The Zoo and the New York City Experience

It's not the skyscrapers or high-profile stores that make up New York City. It's the people. New York City is a giant zoo and all the people within are creatures on display. Buildings don't make a city. The people do in the same sense that animals are the heart of a zoo, not the cages.

It was my first night back in New York City. After 5-6 hours on the bus from Syracuse, I had to take the subway back home. This is when you know you're a New Yorker. When you're at the turnstile ready to swipe and you hear something in the far distance that puts your brain on high alert. The approaching sounds of a train. Judging by how far you estimate the sound to be coming from, you can pinpoint which train is coming. And luckily for me, it was the downtown E train. The one I needed to take. I made a dash for the train with a middle aged man in a suit frantically making a run for it behind me. Without knowing, both of us ended up on the handicap ramp which spirals towards the platform ten times. Imagine running down a ramp that's shaped like a square maze. Both of us are making sharp turns at every corner and running down the straight path until the next corner. I reach the door first and held it open for him. We slumped down onto the seats, look at each other, and let loose a sigh of relief and chuckle at our run. As soon as the train started moving and our laughters subsided, we both instantly took a whiff of the air. A putrid smell swirled around our noses. It could be the man at the other end of the car. It could have been someone who already got off. But both of us sheltered our noses within our arms. Welcome to New York City.

There's also your fair share of bus drivers. You have the ones who see you running down the street trying to catch the bus and graciously stop and hold the door open for you. You have the ones who curse out the man who came out of his car and accused the bus driver of bumping him in the back. You have the ones who let you on for free when they come late. You have the ones who don't care whatsoever and blame their tardiness on traffic.

There are also the people who delight themselves to your misfortunes. An elderly man sat next to me on the bus today. We both got on at the first stop. Seeing as I had a long trip ahead of me, I nodded off and took my usual nap on the bus. The bus starts to come to a halt as I'm about to wake up. The elderly man is still on the bus and tells me, "This is the last stop" with a grin on his face. Cool. I live two blocks away from the last stop. I tell him, "I know" and his grin quickly fades away and he turns his attention back to whatever he was doing.

Don't get me wrong. Like bus drivers, you have your wide variety. Not everyone is out to see you suffer. There was this time in high school when I fell asleep on the train (I sleep a lot on public transportation) to school. I went to school in the Bronx. To many people, you'd find that to be weird. The only Asian to be heading alone to the Bronx. As I was snoozing, a man across from me tapped me on the leg as we reached the end of Manhattan. He asked me if I missed my stop. I said no and went back to sleep. He tapped me again as we reached the first stop in the Bronx. He asked if I missed my stop again. I said no and went back to sleep. This happened two more times until I figured it out and told him I go to school in the Bronx. At least he was looking out for me.

I could go on about the people you encounter in New York City. But there's too many people. Can you fit a description of every animal you find in a zoo in one blog post?

Sleep and Chocolate Cakes

You know what's the worst? Ok, maybe not the "worst" thing possible, but it's still pretty bad. Sleep paralysis. That thing when you're dreaming but you're eyes are wide open surveying your room. Your body can't move. You see and hear things. Utterly creepy.

This has happened to me twice in my life. Both times in college.

The first time, I thought I was going to die. I never experienced it before nor have I ever heard of it. It was just another night during my freshman year. Hopped into bed and fell asleep like a baby. In the middle of night, my eyes opened. I remember I was facing the wall, which was all I could see. My body felt numb and cold. I tried to move but I couldn't. That's when my body started going into panic attack. You know how your leg feels when you lean or sleep on it too long? Yeah, that's what my entire body started to feel like. I kept praying to God to not let me die just yet. I had so much more in life I wanted to go through. Who wants to spend their entire life in school? I would go into more vivid details, but that's as much as I can remember.

The second time just happened two days ago. It felt like I just got into bed, but apparently I was already asleep for two hours. My body felt like a constant current of electricity was flowing through. I tried to move, but once again could not. I saw this chocolate cake. Yes, a chocolate cake. Then this paper plate would appear right next to it and scrape off the side of the cake. Every time it did that, it sounded like nails scratching a blackboard. The sound would get louder and louder. Then it would stop for 5 seconds. The plate would start scraping again and the torture began once more. Every time the sound was at it's highest pitch, my lungs would feel like it stopped working. I remember trying to gasp for air. I looked over at the curtain in my room and saw the silhouette of an old lady hunched over. After a few rounds of the scraping and staring at the old lady, I finally wrenched my arm off my body and I could move again. I sat up in cold sweat, but knew this time I wasn't going to die.

What did I learn from my most recent sleep paralysis attack? Don't go to sleep hungry.

Lazy Day

Today has probably been the most wasted day of my life. I fell asleep at around 2 AM and woke up at 7:30 AM. I wanted to go back to sleep, but I wasn't tired and couldn't close my eyes. I go online for a bit and before I know it, it's 11 AM. My back starts to feel stiff so I hop onto my bed to rest a bit. You know those completely useless attempts to stay awake by telling yourself that you won't fall asleep? Never works. I end up falling asleep and before I know it, it's 8 PM.

I haven't had a day where I've just slept all day in a long time. And you know what? It feels terrible. So much for thinking I'd do something productive today. Hopefully I can find something to do that will make up for this day.

Maybe I should just make a list of possible tasks:

• I cleaned my room last Sunday. I think it's time to clean it again. Which basically means fold my laundry and tidy up the junk that's been accumulating on my desk. I actually don't see a need to clean my room (except folding my clothes) but I just can't find my watch. I'm crossing my fingers it's somewhere here.
• Continue my portfolio. I've been getting drawing blocks (writer's block but for drawing)...and have been super lazy. Just 7 more still lifes to go.
• Update my music playlist. It's been almost a month since I last added a song and a month and half since I added my usual burst of songs at once. My playlist has been getting pretty boring since I always listen to my iPod as I walk to class/work. Same songs over and over again.
• Read The Girl Who Played With Fire. It's been way too long since I picked it up. I read through Dragon Tattoo non-stop over the summer. But, I can't seem to find the motivation to read right now. My bookmark is 4 pages into the first chapter (those 4 chapters were read on the first day of school). I don't know why, but it's so much easier to read when I'm in NYC than here. Less distractions maybe?
• Study for Calc II. My last exam whooped me hard. There goes the 4.0 I thought I would get unless I ace my final.