Other than getting temporarily off-track trying to find the ferry terminal in New Jersey, the trip went well. When I saw the city skyline, I was overcome by the sheer scope of it and the nearly-surreal feeling that comes with seeing it with one's own eyes for the first time.
I completely expected to get lost, or at the very least, on the wrong bus. But no... once I stepped off the bus, I walked up a few blocks and wound up exactly where I wanted to be. So far, so good. There was a movie being filmed, so I hung out a while watching that and chatting up security and photographers and policemen, all of whom were alternately hilarious, snarky and surprisingly friendly. Actually, everyone I spoke to, passersby and officials alike, were much more polite and friendly than I'd expected. I'd always believed what everyone said about New Yorkers having bad attitudes and it was a shock to learn that wasn't always the case.
Unless, of course, the attitudes referred to were those of people behind the wheel of a vehicle. Holy clusterfuck, Batman! Anyone who drives in the city has to be a schizo. One personality when outside a car, and a psycho-seething-roadrage-suicidal personality when inside one. People really DO drive on the sidewalks. Street signs, traffic lights and lane markers are arbitrary, apparently. And forget anything you've heard about crazy cabbies... the real lunatics are the bus drivers. I felt safer on the bus than I did anywhere else, because it was huge, had battle scars down the sides, and the driver didn't stop for any twit blocking an intersection. He just kept moving and expected everyone else to get the hell out of the way. Which they did. The gods of NYC are bus drivers, says me.
I met up with a friend who took me around to Grand Central Station and Times Square. At one point we passed a pie shop. Okay, wrong, it is impossible for me to PASS a pie shop. I bought pie. And why wouldn't I buy a pie on my first trip to NYC? Because, obviously. It's PIE. (Apple, natch.)
En route to a diner to meet up with my friend's lady, we passed the Sondheim Theater, where the Pee-Wee Herman Show was just letting out. We joined a group near the stage door and then Pee-Wee came out (in character) and talked to everyone for a bit. PEE-WEE FUCKIN' HERMAN. My inner child was delirious. Can a first impression of New York get any better?
Yes. Yes, it can. My friend and his lady were the best part of the trip. I won't name names, but I can say I felt a bit star-struck. I could just sit and absorb the character and aura of those two for hours. They're legends in their fields, accomplished and intelligent and insanely funny. Deadpan humor reigned. One of them was someone whose work I admired going back a good twenty years or more and the other... I can't even describe her. Simply fabulous. I was in awe. Yeah, I saw Sam Worthington and Kyra Sedgwick on the movie set. Big mofokin' deal. I was more impressed by my companions at the diner. Amazing people and I'm thrilled to have met them.
TL;DR:
- Went to NYC for 1st time
- Saw famous people
- Met friends
- Got pie
- Didn't get run over
- Reaffirmed hatred of New Jersey
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