So that NYC post...

Man, it's been so long since we got back from that trip, I'm not really sure I can remember enough to write a whole blog post! Actually I'm not sure how it worked out that I said I would write a whole post on that trip at all. I mean it was fun and all but it was just, you know... NY.

If you read me regularly, you probably know that I'm a NYer, born and raised. So going to NY is not a very special event for me. I mean, I love it... it will always be home, and I always have a great time. But I try to make at least 2 trips a year, so it's not really one of those "ooh! you went on vacation to new york city!" things. I just went home.

A couple of things were different about this trip, though. For one, I was really travelling for work. Yes, I convinced Chulo to fly up and make a weekend out of it, but the real purpose of my trip was work-related. For another, I travelled with a coworker, who has become a personal friend over the past 2 years or so of working together. And she'd never been to NY before. That's just hard for me to get. I know there are outrageous numbers of humans on this planet -- hell, even in this country ... I mean even on the mainland of this country -- that have not been to NYC. But it's still hard for me to grasp, because ... well honestly, folks, because I'm a NYer and that whole thing about NYers believing that NY is the centre of the universe? Yeah, that's true. Please don't ask me to name even one of the square states in the middle. I'm not sure if that weird half-a-McDonald's arch thing is in Minnesota or Missouri. And no, thankyouverymuch, I do NOT have an accent. You do.

Right. So travelling with Debbie was supersuper fun because I got to be Tour Guide Barbie. And dudes, I was sooooooooo good at that. I mean, I can't believe all the things I remembered. I was dragging this poor woman up, down and crosstown. I made her get on the train (eeek!). At rush hour (eeeek! eeeek!). We walked the cobblestones of the financial district and rode all the escalators at Grand Central. I taught her the names of the bridges, gave her the history of the neighbourhoods and showed her the nooks and crannies of my youth. I cried at the world trade centre memorial and took her shopping for irregular couture at Century's. And the FOOD. Do you know how fabu it is to eat in Manhattan and not be on a budget? Fuck me, it was awesome.

And yet? I feel like we didn't do ANYTHING. She didn't have a java at Big Cup. We didn't take the ferry, or scale any tall buildings (in a single leap or otherwise). We didn't buy fake bags on Canal Street and she never got to eat a dirty water dog. We didn't do Museum Mile, gawk at the Madison Ave shop windows, or have dim sum at Wo Hop followed by cannoli at Ferrara's (okay Ferrara's is overrated, but still. It's a freakin institution).

Oh and another huge difference? I mean HUGE. I stayed in a hotel. In midtown. See, I'm a Queens girl. I loved living in Queens, both the suburbs and the yurban ghetto, and being a Queens girl, I could not fathom those city dwellers. I mean what is THAT? But listen, only having to walk over two streets and down one avenue to get to the office? Whaaaaaaaat, I slept til 7. For that, I could see living in the city. But oh MAN it was noisy, even from the 15th floor or wherever I was. And I felt like the office building across the street could see straight into my room (city blocks are pretty close together). And it was the midtown equivalent of staying in a Comfort Inn or something. You know, good enough... but not luxury. Then again, when I look back at how we lived in apartments in NY... it's just nothing like here. The spaces are smaller, the buildings are older, the surfaces are rougher. And yet, the prices are astronomically higher. I don't even want to tell you the price of that hotel room.

Yes I do. It was $600 a night. Fucking retarded money. Thank God for expense accounts.

All in all, Debbie says she had a great trip to NY, thanks to moi, and she's looking forward to going back again. Which seems likely, because we do an awful lot of business out of that office. I hope she gets to stay a little longer next time... maybe even through the weekend. There are so many things left to see.

So that was my week with Debbie. And then... Chulo got there. And I felt like Tour Guide Barbie all over again. Except this time, I had the Barbie dream car too. In the form of a blue Hyundai Sonata. Which, thank God, he was driving. Lord knows I would have had an accident. I may have learned to drive by racing yellow cabs, but it's been a long time since I've had to deal with that kind of traffic mania.

He was so cute... my little NY baby, who grew up literally 10 miles (if that) away from my house, had no idea of how to get around in the big bad city. I don't think he ever left Queens. It was so weird.

So we spent Friday night with my sister and her husband... Saturday afternoon with his grandmother, then Saturday evening we drove to visit his friends out on Long Island and spent the night and most of Sunday there. I went shopping with his buddy's wife on Sunday, trying desperately to find an appropriate gift for Chulo's birthday... we ran from store to store and then finally the light dawned...

Dzer will be so proud of me...

I bought him golf clubs.

And had them shipped to his sister's house because I didn't think I'd be able to hide the huge box from him as we drove back into the city and flew home. I'm a genius!

He hasn't used them yet, but he swears he likes them. He's been saying how he wants to learn because his boss/all the guys at work are golfers and he can't join them. So I think I will also get him some lessons so that he doesn't look like a loser the first time he goes out there with them. They'll know he's a beginner, but at least he can look good with his novice swing.

Ok this post is starting to bore me and I'M the one writing it, so I'll spare you the rest. I just wanted to give the NY update and I think I've accomplished that so I guess I'm done. Let's plan a blogger trip to the city so I can play Tour Guide Barbie again. Maybe I'll even get a pink nubby silk suit with a matching pillbox hat and scarf. I draw the line at going blonde, though. :)