the real man of steel

So i'm sitting here watching Ironman after a day at home (relaxing, though not necessarily by choice, after another interesting sleepless night – I've just been told (slightly less eloquently) that I have a face like two pee holes in snow... beautiful analogy)
Jace (the 8year old grandkid) just got back from a day at the mall with his grandma so I, by great personal sacrifice, helped him build one of his lego models he brought back (I forgot how much fun they were.)
I'm shattered and have done less than nothing today, but am loving Ironman (now he was a great marvel hero, none of the faffy tights or capes.)

i may later put it all down to delusions

i've been a little under the weather since i got back from london (hence the lack of blogging since looking at a computer screen made me nauseous) and today was coerced into going to the doctors. im fine it's just a combination of infections and congestions that im putting down to flying too much lately (that many people in a confined space = theme park for cheeky wee germs.)
but going to the doctors is not something i like to do, especially not in a foreign country. the experience was altogether unnerving.
after getting through all the insurance stuff i was thrown into a world that felt very much like 'garth marenghi's dark place'* where i was treated by a nurse that fell out of the late 80's followed by 'dr nick' from 'the simpsons.'
i always presumed that the writers of such shows had fantastic imaginations but now... not so much. you just have to live a day here to experience the bizarre and surreal first hand.


*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNfQ0ORwSDM

how to cure jetlag

i got back to new york last night after going to london for a few days. so today was spent catching up with myself and staying awake. i'll catch everyone else up with myself tomorrow.
i'm going to shea stadium (hopefully to watch a game this time instead of being washed out of one) again tonight and leaving very soon so i'm afraid i'll have to leave it short but sweet.
needless to say, i had a fantastic time in london but it was really nice to come back. (esp when you're welcomed back with some very big hugs and exclamations of "and where have you been?!! and "welcome home!")

feelin pretty blessed

an australian, an indian, a scot and a little chinese girl are on a train...

new york is nothing if it's not diverse. i love it. from race to lifestyle there's such a wide range of people here it's fantastic.

yesterday after church i hopped on the train (with our new friend from india since he was heading back into the city then anyway) to go meet a great friend of mine i met in taiwan. (she's korean by origin, grew up in LA, worked in taipei last year where i met her (although i lived well out of the city) and is in the city studying at the mo... amazing!)

for being such a huge place the world sure does seem quite small at times.

so last night we met up. it was like we hadn't been apart had such a great time with her (ending up in a korean church again for part of the evening - it may be a conspiracy - which met in an old cathedral type place) drinking coffee and chatting muchly for most of the evening before crashing at hers and coming home this afternoon. i love it when people cross paths with you for the sole purpose of encouraging and strengthening you (and potentially vice versa) for a bit, it always makes me realise how much the big guy's looking out for me and my friends.

for being such a huge place the world sure does seem quite small at times.

and then there was shea

last night was a moment to be remembered.
i was going to participate (all be it as a viewer) in a historic match; one of the last games to be played by the mets at shea stadium before they relocate next door (literally a few feet away) to their new one.
we pack everyone, and a wee picnic into the car, arange to meet another friend there and head off, braving friday traffic and the elements on the way.
on arrival we go through the mandatory searches, proceed through the barriers and recieve our free (all be it tiny) mets towel before making our way up to our seats.
it's chucking it down with rain, and has been for some time. after taking refuge from the rain for a few hours (eating some very fine sandwiches; being entertained by jace (who is 8 and has discovered toilet humour and knock-knock jokes) emparting some of my jokes in return (which he proceeded to adapt to his taste) and generally keeping ourselves amused; we decided to call it.
we went home. rained out.

no sooner had we left than the radio announced that the game had been cancelled.

despite appearances however, i actually had a really good evening. good sandwiches and great company, what wasn't to enjoy?!

reality

so today is the anniversary of 9/11. its a day that, although being aware of it, generally passes me by, but this time it's kinda different. here people were part of it. while i was sitting in confused shock, still in jacket with school bag on hours after having gotten home from school, people here were living it. they had friends there; had been there just hours before the event and took active part in helping the people affected.

sometimes life seems more real than others.

