East Coast!

(Long post ahead)

After weeks of putting my nose to the grind stone with school and office work, I finally get to debrief with you guys about my dope ass East Coast trip. I have been to that side of the States at least two times, but this was the first time I went solo. Follow me as I fill ya in on my shenanigans with commentary and pics!

Revere, Massachusetts
On March 20th, I arrived at Logan Airport at 7:10am – 4:10am Cali time and my body let me know it! I was so dayum tired, it was ridiculous! But I woke up hella quick when that cold air hit my face – 34 degrees!!! What the feezy!! Me Bay girl, me no like cold man. Anywhos, I waited a while for my shuttle to arrive and take me to the hotel so that I could crash. As I was waiting, I struck up a convo with a guy that just dropped off his daughter at the airport – she was on her way to Mexico – and he had driven her down to Boston all the way from Maine. “You’re not use to this cold huh?” Me nearly breaking my teeth from them clanking together so much “No sir, I surely am not.” “Haha, it’s ok. You’re blood will thicken up soon” he says. “I sure hope so.” We talked for quite a bit until his shuttle came to pick him up – he was a nice guy, and I thanked him for the company. As I was standing there still waiting for my shuttle, so many thoughts flowed through my head – can I get all my course work out of the way so that I can finally chill? What is NYC gonna be like? Dayum. I’m finally gonna get to see some snow!! I can’t wait to kick it with the homies Drue, Nabs, and kimtd! I hope the Yale professor doesn’t think I’m an idiot. When and the hell is this frickin’ shuttle coming???
This is where I stayed:

Where I crashed... 

On the website, it looked totally different, but oh well, it had a bed and some heat so I was happy.

On my first day in Mass., I was anxiously waiting to hear from my homie Drue – a good friend from undergrad at Cal. It had been 4 years since I had seen her and we were supposed to kick it. Suppose to be the operative words – home girl never showed up! Essentially, I cam to Mass. For nothing because the only reason I stopped by that way was because of her. To this day, no I’m sorry, or “girl, I forgot.” Not a word. I can easily say that I am pissed, but if anything, I am truly disappointed – which in my opinion is worse. With disappointment, it’s a whole lot harder to gain trust, or in some instance respect back. I do hope that she is well, but it definitely was a shitty thing to do. Well, at least you are able to find the difference between who are friends and who are associates, and in some instance mofos – arggg, now I’m getting pissed again!
My whole time in Revere wasn’t a total wash though… it had been a lonnnnng time since I was able to sleep for hella long and undisturbed. I think I slept almost all of the first day, and half of the next. I did venture out to the different sites and this is what I saw:

Yay snow!!! Niiice and dirty =)
 

The Po-po?s home away from home. What?s up with all the Dunkin? Donuts on the East Side anyways?
 

?I?ll Take Ya to the Candy Shoppe? - down the street - err, waaay down the street from where I was staying was a candy factory. If I had known about it, I?d have gone on the candy tour - what a way to have a good time, eh?
 

I thought it was hella ironic that the have these signs all over the place, considering how much junk was all along the road and such. (Enjoying the pics so far?)

 

Revere is not very pedestrian friendly I must say, so I ha to hop a cab nearly every where, which was cool because the drivers were mad nice. I kept seeing the same guy over and over again, and he would always have a wave, a smile, and a kind word. It’s funny how interacting with someone for a minute or two can have such an effect – thanks people of Revere – you made a stood up girl feel welcome!

In transit – Massachusetts to Connecticut
After consulting with several folks, they said that taking the train would be the best way to go – and they were right.

All aboard! 

I had hopped on Amtrak before to go from Oakland to Vallejo – but they didn’t have sites like these:

It was amazing to see beaches with icy water near by or trees stranded in miles of water – breath taking man, absolutely breathtaking. Along the way, I was listening to a weird variety of CDs – Tony Robbin’s “Get the Edge”, a mix CD I made for my hip-hop class, Stevie Wonder. I needed something to get my mind right. I was heading down to New Haven to finally meet a professor I had been corresponding with for sometime. Nothing to be nervous about, but I was. Again, random thoughts flowed through my head – What if she doesn’t give a shit about anything I have to say? What if she blows me off? What if she thinks my questions are stupid? How in the hell am I gonna carry all this damn luggage around???

