New York, New York.
the full story + 142 pictures.
friday, 1pm: i wake up.
saturday nsight/early saturday morning: can’t sleep.
saturday, 6am: leave for needham.
saturday, 730am: arrive in needham. leave for nyc. i was already quite tired.
someone suggested we play strip padiddle. but it was light out. so we went with yellow cars. and we called it anal sex. so if you saw a yellow car, you had to say anal sex and touch the ceiling. then everyone else had to remove an article of clothing. being in a car with four girls, i liked the idea of this. but it ended pretty fast because they didn't want to get naked. sad sad.
we saw this, so we made a "go red sox" sign to stick in the window. the guy gave our sign a thumbs down.
i think this is new haven, connecticut but i could be wrong.
this is in new haven too, i believe. i don't know what it is. but it looks cool.
destination:
lots of traffic. but it moved along at a good rate.
no idea where this is or why i took it.
same for this one.
i juuust missed the "welcome to new york" sign.
we went over this bridge.
the city.
the building was on octagon, so they felt the need to write that on it.
the new york times building.
giants stadium.
these reminded melissa of the jetsons.
me holding the directions.
car shot.
me with my sharpie in my mouth and my shirt off. it was ridonkulously hot in the backseat.
we saw signs that said "welcome to the bronx." the girls were all like "j-lo where you at?" and i laughed at them. then we saw these buildings.
we got a little lost and went through some sketchy neighborhoods in the bronx.
melissa told me to take this picture because "it looks so ghetto!”
and she told me to take a picture of this because “it looks just like the movies!”
then we ran into a protest in the middle of the street. the signs were all about “don’t sell guns to our kids.”
then we asked some lady on the sidewalk for directions while we were at a red light, and it turns out she was the sweetest woman ever. she was like “i can help you guys out, pull over here and i’ll explain it to you.” we told her we were trying to get to coney island, and she was like “i’m going down that way too, just follow me until you get on pennsylvania, i’m going to keep going at one point, you guys take the turn and get on the expressway.” she was great.
train tracks overhead.
we found our way there easily thanks to that kind woman.
i didn’t get this sign because i don’t know what they mean by “gutter.” we asked a few people, they didn’t know.
random shot of apartment buildings.
we made friends with the guys in this ambulance at a red light. we asked him if we were going in the right direction, he said yes and asked us where we were from. the girls said "boston" and he was like "go red sox!" so we were happy about that.
there it is. coney island. the cyclone.
we walked over to the main stage. the ponys were playing.
we stayed there for about two minutes and then left for the second stage. this was taken while walking to the second stage.
we went over to see your enemies friends play.
the guitarist put down his guitar and rolled around on the ground for a few seconds. you can kinda see him rolling here.
they have popeye's down there. they don't have them here anymore. justin loves their fries more than anything. so i called him and was like "hey guess what i'm standing outside of? POPEYE'S." he threatened to kill me.
the internet cafe where we all updated our journals.
then we all went to kennedy (not kentucky, kennedy) fried chicken and got some lunch. we sat outside and talked to this girl who looked like sandra bullock.
the cyclone.
astroland, where the rides are.
i like that walkway.
i have lots of pictures of the ferris wheel.
then we went over to the boardwalk.
the beach. that fake palm tree is like a little waterfall for the kids to play in.
i don't believe that thing serves a purpose.
the view of the ferris wheel from the boardwalk.
the boardwalk.
us on the boardwalk.
[stolen from ohbitemylip]
then we went back over to the second stage and watched electric six, who i really enjoyed. their singer is funny. he dances a lot. it's entertaining. before one song he was like "here's a new song. it's gonna blow your dick off." i laughed.
the crowd watching electric six.
the second stage from the end of the street looks like this.
the contest was two weeks ago. and the countdown is already on for next year.
the sign in front of the bumper car place.
we tried getting as close to the stage as we could for death cab, but there were just way too many people. imagine all the people at warped tour. double that, at least. it was the largest crowd i've ever been a part of, by far. the website for the festival said there were 100,000 to 150,000 people there last year. i would definitely say there was about that many people this year as well.
we went over near the rides area and got pretty close to the stage. it did kinda suck that we had to look through the fence, but it was better than being a mile back in front of the stage.