reality is something i was faced with a lot today, from the reality of waking up to a dog with an upset stomach (i don't do dogs, esp ones covered with poo - thankfully i got up after the worst of it had been cleaned, all i was faced with was a 'mucky' dog staring through the window looking sorry for himself while char, armed with rubber gloves dealt with the residue) to the reality of people at the pantry.

the pantry was seriously busy this morning, although this evening was pretty quiet. we figured we'd fed around two hundred people today. people that, in more cases than i ever would have guessed, were living comfortable middle-class lifestyles until very recently. people that never could have imagined that they'd be in a situation where they'd be asking for help. it's scary.

im just glad that when life throws out a little of the runny stuff there are always people who are willing to roll up their sleeves regardless of how messy they get.

that's reality.

yesterday

so it's the bottom of the sixth,
the ducks are down 5 to 1,
we have one man out,
the bases are loaded and our duck batter gets up,
pitcher strikes him out,
two men out, the tension is high
second batter up
hits it out of the field and it's a grand slam bringing the ducks into the lead!

it was no major league game but good seats in the vip section with a great view behind the batter, it was great fun!
i stayed at charlottes (who id gone with along with her son and his friend - making the game all the more eventful) so afterwards we chilled out with the end of the mets game and left over salad pizza. that's right, it comes in a healthy salad option.

now im geared up for the Mets game we've all got tickets for on friday! (they're up three games, it's getting interesting)

the ducks

this evening im heading to a baseball game with a couple of eight year olds.
i may survive to tell the tale...

the rest of today

Today was quite a busy day.

So on Sunday I went to a meeting with some folks who were interested in going down to New Orleans in November to help out where possible, and somehow I ended up as the liaising/ admin person for the trip. I must admit that I'm kinda enjoying it, checkout out flights, following/ figuring out schedules etc. It's not something I would normally so am enjoying the challenge.

New Orleans, although it's largely out of the media now, is still seriously suffering from the after effects of Katrina so a small group of us (a bunch of older guys and me) are heading down there to do what we can while the opportunity is there. I'm seriously looking forward to it!

My afternoon, however, consisted more of battling with online programs to pull together invitations for an up and coming event, and others attempting to extract some audio from a piece of video. (The latter is still eluding me but I refuse to be defeated in such a way.)

A note on dinner. Corn on the cob is amazing here! Grilled on a bbq in particularly. Their grown locally so maybe that has something to do with it, but the taste is fantastic!

good morning

Time to walk.

Earphones in.

ipod on.

Walk.

ipod off.

Earphones out.

Listen.

Walk.

Hazy heat lingers somewhere above my head making it's slow descent into the day.

My footsteps marking their way on the tarmac.

Twig breaks.

Trees flank open roads.

Change is coming, you can almost smell it.
Green making a final futile push to be while autumn's poised to pop.
Sycamores throw out winged protests
that break under foot.

So life goes on.

I've seen this road before. This walk was shown to me.

Not new. Just new to me alone.

So I walk.

Turning right.

The sky.

Sun carefully highlights the cloud, effortlessly flinging rays of light out to a once grey marred sky; calling blue into be.

And I walk.

Seemingly aware of destination now. Time still. Stands still.

Turn right. Walk.
Turn right. Walk.

Squirrels play in the branches.
Zephyrs tickle the trees.
Sprinklers cause diversions.

Turn right. Walk.

An orchestra of insects breaks out. Throwing tunes out bushes in perfect chaotic harmony.
An ode to the smell of change?

Road curves to the left. Sky.

The sun burning now, a hole through it's cloud. Rightfully bursting through in triumph. Uncontrollably piercing trees and fences to bring life to dew.

I'm on the home stretch.

Turn right. Walk.
Right. Walk.

Streets look so similar.
House. Fence. Tree.
House. Fence. Tree.
Flag. Flag. Flag.

Worlds of difference.

Walk. Walk. Walk.

My shadow cast in burning orange warms my back.

Right.

Stop ahead.

Home.

free day

Today was Monday, and as such, the day that the office is closed.

First port of call: weight watchers. As well as being a pastor Roger is also a local weight watchers leader, something that I am very grateful for.

