My Time Is Running Out
Well well well, once again this country has managed to suprise me with both the sheer rudeness of some of its pepole, as well as the profund kindness of many, often within two miniutes of each other!
On Monday i went for another culture stop down at the famous chicago insitute of art, which was once again very enlightening and had some wonderful pictures including edward hopper's "Nighthawks" which i have always wanted to see. For the afternoon i had planned a vist to the Hancock tower obeservatory however the dense fog and heavy rain colluded to ensure that that plan was a write off so instead i went for a long wander and replaced some much needed items of clothing.
On tuesday i headed off for some relaxation in Indiana staying with my mums great aunt and uncle which was a lot of fun, i now know exctly the key issues in the upcoming Indiana Congress race thanks mainly to the television commercials that are reapeated again and again. Infact one programme was so bad it was like ads with a programme break! Aunty Joan said that i should stay longer so i could appear on Jepordy since i seemed to know all the answers!
After 16 sleepless hours of Greyhound Fun sat next to a lady who could tactfully be described as 'a little larger than average'. However i enjoyed meeting a fun couple from conniticut who offered to share their hamper of food with the entire bus, and would not accept that i had just eaten a large meal and was still full,
However eventually they relented with attempts to force feed me, possibly around the time the bus pulled into a pennsilvania service station (they call them travel plazas here, an odd name that sounds like it should be an italian travel agents with a food court inside). As we were about to unload and pile on mass towards the toilets two police officers boarded the bus, and after a brief word with the driver the officers proceeded to search the bus as apparently they had had some kind of tip off regarding a bag that was on the bus, some kind of wake up call!
Arriving in new york the weather hadn't improved, infact by catching the top end of tropical storm ernesto it was hurrendously rainy, so my plan of the beach was instanteously scuppured so instead i headed to the new york public libuary which was an amazing building and the tour was incredibly interesting, after that i headed off to the museum of modern art as it was 'free friday night' however i was by no means the only one who had had this idea from their guidebook and had to q and subsequently fight my way round with the million or so others. The art was on the whole very good however i didnt enjoy it as much as my two previous dabbles with the art world this trip for two reasons 1) The crowds made looking at a painting for more than 30seconds an exercise in marking ones territory 2) The shere rudeness and poor attitude of all the staff associated with the secuirity and enterance side of things, they obviously had the attitude that they didnt care about customer service as the plebs were being exposed to culture.
On my way back, getting slightly lost and mildly misled by false advertising and possibly a little mix of curiosity i ended up watching an information film about 'Dianetics' in a church of scientology (the one tom cruise is a member of). After there attempts to sell the idea to me, which appeared far too much like that of Sarek in Star Trek V [I can heal your pain. etc.] they also attempted to force me to buy the book, which despite the cover looking like a eschwing volcanoe, i was in no way going to purchase, but it was an interesting expereince none the less!
On saturday the rain was yet to abate so i went down to see the USS. Intrepid museum of sea air and space- an aircraft carrier saved from the scrapyard and turned into a museum (imagine finding bits of that on scrapheap challenge!) which was pretty good at engageing my miltarygeek side, however going on the guided tour was an interesting experience, the guide was a elderly gentleman who was born in romania and then served in the Isreali air force. This meant that infact he knew almost nothing on american military history and frequently made errors that i felt forced to correct him on, some of the more comedic ones including insiting that america was the first nation to enter space! and that the D Day Landings were exclusivley carried out by americans! oh and the one i found most irritating (altough i realise that not many pepole would) was that despite there being a replica statue and a major exhibt on Iwo Jima he didn't know that it was famously 5 Marines and 1 Sailor raising the flag not 6 marines, at this point i was forced to interject if only to preserve my own sanity!
Follwing this in the evening i went to see the absorbing, intriguging and absoultely hilarious film film Little Miss Sushine which i can't wait to see again when it comes out back home.
This morning i went on the tour of the NBC studios ( the company behind saturday night live, ER and formerly friends) Which was good, and definatley indulged my technogeek side and afterwards i went, at the reccomendation of the friendly guy in the NBC store to enjoy watching the US Open Tennis at the Big Screen and seating that had been set up by a corprate sponser along with giant games of Pong! It was a nice way to relax in the sun especially as both the Roddick and Nadal matches proved to be a great spectale and very engaging, as well as the poetic farewell to an emotional Andre Aggasi.
Tomorrow is the day i fly home, im kind of exited now, even if england are ballsing up the cricket and now the main man darren gough is injured it can only get worse.
