Rantings from the bonfire
To dare to be peculiar.. to desire to live fearlessly.. "peculiar" and "fearless" resonate deep within me to be one that does not have to follow the whims of others, but one who desires to revel in his own uniqueness amidst others in elegance, whimsy, knowledge, compassion and roti canai.
This is the wonderful, unfathomable, near-heavenly world that is New York.
This is where my adventure begins.
FRIDAY:
Had the most wonderful long conversation with Mom Goth Donna for a good hour or so about Unified Underground and our plans as Goths to leave our beautiful mark upon it. What inspired me was the feeling of daring to break out from the mundane that has tragically even permeated our own Scene and reach further out to bring back Da Gawthiness.
And break out I shall. Beware, exquisitetrash!
SATURDAY:
I went out early from home to the bus stop to catch my 11:30 bus to the Great City of New York, this after barraging people on Facebook with my excitement about seeing The Cloisters, shopping at Gothic Renaissance, and going to dancesofvicenyc.. all in one day..
Granted, I was disappointed that my schedule wouldn't permit me to see lovely carnivorous plants (*sigh* I want one), but I figured I had all the Gawthik I could squeeze into one day, even from a city as vast and as ultimately Goth as New York..
I got there a bit late though, apparently too late to go to the Cloisters before it closed (the crap!), but I did go to my hotel, the Hotel New Yorker, one of the very cool original Art Deco hotels in America (built in 1929). The lobby was right out of a 1930's movie, very cavernous and heavily decorated in Art Deco; it was awesome!
From there I hurriedly changed out of traveling black whatever clothes into my daywalker outfit of black with my Victorian riding boots.
And yes, this guy, from one of the most conservative cities in America, successfully weirded out New Yorkers!!! I wear that badge with honor!!
"You got balls to wear those here!!!" -group of Riquenos in Washington Heights told me as I walked to Fort Tryon Park
Now climbing in Victorian riding boots, however, is not recommended, but I walked up anyway. I was rewarded with this wonderful view of the Hudson on one side, the Cloisters on the other, and Narnia-esque lampposts all about.. Now if only I could get inside the Cloisters.. :(
From there I climbed back down, took the Subway to the Lower East Side to my favorite store on earth, Gothic Renaissance, to purchase many important goods of darkened unexpected beauty..
I of course made it with only 5 minutes to spare, so enough time to try on and buy this gorgeous shirt and a really gorgeous coat..
So then I left to reward myself to dinner at Chinatown at a Malaysian restaurant, Jaya. Ohhhh the wonders of roti canai! And after roti canai came chicken tropica, chicken cooked with various tropical fruits (I tasted lychee, mango and pineapple), along with a fun conversation with two women from Oklahoma that got to try roti canai for the first time thanks to me (and they, of course, loved it), and then influenced an entire Russian family to do the same as well!
Then after that it's time to rush back to the really cool hotel to change from daywalker outfit.. to Edwardian-meets-Jazz-Age nighttime outfit.
And off to dancesofvicenyc I go.. a cab to Brooklyn to 303 Bond Street, and to be greeted outside with several very gorgeous, very elegant people.. and a Japanese film crew, apparently there to do a documentary on our scene and what it's about.
I go inside and it's completely filled with beautiful, elegant, classy, stylish people, people like Sean from NY, like Wren of Purevile, rattengift and her wonderful singing voice, and a very big surprise: Fabian, who apparently moved from DC to NY now.. and that couple, Nuno and his wife, who came all the way from Portugal just to go to Dances of Vice..
So I'm enjoying the exotic rum-cayenne chocolates and the champagne chocolates, a rather exotic "mint smash" drink made with bourbon, mint and maple syrup, Big Band music courtesy of Grandpa Musselman and His Syncopators, and I even got to do a rather lousy rendition of a lindy hop with a woman who asked me to dance with her (My lindy hop probably made her feel unsafe - inside joke)
I had so much fun and didn't want it to end, but all things must end.. which is something I need to fix.. ;)
So I went back to the hotel via a lovely cab ride across the Brooklyn Bridge at night (oh the view!!) and went out to grab some diner seafood, of course, and then bed..
And then work called and I had to answer a question at 5:30AM to have them find out that it wasn't our team responsible for the issue that raised the question in the first place. AUGH!
SUNDAY:
I get up a bit late, 11AM, but in time to shower, put on more whatever clothes and check out. I decide to stay and eat at the Tick Tock Diner next door to the hotel, where the heat zapped my appetite to the level of only being able to eat fruit salad and drink OJ and coffee.. sad.. anyway, sitting next to me were two guys, one from Australia and the other from Germany.. the Australian, Morgan, recognized my Crimson Moonlight t-shirt and realized that I was into the same music he was, and that he and I both went to Nordic Fest last year in Norway! So here we are in the fifth largest city in the world at a diner I just happened to pick out, seated next to someone that knew my shirt and saw me 5000 miles away the year before.
Figure that one out.
I left, went to the - wrong - bus stop, then turned around and went to the - right but not advertised - bus stop to catch the bus back to DC, uploaded pics (much to the delight of ladistrange!) and the rest is history.