I've been following it for the last wee while but due to uni etc had to just follow the program (which I did a few years back) without going to meetings. Since for the past week and a bit I've been becoming initiated into the American points system (which is worked out differently than in the UK) I decided, when invited, to go check out the meetings here too. I don't have that much more weight to loose to reach my target but self-control has never been my strong point and new countries bring with them a menagerie of new temptations of the food variety. As such I went.

Meetings are a little less reserved here and far more interactive (but also more enthusiastic than the British-ness in me is used to) but it was good to get some accountability and objectivity.

Motivation, however, came during some post-meeting retail therapy where I fit into a pair of jeans a good two sizes smaller than I fit into in Feb.

Later I decided to go for a (very light, very short) run and walk. It felt great (despite the ridiculous heat) cos it's the first time I managed to do so since hurt my knee.

So this evening Roger and Gill are out babysitting and I'm chilling out with some fat free ice-cream, strawberries, a mug of coffee and a shamelessly vogue-inspired chick-flick on the TV.

end of the week

Today disappeared very quickly but for some reason felt like two.

I was woken this morning at 3 mins to 7 with a knock on my door and was in the car less than ten minutes later. I'd slept in (set my alarm for 6pm instead of am) waking up when I should have been in the car.

So off I went with Roger and Rohan (a guy whose over from India doing some post grads in Manhattan and comes out here on weekends) to help get stuff set up at church. Did I mention that church meets in a cinema? (I reserved judgment given my cynical disposition that church all too often feels more like a show than anything else, but this week showed me that in this case, it's not.)
People don't really commit to churches around here, instead taking a more transient float around stance. But every week a bunch of guys from here spend a good few hours getting stuff set up for a not too long service, loading and unloading vans etc. there's a definite sense of ownership within the congregation who seem more than willing to get stuck in anywhere they can help, whether people know it or not.

I've been to lots of different kinds of churches from very small to big, from traditional to ones that meet in cinemas. Some have been good, some not so much. But the thing I love the most is how they are not better or worse, necessarily, just different. So long as the people know God and their focus isn't on themselves as a church (which generally goes hand in hand) then I'm cool with that.

So after church we went for some very fine Indian food (the most authentic kind I've ever had) which left me feeling like I may reenact a certain scene from Alien, followed by an ipod-nap in the back garden, a phone call to my parents, and an evening of considering the coming week and recovering from lunch.

It was a good day.

back to today

If ever there is a fleeting moment of wonder as to what I'm doing here I'm going to remember this moment:

I'm sitting outside in a rocking chair in shorts, t-shirt and flip-flops, listening to music, laptop atop lap, a mug of coffee and my camera by my side. the sun is beating down with a cheeky wee breeze blowing to take the edge off... mmmm...

I had a dream last night that got me thinking:

I was traveling along a jungle river (which apparently was in Malta... evidently geography is not my subconsciousness' strong point) on a flat boat about the size of a lilo. There were other people on it but I only knew me cos I was at the front. Suddenly the river was a vertical drop that traversed twisted turns of rocks. I apparently had to make the call as to whether to get out or go on. I decided to go on on the basis that there was no point in turning back on this particular journey since there would be no point in living if we didn't attempt to reach our destination, even though I knew the drop would most definitely (as far as I could see) kill us all. So down we went with stomachs in throats and no control over our lilo boat, narrowly missing every rock on the way (which turned out better than my real life white water experiences) and somehow the water carried us to the bottom which was about a mile from the top unscathed. Suddenly the jungle river was in Venice, and I woke up (too much of the ridiculous for my conscious self to let go on) to find that I had navigated all the way from one side of the bed to the other, lost all my sheets and was at risk of losing me to the floor.