This is my last post from within the continetal US however i will put up one final farewell when im home on tuesday.
T
On Monday i went for another culture stop down at the famous chicago insitute of art, which was once again very enlightening and had some wonderful pictures including edward hopper's "Nighthawks" which i have always wanted to see. For the afternoon i had planned a vist to the Hancock tower obeservatory however the dense fog and heavy rain colluded to ensure that that plan was a write off so instead i went for a long wander and replaced some much needed items of clothing.
On tuesday i headed off for some relaxation in Indiana staying with my mums great aunt and uncle which was a lot of fun, i now know exctly the key issues in the upcoming Indiana Congress race thanks mainly to the television commercials that are reapeated again and again. Infact one programme was so bad it was like ads with a programme break! Aunty Joan said that i should stay longer so i could appear on Jepordy since i seemed to know all the answers!
After 16 sleepless hours of Greyhound Fun sat next to a lady who could tactfully be described as 'a little larger than average'. However i enjoyed meeting a fun couple from conniticut who offered to share their hamper of food with the entire bus, and would not accept that i had just eaten a large meal and was still full,
However eventually they relented with attempts to force feed me, possibly around the time the bus pulled into a pennsilvania service station (they call them travel plazas here, an odd name that sounds like it should be an italian travel agents with a food court inside). As we were about to unload and pile on mass towards the toilets two police officers boarded the bus, and after a brief word with the driver the officers proceeded to search the bus as apparently they had had some kind of tip off regarding a bag that was on the bus, some kind of wake up call!
Arriving in new york the weather hadn't improved, infact by catching the top end of tropical storm ernesto it was hurrendously rainy, so my plan of the beach was instanteously scuppured so instead i headed to the new york public libuary which was an amazing building and the tour was incredibly interesting, after that i headed off to the museum of modern art as it was 'free friday night' however i was by no means the only one who had had this idea from their guidebook and had to q and subsequently fight my way round with the million or so others. The art was on the whole very good however i didnt enjoy it as much as my two previous dabbles with the art world this trip for two reasons 1) The crowds made looking at a painting for more than 30seconds an exercise in marking ones territory 2) The shere rudeness and poor attitude of all the staff associated with the secuirity and enterance side of things, they obviously had the attitude that they didnt care about customer service as the plebs were being exposed to culture.
On my way back, getting slightly lost and mildly misled by false advertising and possibly a little mix of curiosity i ended up watching an information film about 'Dianetics' in a church of scientology (the one tom cruise is a member of). After there attempts to sell the idea to me, which appeared far too much like that of Sarek in Star Trek V [I can heal your pain. etc.] they also attempted to force me to buy the book, which despite the cover looking like a eschwing volcanoe, i was in no way going to purchase, but it was an interesting expereince none the less!
On saturday the rain was yet to abate so i went down to see the USS. Intrepid museum of sea air and space- an aircraft carrier saved from the scrapyard and turned into a museum (imagine finding bits of that on scrapheap challenge!) which was pretty good at engageing my miltarygeek side, however going on the guided tour was an interesting experience, the guide was a elderly gentleman who was born in romania and then served in the Isreali air force. This meant that infact he knew almost nothing on american military history and frequently made errors that i felt forced to correct him on, some of the more comedic ones including insiting that america was the first nation to enter space! and that the D Day Landings were exclusivley carried out by americans! oh and the one i found most irritating (altough i realise that not many pepole would) was that despite there being a replica statue and a major exhibt on Iwo Jima he didn't know that it was famously 5 Marines and 1 Sailor raising the flag not 6 marines, at this point i was forced to interject if only to preserve my own sanity!
Follwing this in the evening i went to see the absorbing, intriguging and absoultely hilarious film film Little Miss Sushine which i can't wait to see again when it comes out back home.
This morning i went on the tour of the NBC studios ( the company behind saturday night live, ER and formerly friends) Which was good, and definatley indulged my technogeek side and afterwards i went, at the reccomendation of the friendly guy in the NBC store to enjoy watching the US Open Tennis at the Big Screen and seating that had been set up by a corprate sponser along with giant games of Pong! It was a nice way to relax in the sun especially as both the Roddick and Nadal matches proved to be a great spectale and very engaging, as well as the poetic farewell to an emotional Andre Aggasi.
Tomorrow is the day i fly home, im kind of exited now, even if england are ballsing up the cricket and now the main man darren gough is injured it can only get worse.
This is my last post from within the continetal US however i will put up one final farewell when im home on tuesday.
T
posted by Delorean Gray at 4:20 AM
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