death cab was just amazing. they played 14 songs, which was pretty sweet for a free show. i don't remember everything they played, but i know they did play: the new year, title and registration, the sound of settling, tiny vessels, transatlanticism, we looked like giants, company calls, a movie script ending, photobooth. ben gibbard is absolutely brilliant and i love his voice.
all my pics of death cab pretty much look the same. so there is no need for me to post more than a few.
this picture just shows that i was standing next to a tilt-a-whirl while death cab played. there were kids going on it and having a grand time, completely unaware that one of the best bands in the world is playing right near the ride they are on.
they left the stage and most of the people near us left. then they came back and ben sat down at the piano and i knew what that meant. transatlanticism. and it was beautiful. everyone moved forward and i jumped up on the railing of the tilt-a-whirl. i immediately called megan. and i lost it a few lines into the song.
near the end of the song, ben got up and finished the song on guitar.
a (really weirdly colored?) picture of the crowd in front of the stage.
this thing is tall. real tall.
astroland at night.
waiting in line for the ferris wheel.
[stolen from dorkamatic]
you could choose between a stationary cart (i don't think they are called carts, but what ARE they called?) or a swinging one. we chose swinging.
info about the ferris wheel.
i guess it's okay to not abide by the law, as long as you put up a sign?
the view from the ferris wheel.
melissa was like "crit, you have your sharpie in your backpack, right? let's right our initials in here!" i gave her my black sharpie. we didn't write our initials, but she wrote www.livejournal.com/users/bemy_lonely and hopes she makes some lj friends out of it. then we wanted to write something else, but we didn't know what. i suggested we write the name of a band or something. we ended up writing www.thelidovenice.com. you can kinda see it in this picture.
as we were driving away, we could see the ferris wheel all lit up in the distance. this is how the picture came out.
i have no idea what i was trying to take a picture of.
sunrise highway! as in the straylight run song! i was so excited when i saw this. even though you really can't see it.
again, i don't know what i was taking a picture of. but it looks cool.
we drove for about two hours all over the place. every highway exit just leads to another highway. it was crazy. new york apparently doesn't believe in rest stops because it took us forever to find one. we finally did, and it was home to the worst smelling porta potty's in the entire world. i'm glad i didn't have to go to the bathroom, so luckily i didn't have to smell it. but the girls said it was just horrible. it was a million degrees in the car and even though i was dead tired, i had a hard time falling asleep thanks to the temperature and the fact that i was kinda scared to sleep because who knows what can happen to a surburan filled with sleeping kids right off the highway. and i found out the next morning that i was singing myself to sleep. interesting.
here is a picture of what i saw right before i fell asleep. i got about five hours of sleep, on and off. sleeping at a rest station in the middle of nowhere is really creepy. but exciting.
so then we woke up at about 9am. and brittany immediately put on "i woke up in a car" by something corporate. because now we can all say that we woke up in a car in nyc. then, later, she decided that we should write our own lyrics to the song. i tried helping them, but they didn't like my ideas. sad. but then i decided i would write my own song and it would be awesome. sometime later in this entry i will post the lyrics to mine. mine was serious, it was about new york and two people who were on my mind all weekend. the girls' was very silly, but it was good. it includes the line "and crit rhymes with tit." woo. so we woke up, got some coffee and donuts, got some gas, and drove into the city.
we went by la guardia airport.
and now, a lot of pictures of the city.
this is a muni meter. you put quarters in, and then it prints out a little ticket which you display on your dashboard.
we got washed up and brushed our teeth in the bathroom of the movie theatre that was near where we parked. we parked on 31st and 2nd, i believe. i was amazed at how insanely nice the lobby was. look at this.
there's melissa on the stairs where sometimes some people fall over.
grand central.
a park that we walked by.
times square.
us in time's square.
