A New York Minute- Part A

 One of New York City's biggest charms is its residents. They're not known for their friendliness or even their cleanliness. But New Yorkers know how to appreciate time and the little things. Perhaps it's because they spend so much time commuting, errand-running, and on other lonely pursuits with their headphones blaring. When the opportunity for a New York minute arises, they'll run for it head-on. Often it means huge crowds, uncomfortable heat, long lines; but it's that moment when you realize that a huge crowd came for the same thing you did, that all these people are excited for the same thing, and that you're waiting with a million other people that is so impressive. A New York minute usually lasts a few hours thanks to the line and the commute, but the experience is always worth it.

Last weekend, I headed back up to New York to visit all my friends who still live up there and who can't understand why I left. I'm still a little confused about it myself. But after two days in sandals on the dirty streets, I kind of remember...  Anyway after a successful show for my little Broadway campers, I caught the bus and sat through almost 8 hours of traffic to finally make it (late) for my friends birthday dinner!

Our Broadway set, decorated by the campers!

So close to the city! Why couldn't the Lincoln Tunnel just expand and let everyone in?

Birthday cake!

After a few hours of wine and Italian (and a big piece of birthday cake passed around the table with a spoon), we split the bill 10 ways (though the birthday girl thought it might be cheaper to split it 11) and walked our separate ways.

Some of us stumbled upon the Canal Room...

A huge pile of checks...

There were big blow-ups of 90s pop singers all over the place.

Apparently, a friend's boyfriend told us, the Canal Room plays 90s music on Friday nights. We weren't sure what that might mean, so we wandered around until we came to this deserted looking room with a bar in it. Since they were playing "Black or White" we figured we could stay for a while, and before we knew it, the place was packed with Zack Morris' crew and Nsync's posse. It turned into a great night; even NYC's own Scottish lass Elise trekked down to join!

The cover band knew how to sing to 20 somethings who're still stuck in the 90s!

Completely unprepared for photo

So after a great and random night of singing Backstreet Boys and Blink-192 at the top of our lungs, we crawled the 10 blocks back to a friends apartment and fell right to sleep.

Saturday morning, I headed out and met a friend for Irish breakfast. Saturday actually turned into Sarah's Irish fest, but more on that later.

I had actually (sadly) allotted only two hours for each of the four or five friends I tried to see on Saturday. But thanks to some people's openness to new friends and some people's busy schedules, I got to spend a great many hours with just a couple. So after three hours at the restaurant drinking tea and mimosas long after our food was gone, I head over to the pub.

But more on that next post... :D

Batman wallet!