Brooklyn

Today I had the pleasure of seeing my grandmother's old brownstone in Brooklyn Heights. One of her favorite dinnertime rants is about that place and how much money she would have accumulated if she sold it t0day instead 50 years ago. I guess I can't blame her for dwelling on that dwelling. Brooklyn Heights is quiet and beautiful- quieter than Manhattan, at the very least. Her old brownstone appears to have been remodeled recently because it looks newer than the ones on the other side of the street. I made Josh take pictures of the place, despite the fact that we could see the tenants through the window. Like I said to them earlier, if I have to pee on their front stoop to claim back that place in the name of DeLano, so be it.
We ate breakfast at a place called Jacks. Or Jeffs. I can't remember and I choose not to try and figure it out using the wealth of resources at my disposal. I am once again bitter at the choice I made (because who could have guessed eggs, peas, refried beans and ham on the same plate would be a disappointment).
Writing things like that makes me feel spoiled. At least I get to eat breakfast, right? It's easy to forget one's fortunes.
I'm just saying, that ham could have found a better home, like the mouth of a homeless person. Is that a bad thing to say?

...Racist

Today started like the rest with Austin murmuring sweet nothings to no one from his twin bed. I responded to his words, fully aware that he was asleep. Josh slept through the whole thing, blissfully unaware.

One of the things Austin spouted off in his half- asleep state was "someone else take the torch." I supposed, rightfully, that he was referring to the fact that he wanted someone else to wake up first and take the first shower. It's interesting to me that he speaks in strange cliches, even while sleeping.

Anyway, we woke up and we were running a little later than we expected to and barely made it to our NBC tour, bagels in hand. My everything bagel was especially cream-cheesy.

The NBC tour was entertaining. It was led by NBC Paiges and I made a point to ask about 30 Rock and whether or not they admired Kenneth. They don't, for the record.

My favorite part of the tour, aside from the gift shop, was a moment in the beginning of the tour when a sassy black woman interrupted the tour guide who was talking about a news room on the other side of a set of windows. She said in the rudest way imaginable, "How are we supposed to see what you are talking about." To that the tour guide replied "move closer". And to the woman Austin whispered "Fuck you". At the end of the tour (which included a view of SNL's stage- where James Franco filmed today, and the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon stage) Austin and the sassy black woman both agreed to participate in an activity, which turned out to be a faux news report. The SBW tried to do the weather but turned out to an uncoordinated epic failure, while Austin shined (literally, he was shiny on the HD TVs) as the news reporter.

The NBC tour was a good experience all in all. We bought tickets for it at the same time as the Top of the Rock tickets as a package deal, which turned out to be cheaper.

Did I mention the Top of the Rock and its incredibleness? Let me remind you.... It was Incredible.

Anyway, after we left NBC studios, we walked around 5th ave and Madison ave. We strolled through Debeers and Tiffany's, weeping a tear for each of the diamonds we will never be able to afford.

Josh had 2 coffees today, which excites me greatly. I have made a lover out of him! We both now have "our" drinks that we get at Starbucks. See world, we are trendy!

We walked through central park just as the snow began falling. We already anticipated a great amount of snow, and so far we have not been disappointed. Snow has been falling all day. It really is as fluffy and beautiful and I imagined it to be. Granted, I have seen it before, but never like this. there are already 6 inches on the ground and 6 more anticipated. Apparently there hasn't been this much snow since 2006! I was so excited to hear that a storm was coming through, though many locals did not feel the same way I am sure. It didn't even feel that cold outside... its really only the wind that gets to you.

We ate dinner at this fabulous Japanese place called Tenzan, and I drank vodka and cranberry with great enthusiasm. The food was special to my heart. Josh and Austin really loved lunch. We ate at the restaurant that we had intended to dine at the other night, when all of the Crime Scene trucks were around. Flor de Mayo was good for them, and alright for me (because I ordered wrong again, much to Josh's chagrin). He has worked very hard with Yelp this trip to ensure that we eat at the Yelpiest places in town. The yelping has been provided us with amazing food, and thus I plan to Yelp prior to our next trip. Yelp Yelp.

We saw Invictus today with Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon and it was incredible... by the way. That is all there is to say about that.

Today's crowning jewel, though, did not involve the food or NBC studios. As we left the Japanese restaurant in in pursuit of another theater to satisfy Austin's insatiable desire for overpriced oscar-worthy movies, we came across a man shoveling snow away from the sidewalk. Austin said to him in spanish, "Gracias por lo que haces" or, "Thank you for it that you do." The guy responded with something about it being his job.

Later, we were approaching two other street shovelers. Austin encouraged me to thank them too, in spanish... so I did. With great, unabashed ardor.

To this I received the following gem: "I speak English... you are racist".

To this Austin replied: "Well then, THANK you for all that you do... giggle."

And we ran. We ran all the live long night.

That's a lie... we are in our hotel room warm and itchy. Well, I'm warm and my legs are itchy. That's about it.