[stolen from dorkamatic]
this kid started talking to us and tried to get us to buy tickets to the comedy club he works for, but we didn't because we were leaving. he was nice, but not really funny. his name was forrest and i'm pretty sure the girls wanted to fuck him. he told us some jokes and even suggested an orgy at one point. the girls told him that they had not showered and slept in a car last night, and he was like "i bet you have smelly pussies." i think he was trying to be funny, but i didn't think it was that funny. then he goes "i got a jewish joke" and then he quickly added "it's okay, i can tell a jewish joke, i'm jewish too." we didn't think he was really jewish. (the joke wasn't even funny. it was: why do jews have big noses?...because the air is free.) he had no middle or last name, he claimed. he also talked about how incubus used to be good and brandon boyd went from a "fucking rock star" to a "sex symbol."
brittany: "what the FUCK!? we're behind a BIKE!"
lia had the lady make one for her friend irene.
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!!"
i don't remember what this was all about.
best sign ever? maybe.
the handles on the door of the cafe were filled with coffee beans.
west siiiiide!
lia dancing and me looking retarded.
[stolen from dorkamatic]
i fell asleep a few times on the way home. but just for a few minutes at a time. sad sad.
[stolen from dorkamatic]
melissa was yelling about head automatica and masturbating. i'm serious.
and there she is writing down their version of "i woke up in a car."
they were dancing.
melissa and lia dancing and me giving a thumbs up behind them.
[stolen from dorkamatic]
so that is my amazing weekend.
two of the best days ever.
some of the best people ever.
i'm sad that it had to end.
and now, my version of "i woke up in a car."
i woke up in new york city from my sleep in the backseat.
drove right down to manhattan and time stood still.
she texted me from connecticut and wished that she was home.
our paths didn't cross, at least not this weekend.
but i know someday they will.
here i am. transatlanticism.
i woke up in a car to a city filled with fog.
it kept us from the statue of liberty.
i've never been so lost.
i've never felt so far from home.
please write my mom and take from me my keys.
i woke up in a car.
i know a girl who loves her death cab and i called her while they played.
if i were here i'd leave penn and move right on up to mass.
she sent me a postcard when she was in georgia.
i swear it almost made me cry.
mr. gibbard, mr. gibbard,
you will always be her heart.
but here i am. transatlanticism.
babe if i could live forever
would you be with me that long?
we would move and live wherever.
that is perfection.
but here i am. transatlanticism.
friday, 1pm: i wake up.
saturday nsight/early saturday morning: can’t sleep.
saturday, 6am: leave for needham.
saturday, 730am: arrive in needham. leave for nyc. i was already quite tired.
someone suggested we play strip padiddle. but it was light out. so we went with yellow cars. and we called it anal sex. so if you saw a yellow car, you had to say anal sex and touch the ceiling. then everyone else had to remove an article of clothing. being in a car with four girls, i liked the idea of this. but it ended pretty fast because they didn't want to get naked. sad sad.
we saw this, so we made a "go red sox" sign to stick in the window. the guy gave our sign a thumbs down.
i think this is new haven, connecticut but i could be wrong.
this is in new haven too, i believe. i don't know what it is. but it looks cool.
destination:
lots of traffic. but it moved along at a good rate.
no idea where this is or why i took it.
same for this one.
i juuust missed the "welcome to new york" sign.
we went over this bridge.
the city.
the building was on octagon, so they felt the need to write that on it.
the new york times building.
giants stadium.
these reminded melissa of the jetsons.
me holding the directions.
car shot.
me with my sharpie in my mouth and my shirt off. it was ridonkulously hot in the backseat.
we saw signs that said "welcome to the bronx." the girls were all like "j-lo where you at?" and i laughed at them. then we saw these buildings.
we got a little lost and went through some sketchy neighborhoods in the bronx.
melissa told me to take this picture because "it looks so ghetto!”
and she told me to take a picture of this because “it looks just like the movies!”
then we ran into a protest in the middle of the street. the signs were all about “don’t sell guns to our kids.”
then we asked some lady on the sidewalk for directions while we were at a red light, and it turns out she was the sweetest woman ever. she was like “i can help you guys out, pull over here and i’ll explain it to you.” we told her we were trying to get to coney island, and she was like “i’m going down that way too, just follow me until you get on pennsylvania, i’m going to keep going at one point, you guys take the turn and get on the expressway.” she was great.
train tracks overhead.
we found our way there easily thanks to that kind woman.