New Haven, Connecticut

I was only gonna be in this area for a little bit of time, so I didn’t get to enjoy it much. I ear hustled on this campus tour that was in the main area of the campus:

Yale campus 

There campus maps were soooo dayum confusing! I couldn’t find the School of Public Health anywhere on there – crap! At least I got there early enough and maybe someone could point me in the right direction. Ha! Everybody I asked had no damn clue about either what the hell I was talking about or where the building was. Eventually after surfing through my back pack, I found the address – that shit was wayyyy off campus. For Berkeley folks, I walked the equivalent from Parker and Telegraph to Bancroft and Telegraph, which is not too long – but not easy considering that I had all this shit:

Bag lady... 

Finally, I reached my destination:

Finally, I reached my destination:

Yale Epi school 

Epidemiology across the world -- I'm becoming the biggest nerd... 

Before I went up, I called my homie John to bounce my questions for the professor off of him. I wanted to make sure that they were “public health-y” enough. Thanks John for helping me sort stuff out – it worked!

The meeting with the professor was dope! She is doing some really innovative things in the program there and gave me some ideas as to what to expect upon venturing into the PhD world. More and more I am certain that I’m gonna do it – it’s good to know that I have a foundation for support – hopefully it’ll make things more bearable, but definitely rewarding.

New York, New York

After getting off the train at Penn Station, my homie kimtd was waiting for me. I was so psyche to see him, cuz for one, he is cool people, and two it was nice to see a familiar face. When I emerged from below, I swear seeing those big ass buildings took my breath away – literally. Damn, I can’t believe I’m in NYC. I mean, you se it on TV and in the movies, but to actually be there was amazing to me. kimtd helped me carry around my hefty ass bags (I’ll try to bring less next time – my back and arms will thank me… haha) on and off the trains until we got to his place in Sunnyside, NY. After unloading my stuff, we went and bought food from a Chinese owned Mexican restaurant – you can’t get any more international than that, eh?

The next day, kimtd had to work, but gave me some ideas on what to check out and how to get there. Even though I was on the road, I still wanted to do my gym thing – thank goodness for Bally’s! There is one in Times Square, so it was hella convenient for me to do my workout plan AND be a big ass tourist at the same time. On my way there, I got kinda lost – so I a doorman to help me out. Eventually, I reached the plaza with the gym. At the same time, a private car pulled up. “Who the hell is that?” The driver got up with an umbrella and open the rear door to let the passenger out – but dude had a hood on. “Ok, who is soooo dayum special, they need somebody hold their umbrella?” As he opened the door, he took off his hood. “Holy Shit! That was frickin’ Jay-Z! Jiggaman, Jigga, Hova, J-Hov, S. Carter!” I couldn’t believe it! Right after, two fat Escalades pulled up with the entire Roc-A-Fella camp… when I stood back, I read the sign on the building – Universal Music Group. I was standing in front of damn Def Jam Recordings and I didn’t know it:

Def Jam 

Here are more sites I saw in Times Square:

Big ass tourist on the loose -- be ware! 

Madame Tusauds 

MTV/TRL -- I was such a tourist =P 

Times Square 

Radio City Music Hall 

Diddy Runs the City 

The next day, kimtd said I should check out Union Square, which was cool – kinda reminded me about the area around Cal – the different restaurants, the shops, etc. Pretty chill. I walked along and checked out the park:

George Washington Statue 

George Washington Park 

NYU 

I milled around and ducked in and out of shops for hours before my I needed a caffeine fix – I found a Starbucks, but it was hella crowded. I eventually found a table, then a guy asked if he minded if he share it with me. Of course I didn’t. He began to read his notes and I wrote in my journal. Somehow we got into a convo, and I’m glad we did. I didn’t know this man from Adam, but we wound up talking for about an hour or so – about unions, health care and access, dance – believe me, when we were talking, it all made sense. Come to find out, this guy danced with the Alvin Ailey dance company for over 10 years! He had retired a few years ago, but was coming back – he missed the freedom of expression, the traveling, and the experience. He told me that when they come to Berkeley and if he is with the company, he would leave me some tickets – how cool is that?

