mitchjet: new york

note: i got a bit ahead of myself!
chronologically speaking (big word, huh?), this post should have actually been posted before the Italy blog entry, but i've become rusty in my old age, so just pretend you read this first, thanks.
(not that it makes a lick of difference [why is 'difference' measured in 'licks'?])

alright! back in New York City!
...and with every single one of my NY-based friends (all three of them) being out of town for the Labor Day weekend, i was left to my own devices.

staying in Brooklyn this time, i took the opportunity to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and into Manhattan for some retail therapy -- is it still called 'therapy' when you're already in a good mood but still feel like buying stuff?

prior to this trip, i'd had a friend ask me if i was going to go to Dean & Deluca when i was next in NYC.
the same friend screwed up his face and looked at me like i was a leper when i told him that i'd never heard of Dean & Deluca:

friend: "WHAT?!"
mitch: "what? i'm sorry, i don't know what that is..."
friend: "you've never heard of Dean & Deluca?! don't you watch Sex and the City?!"
mitch: "oh, uh, well i've seen a couple of episodes, sure."
friend: "are you sure you're gay?"

so, now i can proudly report that i DO in actual fact know what Dean & Deluca is, AND i've been there.
Whew. Here i was thinking that to be liked, all you had to do was be a nice person. But it turns out, the secret to popularity lies in your knowledge of a certain deli on Broadway in New York City that has featured on a TV show about fashion, and from what i can tell, cunnilingus.

here are the photos:

stay tuned, next week: will ACTUALLY be a Parisian getaway with my boys!!

let the good times roll!!

after such an awesome holiday on mykonos, coming back home and going back to work was likely to bring with it a severe case of post-holiday depression, so it felt right that my very next work trip would be one to New York City. Because how can one ever feel down when they're going to NYC!

...and not only did i get to be in new york, but i also got to catch up with some great friends while i was there: our dear friends Ray & Benny (two of the stand-outs from Mykonos) and my scruff mate from Brisbane, Mikey!!

Ray & Benny live in NYC, so i'd already made plans to catch up with them, and Mikey was an added bonus when we discovered on the day that we were there at the same time -- Mikey was passing through NYC for a few days after spending some time in LA and was now on his way to live in London.
so what was going to already be a great trip to NYC was made even better by the presence of my mates....which kinda goes without saying, but when you're used to seeing the world by yourself, a couple of mates make my travels so much more exciting

my adventures in NYC:
dump the bags in my hotel room, and race straight down to Madison Avenue to catch the last of their street markets . eat corn-on-the-cob cos there's an eight-year-old girl yelling at the top of her lungs: "corn fo' a dolla'! corn fo' a dolla'! get yo' corn fo' a dolla'!!" . further down the street, eat some watermelon cos there's an old woman yelling "last melon! almost all gone! get yo' melon fo' a dolla'!!" . further down the street, eat a pretzel...not cos anyone's yelling out "pretzels fo' a dolla'!" but just because this is NYC and i felt like a pretzel...(it was $2) . almost get talked into buying a tie-dyed shirt, and then realise that, well...it's tie-dyed, and marijuana was never my scene, nor was dancing around a field with daisies in my hair...ok, so ONE time i danced around a field with daisies in my hair -- but that's no reason to go buy a tie-dyed shirt . go to sleep at 8pm with every intention of waking up at 11pm cos you're keen to check out this hot club that EVERYONE has been telling you about...and wake-up the next morning STILL keen to check out that new club because you accidentally slept all through the night . breakfast is a bagel and a venti soy chai latte, no water, no foam, extra hot with an extra pump of chai from the starbucks on 57th and Broadway . visit Balducci's, because i'm sorry, but if Will&Grace do their groceries at Balducci's, then so does mitch fong . spend an hour in a tacky souvenir store seeing just how many things one can buy with "I♥NY" emblazoned across them (the answer: 525,600 things) . go for a walk and check out The FlatIron Building, new york city's first ever skyscraper -- or so i'm told, i don't profess to be an expert on the topic . lunch is with ray & benny at Grey Dog Coffee on University Place . have Ray take you on what was supposed to be the "dime tour" but ended up being the extended version, the "25c tour" -- thanks ray, i know now where Carrie Bradshaw buys her cupcakes from, where people buy the best new york pizza from, and where i can buy the flashiest pair of speedo's from! (and really, let's not pretend there's anything else worth knowing!) . lose an hour in a second-hand bookstore, wondering how on earth all these books are gonna fit into your suitcase -- get too stressed out with the decision-making, so end up walking out of their with only a greeting card . actually see (with your own two eyes, in real life and in person) the building where Grace Adler has her design studio! could die and go to heaven a happy boy/guy/dude in his mid-20's . meet up with mikey scruff, and do what we boys do best: buy a starbucks and stroll the streets! . after such an exciting time with the boys, it's time to grab a quick pretzel and try to fit in as much sleep as one can when they have one hour til they're collected from their hotel . go to work excessively fatigued, but don't care cos you got excessively fatigued in NEW YORK CITY!!!

here are the photos: