Why I hate NYC (part 2)

Journal Abm0raz's Journal: Why I hate NYC (part 2) 5

Journal by Abm0raz on Wednesday June 09, 2004 @02:53PM

This is part 2. It chronicals my adventures in NYC from this past Monday ~5:30pm until Tuesday ~10pm. Part one has some necessary background info such as:
1. I had a former GF that I'd visited there before 6 years earlier.
2. I got lost/fined that time.
3. I chose not to pay fines and vowed never to come back.

Dateline: June 7th, 2004

The GF from part 1 and I have since split up. We actually split up several years ago, mainly over where we wanted to live. I want to live in central or western PA, eastern OH, or northern WV. I love the area and am quite happy here. I don't like to travel and my stability and sanity depends on having a stable place to call home (I've lived a total of 4 places in the last 28 years). I don't even like to travel on vacation if I havae to spend more than a night or 2 in a strange bed/couch.
She, on the other hand, is a travel freak and a former psuedo-army brat. Her dad wasn't in the army itself, but was a military legal aide that investigated lawsuits against the army and it's people. She has lived in or visited for extended periods of time (2+ months) Virginia, PA, FL, Puereto Rico, Japan, Mexico, Costa Rica, Spain, and a few more I don't remember. She also had an irration hatred of Pittsburgh (where she spent most of her formative years (age 2-13) growing up and where she returned to goto college.
This personality conflict led to our eventual break up. She started dating another friend of her's that despised me (mainly cause he wanted her). They ended up living together a year later and still do, sorta. He hasn't had a real job the entire time they've known each other. She broke up with him over a year ago, but he still lives in the apartment, just in seperate rooms.
I haven't seen her in ~4years and since she now lives in Indianapolis, I prolly won't eveer see her. So when we were chatting via email, she says something along the lines of, "It may just be that I'm horny, but are you free Jun 7th and 8th? I'll be in NYC overnight again for a flight to Spain. It's close enough that you'll only have to take 1 day." I figure, "Why not?" I haven't seen her for ages and part of me still wonders. This would be a great time to make sure. I just need to make sure I don;t get stopped by any cops.
So, I get the day off from both my jobs. We cancel her hostel reservation and I get a room at the Best Western in Queens, just outside the airport. Clothes are packed. Directions printed. Car all fueled up. Tires checked. Oil Checked. Transmission fluid checked. Wallet full. Looks like I'm all ready. (notice all the car stuff ... this is important)
I set out directly from work at 4:45pm. This should get me there between 9 and 9:30, depending on traffic. I get about 3 miles out of town and my phone rings. It's my allergist reminding me of my appointment at noon the next day. Shit shit and double shit. When I checked my calendar to see if I had anything on the 7th and 8th, I didn't look at my personal calendar, just my work calendar. It took me 6 months to get an appointment with this doctor. He's a leader in his field and does a lot of research as well at the university. It's nigh impossible to get an appointment with him unless you have some serious problems. I tell him, "Well, Dr. Mentyka, I'm gonna be in New York tomorrow and it's unavoidable. Can I reschedule?." The next available appointment was october. Damn New York.
Fast forward 1 hour. I realize that tonight is THE LAST NHL HOCKEY GAME for *2* years. It is game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals and there will be no season next year. My Ex calls to tell me she checked into the hotel and when will I be there? I tell her that I should get there between 9 and 9:30, and does she mind if I watch the end of the game? I promise to spend full attention to her the rest of the night and all day tomorrow, but this is the last game in the foreseeablt future and I'd really love to watch it. She has not problem with that and all seems well. Maybe NYC isn't that bad after all.
Fast forward another 2hrs. I'm listening to the first period of the game and turning off I-80 onto I-280. I'm about 25 miles outside of NYC and starting to notice that my radio is getting weird reception and that my headlights and dash seem a little dim. It's hard to tell, though, because it's not quite completely dark yet. I'm in the wrong lane at the split when I-280 goes into I-95 (Jersey Turnpike) or exits into Orange, NJ.
