whitney biennial

i was disappointed with the whitney biennial. before moving to new york, i had always felt i was missing it by not living in the city. maybe i had built up too high of an expectation.

the pieces were uninspiring. nothing held my attention for more than 5 seconds. the art felt lazy; there seemed to be this attitude that technique was unnecessary. that argument would be fine except that the pieces felt lazy conceptually too. the ideas gave the impression that they were not throughly thought out and/or executed.

i would've been more humble about my opinion had r not confirmed them. he's an artist, and he felt let down by the show too. also, we visit museums quite a bit, particularly art museums. in fact, our first date took us to the whitney. at the time, they had a great show on 70s psychedelic art, like music posters, elaborate drawings on sheets of acid, photographs of the era.

i was ready to buy a membership just to cut the line, but there was barely a line. considering it was the last weekend of the show, i should've realized that it was a sign.

byog

on our walk from the train station to r's apt last night, we walked past two girls and overheard the words, "bring your own gun." i didn't catch anything else they said so this might be totally taken out of context. still, i can't think of anything it could mean other than a new party theme i haven't heard of until now. it's not the type of party i should attend anyway. i'm pretty clumsy.

gotta have that smoke

last friday night, i was waiting under the virgin music building in union square to meet r for dinner. being a popular meeting place, there were quite a few people that came in and out of that area. it was also raining so the number of meeting places that provided shelter became more limited.

the people who stopped by were in their late teens, 20s, early 30s. then, a guy showed up, a bit older than the normal crowd. he set his bag on the ground and picked up a cigarette butt. to my horror, he proceeded to put it to his lips and attempted to pull a drag from it. he appeared unsuccessful on the first try so he looked for other butts.

he didn't have a light on him or asked anyone for it, pretty much keeping to himself. he seemed as if he was trying to suck just something, anything, out of them. i'd say a rainy night would prove to be a disadvantage to his feat. but maybe i had mistaken what he was looking for, maybe not a smoke but just something to do while waiting for the rain to subside.

fat ass and little pricks

on my way home last night, i took a seat on a bench for two on the subway. since it was fairly empty when i got on, i sat with my bag taking up the seat next to me and put my nose to a magazine. more people boarded during the next couple of stops, and one woman sat down next to me. her friend blocked me in by taking the seat in front of me.

i moved my bag, just standing it upright between the woman and myself. she started to shove herself against my bag to the point that i became concerned that she cracked my laptop in the bag. after a minute, she said, "sweetheart, can you move your bag, like put it on the floor? it's bothering me." immediately, i noticed the stench of her cheap perfume. (i HATE perfume. you only need to wear perfume if you have major BO issues.) also, my petite stature does not give anyone the license to call me sweetheart in that tone.

to keep her from further annoying me, i just moved the bag onto my lap. it was annoying because there were other empty seats on the train that she could've taken. if she was uncomfortable, she could take another seat. with my irritation growing as her fat ass pushed me up against the wall, i finally just stood up to climb over her and her friend to take another seat, even while the train was still moving.

then, she had the audacity to tell me to have a nice day. really? can't people just keep their mouth shut? also, it's the end of the day already. the sun had set. my day had been nice, but her fat ass and loud mouth just squashed my evening.

even after i switched trains, i couldn't focus on my magazine. my mind kept coming up with things i should've said and/or done to her: call her "fat ass," reply with "i had a nice day until you showed up," moo her, stand next to her for the rest of my ride on that train and hover. i was so deep in thought that i missed my stop. at least i realized just one stop later.

i got off the train and proceeded my trek back to my apartment. along the way, i passed a group of high school boys, hanging outside a building. they saw me, a little asian girl, and started harassing me. it's the same game: they start off saying, "hi," just to get your attention. if you don't respond, they'll start calling you names. i got "ugly" and "no ass." (asian girls generally don't have wide hips.)

