Walking across the Manhattan Bridge

Today I decided to go into Chinatown to get my hair cut. I thought it'd be fun to walk instead of taking the train, crossing over the Manhattan Bridge to get into Manhattan. It took me about 15 minutes to get to the bridge, and then I took the pedestrian walkway, which looks like this:


It took about 10 minutes to cross the bridge. I was going at a pretty brisk pace, because I was meeting Jess after she got off work to sit before her class at 6:20. Here are some pictures from the view of the bridge:


Once I got into Manhattan you could see lots of graffiti on the rooftops:


I made it into Chinatown and got a haircut from an older woman. They are mostly Cantonese in Chinatown, but she spoke a bit of Mandarin and I did my best to talk to her. The haircut was only $8. Woohoo!

I started walking North to meet Jessica. On the way I picked up some dumplings. They sell pot stickers 5 for a dollar, which hits the spot. I got some vegetarian ones for jess too. While walking I heard someone yelling '10 dollar, 10 dollar! bike 10 dollar!' A man was trying to sell his bike on the street. I have thought about getting a bike, and 10 dollars was too good of a deal to pass up, so I stopped him and bought the bike. Take a look, can you believe I got it for so cheap?



I met with Jess later and she laughed at my on-road purchase. I gave her the dumplings and we talked a bit before she had to go to class. Then I biked over to the Franklin D Roosevelt highway where people jog and bike along the coast. I found an area with bars and things where people were working out, and I stopped in and did some pullups and pushups. Eventually, I biked back across the bridge home. A good trip!

feeling significance

standing on the sidewalk outside my building and staring up at my newly empty second story apartment i feel it a bit, the feeling of significance. moving everything out my apartment was significant, driving my things down to brooklyn is significant. renting out my place is significant. tonight, in the quiet of my friends condo, when i am finally alone, i feel it a little more, this is significant. my life should be significant.

Moving continued

Everything's been moved out of my condo and as far as I know, my tenant has moved in. I spoke with her briefly on Friday night and left her a desk and my mattress, which I was unable to sell. The rest of the apartment was empty. I didn't have much time to look around and take in the change. I'm in a slight state of shock/disbelief that it's all done.

Late Friday night Jeffrey and I drove his sister's car down with all of my stuff in it. We left around midnight, and arrived close to four in the morning. Surprisingly, Jess was awake. I found her cleaning the bathroom. The apartment was very muggy and hot. We moved everything in, and talked for a few in that early morning hour while we showered. Jeff replaced my shower head with one he had bought me and we went to sleep. In the morning I woke up around 10. Jeff showered and we noticed that the sink was leaking. He mentioned that there was something wrong with the shower, that the pressure was erratic. It appeared he broke the shower's pipe when he replaced the old head. That meant we had to call someone to take down the tile and replace it. What a headache!

So this morning someone is supposed to be fixing it. Poor Jess has to use the bath and splash water on herself instead of showering. Yesterday after eating lunch with Jess I drove back to Northborough to visit my father. I made it in time to see my brother play with his band in a restaurant.

Moving

I"m often unmotivated to write, right when I have the time to do it. Usually it helps to do a little reading, and then I'm right again. It's like reading something good reminds me what I might do with writing.

Much has happened in the last week. I decided to move to New York, and have since put in my resignation at work, and rented out my apartment. Jess looked for apartments in New York, while I showed my own in Boston. I came down this weekend to help her look, and decided on a small two bedroom unit in an area both of us like. The rent is very reasonable, and we have our own yard and an extra room. The living room area is not as large as we'd like it to be (it's a living area combined with kitchen that looks just like a big kitchen), but I think it's a fair compromise. We wrote our checks and sat in the bedroom after they left, excited at the possibilities. I really enjoyed it.

I got a call later from my friend who's acting as my real estate/property manager. He told me he rented it out to a woman who works with autistic children in Newton. I have until Saturday to sell all my things and empty out the apartment. It's so soon! Right now it is a very full house in there, with lots of furniture and things.

Before my tenant moves in I have to:

Packing:
-my clothes into garbage bags and move them to a friend's place
-my computer and electronic equipment:
video and digital camera
audio mixer and microphone, and midi keyboard
Cancel:
Electricity
Cable

Alert:
Condo Management Company
City of Boston