13 October 2007

mom comes to visit

so my mom was here in new york for a week from the 4th to 11th. it was her first visit to new york but i guess she came to see me more than the city, just to find out how my living conditions are, and stuff like that.

problem is, i am just soooo busy with school, that we hardly had the time to go out. so most of her one week was spent like wandering around by herself and then we'd meet up for dinner. good thing we managed to squeeze in some tourist-y things to do during the weekend!!

we started off in times square and boarded the double-decker open-top tourist bus that takes you around the city. before we got on the bus, we wanted to take pictures at the famous times square buildings.



but the naked cowboy was there, so we thought, heck we'd go take pictures with him. i mean, that's what a tourist in new york would do, right? i've seen him there a million times and have zero interest, but he was standing where i wanted to take photos from, so it was a "might as well" situation.

he is basically a character who parades himself on the most prominent corner of times square dressed only in his cowboy hat, boots, and underwear. i think he looks retarded and sure ain't good looking if you ask me.

well since it was just my mom and i, i thought i'd get someone to help us take photos. turns out that the naked "cowboy" has a manager who was handing out leaflets for his website, so i asked rather politely if he'll help us take some photos.

guess what he said?

"are you gonna tip me?"
"uh, okay." and i reached into my wallet.
"are you gonna tip him too?"
"uh...okay..."
"so you are tipping me right?"
"yeah."
"ok. just making sure."
"if this is a paid service how come you don't have a sign for it? isn't tipping like a gratuity thing? are you supposed to ask for it?"
"well i ask for what i want."
"what?"
"so yeah tip me and him."

i got so pissed off i put the 5 lousy bucks i had in my hand back in my wallet and took out two bucks. the way he said it, the tone of his voice and all that, was just disgusting.

then we took our photos with the cowboy and we got robbed - totally molested and it's not like he's some gorgeous dude that i'd even want to get molested by, you know?




i might be smiling in those shots but trust me i wanted to kick him in his balls. actually i'd rather kick his manager's, since he was the real bastard. then i took my camera back from that slime and gave him his two bucks. i mean, that bloody fuck isn't even worth a ten cent that had dropped on the pavement that i wouldn't even bother to try and pick up.

he took it and walked away but guess what i overheard him saying to the cowboy?
"she gave me one lousy buck. how the fuck does she want me to pay for my kids through college with one lousy buck!"

well i've got one thing to say to you, asshole. buy yourself a better attitude. and if you can't afford that then you've gotta sell your ass to the gays cos with that attitude of yours, that's the only way you'll probably ever make money. bloody dumb ass.

so if you EVER come to new york, don't even go near that stupid prick. it's NOT worth your time, nor your two bucks.

anyway.

it was really hard juggling schoolwork and going out with mom. like on the weekdays i'd be at school till evening time, then we'd go out for dinner or something, then i'd come back home and while my mom slept, i'd stay up till like 4 or 5 a.m. to finish up my work that i needed to get done. i was really tired and i was getting like 2 or 3 hours of sleep maximum, each day.

i brought my mom to la bonne soup, which alex and i had gone to twice when he was in the big apple. my mom loved it too. i'm telling you, it's really good. we went there for dinner once and then for a late lunch again! haha!!

with my lousy schedule, we only managed to have one great dinner, and that was with some really old family friends - ron, debbie and laura sheiman, and andrew. ron and debbie have been friends with my parents since like god knows when; i think before i was even born. i met laura before many years ago when we were still kids and the sheimans came to singapore, and i remember her and her sister, jill, so well because they taught us this really hilarious, full of hand actions, song. it was called "joe and the butter factory". have any of you heard of it before?

it's been years and i can't remember exactly, but it goes something like this:
"hi... my name is joe... and i work in a butter factory. i have a wife, a dog and a family. one day, my boss comes up to me and says 'hey joe, are you busy?' and i say 'no'. so he says 'churn the butter with your right hand'." then left hand then right leg and so on, you get the picture.

ok it's so corny but hey, when you're like six, it's the coolest game ever.


laura's getting married on the 20th, and if you recall me saying, it is her wedding dinner that i'm gonna be attending and i still don't know what i'm gonna wear!! help me!!!

andy's mom grew up with debbie, so she introduced him to me, just so i'd know someone in manhattan. she can't stop singing his praises and that's because he's smart and funny and at 23, doing really well in the real estate business. when i found out his age, i immediately felt old and like a failure. ugh.

well that dinner was so fun and i had such a great time. it was SUCH a pity though, that the waiter who helped us take a picture, did such a lousy job!! i'm so disappointed that the photo turned out blur.


after dinner the sheimans drove us around the city to show my mom how it is at night, and we stopped by grand central station. check out what i found on the bins!

Gilda's Club is a free-of-charge, non-profit organization that aims to provide meeting places where men, women and children living with cancer, along with their families and friends, can join with others to build a personal network of social and emotional support as an integral part of cancer treatment.
i made a small donation, and if you can, please do so too!!

my mom left at 6 a.m. on thursday, the 11th. on the 10th, the weather had gone really funky and it went from hot and humid to really windy and cold! summer to start of winter in one lousy day! where did my autumn go?!?! i haven't even had the chance to wear any light jackets and coats that i love!!

i walked my mom out to the cab and came back to sleep, but when i woke up, i had the worst headache ever and my nose was stuffy and my throat was itchy. i thought to myself, 'this is just great!!! my mom leaves and i get sick when i'm stuck here all alone and can't have anyone cook for me!?!?'

i guess all the stress and lack of sleep finally caught up with me and my body was telling me that it can't handle all the shit i'm doing to it. i was really tired, but getting sick now is just making the situation worse. i don't have time nor the luxury to lie back and rest!!!

my flu and sore throat quickly went from bad to worse and i'm really quite sick now. i had to force myself to go to school on friday morning cos we were having a quiz. but in the middle of it, i suddenly felt so nauseous i had to run to the toilet to puke. i was feeling horrid, but i think the toilet was so gross that i puked more than i was supposed to.

then this girl asked me if i was pregnant.


". . . . . . . . . . . ........."

huh? no i'm not. does my tummy look big?? ack! my nose is stuffed up and my throat hurts and i've got a temperature and i sound like a toad but no i'm not pregnant! and does my tummy look big!?!? ack!

so i'm on this antibiotics now and it's really helping a lot, although i still sound like crap and i carry my own box of tissues even when i leave the house. somehow i felt well enough on friday evening to go do my shopping report downtown, and i went to the patricia field store again. (more on that later!!)