered around a practice court outside the stadium. Taking a closer look it was Serena Williams warming up along side her father, who is also her coach. I watched for a while and was able to take a few nice camera shots. When she was done she came out briefly to sign a few autographs, but where I was positioned I couldn't get close enough to get one too, plus I had no pen and paper. She eventually went into the stadium to get ready for the match and I walked over to an outside bar to have a beer and watch the football games being aired on the TV sets the bar had.

           When I got into the stadium and found my way into my seat there was a woman's doubles match going on(2 versus 2), so I caught the ending of that one. After that was time to start the main attraction; first was the National Anthem sung by music and movie star Queen Latifah, and then Williams and Stosur came out to warm up. As for the actual match, Stosur was doing good early, but eventually Williams started to get the momentum and things were looking good for her until there was a controversial call that went against her. It not only caused Williams to yell at the judge, but seems to have thrown her off mentally as well which led Stosur to dominate the match the rest of the way and win the championship match.

          At the end of the day, I didn't get the fairy tail ending of the underdog winning the big game that I was hoping for in the morning, but I did get going to a tennis match out of the way.

                       

Doing Stand-Up Comedy at Caroline's in Times Square

            Yesterday(10/23/11) I tried my hand at one of the toughest things to do, making a room of people laugh with a stand-up comedy act. Over the past month I had been taking a six-week course provided by a show programmer at Caroline's in New York, one of the best known stand-up comedy establishments in the country, and the graduation for the class was a live performance on Caroline's infamous stage in front of a live audience. Granted, most in the audience were there to see us students perform and the place was only about 30% of capacity, but it was a sizeable enough crowd to rattle the nerves a little.

            There were two shows in which our class was broken up into, one at 2pm and another at 4:30pm. I was slotted in for the 2pm show and I went about 6th or 7th in the performing pecking order. There were also more seasoned comics on hand for both shows to host, open, and close, as us students didn't have enough experience for those types of roles. My set last about 4 minutes, although the goal was 5 minutes, but in comedy shows like that its better too be short than go over your time limit. The bit was a humorous look at being in a racially mixed relationship, and overall I think it went well. Not all the jokes got laughs, but most of them did, so that's fine with me. I was nervous being up there on the stage with the bright light and having like 40 people looking at me, but once I got that first laugh it took the pressure off and I was able to go into my routine.

            I'll need to write some more material and test it out at some open mic shows, which I plan on doing, but getting back to Caroline's I was also able to experience what its like for performers. We entered through the kitchen, we hung out in the dressing room (Comedian D.L. Hughley was scheduled to perform that night at a later show and they had his name posted on the dressing room door). Also in the dressing room is a private bathroom which must have been used by the most infamous names in the history of comedy, which also forced me to have to take a pitcure of it. One of the other students also said Darrell Hammond, longtime star on Saturday Night Live and best known for his impersonations of Al Gore and Chris Matthews, stopped in the club for a brief moment. Our teacher is good friends with him and earlier in the day she told us he might be stopping by. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see him and I don't think he struck around very long to watch any of the acts, but at least I got a good picture of the toilet.

        

            

Missing Childhoods of Today Creating a Lame Tomorrow

             I remember after school or on weekends I would go out with my friends all the time to play. We'd either ride bikes, play sports, invent our own games, but there was always something to do. On occasions we would be inside as well finding ways to occupy ourselves, which included watching TV or playing video games. Overall the bulk of our time, weather permitting, was spent outside. Eventually, we all grew up and moved on, but one would think the trend would continue as we followed the kids before us, and those kids followed the kids before them.

            As we left our childhoods, there were replacements for us for a short while, but each year kids kept disappearing to the point where today, there's nobody out at all. Other than a few patches here and there, no kids are out playing with eachother(Parental induced groups like Little League or the Boy Scouts doesn't count). We used slow down traffic and have cars backed up while we played football or wiffleball on the street. Sometimes we would connect with another small group of kids our age and all ride bikes together like a mini-biker gang. Each time we went to one of our houses there were always 5-8 bikes scattered all over the front of the house which caused our parents to complain. Even if we weren't friends with other groups of kids, they would still be out there doing some of the same stuff we were doing.