i didn’t get this sign because i don’t know what they mean by “gutter.” we asked a few people, they didn’t know.
random shot of apartment buildings.
we made friends with the guys in this ambulance at a red light. we asked him if we were going in the right direction, he said yes and asked us where we were from. the girls said "boston" and he was like "go red sox!" so we were happy about that.
there it is. coney island. the cyclone.
we walked over to the main stage. the ponys were playing.
we stayed there for about two minutes and then left for the second stage. this was taken while walking to the second stage.
we went over to see your enemies friends play.
the guitarist put down his guitar and rolled around on the ground for a few seconds. you can kinda see him rolling here.
they have popeye's down there. they don't have them here anymore. justin loves their fries more than anything. so i called him and was like "hey guess what i'm standing outside of? POPEYE'S." he threatened to kill me.
the internet cafe where we all updated our journals.
then we all went to kennedy (not kentucky, kennedy) fried chicken and got some lunch. we sat outside and talked to this girl who looked like sandra bullock.
the cyclone.
astroland, where the rides are.
i like that walkway.
i have lots of pictures of the ferris wheel.
then we went over to the boardwalk.
the beach. that fake palm tree is like a little waterfall for the kids to play in.
i don't believe that thing serves a purpose.
the view of the ferris wheel from the boardwalk.
the boardwalk.
us on the boardwalk.
[stolen from ohbitemylip]
then we went back over to the second stage and watched electric six, who i really enjoyed. their singer is funny. he dances a lot. it's entertaining. before one song he was like "here's a new song. it's gonna blow your dick off." i laughed.
the crowd watching electric six.
the second stage from the end of the street looks like this.
the contest was two weeks ago. and the countdown is already on for next year.
the sign in front of the bumper car place.
we tried getting as close to the stage as we could for death cab, but there were just way too many people. imagine all the people at warped tour. double that, at least. it was the largest crowd i've ever been a part of, by far. the website for the festival said there were 100,000 to 150,000 people there last year. i would definitely say there was about that many people this year as well.
we went over near the rides area and got pretty close to the stage. it did kinda suck that we had to look through the fence, but it was better than being a mile back in front of the stage.
death cab was just amazing. they played 14 songs, which was pretty sweet for a free show. i don't remember everything they played, but i know they did play: the new year, title and registration, the sound of settling, tiny vessels, transatlanticism, we looked like giants, company calls, a movie script ending, photobooth. ben gibbard is absolutely brilliant and i love his voice.
all my pics of death cab pretty much look the same. so there is no need for me to post more than a few.
this picture just shows that i was standing next to a tilt-a-whirl while death cab played. there were kids going on it and having a grand time, completely unaware that one of the best bands in the world is playing right near the ride they are on.
they left the stage and most of the people near us left. then they came back and ben sat down at the piano and i knew what that meant. transatlanticism. and it was beautiful. everyone moved forward and i jumped up on the railing of the tilt-a-whirl. i immediately called megan. and i lost it a few lines into the song.
near the end of the song, ben got up and finished the song on guitar.
a (really weirdly colored?) picture of the crowd in front of the stage.
this thing is tall. real tall.
astroland at night.
waiting in line for the ferris wheel.
[stolen from dorkamatic]
you could choose between a stationary cart (i don't think they are called carts, but what ARE they called?) or a swinging one. we chose swinging.
info about the ferris wheel.
i guess it's okay to not abide by the law, as long as you put up a sign?
the view from the ferris wheel.
melissa was like "crit, you have your sharpie in your backpack, right? let's right our initials in here!" i gave her my black sharpie. we didn't write our initials, but she wrote www.livejournal.com/users/bemy_lonely and hopes she makes some lj friends out of it. then we wanted to write something else, but we didn't know what. i suggested we write the name of a band or something. we ended up writing www.thelidovenice.com. you can kinda see it in this picture.
as we were driving away, we could see the ferris wheel all lit up in the distance. this is how the picture came out.
i have no idea what i was trying to take a picture of.
sunrise highway! as in the straylight run song! i was so excited when i saw this. even though you really can't see it.
again, i don't know what i was taking a picture of. but it looks cool.
