vagranting

In the next few weeks, I’m planning to overhaul this site. Why? Because things haven’t worked out the way I had planned.

I fell into a trap of style. I let my perfectionist tendencies get the best of me, and for that I’m sorry. You see, I naively believed that I could use an editorial style on this blog, and that it would in turn help my writing. I has in fact had the opposite effect. Because I wanted to create more informative, structured pieces, I’ve procrastinated actually writing posts!

So, upon realising this and thinking it through, I’ve decided to change the content to fit the format. Blogs should be informal and spontaneous. Most people reading this are either friends back home or people I’ve met travelling. I also feel like I need an outlet just to say what I want to say, regardless if it really applies to travel or not.

So here’s what I’m thinking:

1. A simple box with where I currently am, and maybe upcoming destinations.
2. Shorter posts on the travel side of things. For example, short posts on Chicago pizza, the Chicago hotdog, etc. rather than a long post covering a lot of things at once.
3. Bringing back the rant. It’s in the title, and quite frankly, I feel like I’ve failed to deliver.
4. Images for longer posts. I think it’s something that people liked about clutterdesk, so I’ll try bringing it back again.

Hopefully this will make it easier for me to post, and better for you to enjoy!

Also, tangential to this — I’ve decided to rethink the podcast idea. It’s actually harder to get people to give away their secrets than I had thought. Apologies to Matan @ Shlix, Mark @ Caffeine, Tammy and others who let me record them for this project, which will most likely never make it off my hard drive.

On this point, please let me know what you think — should I resurrect the clutter cast? Perhaps the banter-wagon could be re-opened via the magic of Skype? More DJ Birdman perhaps? Or should I scrap the podcast idea all together? Something else? Let me know!

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I arrived in Chicago on Tuesday, and it’s been good. But I meant to post about the highlights of New York before I left, sorry about the delay. I would recommend all of the following to anyone going there. Also, there maybe a repeat of some things I mentioned previously. None the less, here they are (in no particular order):

• Walk the Brooklyn Bridge. It’s gorgeous. Preferably at sunset.
• Of course you should also walk Central Park. It goes without saying.
• The Circle Line Cruise. One of the best ways to see the city is from the water. I can’t recommend this one enough.
• Speaking of views, you will need to see the city from the top of one of two buildings: the Empire State Building, or the Rockefeller centre. I went to the ESB, but I’ve heard the better option is to take the Rockefeller for a clearer view (the Empire has chain link fencing around the deck) with the bonus of taking in the ESB itself. Also, you have the option of spending the same amount you would pay for tickets to the observation deck instead on a exorbitantly priced drink in the Rainbow Room on the 75th floor with similarly breathtaking views.
• The reason I did the ESB over the Rock was because I bought the New York Citypass. This gives you access to the Circle Line, Empire Observation Deck, the MoMA, the Museum of Natural History (also highly recommended) and the Guggenheim. If they’re on your “to see” list, it’s definitely a money saver. Plus you have 9 days to use it.
• The UCB Theatre. Shows are on every night of the week, and all under $10. I went twice, and both times were great fun.
• While there are a few places you must eat at while in New York (like Katz’s, Papya King, Grimaldi’s) I would highly recommend 2 places in Chinatown. Prosperity Dumpling and Saigon Banh Mi. Ridiculously cheap and delicious.
• Also ridiculously delicious: espresso at Café Grumpy. There are a few other espresso places in New York (not as many as you’d hope), but I didn’t get out to them for myself. Grumpy though, gets my personal thumbs up. I went through 2 loyalty cards!
• Of course, as well as the other well-known attractions I would highly advise checking a few web sites for information on current happenings in the Big Apple. By checking these sites first, I found out about a few things that my hosts hadn’t found out about, like the 20at20 Off-Broadway promo ($20 tickets) and Dine In Brooklyn (Brooklyn’s Restaurant Week).
  • Newyorkology. The Basic NYC Guide is required reading.
  • Gothamist. Updated several times a day.
  • Time Out New York. Check the student guide for cheap thrills.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but it’s a starting point. While I didn’t fall in [heart] with NY (our relationship is somewhere between like and love/hate), there is still so much left I didn’t get around to seeing this time, I hope I make it back again in the future.

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Time flies. Almost 6 weeks flies. Overall I’d say I’m pretty happy with my New York experience, I think I have a decent feel for the place. A much better understanding than I would have left with if I’d only stayed a week. So here’s what’s on my still-to-do (before Tuesday morning) list:

• Jazz at the parlor.
  Free weekly jazz concert in a lady’s living room in her Harlem apartment.
• A proper New York bagel.
  The definition of this sparks heated and lengthy debate amongst bagel lovers. The bagel I have had here (from a place in Greenpoint) was nothing worth writing about. By trekking to one of the bagel Meccas I hope to gain some enlightenment on this odd baked good.
• Some Soundwalk tours.
  The Boston ipod tour impressed me. Hopefully these could work out well too. I hope to do the Meatpacking District, Chinatown and Wall St on Saturday. They’re 60 minutes each, and it gives me another excuse to get some more Bahn Mi and dumplings in Chinatown. Mmmm.
• The PS1 MoMA.
  The less-highfalutin, edgier sister gallery to the MoMa proper.

Also it would be totally awesome to be able to see the Daily Show live. It’s a long shot, but I’ll try calling for last minute tickets in the morning.

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I ended up spending St. Patrick’s Day in Boston. Which is a decision I’m glad I made. Although it was still cold and wet, it wasn’t half as windy and unpleasant as the previous day. I used the opportunity to take a short ipod walking tour. For those not familiar with these, you download an mp3 to your ipod or mp3 player, and you get given a starting point for the tour. It then tells you where to walk and about the places you see along the way.

The Boston Audissey tour was quite informative (for someone with minimal knowledge of US history), and I enjoyed the tone and style of the presentation. It was very casual, the walking pace was relaxed, and the background music and theatrics were not obtrusive on the whole. I recommend it highly.

Walking through Boston was actually quite nice in spite of the cold and the throngs of St. Patrick’s Day revellers. It can be a bit difficult to traverse cobblestones in the aftermath of snow and rain. I accidentally stepped into shot of some drinker’s group photograph and received a very vocal, “BOO!” from the crowd lining up to get into the bar.

I was also able to check out the food in Boston’s famously Italian “North End”. I went with Joseph, who had generously let me crash at his place in South Boston while he was back in New York, and his friend Jim. We had generously portioned pasta dishes at Antico Forno, and then proceeded to eat our way to illness by then indulging at Mike’s Pastry.

In light of this, I don’t discount my time in Boston as a waste, and would actually be happy to return at a warmer time of year. Oh yeah, and the weekly transit pass would’ve been a good idea ($2 single ticket, $15 unlimited weekly). I spent nearly that much in just 3 days.

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