HF

Oh yeah... HOT FUZZ was AWESOME. Especially the last 20 minutes.
-Andy

5 boro bike tour

May 6th. The 5 boro Bike Tour. I started my day with only four hours of sleep. Yeay. I also started my day without allergy medication. Yeay again. At 6:30 am I drove to my friend Nim’s house in brooklyn. We rode our bikes down to Dunkin' Donuts for a healthy pre-ride breakfast. After that we jumped on the D train to get into manhattan. Two years ago I did the ride from staten island, but I had to wait for the ferry, in the rain for 2 hours! I didn't want to do that so the train was a good call. So we got off the train at Grand St. and stop to buy a bunch of bananas. They give out bananas, oranges and water along the route but sometimes they run out, so we brought our own stash. Heading down canal st. we saw the bike tour going up 6th ave. Not wanting to join yet, we headed up west broadway. A couple of other riders joined us up to west 4th. On the train Nim realized he didn't take his allergy medicine either, so after joining the tour we stopped a couple of blocks into it, to get some Claritin D in Duane Read. After we took our meds, I headed into Starbuck next door for a pit stop, and grabbed a cold double shot on the way out. Now were ready. Nope! Nim was cold and had to put his long sleeve shirt back on. So there we were on w8th., missed the start, and not really caring about this thing. Now a painful ride uptown. This part is not fun.Not physically painful... There are way too many riders, riding way too slow, making me mad. And it was at this point that I remembered, why I didn't do this last year. We got too frustrated so we cut across town to broadway and made our own route. A couple of other people followed us, but it looked like they were not from NY ’cause they were freaking out. I actually felt safer riding with the cars than on the closed off streets with the other cyclist. Then into central park. Also, not fun. It's seems like most of these people got there bikes the day before. Constant gear shifting, all you hear is clicking, and me yelling, "STOP SHIFTING!! JUST PEDAL!!!!" The second half of the ride is alot better, 'cause I guess I passed most of the slow riders. We took our time during the second half. We stopped to stretch, toilet and banana. 3 1/2 hours of actual pedaling time for the 40-mile trip. I felt the same way I did last time I did it. It's fun to pass all the people with their fancy cycling outfits, and yelling at all the slow riders, but it's just not worth it. This is a very cool event, for the fact that you can ride your bike on many roads and bridges that you can't usually ride on. And that people come from all over to ride through the five boro's of the greatest city in the world. I guess I’m just lucky that I call it home.
-Andy

NYC

So as I take another sip from my latte, I cannot stop hearing the voice-over, monologue in my head, describing every moment. Like a bad episode of Sex and the City, I can't help but wonder why I am feeling this way. Maybe it's happening because I am sitting in a Starbucks drinking a grande latte and blogging on my new MacBook Pro. Yep. You heard me. I am now one of those low-life’s who think they look so cool on their laptops, being all trendy. The question is, why am I doing it? No! The question is, why are we all doing it? Why are people in New York City doing it?
New York has been a trend-setting city from the beginning. Why are we taking trends from Seattle, of all places? New Yorkers aren't supposed to order lattes. In New York you go to the smelly, disgusting bodega, on the corner and get a smelly disgusting cup of coffee, which taste great, grab the paper all for under $1, and sit on a graffiti-ed bench, or what was once a bench. In New York, you set the trends. In New York, you call people out for copying trends. I'm sure next time I see some of the readers of this blog I will be called out. But why should I care.
What is a trend, and what makes someone so trendy? Unfortunately, some people may call me trendy. The thing with New York is that sometimes you can't help but follow the trendy fashions and activities. I went to The New School, not as trendy as NYU, but not far off. When being in Manhattan every day, it's hard to not be trendy. The first day of school I remember wearing kakis and a flannel-like, button-down shirt. Upon looking around the orientation room, I felt like I was from the mid-west. People looked at me weird, when I said I was from New York. So maybe it's not just following trend. Maybe it's just dressing the part. Look like the place your from. But I'm a New Yorker, and we don't feel pressure to fit in. In New York anything goes. Only In New York! Does that saying carry any weight anymore? I think so. I am constantly saying that to my out-of-town friends. People always comment that I don't have a New York accent. I've been here all my life and I just don't talk that way. But the crazy thing is that a lot of people are not originally from here. Do people bring the trends? This starbucks thing. Who brought this with them? Maybe it’s just the corporate world, gently turning every major city into the same place. The time square area disgusts me, as it does many natives. I'm not that old to know the seedy part of it, but it affects me the same.
In New York you want to be in the 'in' crowd. Not so much the celebrity thing, but doing things that makes this city the greatest in the world. Catching the greatest art and music. Just being there. So you can say, "oh yeah, I was there. It's around the corner of my friends place." It's about knowing the great, secret dive bar. And where the best falafel is. And not caring about where DeNiro lives, 'cause you'll bump into him at the bodega getting coffee.
Back to me.
Why am I doing this? Proudly displaying my Apple logo in Starbucks. Maybe it's the fact that I have the latest and greatest technology, and I want to show it off. That's the New York way. Maybe I DO want to fit into a category of people that they base TV shows, movies and commercials about. What am I supposed to do? Most of my clothes are black, a 45 minute commute is fast, I eat dinner at nine o’clock, I don’t go to a club before 11:30, I go to sleep in the am, I’ll gladly pay 6 dollars for a beer and I go to the movies alone. I know 14 different way to get from point A to B, depending on where point B is and what time of day, what local subway to avoid and what side of the street I should enter the subway. I know what street vender to stay away from. And what sidewalk to avoid and where and when to cross the street. Maybe I’m doing all of this because I am just a New Yorker. And this is part of it. If I wasn’t in starbucks with my MacBook Pro I would still be trendy. Just the fact that I live in NYC means I’m trendy. Well, not as trendy as the people that live in Williamsburg. Why do people move here? It’s because we’re trendy. New York City is the greatest city in the world. Best food, art, music, sports, shops, nightlife, architecture, schools and jobs.
So, here I am in Starbucks drinking my trendy drink, wearing my trendy jacket, typing away on my trendy laptop, with my trendy messenger bag at my feet, just trying to figure out why. And the answer I guess is, Why Not? I am a New Yorker. And this is what I do. This is my life. And whatever you call me, ‘trendy’, ‘poser’, low-life’, ‘yuppie’, 'hipster', ‘metrosexual’, ‘dufus’, ‘wannabe’, whatever you say, I say: "I'M FROM NEW YORK, AND I SET THE TRENDS!!!"
-Andy