we drove for about two hours all over the place. every highway exit just leads to another highway. it was crazy. new york apparently doesn't believe in rest stops because it took us forever to find one. we finally did, and it was home to the worst smelling porta potty's in the entire world. i'm glad i didn't have to go to the bathroom, so luckily i didn't have to smell it. but the girls said it was just horrible. it was a million degrees in the car and even though i was dead tired, i had a hard time falling asleep thanks to the temperature and the fact that i was kinda scared to sleep because who knows what can happen to a surburan filled with sleeping kids right off the highway. and i found out the next morning that i was singing myself to sleep. interesting.
here is a picture of what i saw right before i fell asleep. i got about five hours of sleep, on and off. sleeping at a rest station in the middle of nowhere is really creepy. but exciting.
so then we woke up at about 9am. and brittany immediately put on "i woke up in a car" by something corporate. because now we can all say that we woke up in a car in nyc. then, later, she decided that we should write our own lyrics to the song. i tried helping them, but they didn't like my ideas. sad. but then i decided i would write my own song and it would be awesome. sometime later in this entry i will post the lyrics to mine. mine was serious, it was about new york and two people who were on my mind all weekend. the girls' was very silly, but it was good. it includes the line "and crit rhymes with tit." woo. so we woke up, got some coffee and donuts, got some gas, and drove into the city.
we went by la guardia airport.
and now, a lot of pictures of the city.
this is a muni meter. you put quarters in, and then it prints out a little ticket which you display on your dashboard.
we got washed up and brushed our teeth in the bathroom of the movie theatre that was near where we parked. we parked on 31st and 2nd, i believe. i was amazed at how insanely nice the lobby was. look at this.
there's melissa on the stairs where sometimes some people fall over.
grand central.
a park that we walked by.
times square.
us in time's square.
[stolen from dorkamatic]
this kid started talking to us and tried to get us to buy tickets to the comedy club he works for, but we didn't because we were leaving. he was nice, but not really funny. his name was forrest and i'm pretty sure the girls wanted to fuck him. he told us some jokes and even suggested an orgy at one point. the girls told him that they had not showered and slept in a car last night, and he was like "i bet you have smelly pussies." i think he was trying to be funny, but i didn't think it was that funny. then he goes "i got a jewish joke" and then he quickly added "it's okay, i can tell a jewish joke, i'm jewish too." we didn't think he was really jewish. (the joke wasn't even funny. it was: why do jews have big noses?...because the air is free.) he had no middle or last name, he claimed. he also talked about how incubus used to be good and brandon boyd went from a "fucking rock star" to a "sex symbol."
brittany: "what the FUCK!? we're behind a BIKE!"
lia had the lady make one for her friend irene.
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!!"
i don't remember what this was all about.
best sign ever? maybe.
the handles on the door of the cafe were filled with coffee beans.
west siiiiide!
lia dancing and me looking retarded.
[stolen from dorkamatic]
i fell asleep a few times on the way home. but just for a few minutes at a time. sad sad.
[stolen from dorkamatic]
melissa was yelling about head automatica and masturbating. i'm serious.
and there she is writing down their version of "i woke up in a car."
they were dancing.
melissa and lia dancing and me giving a thumbs up behind them.
[stolen from dorkamatic]
so that is my amazing weekend.
two of the best days ever.
some of the best people ever.
i'm sad that it had to end.
and now, my version of "i woke up in a car."
i woke up in new york city from my sleep in the backseat.
drove right down to manhattan and time stood still.
she texted me from connecticut and wished that she was home.
our paths didn't cross, at least not this weekend.
but i know someday they will.
here i am. transatlanticism.
i woke up in a car to a city filled with fog.
it kept us from the statue of liberty.
i've never been so lost.
i've never felt so far from home.
please write my mom and take from me my keys.
i woke up in a car.
i know a girl who loves her death cab and i called her while they played.
if i were here i'd leave penn and move right on up to mass.
she sent me a postcard when she was in georgia.
i swear it almost made me cry.
mr. gibbard, mr. gibbard,
you will always be her heart.
but here i am. transatlanticism.
babe if i could live forever
would you be with me that long?
we would move and live wherever.
that is perfection.
but here i am. transatlanticism.