.:Gotta Drop a Blog in The Corner:.

just got back from the last wedding of the season, this one was in new york. after all these years of living and visiting... it still surprises me that i can be surprised in new york. there are so many places that have some sort of significance from my past, but the surrounding area and setting have changed quite a bit from how i remember it.

i've been thinking lately about how strange weddings can be... seeing people whom you haven't seen for months or years... but still being able to catch up. it's pretty interesting to see the different groups of friends that your friends have made as they've grown together.

among the things i miss most about new york... i miss taking the subway and just looking up and finding an arts for transit poster or poetry in motion poem on the train that i connect with.

as i was riding the airtrain between jfk and jamaica on my way into and out of the city on this trip... i found myself savoring the view of the manhattan skyline from a distance. i can only describe the feeling as a combination of excitement, a sense of promise and possibility, and a mysterious longing for something that hasn't yet been found. i think these are the reasons i find it so very hard to leave when the time comes because there's always more to discover. it's a strange relationship i have with new york... there are many things that bother me about it... but i can never seem to get it out of my system... i'm hooked for life.

well i better get some work done. i just need to power through to the end of the semester. i can't wait to finish my co-op that's been really trying... which has also affected my studying for my 1 class this semester.

so... some other thoughts i had when i was in the city.

-sometimes i find it funny that no one really likes making eye contact in new york. i get it... you don't want to get into other's business and you don't want them getting into yours. however because you're just in such close proximity to everyone around you have to deal with it somehow. this observation is highlighted when riding the subway. with everyone around you, you notice that almost everyone will be either looking at the floor of the car, out the window into the passing darkness, or up at the ads just below the ceiling. efficient people will be either buried in a book or newspaper of some sort, or they'll be catching up on some sleep. if you happen to catch the eyes of another looking at you, the proper thing to do is to look away. i was thinking the other day when i was riding the train between jamaica and 51st & lex how many hours a day/month/year people just spend staring blankly on the subways.

-when it's not too hot and not too cold. i like stepping out from a subway station and joining the pedestrian flow in manhattan. the streetscape is a fluid canvas, and i (along with everyone else coming out from the station) blend into the scene. it's kind of neat how dynamic it is.

-was talking with my brother when i was there... about how small k-town is. no offense to my korean friends, but... if chinatown were ever to arrange a takeover of k-town, it wouldn't stand a chance.

-i really miss just putting on some music and taking a walk. the fun thing about new york is you could probably listen to your entire ipod collection while walking and never walking the same street twice, and still have more streets to walk.

-if i can make a trip out this winter, i think i'll try heading out to coney island or sheepshead bay and wander out to a more or less deserted beach/waterfront and enjoy the solitude.

you'd think that the people of buffalo would learn their lesson after all these years. there have been so many instances when hopes have been dashed, promises have been unkept, and it would have been expected that all would have just given up on our fair city, never to believe in it again. however... we always wake up the next day with the faintest glimmer of hope that it will be a better day one way or another. maybe that's what i like about this city... it's a mentality that you can't understand unless you've lived here. it's about people going about their everyday lives knowing that everything is pretty much crumbling around you, but you don't give a damn and your gonna do your thing anyways. sure we can get bitter and complain, after all if you look through our history in the last half a century it has all seemed to go downhill with very few positives coming out. obviously over these decades our national face has come mostly through our sports teams. the bills losing championship after championship after championship.... uhhhh... after championship in the 90s. the sabres coming oh so close in the conference and cup finals so many times. anyways, this year that started out so promising for both teams (each going out and winning games like we haven't seen in some time) seems to have gone wrong. the bills have lost 4 straight (minus the win from today which would have really turned off a lot of people since kansas city has only 1 win this season). the sabres are in a slump of their own with 5 in a row so far. despite our 2 professional teams getting kicked around recently... ub the team that 3 years ago was rated the worst team in ncaa division 1a college football, won the mac east division... and are gonna not only play for the mac championship, but are going to their first bowl game ever. mind you... this isn't a bcs bowl or anything... or even a tier 2 or 3 bowl as they seem to be handing out bowl games to almost everyone these last couple years... but it's a bowl game nonetheless.

in other buffalo news... the nytimes had a story about buffalo's architecture recently. also... 2 stories about the unusual position of buffalo in being a border city and how new businesses from canada have impacted the area. labatt usa's headquarters may be moved out of buffalo after the sale of anheuser-busch to inbev depending on who picks up labatt usa. also the site of one of my favorite ice cream places, sweet jenny's (which closed down recently due to a non-renewal of a lease) will become a coffee culture. i will have to see if it's any good... though i'll miss sweet jenny's for sure. on the plus side, the new burchfield penney art center moved over and opened in their new building.

i am also hoping that with the election of obama there might be some positive developments in some infrastructure improvements for older cities like buffalo through fdr type new deal projects as his economic team tries to get us out of a prolonged recession and economic contraction. fdr's new deal projects included the build-out of our national interstate system and other public works type projects. with a metro area like buffalo-niagara falls that still has around a million people living in it... we can drastically improve our public infrastructure, cut our dependence on oil, and help improve our environment by building out and expanding our public transportation system. there are times when i like driving and having a car around, but i think the system we have right now is not used to it's full potential because it is too small. the metro rail doesn't go anywhere really. for most people they still depend on a car to drive to a park and ride lot and then take the train a few short miles to get downtown. buffalo being an old industrial center with plenty of railroad rights of ways can fix up and re-lay some tracks to expand the commuter rail system. a reason this could work is that the population has really spread beyond the city into the surrounding areas, and i think if a system can be built out, people will use it as the price of gas continues to increase and/or the recession becomes a prolonged depression. the citizens regional transit corporation has developed different lines over the past couple of years, to expand the use of a light rail system within buffalo and niagara falls. this could be an opportune time to implement their plans. in addition, i think it'd be really cool to ride take a train and get off at a station named shredded wheat (of course located at what used to be nabisco's old site in niagara falls).

anyhow, that is it for now. maybe i'll get a chance to write something else up in the next couple days and start this thing up again.