i passed them in silence, being totally outnumbered, but was, once again, thinking of things i should've said and/or done to them: wave my little finger, make a sympathetic face and say "aww, i remember how it was, boys your age, with your undeveloped little pricks, longing for your first taste of pussy," yelled back "at least i'm running home to get laid."

i made it home fine the rest of the way. i'm just glad tonight's trip home was uneventful, which is exactly how i like it.

a miraculous restroom visit

last night, we went to dinner at ippudo, a fairly new japanese noodle place that's the rave-of-the-moment. i admit, it was delicious. the broth was heavy in flavor, and the ramen was of a good texture. we didn't get the umph or blow to the face we felt the first time we tried ramen setagaya, however, which has become one of our favorite spots. (we're actually going there tonight, for their monday special of ramen and gyoza for $12. it's pretty affordable by ny standards.)

the most impressive thing about the place though really had nothing to do with the restaurant itself, i guess. maybe it had more to do with the situation? i don't know. on our way out, we stopped by the restroom. as i landed on the basement level where we were directed, i saw a line for the men's room. r was the last in line with 2 guys ahead of him. instinctively, i looked for a line for the women's room and was confused when i didn't see one. i thought, maybe this is a unisex restroom with a single stall. but then, i noticed the picture on the door where the guys were waiting. it depicted the head of a man. so i walked past the guys to find another door with a picture depicting a woman's head. i gasped: there was a separate women's restroom! and there was a line to the men's room but not one for the women's room! how often does that happen at a typical public place?

i turned the knob, expecting it to be locked. to my surprise, though, it opened with ease. i was simply in disbelief and couldn't help but feel giddy as i stepped in, flashing the guys, still in line, a grin before i shut the door.

boston

r and i visited boston last weekend. it was sort of a weird visit because we stayed with his friend who lives about an hour outside of the city so we weren't actually in boston. but we actually hit boston itself first on friday, to kill time waiting for his friend to arrive at his home. we went straight to the institute of contemporary art. they were in between major exhibitions so we ended up paying full admission to see just half of the museum. what they had was cool, but we felt a little gypped.

afterwards, we headed to the barking crab restaurant for a late lunch. it was within walking distance from the museum, and boston is a seafood city. we were totally disappointed, however. again, we felt gypped having ordered the crab cake appetizer. it was $12 for 3 tiny little medallions of mostly breading. we had excellent crabcakes not long ago at jacques imo's in new orleans where we could see large chunks of crab meat. then, our entrees came. i don't mind the paper plates and the whole picnic feel to the restaurant even though they were certainly not charging picnic prices for their food. the food was not that impressive though, especially for what we were paying for. overall, i would recommend avoiding this place.

we headed to r's friend's house that evening. we just took it easy, after a long drive for r, and had dinner and saw iron man. the movie was good. nothing mind blowing, but it was fun.

the oddest thing i encountered was actually the pets. i know someone who has 4 cats which, to me, is quite a handful, having grown up pretty much without pets. but r's friend has a dozen animals: 6 dogs and 6-7 cats. it was a little overwhelming for me, but i love seeing r around dogs. he has a great fondness for them and loses all inhibitions to doggy-talk to them.

since r has never been to boston before, he wanted to some of the more touristy things. he's very interested in history and wanted to do the freedom trail. unfortunately, saturday was a dismal day, and his friend suggested that we visit the museum of fine arts instead, an indoors activity. we were totally fine since we love art. we hit this museum at a good time. i LOVED the british printmaking exhibition: rhythms of modern life, british prints 1914-1939. using simple lines and forms and no more than 3 colors at a time, the artists were able to convey so much. the pieces held so much energy.

r was absolutely inspired by the antonio lopez garcia exhibit. his work is so meticulous that, upon first seeing them, i thought they were photographs, when in fact, they were paintings. r is fascinated with space, being a set designer, and loved the way lopez garcia captured an empty apartment in his paintings. i could tell he was itching to start a painting of his own.

