Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

So, I have one word for NY'sE in Time Square: ploy. It is a ploy for tv. It is not a non-stop party; it is a create-your-own party. I stood there in the cold for over nine hours (starting at 1:30pm). I was fine with this, b/c I thought eventually they would start providing us with entertainment. At 10:30pm, after I was frozen and tired, and after their lack of entertainment providing, I went home! This is what they did for ten hours: starting at 6pm, they played a variety of loud music over the speaker system (it was a nice speaker system, I'll give them that). Then, for about three minutes every hour they would do one of the following: have couples kiss for a long time on camera, practice announcing who was "coming up next", have a band (who was stationed behind us so that we were watching them on a jumbo-tron) sing a three-minute medley of their most popular songs, or have some famous person (who was also stationed behind us so that we watched them on the jumbo-tron) read a wish out of the wish box! That's it! (Let me do the math on this so I'm accurate) 95% of the time we were "celebrating" and "partying" was spent standing in the cold, listening to music, and watching the same five ads rotate in front of us.

Needless to say, I do not recommend this experience to anyone. Have a party that's actually fun, or just stay at home and watch the whole thing on tv. You get much more out of it than actually being there in person. Ploy.

So, I didn't even make it to midnight. At 10:30, I lost hope of anything actually fun happening and left. I was in bed by 11:30 and listened to people ring in the New Year at midnight. Whatever. New Years is a stupid holiday anyway. Every day is a new day. Blah.

Click here to see pics from the event anyway.

Today, I woke up with a "NYE hangover". It took a while to stop sitting listlessly in front of my computer while reliving the disappointment from last night. But then I ate. :) The Yorkville Diner is located right behind my house, and I had a yummy breakfast at noon! The service was nice, the food was good, and I was pulled out of my funk.

After that, I went in search of a coffee shop. Starbucks really do pop up on every block, but I don't want a Starbucks! I had to go all the way down to Gramercy Park, though, to find a coffee shop. 71 Irving Place was nice. It's small, of course. (I think they prefer the term "intimate" in New York.) And dimly lit. But it was warm and friendly. I got a cappuccino, and they did not ask me what size I wanted (which is the mark of a true coffee shop). Another mark of a good coffee shop is if they have simple syrup on the condiments bar, and this place did! :) The capp wasn't as good as Intelligentsia (COME TO NEW YORK), but it was better than Starbucks. I stayed there and read and talked to friends on my cell for about an hour (I don't know; I didn't really pay attention to time).

Then, I went to Greenwich Village (I seem to end up there every day) in search of McNulty's Coffee (my mom remembers it from her day). Unfortunately, it was closed for New Years, but I will be back. I just started walking at that point. I love it. You can walk the whole city if you have enough time and stamina. I walked about 3 miles through Greenwich Village, stopping at Balducci's on 14th St, continuing on to Madison Square Garden on 31st St, and making my way to Grand Central Station on 42nd St. From there, I caught the 6 train to the UES. I love it.

Click here to see pics of today.

Tomorrow, I think I'm going to explore the Meatpacking District.

Click here for the Wikipedia article.

Click here for the official website.