Michael and me 

Later that nite, kimtd and I met up for dinner at a Japanese restaurant – which was aight. We had a dope ass convo that lasted for hours. I don’t think I drank so much water and green tea in my life! Haha… anywhos, it’s cool to know that there are some people that we can talk about stuff with freely without them passing unnecessary judgment or giving unsolicited advice. Thanks man, you’re hella dope in my bk. Afterwards, he should me around his old neighborhood and grabbed some Indian desserts along the way. There were so many memorable and funny ass moments while we walked that I won’t forget. The tour ended with him showing me the restaurant where they filmed “Coming to America” – again, good stuff.

The next day, I had to get ready to head back to the Bay. kimtd and I went to a Thai restaurant for lunch, then walked around a bit before grabbing some red bean mochi. Thanks again kimtd for helping me salvage my East Coast trip ;)

Me and kimtd
 

Oakland, California

Ahh yes, home sweet home! The East Coast was definitely an experience and I look forward to going back there some day. There were so many memories that will stay with me for a long time, and I wish that I had the time to share it all (ha, if this wasn’t long enough).

When I left for the East Coast, my cuzzo Wing-yin dropped me off, and when I got back she was there two. Here is a pic of us on Easter with me rockin’ what she called a “ghetto girl” outfit and her lookin’ all cute:

Me and Wing-Yin
 

TMI!!!!

I convo I nearly lost my breakfast over this morning...

Scene: Andronico's on University Ave. in Berkeley
Time: 10:53am

I was standing in line waiting to pay for my items, so I began making small talk with the clerk, whom I see every time I go in there. She's a very nice lady, but moving on. The guy behind me started talking to her too -- only homie was laying his mack down. Wouldn't be such a big deal -- but both are like late forties, early fifties at the least. Great, I'm in the middle of some old school lovin' session... someone help me!

Old mack: *to the clerk* You free for lunch?
Me: *Whaaaaat! Grand daddy trying to get his mack on???*
Clerk: Yeap, I'll be around.
Old mack: We're you off last week?
Clerk: Yeah, I had to have a minor surgery. I won't be around next week either -- they have to do a follow up.
Me: *Hmmm... what's the deal?*
Clerk: They have to remove an ingrown hair on my neck. It's nothing major, but I don't want this bump on my neck.
Old mack: Yeah, cuz you too beautiful for that.
Me: *Smooth man, smooth!"
Old mack: You don't need no surgery. You should let me love it off.
Me: *What the feezy!!!* Oh man, I really need to get out of the way here huh? I don't think my virgin ears can take all of this!
Old man: *to me* Ya never know, you might like it.
Me: *barfing up my breakfast, toes, and all.*

Hmmm, when I get old, wonder if I'll be able to mack like that. This reminded me of my sister telling me about when she was in the 6th grade, a last minute 50 plus field trip bus driver told the kids she was mad, beacuse she was just about to get busy with her man before they asked her to drive them to their event. Niiiiiice! Mann, props for still holdin' it down so to speak, but please spare the public of the gory details... *heave!*

On another note, dance class was dope on Tuesday! They were sooooo advanced and tight, I was impressed! I had to step back and just enjoy them for a while -- props folks for holdin it down. I even had a forty plus guy in there straight giggin'! I'm vibin' off of their energy still... At this point, I need that. =)

The Countdown...

My boss suggested that I get a some gold stars and a calendar so that I can mark off the days until the end of the semester from hell... each day that I survive I will mark off with little shiny golden stars and treat myself to a Hershey chocolate kiss... I think I'm really loosing it if I think those little items are treating myself... arggg! 5/25/05 can't get here fast enough!

Saw some of Battlefest in San Jose -- props to my homie Alan from Mind Over Matter for the Hall of Fame award... it's well deserved. The event damn sure was an inspiration piece -- I really think that my dancers should have seen it -- we need a fire lit under us.