I turn around in Orange and at the light, my car stalls. I try to start my car and it struggles a second, then starts right up. Lights look normal, evereything. I think to myself, "I had my car tuned up before I left. It's 17 years old and only has 60,000 miles on it. This is probably the furthest it's ever been driven at one time. I'm almost there, let's just finish the drive. The game's on. I haave a girl in a hotel room all to myself. Let's just go."
Fast forward 30 minutes, after paying the toll to exit New Jersey**, I enter the Lincoln tunnel (the one in the Soprano's opening). As I'm driving through, all my lights shut off. No radio, dash, headlights, power steering or brakes. Nothing. I get to the end of the tunnel and my directions say to go left into Manhattan then get the Queens tunnel.
I come out of the tunnel and there is a traffic light. I stop 3 cars back. Soon as I stop, my car stalls. I turn the key and nothing. Nothing at all. The light turns green. The honking and yelling and middle fingers start flying. I push my car uphill through the interesection to a little nook under the over pass (Dyer St. and 40th Ave, for you New Yorkers). I grab my cell phone (which had been charging the whole time in my car charger) and it's got 1 battery bar cause the electrical was f'd up the whole time and it never charged.
I grab my softball bat out of the hatch, pop the hood, and wait for a cop to drive by to get help. I call AAA and explain to them what had happened and that my cell phone's about to die. They say that a tow truck will be there in 15 minutes. I call my Ex and tell her I'll be an hour late. This is at 9:30.
My cell phone officially died on that call. No battery at all. At 10:15, I started to think that the towtruck wasn't showing. 5 to 6 cops drove by and I tried to flag them down to no avail. I'm literally stuck in downtown, by myself with no hope of help so I'll even take their help even if it meeans getting arrested for outstanding warrants. Fucking New York.
At 10:30 the truck finally showed up. I was not in the best of moods at that point, but he was a great guy. I have AAA gold, so I can have my car towed upto 100 miles. I have him take it to my hotel room in Queens. This trip is another journal entry because for all I hate about NYC, this man is a shining example of why all encompasing statements are rarely true. He was kind, helpful, and we had some great conversation on the trip. I will make another entry about him later.
He starts taking me and my car to queens. We go up Dyer st. one block and turn right to head over to queens and the next block is SWARMING with police. The entire block is lined off with police tape. The driver said with that much action, there must've been a shoot-out or drive by. So that's why non of the cops would stop for me.
Fast forward an hour. We get to the hotel, I sign the papers. The only spot available to park in is one that he can manuever my car into with the truck. So we put it down. The keys were in the ignition aand it was already in neutral. I have him get in the car (as I am much bigger) and we push it back into the spot. He rolls up the window, we shake hands. I tip him well cause he earned it, and I go visit my Ex in theh hotel room.
I had pulled out my back-pack with all my clothes and pills and stuff before we started towing and put it in the truck cab with me. I had left straight from work, so I was still wearing my work clothes (slacks, dress shoes, shirt/tie). I got upstairs, she was worried sick since I said I'd be there by 10:30 and it was now midnight. I told her what happened and I just wanted to sleep. I got under the covers, set the alarm for 7am cause I had to call AAA again in the morning went sleep.
I get up and 7:30. Take a shower, get dressed in something more sensible for sightseeing. White t-shirt, light button down short sleeve shirt, pair of khaki shorts white ped socks and ... and ... shit, I left my tennis shoes (sneakers for you unedjumacated folks) in my car. Grab my pants from yesterday looking for my keys. Not there. Check the night stand. Not there. Nowhere. "Honey, I'll be back. I'm going down to my car." The whole time, I'm praying that they are in there.
As I get closer to the car, I can see them through the passenger side door. Hurray! I go to open the door. Locked. Walk to the other side. Driver's side is locked, too. No problem, I always keep a spare door key in my wallet in case I lock my keys in my car. Look on the car seat ... my wallet's there from when I had to pay the toll for the Lincoln tunnel. SONUVABITCH!
Back up to the hotel room for the caall to AAA. This time it's for a tow to the nearest station and locked keys in the car. I guess now is as good as anytime to tell everyone that I have a 1987 Mustang, charcoal grey, in extremely good condition.