           Families are still producing children, so there has to be some other explanation of why there aren't kids any outside anymore. We had the videos games in Nintendo, Sega Genesis, and Super Nintendo, so it can't be that. We also had access to TV and Cable TV, so although there weren't as many channels as there is today, I don't see that as the anchor keeping them inside and away from eachother. Kids are no more in danger today being outside than they were nearly 20 years ago, and I seriously doubt parents are keeping them locked indoors to do homework and study constantly. The only item left that it can be has to be the internet. We never had this as an option and it was only in our teenage years that AOL dialup came into play, but that time we weren't going to be playing hide-and-go seek anymore.

            On a bright and warm afternoon after school lets out are kids simply spending the whole day in front of a computer? If one kid goes over to another kid's house, do they both share the same computer or perhaps sit on the couch and stare at each of their iPhones for a few hours? Do they spend all their time making fun of someone else's Facebook page? What can be so interesting to keep them away from playing like normal children should?
 
           Saturday mornings used to be dominated by cartoons from the early morning hours all the way to mid-day. Most of the broadcast channels were airing these cartoons, which contained storylines, detailed animation, good quality theme music, and they were there to teach us lessons. I still flip around the channels on Saturday morning just to get a sense of what passes as cartoon these days, and its quite sad. About one, maybe two 'broadcast' stations show a few cartoons, not nearly on as many channels and not nearly the entire morning which I used to get. Even when I came home from school on weekends, towards the afternoon into early evening there were some stations airing cartoons. These days those same stations are airing adult talk shows and other content not geared towards children. The animation of these cartoons is all computerized and looks cheaply put together, nowhere near the craftmanship that went into the cartoons we had in the 80's and early 90's. In addition to playing, have kids abandoned cartoons as well which has caused the networks to air other programing instead during those timeslots? I know there are multiple channels dedicated to cartoon programing on cable/satillite TV, but I find it hard to believe that's the only reason the networks cut back on them. If kids were watching it on the network, it would be making money for them and they wouldn't be willing to dump it in favor of adult content.

           Toys have taken a gigantic step back as well. In addition to scanning Saturday morning cartoon, I also pass by toy aisles now and then just to see what is being offered to kids, and the current options are awful. I try my best to put my kid hat back to evaluate them on and I can't see any way to have interest with most of the items on the shelves. The action figures are too big, nearly a foot tall, you can't handle that. An action figure should be about the size of a kid's hand, perhaps a few inches more, but that's it. The toy guns are also a joke. When we had toy guns they looked like real guns and made for a better playing experience, the toy guns today aren't shaped like actual guns, plus are painted in bright orange or neon green...quite boring. When we were kids and had our toy guns, we knew to not aim it at a cop, I can't see why kids today wouldn't be able to follow suit. Has being born into the cell phone and internet age made them that dumb?

            Having high-quality cartoons after school and on Saturday mornings, having good toys to play with, and finally having friends to go outside to play with is all what made being a kid great. Especially the playing with friends part, those were probably some the best times of my life with a long list of memories to look back upon. What are kids today going to look back on twenty years from now, "Hey, remember the time you came over my house and we went online?". It's also the interaction with friends at a young age which helps us socialize and shape our personalities moving forward, can an iPhone do better? Is it alright to go from kindergarden to adulthood with nothing in between? What kind of mindless-soulless drones are going to be running the world and what kind of lame future do we have to look forward to? It's seems my age group was about the last to experience a childhood before the long ringing tone of AOL Dialup came into existence, so with that I'm happy I was born just in the nick of time...
         

Random 9/11 Worker Story and Unknown Bars of Gold

            Last month recognized the 10 year anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan. In addition to the killing and destruction that occured on that day, another result has been the poor health of many the first responders and clean-up workers who worked at the Ground Zero site thereafter. Problems such as death, cancer, and respiratory illnesses have been on the rise for those who were breathing in that tainted air around that time.

