Underground Thoughts

Adam and I bought tickets online a few months ago to tour the crown of the statue of Liberty. So on Sunday morning we met up at Battery park to catch the Ferry over to Liberty Island. Because we had pre ordered tickets we were able to skip the monsterouse lines.

Once on the island we were again able to skip the lines and were directed by the rangers where to go. Being that there are only a few crown access tickets given each day there were very few peolple to wait behind during the security check. Not only are you searched for weapons but you step into a contraption the blows spurts of air on you which is able to detect explosive substances.

Adam and I then continued our journey up the corkscrew staircase that contained 300+ steps.

–Manhattan Bound L Train–
Last night I met up with Todd at a movie being played on the lawn of McCarren park. I don’t think I have ever seen so many bike chained to a fence. They were looked to each other and even locked above one another.

The movie was an old horror film and not my thing but it was entertaining none the less.

Todds friend Catie was there with her boyfriend. You can imagine my enthusiasm when I found out she was Vegan. Afterwards she led us to a icecreame shop with vegan icecreame and a selection of other desserts. The icecreame was made by a Chicago company and the best vegan icecreame I have ever had.

We then migrated to a pizza shop with vegan pizza. All of these places are a four minute bike ride from home. Catie and I shared a piece of chicken Bacon BBQ vegan pizza and even Todd admitted it was good.

–Uptown 6 Train–
Wanting to escape for some one-on-one time Darren and I headed to a B&B in Williamsburg MA for 4th of July weekend. The house overlooked acres of lightly forested hillis. The host Carrol was delightful.

The town had a lot of history, veggie eating options and small locally owned shops. But what was surprising to me was how gay friendly the community was. Being a small farm town I expected it to be a little hostile but it was quit the opposite. Multiple churches had small rainbow flags outside of them. We found out the mayor was gay. And people didn’t even look twice when we held hands. Yet it still had a small town country feel.

It was extremely comforting to know that when I’m ready to leave the chaos if the big city someday that there will be safe places to move my family.

–Manhattan Bound L Train–
My roommate Adam turned 29. So we celebrated at a rooftop bar known for it’s prime view of the Empire State Building. To Adam’s left is his good friend Pip who was vacationing in NYC for a few weeks and staying with us.

Sunday June 28th I woke up with a fever body aches and sore throat. I was bummed ad it meant I would miss walking with the NYC council in the NYC pride parade and all of the days festivities.

That week Darren and I had exchanged a few emails and texts admitting to each other that we were only missing each other more not less as the weeks went by (It had been about 6 weeks since the breakup.) I still saw no real potential for getting back together but I couldn’t help myself from yearning for the possibility.

Darren texted my Sunday morning asking if I was going to the parade. I informed him I was staying home sick.  Around 1pm my buzzer rang. When I heard his voice on the other end I was overwhelmed with emotion. When I opened the door we just stood for a second looking at each other. It was surreal, I hadn’t seen him in a month and a half and being that I moved right after the breakup it was weird having him standing at my new Williamsburg apartment.  “I brought you food.” he said as he held up the Whole food bag he was carrying. We embraced and held each other for a long time. We were both shaking and close to tears. “It pride, I didn’t want you to be alone.” He said, partly choked up.

He ended up staying the entire day. And to the disappointment of his friends canceled his planned pride festivities. We talked a few times cried as we sorted out the issues that had lead to the breakup. Both of us admitted that being our first major relationship we had taken a lot for granted.  We were afraid of rushing back into things, but I didn’t care.  So I asked him if we could be official again.

He then took me to a great French restaurant that sits in a small stone building under the J Train. Overall it was one of the best days of my life. And these last two weeks since being back together have been amazing. (The photo is from dinner.)

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It took much longer than I anticipated but I finally have a revised blog design. I spent most of the day working on it. At every step I found myself Goggling for help.  My adobe skills from school came in handy but the coding world is one I am slowing wading through. Let me know if there are any bugs. I am using Firefox so it will be good to get feed back on how the site looks in other browsers such as Explorer and Safari. To archive the progression below is the original design provided by Sam.

For those who haven’t been to NYC (yet) I thought I would make note: The new header is designed to look like the NYC Subway signs.

–Brooklyn Bound L Train–
The rooftop party was amazing. It was in celebration of pride week and Todd’s sister’s girlfriends birthday. (I am not the only one with a gay sibling!) Sophie, the women in this pic is rockin awesome she was convincing us that we need to take up Mountaineering. She play rugby, does triathlons and has CLIMBED EVEREST! Amazing right?

–Manhattan Bound L Train–

I was on my way to a roof top BBQ and thought I would snap a photo of what I was bringing along. These are three of my favorite vegan junk foods. Kettle Chips, Uncle Eddies Vegan cookies and Sunshine Burgers. Actually to be fair I shouldn’t classify Sunshine Burgers as junk food. They are actually the healthiest and most amazing tasting burgers I have ever had. They aren’t made from processed soy and gluten as many veggie patties are. Instead they are made from whole black beans and sunflower seeds. My favorite is the BBQ ones but the Southwestern burgers are also out of this world amazing. Any time I have friends over and want to prove that being veggie is a sacrifice for delicious food this is what I make.

PS:

I just discovered their fan page on Facebook! Join!

So Its around 8 Thursday night and I’m on the phone catching up with my good friend Nick when I look out my bedrrom window to see my chubby neighboor BARE NAKED lying on his bed with his bum in the air. There is no way he doesn’t realize I can see! His window is directly across from mine and not more than 10 feet away!