I always tend to get an early morning start on my travel. And this trip was no exception. I was up at 2:30 in the morning, and the earliest flight I could take left at 6:30, which is a lot layer than usual. I was actually quite fortunate; I got the next to last seat available. I was only the fourth standby on the list out of 14 people, so only 5 people got got out. And from what I heard, the next three flights looked to be oversold as well. So there's no question that I was fortunate.
The day was quite hot for May in New York. The temperature reached 90 degrees and people seemed to act like it was already Memorial Day. The traffic getting from LaGuardia into Northern Manhattan was bumper-to-bumper all the way through. I was able to catch the 6 express train, which got me into the Bronx faster than normal. After cleaning up and changing my clothes, I headed back into Manhattan. I took the 6 train down to Grand Central, and from there I walked to 37th and 3rd to Sarge's Deli. On my way though, I saw that 41st Street was shut down in both directions to allow emergency vehicles to pass through. I had no idea what was going on. Soon after, I found out about the tragedy about the motorist, who drove recklessly into a swarm of pedestrians at Times Square, injuring almost two dozen people and killing an 18 year old girl. I was surprised people were asking me if I was alright.
It was pretty good to see my father. Even though our relationship is rather superficial, the in-person conversations at least seem to go better than the phone conversations. We both had huge sandwiches, I had a corned beef, turkey and roast beef triple decker with Swiss cheese, lettuce, and tomato. I think they forgot my Russian dressing. The service was certainly not the best, we had a sixty-year-old woman server who I don't think knows that it's a good thing to smile sometimes. It took her awhile, but she eventually refilled our iced teas and brought us the extra pickles and napkins that we requested. And as a Yelp reviewer, I got a 10% discount off the bill. That saved us a whole 7 bucks.
From there, we went to Bryant Park and just did some people watching. I wished I had taken a board game with me. I explained the rules of Farkle, which is a dice game I learned from an ex, hopefully we'll play that next time. Around mid-afternoon, he headed back to New Jersey. I had some time to kill so I decided to do some clothes shopping at Macy's. I had no intention of buying anything, it was really just to look around. I considered buying a pair of Greg Norman shorts, but decided against it. I didn't feel too good about returning them if I changed my mind about keeping them.
One of the things I noticed during the day was how conscious I was of my phone's battery power. It seemed I would turn it off for 2 hours at a time just to conserve energy. As helpful as cell phones are, they can add a certain level of stress to the day.
I took the A train up to Port Authority, right near Times Square. And I walked over to Shorty's, which is a Philly style bar that had a happy hour going on. All of their beers: draft, can, and bottled, cost just five bucks. The heat was sweltering outside, so this was no day for an IPA or even an Amber ale. I downed 2 super tall Blue Moons with ease and they completely hit the spot. I also ordered a chicken cheesesteak with provolone, onions, and mushrooms. One of the things I like about this place is they imported the bread from Philadelphia and they bake it on the premises themselves. It was a good sandwich, but I thought the onions overwhelmed the chicken. I had conversation with a guy at the bar named Anwar, who had a really long beard and just quit his job in shoe promotions. We talked about work issues, the different ways that the cities of Chicago and Philadelphia are divided racially. It was a pretty good conversation.
Then I took the 1 train down to Christopher Street to go to Smalls jazz club. I sat in the third row after paying my $20 cover and listened to a jazz piano trio play for about an hour. I sat next to a statuesque Asian girl who's actually a singer and jazz composer. She gave me her name, so I will check out her music on iTunes. My ticket also included admission to another jazz bar, right across 7th Avenue. This band was just a piano, bass player, and a female vocalist. I heard them do about 4 songs, but decided not to order another drink. It was getting close to 9 o'clock. After being up 20 hours, I felt that was enough for one day.
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