New York City trip

I'm just back from a brief trip to NYC. A painter friend had her first solo show at the Bowery Gallery in Chelsea.

Mostly I slept a lot, and ate out: Franchia (a vegan Korean restaurant, with some really fancy tea -- favorite place of the friend I stayed with), Corrado, a ramen/sushi place (run by Koreans), a cheapo sushi place. No street meat this time around, though.

I didn't go to the Guggenheim, as I usually do, but they've finished the renovations so it's not covered up. I did go to the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum: they had a special exhibit on felt. Watched some cool videos of Mongolian felt-makers making it the traditional way with ponies.

There was a surprise art stop at the Niagara Bar. My friend Marissa who I stayed with runs a weekly music and art show there, and some of her artist friends know Nara. He did some graffiti in the bar, which is now preserved behind plexiglas sheets. Unfortunately, he was arrested for doing graffiti in Union Square station.

Sarah wasn't the only Boston friend who happened to be in NYC that weekend. Some other friends happened to be playing in Brooklyn.

All in all, a fun, short vacation. Sucks to be back, since I came back to a ton of broken things.

Crickets?

I don’t know what these insects are, but I am hearing them for the first time tonight in my apartment complex. They are in the little wooded area, and in the trees. They are very loud.

I also just got Google Voice. Their rates are somewhat better than Skype’s for calling to Malaysia. Google charges 3¢/minute to a landline, and 4¢/minute to mobile. Skype’s charges are 2.1¢/minute and 5.8¢/minute respectively. I think I’ll be switching to Google Voice completely since I won’t need to use client software on my mobile phone.

Crickets?