Thursday, October 25, 2007

shoplifting

i witnessed a crime committed in New York City -- shoplifting.. it was one faithful day that i went along to time square, dressed up and ready to watch the muscial "Rent".. only to find out that the careless me forgot to collect my tickets from school.. hence, barred entry for that day with all my other friends in the theatre already, i went shopping along Time Square..

walking along the crowded streets with colourful billboards, i realised i have not shopped around the area before.. happily feeling the atmosphere full of life, i walked into a cosmetic shop nearby.. it's been a while since i've invested in make up and all, so i was truly taking my time playing around with everything there was on the shelf.. after spending some time walking around, i went back to the shelf nearest to the entrance and was carefully taking my pick..

a man walked beside me and started taking various bottles of cosmetics quickly off the shelf.. i turned to look at him, half surprised abt his interests in certain products and half impressed with his knowledge of the products such that he could decide to buy them without looking carefully at price and material he chose.. in that spilt second he walked out of the shop through the revolving door, and started running as soon as he exited..

a shoplifter! it took me so much by surprise that i stood rooted to the ground, not believing what i just witnessed.. and when i was able to start thinking again i realised the flaw in the layout of the store.. no security to prevent such things from happening.. and somehow nothing struck me to approach someone to tell them about the whole incident.. no one seemed to have witnessed it.. the shocking incident for me..

the many "first times"

i shall post date this entry to my trip in toronto and montreal, which stole one of my long weekends away from the great New York.. it was a trip against all odds, with everything which could go wrong going wrong.. yet it was an interesting experience with the many "first times" in my life..


first time i traveled on a significantly long trip under my own planning combined with the rest of my travel counterparts, of which my half hearted nature placed myself in many situations of uncertainty.. and hence many situations of choicelessness in the end.. i can only say its the frantic experience being a good lesson for my future trips.. in my attempt to save some money, we decided to take a grey hound to toronto.. overnight bus which lasted for 10 hours on paper, ended up as a 15hr trip to canada.. as a result of missing our bus from toronto to niagara falls, we decided to stop directly at niagara falls, which is in between US and toronto.. a well thought out plan because we managed to be at niagara at our designated time.. so when people are watching the falls with carefree and relaxing minds, we were doing the same, with slightly more burden -- our luggages.. vowed never to take the grey hound again, it was our choice of transportation back to New York from Montreal.. that's the power of a monopoly..

first time i got drenched in the rain.. with my jeans totally wet and my luggage and bag entirely soaked in rainwater.. and enduring it in the aircon of a train for the next 5 hours.. on a beautiful morning in toronto the group of us decided to take a walk to the train station to catch the train to montreal.. at the same time being able to appreciate the sights and sound of the city along the way.. stopping for hot dog as breakfast, little drops of rain started to patter upon us.. harmless we thought, it soon turned out to be a downpour which an umbrella can hardly save u from.. the last 5 minutes of the walk was completely unforgettable for me.. my passport got drenched and my travel signature which allows me to enter US got smudged.. my ipod was went but working, my camera was perpetually blurred.. my phone had water droplets condensed within..

first time i lost my phone.. first time i left the hotel without double checking my room.. and i left my phone in the room and only realised it when i arrived in New York.. it got pocketed i believe.. so i had to undergo a few days of depression before replacing my sim card and getting my extra phone out.. fortunately for my extra phone.. but my contacts......

first time i participated in active gambling.. one of which was extremely exciting, nerve wrecking.. i finally understood the mind of a gambler and for many moments in the casinos, i was one of them.. i never understood jackpots and the notion that people will involve themselves in a sure lose game.. but as i sat in front of one for the sake of manually pulling the shaft of the jackpot, i realised it was a highly addictive game.. especially when u taste ur first win.. greed is the driver which spurs you on to want to taste more of the sweet victory.. in turn what is given up is more than what is won.. i distance myself away from the gambling tables at first, but my risk adveristy was overcome by the idea that i should be paying for the adrenaline rush in a casino.. and a 20 dollar investment became 25 then 20 then in no time it was gone.. and my disbelief in the law of averages on the game made me decide to invest in another 20 dollars more, and in no time i was down to 5 dollars on hand.. it was hard to draw a stop at the "tolerance level", a limit on the amt of money to lose, because part of u believes that you can earn back at least some bit of what you lost.. well at least i won back a little.. so i did cut losses in that sense..

first time i went on a trip knowing i had a test the day later.. and my usual habit of bringing notes along didn't help me much during the holiday i had.. but the test turned out well.. better than i expected :)

Thursday, October 04, 2007

thoughts on a busy day

technically i should be studying.. i've got my first mid term here at NYU tmr on investment banking.. and i really ought to be studying coz i have got little sense of the financial world.. but here i am writing a blog post, thanks to a constant voice at the back of my mind urging me to continue writing.. well the consolation is that i have completed my assignment due tomorrow as a result of skipping one class.. which i spent time convincing myself that i will watch the webcast when exams are nearing.. well, there's always tomorrow..



life over here has been fun.. but the only problem is that there are so many things to do with so little time.. it's hard to balance.. for a person who have studied all my life, to care less about results and grades.. but am i missing out on other things when i bind myself down to principles of life? i want to live my life over here, i told myself before i came over.. i've done a lot, but somehow things are tying me down.. too much concern, too much consideration.. i fear many things.. i fear that time is slipping by.. i fear that i will turn back and realise i haven't done enough over here.. i fear that i will regret not going out of my comfort zone to do many things..



do environments really change people? new york is indeed diverse, where when u meet a new person u do not assume that they are from this city.. i've seen so many different people over here, different cultures, different backgrounds, different thinking and values.. i come to wonder, are we innately different? or is it where we were brought up, the places and people we interact with.. i tend to believe that we are in fact, more similar than we all think we are.. human nature.. perhaps i want to believe that there is good in everyone.. there is part of us that is true and sincere, that there is part of us bears the child like innocence.. even those people you frown upon the hear the crazy things they do.. even those people you believe have a non existent value system, even those outrageous youths out on the streets..



culture and art.. what makes art good art? that's totally the question i had in my mind when i was in the Musuem of Modern Arts.. some of them were beautiful works, some of them i cannot really understand.. i believe it appeals to different people as we all relate to visuals differently.. something good to one may not be good to another.. perhaps i cannot try to understand, but at least i'll try to appreciate them.. but to me music is universal.. or more like musicals.. my very first musical over here was the Lion King!! and i totally loved the stage play and the costumes.. and the way they portray the animals.. it was very well done and it was one which reminded me of very simple things in life.. perhaps things don't need to be so complicated?



things to look forward to: canada trip (tmr for 5 days), phantom of the opera for the third time (11th Oct), hopefully ice hockey (13th Oct; crosses fingers), and yes supposedly a lot of plans to go to hershey's park and six flags, halloween (30th Oct), then hopefully washington, boston, atlantic city and florida soon... i just hate planning though..