So I made it back to California in one piece on Saturday after having discovered there was an “alleged” terrorist plot to blow up JFK Airport on the airplane AFTER it took off…. Good thing JetBlue has free on-flight TV programming…. The weird thing was, the plane stayed on the runway for like 40 minutes after we saw some police cars and ambulances racing by at a distance. I am sure that probably had nothing to do with the “foiled terrorist plot” though…
I met up with all my ex-coworkers (except Kyung) in New York and had a lot of fun talking about our previous employer(s). There were a few things that struck me as “interesting” now that I’d seen New York with a fresh pair of Californian eyes:
1. New York is great for singles and couples with no kids.
2. New York is great for artists and those who are interested in current trends of anything (art, design, fashion, politics… etc).
3. New Yorkers are amazingly more well-informed than their counter-parts in California.
4. Spanish is now everywhere in New York (compared to 4 years ago).
5. There are a lot more scooters in Manhattan than 4 years ago.
6. Chinatown remains as dirty and stinky as ever before.
7. The night begins at 11pm in New York…. compared to everything ends at 11pm in California…
8. It is freaking hot and humid in NYC… Or maybe the good weather in California has made me soft…
I also walked a whole lot for my short stay there for the opportunity to take some pictures with fresh eyes. But I guess the driving culture in California also made my feet soft… I came back with a swelled foot, limping for the rest of the trip after the first day.
On a separate but related news, the college I applied for a doctoral degree to accepted me on the spot after a short interview (which was the purpose of my trip). They totally loved my background as an artist and felt excited what I could bring to the pool of research among the doctoral candidates they are considering accepting… That made me feel good about myself and all that “investment” I made with those 2 art degrees… š
More about the trip will be posted soon (images and thoughts). Stay tuned.