Journal post - after work randomness in Manhattan & the commute home
Got out of work about 5:20p. Anne took the kids to see her parents and was coming home after dinner, so I had some time to do what I like to do...wander & explore new & exciting things in NYC.
Headed down to finally check out Chinatown Video Fair. One of the only old school arcades in Manhattan located in deep Chinatown on Mott St. I was disappointed to see only about 30 machines total. No Pac Man, no Star Wars, and mostly ...sad about ...no Galaga. I did however have a decent game of Missile Command. After I bought the card (correct, no quarters in this place) I think the one game cost me at least 75 cents. That's a lot since this place is pretty dumpy. The glare off the screen was tremendous (see pix). May have to bring big blanket to cover myself and the machine next time. Only mostly kidding. ;0) That particular machine also has Millipede and Centipede. Remember those? I ended up getting my name on the high score board with a score that's less than great. There was a cool looking Dj game that I may have to try next time.
From there I traveled through Chinatown and noticed another big whoops on Apple Maps on my 2 week old iPhone 5. There were train/subway entrances missing! I was standing in front of a couple of them in Chinatown and Apple Maps didn't have anything for a couple blocks away. Wow. Bummer. Thankfully they are improving/fixing it daily. I checked Bing and there they were.
I looked around this busy bakery to see what I could see. It was all in Cantonese (ill tell you how I know in a minute) and some of the signs in the food cases were in English. I asked lady #1 if they had anything that had some apple in it. Figuring that would be safe. She looked at me long and hard. Hmm. "What?" she says in her broken English. "Apple." She looks at me again, nods yes and then calls to the other girl at a different counter. She says something to her and them she looks at me. I say to lady #2, "anything with apple?" Another long hard stare. She points to different things in her case. Pork buns, things that look like sweet bread, but no apple. So I go back to the first lady and ask for one of the small chicken (pot) pies for $1.50. She says ok. She asks the other lady about my request. She points to the other lady. I try one more time with the new lady. Apple?! I pretended to pick an apple from a tree and take a bite. Then lady #3 came to me. What would you like sir? "Oh, good" I thought. Do you have anything with apple inside? She looked at me long and hard and then a long pause. I smile and think bummer. Oh wait, I got this! I ask them Cantonese? Mandarin? One lady says. "Cantonese" in a happy tone! I whip out my iPhone, click on Google. Click the microphone and say, "translate apple in Cantonese." Unfortunately I got a few apple apps to translate. Oh well. I tried. She is waiting for me to say something. She says again, "How about a chicken pie? Pork pie?" "No, that's ok, I already have a chicken pie. Thank you." I left with a big smile and thought to myself that was awesome. And Anne is going to be happy with her treat. As I continue my walk home, I walk by a (possibly) drunk homeless guy trying to stick his hand in a chinaman's food cart. The homeless man very slowly tried to persuade the Chinaman to give him some food. It wasn't happening. I saw random Thai dancers in Columbus park doing their thing. I had a slice of pizza at Sal's just North of Chinatown. There must be at least 20 different pizza places named Sals. I shall eat there to pay respect to my good friend Sal Santiago. It's as good excuse as any to eat pizza. $3 and it was good. Not great, but pretty standard and fresh. Have you seen my NYC pizza pizza list? It's good. I'll post it. Hopefully soon, only if you promise to comment and let me know what your favorite slices are.I can't believe I haven't been to Roio's. The place where my old favorite Rays was on the corner of 11th and 6th. I walked up one of my favorite streets (Crosby) in all of NYC and made sure the very cool and relatively new Crosby Street Hotel (This video is pretty awesome with the making of. The lightning scene is pretty darn cool. Love the music) was still looking cool and it was.
Lahore Deli, just south of Houston, ia hole in the wall that serves Pakistani food, was still there. The diversity of the businesses of this street is one of the many things I love about this street.
On my way home, I gave 50 cents to a homeless lady who had a really cool fresh looking daisy in her coin cup. Not to mention her really clear communication skills. Hm. Ok.Took the F train home to 74th St/Roosevelt and then the Q49 bus. Got home in time for a super hug from my number #1 son. Blessed.
