Tag: New York City

Post-Pandemic

“How much does your life have to suck to want the Apocalypse?” ~ Laini Taylor, Daughter of Smoke & Bone
 
The pandemic lasted 457 days in New York City, with the Covid restrictions ending on June 15, 2021.
 
Post-pandemic life has been a series of highs and lows.
 

Highs:

  • May:  I went to Miami, for the first time ever, and loved it.  I met my high school and long time friend there to celebrate our landmark birthdays.

  • June:  One day after the lifting of restrictions, I went to Cape Cod.  I got to see the famous lighthouses and eat fantastic seafood.

  • July:  I moved to a great location in the city, right on the East River.  These are views from my apartment.

  • September:  I was able to participate in the Tunnel to Towers Run to honor and pay respect to the thousands of lives that perished on 9/11.  It’s surreal to me that this year was the 20th anniversary.

Lows:

My cousin went into cardiac arrest in July, just two short months after I last saw him in May.  He had looked to be healthy and on the mend from a recent medical procedure.  He fell into a coma and never fully regained consciousness.  He passed away in early October.  Even worse, I found out about his passing through Instagram when one of his sons posted a note about his passing.  I loved my cousin and am hurt that his family never even bothered to inform me.  People (especially family) are freakin’ weird.

Another low this year is the sudden character regression of my daughter.  I had posted in March about how proud I was of her seemingly becoming more mature, and sometime between March and during the summer, she transformed into a lying, sneaky, and unreliable little jerk.  I know she’s my daughter and I should not refer to her disparagingly, but I call it how I see it.  She had three sessions with a therapist, and those sessions went well.  I have encouraged her to continue, but she refuses to go, instead choosing to be rebellious and defiant of house rules.  I am nearly at my wit’s end with her, and am running out of patience.

Looking Ahead

It is now December and God willing, I will fly out in two weeks to see my family in the Philippines.  The clock is ticking faster these days, it feels like, and I am anxious to see them, especially after this long pandemic that does not seem to end.  Hopefully I will get to spend my Christmas and New Year with them.  In the meantime, I am enjoying the festive decorations here in the city.  It is such a welcome sight, made much more appreciated after having missed it last year with the city on lockdown.

Night Drives

“I hadn’t realized that music could unlock things in you, could transport you to somewhere even the composer hadn’t predicted.  It left an imprint in the air around you, as if you carried its remnants with you when you went.” ~ Jojo Moyes, Me Before You
 

Day 356.  Last Night was Friday night.  The girls and I drove around the city and ended up on the Lower East Side.  We parked the car and walked out in the blistering cold in search of a place to eat.  With the restaurant gathering capacity still limited to thirty-five percent, we settled on dining inside a bubble at this place called Route 66.

Photo credit: Route 66
 

The inside of the bubble was warmer, but by no means warm enough to take off your coat.  It’s uncomfortable to eat in such conditions, but even more uncomfortable to just sit there idle, so I ordered a cocktail and some french fries.  Not exactly healthy, but hey, you only live once.

After dinner, we got back into the car and drove around the city some more.  I swear to God, New York is so bloody beautiful.  We turned up the music in the car and with the lights of the city shining around us, it almost felt like we were in a nightclub.

Song: Breaking Me, Topic & A7S
Excuse the smudges on the windows.
 

Szám Hat

“This is a good place,” he said.

“There’s a lot of liquor,” I agreed. ~ Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises

Day 6.

It was a good day.    The official “lockdown” of New York City begins on Sunday, March 22, so kind of as a last hurrah, I accompanied a friend into midtown.  She had to drive another friend who is a cleaning maid for one of the buildings in the city.  She had time to kill while she waited for her friend to finish her work, so I took the opportunity to go to my office to pick up a few files.

The city was empty.  Not deserted, but empty for its usual standards.  According to Wikipedia, “approximately 330,000 people pass through Times Square daily, many of them tourists, while over 460,000 pedestrians walk through Times Square on its busiest days.”  As we passed by it yesterday, there were less than fifty people there, and this is a generous count.

My building was also empty, with the exception of the armed police in the front, and the man at the security desk.  I took the elevator upstairs to my floor, and when I stepped out of the elevator, I was assaulted by the antiseptic smell and blinded by the brilliance of the shining floor and light fixtures.  I don’t want to say that they went overboard with the cleaning, but well, they really did go overboard.  It smelled like a hospital, and the extreme brightness of the lights gave me an eerie feeling of a mental institution, or what I would imagine a mental institution would be like.

I went into my office and picked up a few files and folders to take home.  I felt sad when I  was leaving and wondered to myself as to when I would be back again.

After her friend was finished with work, we thought to brave the grocery stores.  We drove to about five different stores and all of them had long lines wrapped around the corner.  To the crowd’s credit, they all practiced social distancing and everyone stood a few feet apart from each other.

We didn’t feel like waiting in the long lines, so we decided to just go into a Walgreen’s.  I had already done my necessary shopping earlier this week, so I only ended up buying some plastic ice cube trays and a bag of chips.  Our next stop before heading home was a little Vietnamese sandwich shop where we were allowed to enter only one person at a time.  I ordered a pork belly sandwich to go.  Next door was a wine shop where again, we we were only allowed to enter one person at a time.  I bought two bottles of Prosecco and then went home.

No exercise for me today.  I opted instead to catch up with my cousin in Chicago and went to bed early.  I’m saving the Prosecco for a rainy day.