afterwards, r's friend took us to a bar, then dinner, and another bar where one of his friends is playing in a band. when we first arrived at the bar, we had walked into "nerd night." it was nerdy people giving power points to share their extensive knowledge. r's friend's friend started heckling the presenters. immediately, i thought to myself, r's friends were the people i and my friends were escaping when we chose to apply for ncssm. i couldn't take sides. luckily, the band finally started to perform.

the next day, r and i headed into boston on our own. i wanted to visit my friends, p & d, and meet their baby girl. n is so precious. they let me hold her for a little while. apparently, d was taking pictures of everyone and anyone who holds the baby. we caught for a bit and then they walked us to a shopping center where r and i grabbed some korean food for lunch. p & d took the baby back to the their house, and r and i decided to roam the city. we were finally on our own.

we left r's truck at p & d's house and walked to the T station nearby. r wanted to compare the T to NY's metro. we got off near charles street and walked to boston commons. luckily, the weather finally cleared up. it was cloudy but not wet. so we embarked on the freedom trail, going all the way into the italian district in the north end. r really wanted to see paul revere's house, which we did. unfortunately, it was already closed by the time we made it there. but we got some italian pastry before we headed back to get the truck. that afternoon was my favorite part of the trip.

r noticed that boston is so much cleaner than new york. i couldn't agree more. maybe we were just in the nicer parts of town, but i never thought to look for feces on the sidewalk as i ALWAYS do in new york. we definitely want to go back again, but we might do it a little differently this time, like staying IN boston and putting up with ONE baby instead of a DOZEN animals.

baltimore is next on my list of places to visit with r. it will probably have to wait until june. stay tuned.

lost underground

a woman approached me at the dekalb station in brooklyn yesterday. i'd probably put her in her 50s, just a little younger than my mother. she must've been banking on the fact that i could speak cantonese. she lucked out. she asked me if this was where she would catch the N train. i told her the N train actually doesn't stop at this station. she would need to take the R train to the next station to connect to the N train. she said that she had seen several R trains go by, that she had been waiting at this station for over an hour, basically waiting for something that would never arrive.

immediately, i thought, this is a situation i could totally see my mother getting into if she were left to travel in the city by herself. i told her that i was waiting for the R train anyway, going in the same direction as she needed to go. she said she'd stick with me. i nodded okay.

she noticed that i was reading something and asked if i was studying. i told her i was just reading a magazine. just to make sure i wasn't pointing her in the wrong direction, i asked if she was heading into brooklyn or manhattan. she said brooklyn and then what i heard as "b-broadway." afterwards, i realized she was saying "bay parkway" which was in brooklyn, actually near the end of the N line. but at the time, i just assumed that there must be some other broadway in brooklyn, which is often the case that boroughs shared street names.

after a longer wait than normal, the R train finally arrived. she boarded with me and took a seat by the door. with the only other seat available blocked by shopping bags, i stood, holding onto a pole. i asked her if she was on her way to visit someone. she said she was actually on her way to have her portrait taken. only then did i realize she was dressed in relatively bright colors, including lots of red, typical of the chinese.

soon, we arrived at the station where she needed to transfer to the N train. i told her it would be really easy to transfer, just to wait on the other side of the platform. she had shown no sense of fear, to my surprise, even though she was basically lost in a giant labyrinth beneath a thundering metropolis. still, i emphasized that the transfer and the rest of her journey should be easy, to give her confidence. before she got off the train, she thanked me, patted my cheek, and squeezed my hand. i wanted to tell her to take care but couldn't even mutter it. i almost wanted to accompany her the rest of her way.

even after i arrived home, i couldn't help but wonder if that woman made it to her destination okay. how much english can she read? would she be able to tell which station she needs to get off? obviously, she knew her alphabet, but i imagine that her english level isn't far from my mother's. i thought it brave of her to travel alone, but at the same time, i felt slightly frustrated that no one accompanied her. i just can't imagine myself letting my mother go on the ny metro alone. but at some point, i guess we all must let go a bit, as parent or child, of each other because, at the end, we all will turn out okay, in one way or another.