Dare to be peculiar. Live fearlessly. Perhaps you too will get Riquenos to shout out while you're off to have wonderful random encounters, appropriately elegantly dressed, of course..
This is the wonderful, unfathomable, near-heavenly world that is New York.
This is where my adventure begins.
FRIDAY:
Had the most wonderful long conversation with Mom Goth Donna for a good hour or so about Unified Underground and our plans as Goths to leave our beautiful mark upon it. What inspired me was the feeling of daring to break out from the mundane that has tragically even permeated our own Scene and reach further out to bring back Da Gawthiness.
And break out I shall. Beware, exquisitetrash!
SATURDAY:
I went out early from home to the bus stop to catch my 11:30 bus to the Great City of New York, this after barraging people on Facebook with my excitement about seeing The Cloisters, shopping at Gothic Renaissance, and going to dancesofvicenyc.. all in one day..
Granted, I was disappointed that my schedule wouldn't permit me to see lovely carnivorous plants (*sigh* I want one), but I figured I had all the Gawthik I could squeeze into one day, even from a city as vast and as ultimately Goth as New York..
I got there a bit late though, apparently too late to go to the Cloisters before it closed (the crap!), but I did go to my hotel, the Hotel New Yorker, one of the very cool original Art Deco hotels in America (built in 1929). The lobby was right out of a 1930's movie, very cavernous and heavily decorated in Art Deco; it was awesome!
From there I hurriedly changed out of traveling black whatever clothes into my daywalker outfit of black with my Victorian riding boots.
And yes, this guy, from one of the most conservative cities in America, successfully weirded out New Yorkers!!! I wear that badge with honor!!
"You got balls to wear those here!!!" -group of Riquenos in Washington Heights told me as I walked to Fort Tryon Park
Now climbing in Victorian riding boots, however, is not recommended, but I walked up anyway. I was rewarded with this wonderful view of the Hudson on one side, the Cloisters on the other, and Narnia-esque lampposts all about.. Now if only I could get inside the Cloisters.. :(
From there I climbed back down, took the Subway to the Lower East Side to my favorite store on earth, Gothic Renaissance, to purchase many important goods of darkened unexpected beauty..
I of course made it with only 5 minutes to spare, so enough time to try on and buy this gorgeous shirt and a really gorgeous coat..
So then I left to reward myself to dinner at Chinatown at a Malaysian restaurant, Jaya. Ohhhh the wonders of roti canai! And after roti canai came chicken tropica, chicken cooked with various tropical fruits (I tasted lychee, mango and pineapple), along with a fun conversation with two women from Oklahoma that got to try roti canai for the first time thanks to me (and they, of course, loved it), and then influenced an entire Russian family to do the same as well!
Then after that it's time to rush back to the really cool hotel to change from daywalker outfit.. to Edwardian-meets-Jazz-Age nighttime outfit.
And off to dancesofvicenyc I go.. a cab to Brooklyn to 303 Bond Street, and to be greeted outside with several very gorgeous, very elegant people.. and a Japanese film crew, apparently there to do a documentary on our scene and what it's about.
I go inside and it's completely filled with beautiful, elegant, classy, stylish people, people like Sean from NY, like Wren of Purevile, rattengift and her wonderful singing voice, and a very big surprise: Fabian, who apparently moved from DC to NY now.. and that couple, Nuno and his wife, who came all the way from Portugal just to go to Dances of Vice..
So I'm enjoying the exotic rum-cayenne chocolates and the champagne chocolates, a rather exotic "mint smash" drink made with bourbon, mint and maple syrup, Big Band music courtesy of Grandpa Musselman and His Syncopators, and I even got to do a rather lousy rendition of a lindy hop with a woman who asked me to dance with her (My lindy hop probably made her feel unsafe - inside joke)
I had so much fun and didn't want it to end, but all things must end.. which is something I need to fix.. ;)
So I went back to the hotel via a lovely cab ride across the Brooklyn Bridge at night (oh the view!!) and went out to grab some diner seafood, of course, and then bed..
And then work called and I had to answer a question at 5:30AM to have them find out that it wasn't our team responsible for the issue that raised the question in the first place. AUGH!
SUNDAY:
I get up a bit late, 11AM, but in time to shower, put on more whatever clothes and check out. I decide to stay and eat at the Tick Tock Diner next door to the hotel, where the heat zapped my appetite to the level of only being able to eat fruit salad and drink OJ and coffee.. sad.. anyway, sitting next to me were two guys, one from Australia and the other from Germany.. the Australian, Morgan, recognized my Crimson Moonlight t-shirt and realized that I was into the same music he was, and that he and I both went to Nordic Fest last year in Norway! So here we are in the fifth largest city in the world at a diner I just happened to pick out, seated next to someone that knew my shirt and saw me 5000 miles away the year before.
Figure that one out.
I left, went to the - wrong - bus stop, then turned around and went to the - right but not advertised - bus stop to catch the bus back to DC, uploaded pics (much to the delight of ladistrange!) and the rest is history.
Dare to be peculiar. Live fearlessly. Perhaps you too will get Riquenos to shout out while you're off to have wonderful random encounters, appropriately elegantly dressed, of course..