Oh Sandy, why must you complicate things so?
<------ Pictured here is the Brooklyn Waterfront Arts Coalition gallery where I currently have the Dog with Penguins painting. And this picture was taken when the water receded! Apparently, it was 5 feet high on the bottom floor. But luckily, our wonderful directors moved all of the art work to the second flood. Still though, the damage is pretty bad…Oh Sandy.
My art show at the LaunchPad was cancelled due to the difficulty of everythingin New York right now. The traffic, lack of gas, lack of electricity, lack of subways, and from all of that comes the anger of everyone. For Brooklyn specifically, I would say lack of gas and subways is the pinnacle of our chaos. The streets went from being grid-locked with angry honking drivers, to being lined with silent dead cars and no people. Gas stations are blocked off with caution tape and long lines of people holding red gas cans go on for blocks. Policemen and National Guardsmen look flustered and panicked and freak out if you walk on the sidewalk next to the gas station. It's pretty surreal, but then again, I've just been trying to leave my apartment as little as possible so I really haven't seen much of it. Apparently there has been a lot of shootings and from what I can hear from my apartment, lots of fights.
I had to get to Queens for a job interview on Friday. Although I got there, it was the most difficult and frustrating trip ever. Busses were full, taxi's wouldn't go out of Brooklyn, and people were obnoxious and cops were nervous. I finally made it there by telling the cab driver the name of an obscure street in Queens. He looked at me suspiciously, asked if I knew how to get there, and let me in the cab. After he started driving I told him that it was in Queens. He was kinda pissed…but I gave him a good tip and expressed my gratitude.
Then on the way back I waited, along with maybe 50 others, at a bus stop in the freezing cold for about and hour and a half while full busses passed by. They would open their doors at our stop, allowing one scared individual look at the crowd wide-eyed and nervous bracing himself against the edge of the bus doors, then everyone sighs, pissed off, the doors close, the individual relaxes and plasters himself against the glass, and bus drives off. Then we wait for another twenty minutes till the process repeats itself.
I went to get a beer and a BLT. I talked to some ridiculous men from Long Island that told pretty racist jokes, relentlessly flirted with the waitress and had really thick accents. They both had daughters my age and gave me lots of sad eyes and pity smiles. We talked a lot and I was secretly hoping they would pay for my beer, but they didn't. So now I've decided that when I get a job I'm going to pay for some poor young persons beer on a cold, unemployed, subwayless day.
Then the altruism began. I went back to the bus stop and waited and watched full busses drive by for about another half hour. Then a car drove up and a girl around my age got out. I saw her lean over and say to a woman waiting for the bus "hey, do you need to go to downtown Brooklyn?", then they both start going towards the car. I ran over, "WAIT, are you going to downtown Brooklyn???" "Yeah…….wanna ride?" "YES."
And that's how I got to Brooklyn. A nice young couple listening to NPR in their snazzy sedan and 3 cold, lowly bus riders.
Of course, I don't live in downtown Brooklyn. So, I started walking home. I figured it would take a little over an hour. And I think it did. OH! But I did end up catching a bus! Five blocks from my house. I think I did it just to make myself feel better. I imagine the bus driver was confused.
Thanks Sandy.
<------ Pictured here is the Brooklyn Waterfront Arts Coalition gallery where I currently have the Dog with Penguins painting. And this picture was taken when the water receded! Apparently, it was 5 feet high on the bottom floor. But luckily, our wonderful directors moved all of the art work to the second flood. Still though, the damage is pretty bad…Oh Sandy.
My art show at the LaunchPad was cancelled due to the difficulty of everythingin New York right now. The traffic, lack of gas, lack of electricity, lack of subways, and from all of that comes the anger of everyone. For Brooklyn specifically, I would say lack of gas and subways is the pinnacle of our chaos. The streets went from being grid-locked with angry honking drivers, to being lined with silent dead cars and no people. Gas stations are blocked off with caution tape and long lines of people holding red gas cans go on for blocks. Policemen and National Guardsmen look flustered and panicked and freak out if you walk on the sidewalk next to the gas station. It's pretty surreal, but then again, I've just been trying to leave my apartment as little as possible so I really haven't seen much of it. Apparently there has been a lot of shootings and from what I can hear from my apartment, lots of fights.
I had to get to Queens for a job interview on Friday. Although I got there, it was the most difficult and frustrating trip ever. Busses were full, taxi's wouldn't go out of Brooklyn, and people were obnoxious and cops were nervous. I finally made it there by telling the cab driver the name of an obscure street in Queens. He looked at me suspiciously, asked if I knew how to get there, and let me in the cab. After he started driving I told him that it was in Queens. He was kinda pissed…but I gave him a good tip and expressed my gratitude.
Then on the way back I waited, along with maybe 50 others, at a bus stop in the freezing cold for about and hour and a half while full busses passed by. They would open their doors at our stop, allowing one scared individual look at the crowd wide-eyed and nervous bracing himself against the edge of the bus doors, then everyone sighs, pissed off, the doors close, the individual relaxes and plasters himself against the glass, and bus drives off. Then we wait for another twenty minutes till the process repeats itself.
I went to get a beer and a BLT. I talked to some ridiculous men from Long Island that told pretty racist jokes, relentlessly flirted with the waitress and had really thick accents. They both had daughters my age and gave me lots of sad eyes and pity smiles. We talked a lot and I was secretly hoping they would pay for my beer, but they didn't. So now I've decided that when I get a job I'm going to pay for some poor young persons beer on a cold, unemployed, subwayless day.
Then the altruism began. I went back to the bus stop and waited and watched full busses drive by for about another half hour. Then a car drove up and a girl around my age got out. I saw her lean over and say to a woman waiting for the bus "hey, do you need to go to downtown Brooklyn?", then they both start going towards the car. I ran over, "WAIT, are you going to downtown Brooklyn???" "Yeah…….wanna ride?" "YES."
And that's how I got to Brooklyn. A nice young couple listening to NPR in their snazzy sedan and 3 cold, lowly bus riders.
Of course, I don't live in downtown Brooklyn. So, I started walking home. I figured it would take a little over an hour. And I think it did. OH! But I did end up catching a bus! Five blocks from my house. I think I did it just to make myself feel better. I imagine the bus driver was confused.
Thanks Sandy.