Bad Romance.

Lady Gaga has been, unsurprisingly, the guest star on this trip so far. Allow me to explain.

Last year during our trip to NYC, we had an array of "guest stars" join us for the duration of the trip. These were the lucky souls who were quoted, imitated, or otherwise mentioned throughout the trip for the purpose of our amusement. The one guest star from NY last year that outshines the rest is probably Austin's mother; her name was mentioned quite often because she was responsible for the scarf that shed all over Brendan and Austin throughout the entire trip.

"Your mother is all over me" was the winning line as far as I'm concerned. There were others, but most too foul to repeat, involving a chalice of BS and "The _____ story." Thats about all I am at liberty to say.

In San Francisco, Beyonce was our guest star because we listened to Ego and watched that music video at least three times a day all week. And I'm (we're*) not sorry.

Anyway, this trip Lady Gaga is our guest star. I just decided that a few hours ago when Austin came out of the restroom at the top of Rockerfeller Center with the following to say:

"I was in my stall minding my own business, humming Lady Gaga Ra-ra-oh-ra-ra, when the guy in the stall next to me finished the bar. We continued to have this conversation about Lady Gaga, where he told me what song he preferred. It was strange. I couldn't perform after that".

So for now, until I am otherwise inspired, Lady Gaga is the guest star.

Yesterday was a pleasant day, though not for Austin who woke up with a sinus infection. He too proceeded to the Duane Reade pharmacy for some impromptu medical attention. Now that we are both happily on meds for our various ailments, Josh is proudly the only one left who isn't taking antibiotics. I hope he isn't next. After Austin woke up and informed us he wasn't able to move from the bed because his head hurt so badly, Josh and I decided to head over to Greenwich Village to get something to eat and explore. It was shockingly windy over there (well, not just over there I am sure but I distinctly remember the gusts of wind.) We ate at this little diner that overfed the beejesus out of us. We both ordered lunch specials and received enough food to feed the rat population of NYC. I had lasagna (in a boat-shaped vessel) and Josh had a thanksgiving dinner, AKA the roast beef platter. We left feeling tired and full.

I then tried to find a public bathroom, thinking it would be an acceptable thing for me to ask of the city of NY. I was wrong, and I waited in a line at The World Market for about 30 minutes (no joke). While Josh waited for me he claims he saw about 30 Zooey Dechenel clones, which I believe because of our proximity to NYU. After that little bit of amusement-park style waiting, we left the village and headed back to midtown for some FAO Shwartz and Disney Store action. Both were immensely satisfying. All in all, we had a good time.

We tracked down Austin later in the night. We planned to meet up at this restaurant on 83rd and Amsterdam, he coming from his clinic visit and us coming from the hotel. Alas, as we approach the restaurant that Josh chose after meticulously researching for about 20 minutes we noticed that there was a few cop cars. As we got even closer we saw the two Crime Scene Vans parked directly in front of the restaurant we had chosen. Suddenly all of the news vans that surrounded the area came into focus; we tried to figure out what was going on by tuning into the news reporters. A voice from near the Fox news van was discernible above the rest: " Investigators are trying to figure out why 3 generations of a family were wiped out in this apartment complex behind me..."

We kept walking so I didn't get to hear the end of that broadcast. We read the paper at breakfast this morning to try and get the story, which ended up being a horrifying one. The New York Post was horrifying in itself and not at all like the paper in Saint Augustine.

Breakfast, however, was delicious. We ate at the same restaurant from the other morning called "Good Enough To Eat" with all of its mock-country decorations. The music today was less country though, which made for a more pleasant meal (at least for Josh).

After breakfast we headed to this park in the Meat Packing District that was just recently created from an old train path. It's kind of hard to explain, but it is absolutely gorgeous and it was such a relief to find a serene spot in the city. I guess when I have moments like the one I had in this park I realize just how much I value peace and quiet. I love the juxtaposition of nature and city, and I felt a very small bit of that at this park. I hate to even call it a park because it isn't a lush green field or play place. It's more of A Spot. A Spot you journey to because its just that nice.

After we left The Spot, Josh tried his first coffee (hooray!) at Starbucks and we proceeded to the Top of the Rock where Lady Gaga made her debut as our honorary guest. It was absolutely breath taking (of course) and I enjoyed every second of the view. It didn't feel nearly as cold as I anticipated and Josh took a dozen awesome pictures. He has such an eye for photography. I, however, have an eye for gorgeousness which is why most of my pictures are of him and the buildings below (that was a bit of an affectionate shout-out, I apologize). Austin and I had fun dancing and posing in mostly undesirable positions. It was a really great trip to the Top of the Rock... and the sun setting was the icing on the cake.

Dinner was absolutely incredible. We ate a place called John's Pizza in midtown and hot dam it was amazing. Thin pizza=many slices to the dome.

