I ♥ NY

Sorry I’ve been MIA, but I spent the last four days hanging out with some buddies from undergrad in New York. My friend Naomi and I traveled up there to visit Bianca, my former roomie who now lives in the Bronx. We had a blast.

It’s always fun hanging with Bianca, who is a sexual health educator. She explains things in ways that I never thought of. When demonstrating how to get around on the subway system, she explained that the map of New York is shaped like a penis. Manhattan is the actual penis, Brooklyn is the testes, the Bronx and Queens are the pubic hair and Staten Island is an ejaculant. She explained this while drawing a diagram for a couple of male friends who were planning to go to Yankee Stadium Sunday afternoon.

Bianca (while drawing her own map on a napkin): See, I live here and you want to get here.
The Boys: (staring wide eyed) Ummmm, your drawing is very interesting.
Bianca: Yes. I live in the pubic hair. You need to get out of the penis and come to the pubic hair. Pun intended.

So we had laughs like that the entire time we were there. We got to explore Manhattan, Harlem and Greenwich Village, where I was able to buy some great souvenirs from the art studio of James De La Vega. It was mission to get a one of a kind souvenir, something other than those awful "I ♥ NY" t-shirts that everyone and their cousin's uncle seems to own. I bought a few cards with his artwork, one that says ‘You are your best investment’ and a mug that says ‘Become your Dream.’ The mug has a drawing of a fish, that has become too big for its tank, jumping out of the tank and aiming for a glass of water. We even took some pictures with the artist.

I hear so much about New Yorkers being mean .. so untrue! We were standing up on the subway and an old Indian man offered to give me his seat. I declined, but he was persistent:
Him: I call you, 'Your Highness’.
Me: Okay.
Him: You are Queen of Sheba.
Hey, who was I to argue with him? He must’ve heard about the blog! =) Until next time …..
(included is a map of Manhattan, courtesy of http://www.antiquemapsandprints.com/SCANSB/B-1554.jpg)