Flying and NYC

I decided to head down to NYC again this weekend to meet up with my best friend Matt Jones and Christopher "Seabass" Hurley.  I decided to take a Greyhound bus down from Albany because I thought it would be easier and cheaper than driving... bad choice, I'll explain later on.  I got down to the City at 9pm and Matt met me at the Port Authority.  We met up with his wife Sara and went out to dinner at Virgils BBQ in Times Square.  I haven't been to Times Square at night since I was about 15 and it was all I could do not to go into an epileptic seizure from all the lights and people!  I even got hit with a spitball by a giant dude who was laughing, and instead of saying something and getting stabbed I just kept walking... Getting off the bus earlier was also a rude hassle because nobody would let me out of my seat.  I've been told that Times Square is where you encounter all the assholes.  Anyway, went back to Matt and Hurley's place in Brooklyn and passed out tired.  Woke up the next morning and Chris randomly decided that we should take his 1971 Piper Cherokee, 180hp, 4-seater up to Sky Acres airport to get some breakfast at the Perfect Landing Cafe there.  About 10 minutes after we took off Chris gave me the controls and let me fly!  It was awesome... and it made me think about how much my father loved flying.  Coming back Chris again let me fly but this time I took the plane over the snow-capped Catskills that I had climbed earlier this fall (see prior blog). It was awesome flying over the mountains I had climbed because I could actually see the cliffs I sat on below.  Chris made his second perfect landing of the day and dropped me off at Kate's place in Jersey City, navigating there by his handheld GPS (these guys are such techno pimps).  Spent the evening with Kate and we both went to see her brother Will's band play at a bar downtown and I found out how much I actually like New Castle Brown Ale :)  Sunday was beautiful and Kate and I pretty much just bumbed around Jersey City in great weather.  We ended up going out to a Thai restaurant named ____ before she brought me back to the Port Authority for my bus.  Once again, had a really great time with Kate.  Hopefully she'll find some time to come upstate and hang out with me in Toga so I can show her some cool places here :)  Now.... for the ride home... As I was waiting inline with my headphones on for an hour and half for the late bus I realized I was in the wrong line at the last moment so moved over to the right line... bad choice.. I had a group of 10 angry thug women start screaming loudly that I was skipping line, so instead of making a scene I quietly moved to the back of the line and was promised I'd make the bus... Nope.  When it came down to it I had the last spot on the bus and I politely gave it to a foreign exchange student traveling to Troy.... So, instead of making my 9:30 bus, I left the station at 10 of midnight and didn't get home until 3:15 am!  Hopefully Karma will come back around for me and I'll be able to sell a freakin' loan soon.  Still can't get over how cool it was to fly, and once again had a great time with Kate!

-----