Last Saturday I went on a day trip to NY with Vina and Crow. We went on the good ol’ Fung Wah bus, best known for cheap fares, spontaneous fiery engulfment, and roll overs. The sky was overcast during the four-and-a-half hour ride. We had hoped it’d clear up as we entered New York because different state, different weather right? Right. The sun came out, but only after an hour of on and off rain. None of us had brought umbrellas so we ran around from place to place while getting soaked. The street vendors called out to the tourists to buy their two for $5 umbrellas but many, like us, weren’t bothered enough to. Besides, we were saving our money for trinkets, vinyls, and jerky. We went to stores selling jewelry, shoes, or discount clothing but my favorite was Pearl River, a three-floor building full of Chinese deco, furniture, food, toys, and clothes. It had a little of everything. I ended up buy a notepad made from leek, and a couple more for friends. The cover and pages are incredibly soft and bendable. They remind me of old Asian movies I used to watch with my mom. About back in the day when people carried paper lanterns for lights and dressed in silky flowing fabric and carried swords instead of guns. They had these notebooks then and I have them now.
After walking 4 blocks too far and back trekking, we found KidRobot and picked up more vinyls. I got some Mongers Menthols and Crow got Bentworld Vandals. I would have liked to stay there longer (and probably buy more than I should) but the small store was packed. A flood of people came in after we did. There was no place to move and the boxes were out of reach, so we paid and made a quick exit. We stopped at different vendors and my sister splurged on lots of things but when we stopped at an artist vendor’s booth we both bought his artwork. They were photographs of his paintings, but cropped and mounted onto a sheet of metal. The metal was then screwed into a piece of wood that was either blue or black. I got the black one, and she bought the blue one. The best, BEST! find of the day was a booth selling TV and movie scripts. I wanted many but at $20 a pop I ended up with just one - Fight Club. I love the movie and read the script on the way home. It was almost like I was watching the movie in my head, with the voices of Ed Norton, Brad Pitt, and Helena Bonham Carter. There was parts of the script that weren’t in the movie, and parts of the movie that weren’t in the script. Ed’s character didn’t have a name in the movie, and is only referred to as ‘Narrator’ but in the script, he’s Jack. One of my favorite scenes from the movie is: “I am Jack’s lung. I get cancer. I kill Jack.” - says Tyler Durden as he rides his bike around the house wearing one of those super warm hats with the ear flaps until one of the tires hit something and he flies off the bike.
I read the script on the bus ride home, while eating from my pound of jerky as Vina slept and Crow listened to her iPod. It was a tiring day but 6 hours is nowhere near enough time to visit all the places we wanted to. I have a feeling I’ll be going back soon.
Here’s some pics of the trip and the purchases.
