new york at $50 a day
or
i really, really heart new york
The moment I decided to consider the option of leaving New York City was the moment I fell in love with it all over again.
This is how that day went:
This is how that day went:
- 8am
I woke up in my $30 a day room. It reminds me of Jean Genet's cell in Our Lady of the Flowers, but only since last night when I bought the book for $1.00 at The LGBT Center book fair. The room is depressing but only when i'm inside of it and awake. So I get ready fast and leave.
From the outside, I love the building. It's across the Hudson River Park just like those other fancy buildings. It even has historical AND cultural appeal (I think): it houses Jane Street Theatre --- where I saw the original production of Hedwig --- and it was originally the American Seamen's Friend Society Institute, where survivors of the Titanic disaster were taken to. - 9am
I biked down the waterfront to Cafe Angelique on Bleecker and Grove. They didn't charge me for the (excellent) coffee, only for the muffin ($1.90) because I'm a regular (Cheers, anyone?). There are free copies of the NYTimes to read (and look for jobs). As I walked in, Marisa Monte was singing, a compilation I had made for them. It warms my heart. - 10am
I headed to the Apple Store in SoHo where one can access the w3 for free and on their computers, if needed. I check emails, I read blogs and post to my own blog. And I spent 2 hours doing so. No salesperson bothers me. - 12pm
I left the store, walked through Soho (my bike was left behind) and through the touristic part of Chinatown until I cross that feeble line that separates it from the REAL Chinatown. That line was pointed out to me by Alex, my good friend from HK. He showed me this unmarked door that opens up a passage to a market in China. Inside the market all signs and all faces are chinese and I feel foreign in New York. I have lunch for $2.75 - anything you want to eat - over rice, of course.
I want my next apartment to be in Chinatown. - 1pm
I take the subway ($1.66 when you buy a $10.00 card)to the Upper East Side to see the Lucian Freud Show (free). I cry when I see "The Brigadier". I've been crying a lot lately, much neede cleansing...
On the first floor there are the paintings and on the second floor they are showing pictures and a movie of Freud at work. There is a picture of him painting his grandson, Albie, and you can see the kid is upset he has to pose. And when you see the painting downstairs again, you see it for the first time. I cry again. (you can - and should - download the catalog here) - 2pm
The Met is only 2 blocks away and that's where I go to re-write my resume and write some letters. Being inside the museum inspires me. They suggest you pay $9.00 admission. It's more than fair for what you get and I do not mind paying IF I were working. Instead I go to the gift shop where, all the way in the back, there is an unsupervised entrance to the museum. Not that they would stop you, I think. But I would be embarassed if they did. I sit by the temple of Dendur, a favorite spot. - 3pm
I walk back from 81st street inside Central Park. It was a beautiful sunny-but-not-hot Spring day. Light can do wonders to one's mood. On 51st Street I met my friend Regina, who I went to College with in Brazil. She works nearby and treats me to lunch and good conversation ($0.00). - 4pm
I spent a couple of hours at The LGBT Center's cybercenter where, for $3.00/hr you can use a computer with the latest operational systems and a T1 internet connection. If anything, The LGBT Center is a wonderful place that will give you a different perspective on the bubble that is the gay world where most of my friends and I live in. ($6.00) - 8pm
showered and rested i head to my friend steven's for home-made burgers and american idol. and
bullshit talk. ($0.00) - 11pm
Back into my room and happy.
Tired as it has been a long day. Which is good because then I fell asleep quickly, without time to think about the room I'm sleeping in. Which is not half as bad as the cell Jean Genet lived in.