But as I said, this got me thinking: do I really have the guts to commit to things to that extent in real life? When things seem like their going to smoosh you but you know in your gut you've got to keep going, would I?

yesterday

yesterday there was something up with the page i post from so that's why i'm posting a day late.

life is a funny thing. i haven't slept properly in months but since i've been here i've been getting amazing sleep (even slept through my alarm yesterday.) but why is it that when you get lots of sleep you're enevitably more tired than when you worked without it? i guess sometimes you just need to wait for life to catch up with you a little (even if you lack the patience to do so.)

so today i spent my first morning at the food pantry at grace house. i had intended spending some time getting to know how things worked there and the people who carry out said work before getting my camera out. however, as with every time i try and plan things out, things didn't really work out that way.

turns out a local organisation may be giving some help to the pantry which becomes a lot more likely if they have some sort of publication to show what goes on there. here's where i come in.

the way it works is that people who need a little extra help with food for the week come in and meet a guy at a wee desk who has everyone on file who comes through. he sends the person/ family's details down to a couple of people who run around packing up food (someone would have already figured out the most nutritious selection from what they have and pinned up the list as a guide.) the food is then taken up and handed over. it might seem straight forward but i was totally taken back by the amount of effort and organisation put in by the folks that volunteer there before hand. they blew me away with their selflessness. ontop of that they're spending a good two or three hours in high humidity and heat (well for me anyway) doing fairly labourious work.

everyone was dripping by the end of it but amazingly still had smiles on their faces and were ready to stock up and come back again for more.

i'll talk about the people who come there later cos i don't want to do an injsutice to them by flinging up my first impressions.

i experienced my first bit of culture clash ontop of the obvious lessons learned...
sarcasm is not best advised anywhere outwith the uk (and even then i tend to push it a little) i was reminded of this fact when i was met with a look of shock and disbelief when i exclaimed "that smells beautiful!" when a bottle of steak sauce smashed on the floor and i started to clean it up with some kind of chemical...

i live and learn. (and try to remember to apologise for my numerous mistakes along the way...)

and the fun starts

today was time to get to work.

the school kids started back today and so did i.

after an early morning walk around the area with gill (and some breakfast) i set myself up in the basement offices. the main thing i started today was a short stills film of the street fair from last sunday. it's a good wee project to get to grips with some software that i'm not used to working with and am quite looking forward to seeing how it turns out. (although i'm a little frustrated at how long it's taking without the benefit of knowing a programmes shortcuts etc... but it's all part of the fun and learning experience)

even though i didn't finalise as much as i'd have like to today, it feels really good to be doing something productive and stimulating again after a summer of random admin and photography jobs.

looking forward to tomorrow! (as per usual)

little or big

today was a day of juxtapositions.

i headed into manhattan with Gill (whose home i'm staying at along with her husband Roger) her daughter and grandson. on arriving we parted ways; they headed uptown to the natural history museum, i downtown for some discount shopping (although i never bought anything.)

manhattan is big. or at least in character and ego. this little island sure does make up for any square feet shortcomings by packing as much as possible into what it has.

as a reaction to this i decided to take in a little more of the character than i had planned, getting off the subway a few stops early spend the last leg of my trip above ground.(despite loosing bearings and travelling a couple of blocks perpendicular to my intended course and then doubling back a couple of stations before eventually heading in the right direction) i came across a menagerie of shops; peoples; sights and sounds that did not fail to fascinate.

chilling out in crowds of faceless people.

and then home to chill out with people that are far from faceless, and i wouldn't have it any other way.

it never fails to amaze me how small a world we live in sometimes. i never would have imagined that i'd be in ny this year, spending time with people who knew me before i did and left the village i grew up in when i was barely at school.
as if that wasn't amazing enough i found out the day i arrived here that a great friend of mine whom i met in taiwan last year (who's korean by origin; born and raised in l.a.) has just started studying in manhattan for a bit.

after speaking to her this evening on the phone (arranging to meet up sometime) i realised how blessed i am that wherever i go i have great friends to share life with; old and new.

cultural expedition

today i decided it was time to really get to grips with the culture here which involved more hard work than expected.

the day began painfully early being dragged out of bed for an arduous exodus to the Hampton's where i was forced to socialise and sunbathe on a white beach for the entirety of the morning before being coerced into lying on a lilo in the back garden pool. after which i had to watch a little baseball and then eat some rather fine curry... it was a hard task but i got through it for the sake of sociological advancement...

today was 'labour day' the predominant reason given to me for this day is to monument the end of white shoes and trousers until the next summer (which in my book should be 'vito'd for more than just three seasons of the year) although i did hear someone mention something about honouring workers...

i like labour day.