And now I am here, uploading pictures and sitting cozily in a twin sized bed. Tomorrow night a snow storm is expected. Here's hoping (for just enough snow to satisfy my desire, but not enough to upset the flow of things)!

Wednnnnnnesday

Today was a nice and well-rounded day. It started off with breakfast at a cute little diner, which was supposed to be "southern". To achieve this "southern" look, they had cows all over the walls and the word moo plastered everywhere... it was awesome. The food was amazing though. We then sub-wayed over to Time Square where I went to the Duane Reade clinic to get a quick little check up! That was nice and really convenient. After handling the medical stuff we wandered all around the area, surrounded by thousands of eager tourists doing the same.

A highlight of the day (and possibly the source of my future nightmares) was the Charmin stop-and-go bathroom facility in Time Square. Apparently Charmin donated this public restroom to the city (because it is the only public restroom in time square). It was quite the advertisement for sure. It was a surreal experience. We were greeted by dancers and obnoxious music, led up 3 flights of stairs and funneled into a room that looked like a club. There were people everywhere, most in line to use the facilities. There was a roped off section that kept the line in order, and a bathroom bouncer that directed you to the next available stall. There was a ball pit, the kind you see at McDonalds (or saw, back in the 90's when hygiene was optional), only instead of balls there were fake rolls of toilet paper. There was also a giant toilet that people sat on to be photographed by the staff. none of this was nearly as exciting as the inside of the bathroom stall, which was completely closed off like a little outhouse and held 2 flat screen t.vs and 6 different kinds of charmin. I had the privilege of listening to strangers talk about their feelings towards going to the bathroom and saw their oddly eager faces in hi-def.

Don't believe me? View the picture.

Alright, enough about that. Onto more important topics, like the block of Elmo's that we saw.

Backstory: You know how sometimes you go to a place like, I don't know, Disney and there are people in elaborate costumes? Well, we were on 5th avenue or something and as we were walking we saw an Elmo and a Cookie Monster posing with some children. Naturally we were intrigued and rushed the pair of them, knocking the children aside with no regrets. We posed with Cookie Monster and Elmo and laughed and smiled like it was Christmas (oh wait, it almost is) and then went on our merry way... until about 5 feet later when there was another Elmo, sitting on a fire hydrant. It was then we noticed that all of the Elmo's and Cookie Monsters, and the newly visible Tiger, Pooh, and a haggard Minnie Mouse, were wearing backpacks and/or holding stockings and taking donations. Suddenly what the first Elmo slurred to us as we walked away made sense "donacheihgasn" was acutally "donations please". It was simply obscured by his heavy accent. As we walked away we heard the security stationed near Rockerfeller center asked one of the Elmo's to leave.

NBC studios was amazing. There were many tee shirts that I would love to get my hands on, particularly the 30-Rock shirt with the phrase "I want to go to there". As my luck would have it, right as I decided to go to the bathroom in the downstairs area (a charmin-free zone), Mr. Big from Sex and the City walked by! Josh and Austin saw him. We also saw a few other celebrities, including Richard Kind (walking alone down Broadway), Harvey Weinstein, and Rob Marshall. The last two we saw at the Lincoln theater a few hours ago. We were there to see a showing of Up in the Air (which was really a great movie) and while we were waiting in the lobby the pair of them, accompanied by many other important people, were making their way through the lobby towards a special conference room for a Q&A session about Rob Marshall's movie Nine. The best part of the whole thing: Austin's obsession Marion Cotillard was there too, in our theater, but we didn't see her.

An unexpected turn

Well, some unfortunate things have come to light. I have an annoying ailment that is preventing me from rocking out hard core in the city and I will probably have to go to a clinic tomorrow. I'll spare you the details... just know that I'm bummed!

Today we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and it was just the right thing for a sort of lazy day. We took our time. I particularly enjoyed the Egyptian section... corner... shrine, whatever you want to call it. I wasn't kidding about the shrine. There are some serious monuments in that place.

Josh and Austin have been napping for a few hours, but I couldn't sleep because of my new unfortunate love for coffee (well, fortunate in some respects). We ate at a neat little diner across the street, and we will probably head out for dinner soon.

I really like our hotel. It has a lot of character... a bathroom shared between 4 rooms and 2 twin beds. It has a flat screen t.v., so really theres no need for anything else.

Wish me luck as I once again deal with a stupid little sickness that presents itself at the WORST TIME EVER.

Airport

6:30 am- JAX

Just sat down at the airport and I am staring out the window. Our plane looks small, which makes me nervous. We should be landing in Newark at around 830. I look forward to the imminent chaos of New York! It will be especially energetic around Christmastime, according to Austin. More later!

So I don't forget- Stop-motion animation

To make stop-motion animation:

-Use video camera and a program to capture the images (what was the name of that program again? haha), you press the space bar repeatedly to capture image which you can see on the screen of the computer (so you don't have to look through camera)

-Upload all images at once to imovie, and put all at once into timeline.