Peter’s Blog V2

The Times Square ball drop is one of the biggest events in the world on New Year’s Eve, and the ball that drops is practically right outside my office window on a year-round basis.  This New Year’s Eve, over the option of staying home to play video games with myself, I chose to commute into the city and exercise a privilege that many would dream to have, by staring at the silly ball from the comfort and warmth of my office.

As you might remember from my post last year, Times Square on NYE is all about police work.  A pretty large chunk of the city around the ball is barricaded at every street intersection.  Very few, such as guests with proof of staying at a hotel within the area, can cross the police line and all their belongings have to be searched.  Hundreds of others stay on this side of the police line staring hopelessly into the distance.  Cops get tired explaining all day how, in theory as if there’s still space available, to detour into Times Square.

I’m not a fan of that Times Square ball, but always love the lights on Sixth Avenue:

Sixth Avenue from above:

The ball (the dot of light) from 42nd floor:

The ball (note how it changes colors) from the 34th floor:

Times Square at 46th Street.  Those ant-sized dots underneath the American Eagle ad are crazy tourists who had probably been standing there since noon.

Had McDonald’s for dinner.  For some reason, they think by printing blue lizzard people on my food would enhance my appetite.

Here’s the nearby McDonald’s with some crazy crowd of customers.  Note the security guard that restricts access to the upstairs seating area.  Hey, this is New York.  Even a McDonald’s has to have heavy security!

While waiting for the moment to take this picture, someone who I assumed to be a student-tourist from Taiwan, pointed to my cup and asked whether I had seen the movie Avatar.  We then exchanged some mildly excited thoughts on the movie, and the fact that he saw it in IMAX 3D (which I pointed out must be at Lincoln Center).  The Eve is one of the few occassions when it’s appropriate for a New York person to respond to a random and pointless inquiry and actually carry out a conversation that lasts over 5 seconds.

Haven’t updated my blog in a while so here’s a half-assed quick round-up of interesting things that happened.  Gotta do this before 2010 hits!

On Nov 14, Hong took me ice skating for the very first time.  It was supposedly disappointing that I didn’t fall on my ass.

On Nov 21, I participated in my first Chinese Harp recital.  I messed up my song terribly but at least I can now say I’ve done a music recital.

Thanksgiving was spent at Dennis’s house with a subset of our large family network.  Not sure why Ariel and CS weren’t in this picture.

The first turduken I’ve tasted.  There were a lot of firsts this November.

Hong and I also (for the first time) learned to play mah jong.  It was sort of like deeds done for senior appreciation day as we appeared so dumb and slow next to Grandma and Anita’s dad.

We watched two awesome movies – Jim Carey’s Christmas Carol and James Cameron’s Avatar.  The similarity that they share is the amazing blend of computer graphics with actual film.  It was hard not to think that they drew Jim Carey by hand and captured those blue people on film.

On Dec 19, the East Coast had a blizzard supposedly most severe since 1996.  I assume that means the biggest snow I have ever seen in my life.  Shoveling driveways sure brought back memories.

Christmas was spent with Hong’s family.  Here’s a group picture after the fun-filled gift exchange session:

On my birthday, a bunch of coworkers took me out to a very nice lunch.   Here’s the cake that Lauren got me:

Adding to the list of subway signs that should trigger an alarm: when a dozen people pour out of one door as you attempt to board at a non-attraction station.

We have all learned by experience to avoid empty subway cars, half-empty cars, and dark ones.  But when I boarded this afternoon finding myself among a number of brave passengers who refused to evacuate, they were all covering their noses with scarves, sweaters, and jackets.  My NYC survival instincts were slow as I was distracted trying to locate a seat, but at least I realized in time that I’d be better off not sitting down. At first the subway car was filled with an aroma of some sort of feast featuring lots of onions; then the aroma turned into something more like a post-feast person having either thrown up all over the floor or taken a dump in his pants.  Since nothing was immediately visible on the floor, I assumed the latter.

I joined the other passengers to make a funny face while controlling my breathing to a minimum, thanking myself for planning to get off at the very next stop and MTA for not having another “we’re being delayed because of train traffic ahead of us” moment.