Now if there was a corset lurking under there the free world might not be safe.

if there were a corset under there, I might not be able to close the dignified jacket.

if there were a corset under there, I might not be able to close the dignified jacket.

I fail to see a downside to this.

Damn. I should have been in that elevator.

Damn. I should have been in that elevator.

Well, in all honesty it did have it's ups and downs.

Guess we'll just have to make sure the next venue has a veeerrrrry tall elevator, yes?

How the hell did I forget that ND was the first one to suggest looking into the possibilities of getting Nilly to the US?

I thought Kristen did. We were watching teevee one day and she said, "we should start a fund so that maybe we can get Nilly here."

I thought Kristen did. We were watching teevee one day and she said, "we should start a fund so that maybe we can get Nilly here."

Whoops. Sorry. I should've been more specific. I was merely referring to the "fateful night" conversation.

You never invite me over for teevee watching with you and Kristen. Perhaps if you did, I would know these things.

Oh, of course. NoiseDesign's post is what made me think it was a possibility, which, in a gorgoeus coincidence, happened just before I shut the computer down for sleep IIRC. Tim's post made it a sure thing. It made it affordable.

Just wanted to say it was wonderful hanging out with the Buffistas on Sunday (even if the other table did hog the Nilly).

I do lurk now and then, though with work and 5 (yes, count em, 5) cats, actually writing anything generally takes up more energy than I have.

Friday in New York

I woke up early Saturday morning and finally got a hold of Jessica. I was staying with her that night, and I wanted to drop my stuff off at her place before playing in the city. She lived at the other end of Brooklyn, and since there was no direct train, I would have to triangulate, going into Manhattan and then back out, which would take a while. Hence my wanting to be on top of things.

Kate called, and we confirmed our plans to meet at the Virgin Megastore in Times Square at noon. It was nearly eleven, so I was pretty sure I would be late. Alanna walked me to the station, where I bought a DayPass, giving me unlimited rides that day.

Jessica's instructions were flawless; she really did live right by the stop. I rang the buzzer, and She of the Blue Hair let me in. Unfortunately, she was wearing a hairkerchief, so I could not see the blue in all its glory. In the apartment, I met Ethan and drank water. I could not dilly dally very long, as I was already late. Jessica helpfully outlined the quickest way to Times Square.

On the way, there was a point where the train hit daylight and gave me cell phone signal, so I used the small window to call Trudes and see what her plans were. She was on train duty: billytea and Bec were coming in at 1:50, and Kristin was coming in at 4:50 or so. The night plans were still undecided, as both Jessica and msbelle had offered their abodes.

At one stop, the train driver made an announcement of which I only caught the word "convention," and then he mentioned "the uptown D," and then he waited for the uptown D to come in across the divide. A man to my left talked of taking the D, it would "zip [them] right there." Quickly, I checked the subway map to figure out what the hell was going on, and I discovered the D was the express, and it did stop near Times Square.

I grabbed my backpack and ran across to the train. The doors were closing. I literally scraped through, the doors pressing against my shoulders. I felt so damn cool.

Times Square is really as ridiculously gaudy as you think it is. Lots of flashy lights and gigantic billboards, and tons of people, a man dressed up as Spider-Man, and someone every two feet yelling that Jesus was the way, JESUS! saves, everything will be solved by Jesus!

I didn't realize the Times Square area was so big; I couldn't easily see the Virgin Megastore. I kept walking along Broadway, as Jessica thought that's the street it was on. Just as I was about to call Kate, I saw it up ahead.

She had told me to look for Jesse and her on the floor below, so I looked around and found them before they saw me. I nonchalantly walked up to them and began looking at the CDs. "Well, fancy seeing you here!" I said.

We scoured the Clearance racks, which had the Gary Jules CD as an import for the ridiculously low price of eight bucks. I was wary since the only song I knew of his was a cover. Kate had found a Senegalese CD. Jesse enjoyed the existence of a compilation of songs for gay bike riders. I managed not to buy anything.

It was now close to two, and I was hungry, not having eaten anything all day. Jesse left us after recommending that we try to find food somewhere other than Times Square. Looking at a map, I had found that the Strand (Kate's desired destination) and the Staten Island ferry (mine, on Nilly's recommendation) were conveniently linear. I suggested we go down to Union Square and walk down towards the Strand, looking for a place to eat.

I saw a giant Jennifer Garner, though, so I had to go take a picture for Melanie, a big Jennifer Garner fan. Conveniently enough, again, the station was right there. Off we went to Union Square.

The Farmer's Market was in full force. We looked for a good place to eat. Any place with the word "Grill" in it would be too expensive. A recently opened sandwich place looked all right, but I could tell Kate didn't think it was New Yorky enough. She said she'd heard about a really good Mexican restaurant in the area. As we walked, we saw a little place called The Enchilada off University and 12th (note: I thought we were on Broadway).

We checked it out, and the prices were right up our alley, and behind the counter were authentic Mexicans presumably preparing authentic Mexican food, so it was a go. I got a burrito and enchilada and a Coke, since I hadn't had one in a long time (the bad fountain Coke I had at the airport didn't count). The food was very good. Kate watched me put too much habanero on my food and not die due to my Indian-born taste buds of steel.

So I don't remember when exactly Kate and I had our Deep Meaningful Conversations. I now remember our talk over ice cream was about India, and where I was from. I said Gujarat; she heard Madras. In any case, she told me about her adventures in Africa, how she'd spent half a year there and fallen in love with the place. She wanted to go back.

I had passed the Strand last night walking down Broadway, and now I couldn't find Broadway. I had no idea where University Place was in relation to anything, besides being close to NYU. I promptly got us a bit lost, making us walk too much, but in the process we saw the building where Emma Lazarus, who had written the inscription on the Statue of Liberty, lived.

We found the Strand on Broadway and 12th. The Strand, the largest used bookstore in the world. Eight miles of books, they said. There were so many, and the shelves were so high you needed ladders to see the books on the top. And there were all kinds. And they were all for sale. Thank goodness I wasn't in a book-buying mood.