New York City, USA

Please note

Ok, here's the deal. The first day in NYC, I didn't take any photos because we got in late and I was too tired to play tourist. If you're looking for pics of the city, proceed to the next day's entry.

The airport pick-up

As always, plans change.

I arrived in Toronto without incident, but found this waiting for me, instead of my parents:

The fucker did this to me when I came back from Tokyo as well (pic), a few years ago. I specifically asked my dad to come get me, so that my likeness wouldn't be paraded up and down Pearson, but Chiu intercepted my dad before he left the house to come get me.

It drew stares and snickers from the waiting crowd, but I was too tired to come up with anything witty to say back to the onlookers, so I just grit my teeth and took it, like a man with a pretty mouth in prison.

Here's a horrible video of it all going down, courtesy of Emiko, whose peals of laughter kept her from holding the camera still.

Looks like certain people were busy little bees, while I was away. Rob tried to deny involvement in this, but little did he know, Emiko had photo evidence proving otherwise. Let this be a lesson to all who try to deceive me. I have a far-reaching and intricate network of spies everywhere.

Homeland security

On the 15th, the girls (pic from my birthday this year, L to R: Keiko, me, Emiko) came to my house and Rob drove us to the airport for our 5:35pm flight. We said our goodbyes (sans Mao-like signs of my face) and it was off through the security gates.

I'll tell you one thing, US Homeland Security is some scary shit. I felt guilty for no reason.

After going through the initial check, where I had to tell a guy behind the glass where I was going, I went through yet another guard who took one look at me and made a face.

"What's with the military duffel bag?" he said, motioning to the one I picked up in Prague.

"Nothing, it's just a bag." I said cautiously.

He glanced at my entry slip, "Berlin and Prague. What's the deal? What were you doing in these two, formerly communist cities?"

"Just vacationing." I said, suddenly self-conscious of my appearance: freshly-shaven head, waist-length leather jacket, slim jeans and big black boots. I guess I had that skin-head look, but the slanty eyes must've thrown him off.

After a few more seconds of looking me straight in the eye (I looked back, deadpan), he handed back my shit and waved me through.

I waited for the girls at the other end. They came through smiling about 10 minutes later. They had no problem, despite being Japanese nationals ("Oh, they were very nice!" the girls giggled). I'm a fucking Canadian citizen and got the staredown. What the hell is wrong with this world?

The flight was late taking off. We spent an hour on the tarmac, waiting to go to the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. I notice that punctuality isn't mentioned in the national anthem anywhere.

I'm scared of heights and hence, flying. I was trying not to show it in front of the girls, though I may have given it away when I suddenly shut up and began gripping the seat so tightly that my knuckles turned white.

Landing in Laguardia and getting out into Manhattan was easy. We hopped in a cab and in 25 minutes, found ourselves standing in front of our hotel, at the corner of Bowery and Broome.

The place was doing some renovations, so it looked kinda shitty, but it was clean and cheap and centrally located. What more can you really ask for? We put our stuff down and went in search of food.

Since I had no clue where I was going (but the girls were trailing me as if I did), we walked a good few kilometers until we settled on some 24 hour diner. If I were travelling alone, I'd only eat at places like this, with the occasional breakfast purchased from one of those mobile stands.

After dinner, I got us lost again (the fucking street names change after Houston - no one told me that). The sun had set and all the shady looking people started crawling out of the wood work. I'd often find myself having to walk inbetween the girls and whichever hooded man was leering at them from the edge of sidewalks.

I was still jet lagged from being in Europe only the day before and really didn't feel like getting stuck with a shiv, so I suggested that we go back and get some sleep. That didn't happen, as the girls felt the need to keep me awake, by alternately talking to me and poking me for another two or three hours.

I vowed secretly to put them both on the 6 going north and leave them in Harlem tomorrow, but fell asleep before I could concoct a master plan.