           I remember the offical government word back in 2001 was that the air was not a danger to the workers nor the residents down in that area, but something about the flames and smoke with burning gasoline/asbestos/paint/concrete/metals just didn't seem like something one would want to get into their lungs. A few weeks after the incident, perhaps around mid-October of 2001, I ended up speaking with a construction worker who drove a crane and was working at Ground Zero on a nightly basis. He was sitting down on a chair and didn't even have the energy to either stand up or make a fist with his hand. After a shift would be over, he said everyone else would go into a decompression chamber, of some sorts, which was supposed to remove all the toxins from the body and clothes. According to him that chamber didn't help much and he told me the air in the area was zapping all his energy away.

          Another interesting story he told me was one time he was getting off his crane and he accidently walked the wrong route back to the depot and encountered a hidden area which contained bars of solid gold. Not nearly as much as Fort Knox or anything, but enough to have armed guards aim machine guns at his face and ask him what he was doing there. He explained his mishap and they let him go on his way back to the depot. His theory to me was since it took a while for them to move the gold out of the area, that was the reason TV cameras were not allowed close-up shots of the site initially, which makes sense looking back on the news coverage at the time. Since it was a world financial center, I'm guessing businesses or countries kept gold there on some of the floors for trading purposes, instead of dealing with other forms of currency. Gold is an international language.

         I spoke to the guy for maybe 10 minutes the most and never saw him again, didn't even exchange names. I don't know what came of him, but I hope he's alright...

Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and Eating a Mango on the Brooklyn Bridge

            I've lived in NYC for about three decades, yet had never seen one of it's most infamous landmarks, the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Apparently if you want to get inside the actual statue, you have to order tickets ahead of time, and if you want to climb up to the head you really need to reserve in advance, as in its sold out till late 2012 due to rennovations.


            For $20 you get a basic pass to visit the island the statue is on as well as Ellis Island. The starting point is at Battery Point Park in which you have to take a boat ride to the statue. The long lines and airport-style security screening is rather annoying, but it moves along quick enough to live with. The boat ride takes only about 15 minutes, including boarding, travel, and getting off. Not having access to get inside the statue, the most I was able to do was walk around the structure and follow a free tour the park rangers provide. What I learned from the tour is that the offical name of the structure is not the 'Statue of Liberty' as we all refer to it, but instead 'Liberty Enlightening the World'. Also there's a backup piece of the torch on the grounds people can touch, and surprisingly it feels thin as a tin can.


          The boats take off every 15 minutes and when I was done with that island, I boarded the ship for the next stop, Ellis Island, which turned out to be the best part of the trip. The reason I ended up liking it more than visiting the statue is that this turned out to be a two-floor museum with many interesting artifacts and old pieces of history to look at. There's even an ancestory look up room in which you can search the Ellis Island database of immigrant names to discover if any old relatives are on record there during a certain time period(I couldn't find any). The park rangers give free tours there as well and take you through the process immigrants had to go through when coming off their voyages. There's also plenty of rooms displaying old clothing, luggage, passports, travel brochures, and even a room dedicated to Alcatraz Island, which is on the other side of the country.


         Ellis Island was where I spent the majority of my time and I had to catch one of the last boats out in order to get back to Battery Park. Walking back to the subway station I was about to go downstairs to the entrance when I turned my head right and saw the Brooklyn Bridge. It was still light out, nice weather, since I never walked across that landmark, I decided to add that to my agenda as well. Why not, it's free. There's two paths, one for pedestrians and another for people riding bikes. Other than the annoying of people walking too slow or bikers speeding dangerously fast, its definately a nice short journey worth taking. On the Brooklyn side of the bridge there's a stand selling mangos on a stick for $3, okay so its not a totally free walk, but close to it. I bought one and ate it while I walked back to the Manhattan side. Unfortunately the mango juice was getting too messy so I ended up throwing it out sooner than I wanted to.

        Then I was done for the day...