Life Goes On

as orientation was wrapping up last week, I hopped a train to THE city. from new haven (apparently a play on the phrase 'new heaven' which is something the city's founders were attempting to create here, in the first master-planned city in the new world) it is only a 1.5 hour train ride into manhattan. being the pseudo-transit geek that i am, i was in awe stepping from the train platform into the main hall at grand central station

the initial excuse to head to nyc was to catch the Yankees playing the Minnesota Twins. despite ernesto announcing his pending arrival with wind and rain it was a good time. Dawn (of SOTV fame) scored cheap tickets & in this case, being way up high was a good thing as the partial roof kept us dry while the lower levels got soaked. i'm glad i'm not a huge twins fan as the yankees schooled them with ball after ball flying over the outfield wall. adding to that excitement was our own jovial-slightly-drunk-super-fan keeping our whole section on its toes.

while ernesto didn't foul up the game, he hit manhattan like a madman on saturday. how is it that everytime i visit manhattan, bad weather strikes? it'll be all bright and happy and sunny and then as soon as my feet hit the soil the sky blackens and the wind picks up. i don't get it! generally i'm a pretty upbeat guy (perhaps icy at times), so why is 'sturm und drang' the meterological leitmotif that accompanies my entry into the city?

actually, the rest of the weekend wasn't a complete washout. the rickshaw dumpling bar alone more than made up for the mess outside. for a meager amount of money (always important for a poor grad student) one can get loaded up with a ton of delicious dumplings. the restaurant has a funky-chipotle-esque vibe inside but foodwise switches out the oh-so-tasty-gut-busting-burrito-bombs for amazingly flavorful chinese dumplings. it is quick, easy, and full of flavor. the best part was desert . . . "chocolate soup dumplings" . . . little pieces of doughy goodness filled with liquid chocolate. mmmmm, chocolate.

ernesto did scare Meryl Streep away from Brecht's "Mother Courage" in Central Park. taking it all in stride, we got tickets for a phenomenal production of Sondheim's "Sweeney Todd." as one might expect in a show about "the demon barber of fleet street," this was a far cry from the traditional, happy-slappy broadway show. it reminded more of the Jeune Lune in minneapolis or even "Shockheaded Peter." the production stripped the story down to its basic elements and in its minimalistic way created an intimate, dark, yet strangely beautiful show. then again, who wouldn't enjoy hearing Patti LuPone (aka Corky's mom) sing about chopping people up & baking them into mince meat pies . . . three times through the grinder.

today the storm broke and i was able to explore central park for much of the afternoon. with the sun finally shining, i guess i can see why millions of people call this place home. it is quite the amazing place, full of insane craziness & yet civilized enough to have quiet places to get away from it all.

for better or worse, nyc is no new haven. it isn't a place i'd necessarily call home, but it is one that i'll be happy to visit again.