When the driver arrived (~9:30am), he first tried a slimjim, but the mustangs those years had anti-slimjim design to help prevent carjackings. They also have power locks, which means the lock itself is a round peg, noting to hook a wire hanger on. He started prying my door open and got his neat little wire tool to the power lock button ... only my batter and electrical is still deaed from the night before. He hooks it on the handle, only can't pull it far enough. Finally he starts turning the window crank little by little. After 30 minutes of all of this, do we get a 2" crack in the window. Just enough for me to force my arm in and open the door from the inside. Once we get it open, he tows it to the shop about 2 blocks down the road.
At the shop, I explain that my old mustang of the same year had a very similar electrical problems caused by a slipping belt. They tested it (in front of me cause I do know my car inside and out) and it turned out that my alternator had a burned out coil. I needed a new one. $250?!?!?! A brand new one only costs $100, used I could get for $40. It's only 3 gawddam bolts to remove it and put the newe one in. But, realistically, I didn't have a choice. Fucking New York.
The time is 11:00. He swears he caan have it done in an hour. We ask where the nearest subway station is, because the other main reason for coming to NYC is that I really wanted to see Ground Zero. I had my heart set on it. The managere said that the closest station was well over a mile away. We decided that if the caar was done by noon, we could drive to the airport, check in her luggage for her 6pm flight, catch the subway there (the E train runs from JFK to the world trade center and back). It's an hour ride each way. That would give us about an hour there to view the site.
We decide to go for a walk in the area. It's mostly residential. We saw a kindergarten and a middle school. Several small churches. It was actually surprisinly nice for what I had had as a preconceived notion of New York city. Me and my ex were the only white*** people around, but that didn't seem to matter. People still said hi to us and had small conversations. My Ex is a aspanish teacher and she was making small talk with some of the hispanics there. There were a lot of very pretty little houses all around, as well. If I had to live in NYC, this would definitely be the area.
We wander back to the shop at 11:50 and it's not done yet. The part was late. The shop manager apologizes profusely. There goes the WTC. The car is finished at 12:40. We pay for it and drive around looking for a place to eat. Applebees looks good (and it was). It was a test store for their new lunch special. Keep an eye out for the "half and half (and half)" lunch special. It's worth every last penny.
There is a K-mart in the plaza with the Applebee's. My Ex needs some aspirin and a cheap camera and I could use a new phone charger as i think I left mine where I got towed the day before. We go into K-mart and get our stuff (I make an impulse buy of socks, cause they actually had cotton dress socks in size 13-15).
We goto the airport, jump through the hoops and gete her checked in. We say good-bye and I start driving home. I decide, "All I've seen in NYC has beene the inside of tow-trucks, garages, a hotel room, and a K-mart. I don't care if it's 4:15pm. I'm gonna take the Long Island Expressway to Manhattan and drive through the city in rush hour. I'll be sitting in traffic so much that I'll have a chance to view all the buildings.
And that's exactly what I did. I think I was singlehandedly responsible for half the city's gridlock that day. An out of state tourist soending more time looking aaround than driving, asking questions at every redlight to pedestrians. It was pretty fun, actually. Eventually I hit the Licoln tunnel 2 hours later and was on my way home.
When I stopped for gas in PA, I notice my left front tire was low/near flat. I switched it with my spare (which is brand-new) and drove the rest of the way home with no problems.

UPDATE:
For those expecting me to end up in jail, Sorry to disappoint you, but I was willing to use that bat if need be. I can honestly say I wasn't scared, but as damn close to it as I've been in ages.

Also, the part I left out about the first truck driver really turned out to be the highlite of the trip (that I'm willing to share). It's not often I meet someone that not only has differing opinions, but can say the right things to make me reconsider mine.

-Ab

** You can enter NJ free from Pa or New York, but to exit Jersey, it always costs money.
*** And boy are we white. She's mostly Irish, I'm mostly Scottish. Between the 2 of us, we might have a freckle's worth of melanin.

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