Spring Break NYC (Part III): Dumpster Diving

Day 3 Seems like everyone I haven't seen in a long time was in NYC, so I took advantage of it and met up with old friends. Thursday night was reunion of the Coca-Cola NSACers (team members of an ad competition) with Ilana and Larissa, my London sidekick and roomie. The night sort of went like this:

• 6:30 pm Started off with 2-for-1 drinks at UWS bar Bourbon St. Tame, mostly old people, and I remember seeing a baby crawl across the pool table... tame.
  
• The four gin and tonics kick in when I remember I need to buy a CRUMBS cupcake for Stephanie, the girl I am staying with in Williamsburg. Ilana uses her JCC (Jewish Community Card) and saves me like 10 cents. I am very excited over this... G+T have definitely kicked in.
• On the walk to Ilana's car, Larissa finds the Moosewood Cookbook in someone's trash pile, she takes the book claiming it to be awesome (and it is).
  
• Ilana drives us (!) across town through Central Park (!!!!!) that way she can park her car at her UES apt so we can take the subway to another bar.
• 8:30 pm I miss hockey and insist on watching the Bruins game... go to a nearby bar (more old people), we leave... head to Turtle Bay.
• Turtle Bay is packed with bro-looking Bros (i.e. iBankers and lawyers). We stay downstairs because we have no use for $25 open bar upstairs or $5 dancing upstairs. There is hockey on TV downstairs. We stay and I sip a yummy whiskey sour:

Awkward Male Encounter #2:
Male in his late 20s, maybe even early 30s, he looked too old to be there. "You like hockey?"
Zeny "I LOVE HOCKEY. Terriers baby."
Male "Oh yea? I played hockey with Brian Boyle and Matt Greene." Ewww... I stick my finger down my throat in disgust of him mentioning two BC players I despise. What the hell is this guy thinking? I want to ignore him, but how does he know these people?
Male "Ok, well I also played with Kenny Roche." I highly doubt that this guy even knows how to lace skates... but I'll give 'Kenny Roche' to him... Roche was one hell of a BU forward. I am bored and just want to watch the rest of the rangers game in peace. This male realizes I hate him because I hate BC and introduces me to his male friend Peter, while he turns to Larissa.

Awkward Male Encounter #3:
Peter "I'm a Harvard Law Grad. Where do you go to school?" He is old, and I don't care.
Zeny "Boston University. I wanted to go to Harvard."
Peter "Oh yea?"
Zeny "Do you like Hockey?" I don't really give him time to answer, "Because our hockey team is better than yours." I leave him to watch the last four minutes of the Rangers game and to talk to Ilana... Peter creeps up to Larissa. Thank god for that girl.

• I am glad that I know how to be socially awkward. Ilana is craving Pinkberry. I cry about how I really want Chicken and Rice (Halal Food stand on 51st & 6th ave... i think). We ensue on a Harold & Kumar-esque mission to get these foods.
• 11:00 pm - Pinkberry is not far... Ilana is satisfied, I am not. I WANT CHICKEN & RICE (this I scream on the street).
  
• Larissa on the other hand is more interested in digging in people's trash. We pass by H&M where there's a four foot high pile of bags of shoes, clothes, accessories, swimwear. It was all crap, but for some reason, we thought we struck gold. I grab a box and we throw all sorts of crap in it, heels, tights, bracelets, corsets, thongs, etc.
  
• I YELL I WANT CHICKEN & RICE again, so we decide to carry our box of crap to Chicken & Rice stand.
• 11:45 pm We get to Chicken and Rice stand, and I stand in a long line I expected to exist (this place is amazing!). Two old guys in front of me from the midwest tell me that they just arrived in the city and this is their first stop. They ask me if it's worth it. I SAY YES. They ask me what to get... I tell them what I get: Combination with lamb. $6. They get it, they love it, and we are all happy.
• Larissa plopped her box of stolen H&M trash on a marble ledge and starts sorting. We must have looked homeless because a homeless guy came over and started serenading us with a rap.
• We all tell him we have no money. I tell him he is eloquent.
  
• Half my chicken and rice was gone in two minutes and I decide its time to go home, so Larissa and I carry the box together down to the subway station. Right in front of Radio City Hall... the box tears and all our crap ends up on the street. I yell, "We need to sort through this now."
• We are sitting on the sidewalk digging through a box of stuff that is cut up, shoes are mix matched and I give up. Larissa, my hero, doesn't and uses an existing garbage bag to hold all the stuff.
• Estimated time 12:30 am A petty car driver asks us if we need a ride. We say we have no money. He still insists and ask us where we are going. 96th, says Ilana... he realizes that its about 40 blocks away and takes back his offer.

We ended up back at Ilana's... I slept on the sofa and woke up at 6:30 to watch the sunrise and her amazing view.
Photo recap:

Spring Break NYC (Part II): New Museum

Day 2 I visited the New Museum on Bowery because the weather was ugly and some people talked about it in class. Totally worth the $8 student fee if you like small but thoughtful exhibits. The exhibits had an international focus and a lot of interactivity. New Museum doesn't feel flat or dry like most museums. For example, the Iraq exhibit had an Iraqi translator on call to answer any visitors' questions and the China exhibit had piles of Urban China magazines and computers with images for visitors to browse.

I found myself sitting, flipping pages, kneeling, peeking behind curtains, reading, listening... it was a sensory and aesthetically pleasing experience. 'Hell, yes!' to New Museum!

235 Bowery: Looks like boxes stacked on top of each other.The chairs in the cafe were cool.
View of Soho from the 5th floor 'Museum as Hub' room, which had plenty of reading materials and video on the history of the museum.
Word. Somewhat reminds me of the Citgo Sign in Kenmore Sq.
And for my FAVORITE part of the museum: THE BATHROOM WALLS
Check out the gorgeous tiles in light teal and hues of grey and brown that form a floral pattern.

Spring Break NYC (Part I): Awkward 5th Ave Encounter

Day 1 I decide to start in the UES and make my way down: the Gugg, MET, Central Park and Fifth Ave window shopping. It was a beautiful day, not too windy so it wasn't freezing cold.

My 'mommy complex' kicked in near the Belvedere Castle when a bunch of little kids dressed in poofy, bright winter jackets waddled their way behind a park ranger (dressed very much so like a park ranger). I took a photo like a pedofile, kidding... I really like kids.

The park was beautiful. Central Park never dissapoints.
Awkward Male Encounter #1 happens while walking down Fifth Ave:

A boy my age and height dressed in a fitted plaid jacket walks up to me and says, "Just want you to know you are f*cking hot."

Zeny "Thanks." I am scared and want to walk away but can't because we are walking the same direction on a crowded street.

Boy "I'm Ray and go to F.I.T. Do you go to F.I.T.? I think you are gorgeous."

Zeny "Thaanks. No, I don't go to FIT."

Boy "Where you from? Are you visiting?"

Zeny "I go to school in Boston. Boston University. I'm on spring break."

Boy "Well you dress like you are from the city." Although I am flattered, I'm over it and uncomfortable.

Boy "Do you want my number or something?" WHAT? No. We arrive at a street corner, perfect opportunity to runaway.

Zeny "I have a boyfriend..."

Boy "Oh, its NOTHING like that." Confused, I pause. He gives me a quick hug and says it was nice meeting me and runs away first. I then realize he is gay... my gay-dar must be broken. I keep walking straight disturbed by my faulty gay-dar.

After I have lunch with friends in a LES restaurant called Bread, where I witnessed models eating... so unfair.