Thursday, April 3

I woke up a second day in a row hearing "Absolution." Awesome.
Chaya and her roommates keep kosher, so I'm not allowed to bring food into the kitchen. Instead of eating my breakfast in the hallway, I decided to get ready and eat a picnic breakfast. It was another beautiful sunshine filled day. I had my orange on the front stoop of their apartment building. I was watching a man throw a ball around for his dog; noticed buds on the trees and tulips getting ready to bloom. I decided to go to Central Park.

I've only seen the southern quarter of Central Park, so I figured since it was a nice enough day I would walk the whole length of the park. There were tons of flowers everywhere. Walking around reminded me of when I first lived in England - and my flat overlooked Hyde Park. I would walk home through the park every day. Flowers started blooming in February. I miss that time.

I got to the statue of "Angel of the Water" and caught a delicious smell. There were cherry blossoms on the tress surrounding the fountain! Another sweet smell was drifting through the air - roasted nuts. It was heaven. I sat there for a while drinking in the scents and listening to a teacher lecturing a group of high school kids on the history of the park, then decided if I wanted to have time to get through the whole park, I would have to make a move.

I walked through Shakespeare Gardens, up to castle, over to the art museum and obelisk, then up to the reservoir. I definitely hadn't been this far north before. Unfortunately, it became quite cloudy and windy. I was beginning to get cold, and my legs were tiring. I took a couple pictures and then my camera batteries died. I was hungry by now too. It had taken me 3 hours to walk around this far. I decided to cut over to the west side of the park and look for batteries and food. Along the way, I saw the "Mayor of Central Park." Google him if you have never heard of him.

I walked a block west of the park to find food. Of course I had pizza again. yum.
My legs were aching from walking and I had a sore on my heel. I knew I was near the Chinese massage place that Amy and I had been to in August. So I walked down to 72nd and decided to get a massage. I wasn't really paying attention, and walked into the place next door to the one that Amy and I had been to before. The prices were the same (only $55 for an hour massage!!) and so I went for it.
The Red Leaf Spa - that's what the place was called - had a wonderful selection of muzak playing (sarcasm, anyone?). I heard renditions of Everything I Do (I Do it For You), I Will Always Love You, Unchained Melody, Can You Feel the Love Tonight, and Everything I Do for an encore performance! So the music wasn't exactly fantastic, but the massage was. If you've never experienced a Chinese style massage, find some place that does them.
The thing about these places in New York is that rent is so much, they tend to not have real rooms - rather they put up dividing curtains or half-walls to separate massage tables. So you can hear everything going on around you. This woman came in while I was having my massage and I could hear her deliberating on what to get. First she wanted an hour, then just fifteen minutes, but settled on a half hour. Her phone rang during her massage and she answered it. That just makes me crazy. Who would answer their phone during a relaxing massage?? Who leaves their phone on??? ugh.
A man also came in during the length of my massage. He began moaning loudly as if he were having amazing sex. I almost started to giggle. Then I heard his masseuse tell him to be quiet because he was likely disturbing other clients. LOL.
The man performing my massage kept trying to talk me into taking an extra half hour for a foot massage. I said no thank you, mostly because I couldn't afford it. I finally agreed to an extra 10 minutes. He ended up taking 20 minutes to do my feet, but charged me just $10 more than my normal hour massage. Awesome! They gave me a punch card (!!) and said after 10, my 11th is free. Super rad. So if you're in the Manhattan area, check out the Red Leaf Spa & Chinese Body Works. 148 West 72nd St, 2nd Floor (between Broadway and Columbus). Open 7 days a week 10:30am to 9:30pm. [212.877.1338 if you want to know prices].

Feeling refreshed, I walked to Times Square. I have no idea why, because I hate the place. It's the one place in New York that I want to punch people in the back of the head. I guess it's because it is full of tourists all looking up and taking pictures and stopping right in front of you. So I jumped on the subway and took my ass to Union Square again. I walked over to 7th Avenue and stopped at Whole Foods to grab some breakfast for the next morning. While I was there looking for Good Earth tea, I saw an entire display full of Rishi Tea! A little piece of home :)
I walked on to 8th Ave and went into a cafe to get a hot chocolate. I ran into my friend Lauren there, who's mother was visiting from San Diego. We went to Never Had a Legal Drink together (again, if you're confused by this, don't worry about it).

I saw Chaya and she was getting a ride home from some kid. I said I was exhausted and would like to go back as well. So we climbed into this 2008 Infiniti G37. I'm not the type to be impressed by cars, especially when the person driving them is trying to impress you. I was listening to Chaya and this boy talk, and somewhere along in the conversation he mentions he's all hopped up on percoset. YIKES! We got back to Brooklyn, and as we went inside I told Chaya to make sure our driver's are sober before we get in the car with them... she was like, "Oh my god, did you see my face when he said that?!" That was our crazy little adventure for the night.

If you want to see more pictures, I'll have them posted on both my facebook and myspace accounts. I will have them for public view on www.myspace.com/darkshines8