The End Is Near

Yes, our time in NYC is coming to an end. We'll pack up on Monday and get back on the road. I haven't finalized the itinerary yet. But we'll head north, probably toward Boston and Vermont. Then westward or continue north to Canada. Chicago and Yellow Stone is definite after that. The rest, we'll research as we go along.

For a while after the novelty faded, I felt homeless in NYC. Now that we are about to leave, NYC feels like home. It took about a month to get comfortable once the excitement was gone. And now coming back here for good is a possibility. We'll see. For now, we need to go back West and take care of some businesses.

I may get a job and make a living again when we get back to SF. Not that I need money, but I need to rebuild my life. My social connection was all but gone since I got sick.  And I need to work again to get re-rooted. If I can handle, that is. And if I can find a meaningful work, like solving CFS. I'm still manage only about 4 hours a day, but I might be able to push it if I cut down my daily walking. These are all ideas for now though. I'll decide when I get back to CA.

Meanwhile, photography has been sucking up a lot of my time. It's tough to get 2 hobbies going at the same time and my writing has been suffering as result. It's even tougher when you are up for only a few hours a day on average. Writing gets the priority, so I'll just have to cut down my time on photoing. I'll select just one picture a day, work on it, and upload to my collection. No more than 1 hour, and the rest goes to writing.

These are a few pics from the Bronx outing on 7/23. I took 2 train to Grand Concourse and then 5 train to Yankee Stadium. Then I stopped by Molino Rojo for a quick bite, walked back to Grand Concourse, took Bx12 bus to 149th Street.

Harlem Street Photography

I've been improving. I got sick three times in June after we settled in after a long journey. Another case of post-trip struggle. I've been walking more since then, and I managed not to get sick, so far. It's same pattern as before: hyper activity during the trip followed by post-trip struggle and then rebound settling somewhere in between the during-trip and post-trip level.

Today I went back to Harlem, for photography this time. I took M11 bus to La Salle and then walked up St Nicholas before switching over to Frederick Douglas around 130th. I walked up some more and then finally walked down Malcolm X. I was gonna stop and take the bus, and then I got over-ambitious and walked all the way down to 110th. It was a nice hot day and my NYC days are drawing near. I figure I may never have another chance, so I decided to walk down the whole length. A total of 8000 step days. That after 10,000 step day and 7000 steps the day before.

Columbus Ave

Most photos are cliches; if you've seen one, you've seen all. All the visual effects, be it bokkeh or sunset, are nothing you can't photoshop in. And you've already seen those, millions of them. Which brings the question, what makes a good photo a good photo?

The answer shouldn't be any different from any  other art: it should bring something new to the table, be it a new thing or a different way of looking at the same thing, in different light, no pun intended. And you do that in your own style, in your own voice. The public approval is not required in that process. If the public approves, it simply becomes a popular art from a private one. That the public approves does not necessarily mean that it's a good art either. Andy Warhol or Richard Prince is the case in point.

That is not to say that other people's perspective doesn't matter. There is such a thing as a common human experience embodied in the reality, and art should be something that resonates through that commonality. And this is why it's important to hang out your work in the public and hear feedback and criticism, just to make sure that you are not lost just in your own imagination un-moored from that common experience.

Anyway, street photography is a good hobby for CFS patients. You need to walk anyway, and photography makes the walk more interesting. You have to scan for interesting things, so it slows you down too. And you end up taking longer rest because you can take interesting shots while resting on a bench.

Today's walk was on Columbus Ave. I took the usual M11 bus and  got off at 81st. The farmers market was on by the Museum of Natural History park. It appeared pretty much over when I got there around 3PM. I should get there next time around lunch time.

Columbus is generally less bustling than Broadway. 80s on Columbus looks more like 100s on Broadway or Morningside.  I walked to 94th, switched over to Amsterdam Ave and came back home on M11 again.

Chelsea

Now I'm settling into that familiar pattern of one-day-up-one-day-down. 9000 steps result in a struggle of 2 days and 7000-8000 steps brings about one severe fatigued day. 6000 steps should the right number, but you can't do much with 6000 steps. You incur 3000 just walking around in the house, so 6000 means an outing of about a mile. I can't get high enough and sleep well on 6000 steps anymore. I need 7000 steps at least. So I go on the sinuous pattern, till I can walk 7000 steps every day.

Yesterday was one of those up days and we went out to scout Chelsea neighborhood. High Line park and Chelsea Market to be more specific. We got off at 23rd street station and took M23 bus to 10th Ave. Then we walked toward north because it was too warm and sunny walking south. We got off High Line at 28th and took bus to 16th street and the Chelsea Market.

A better route would've been to start out in the North somewhere around 30th and then walk through the park to 14th. Chelsea Market is then right there below High Line park. If it is warm, then start from Chelsea Market and walk north. Come to think of it, you get a better view walking north: there is no tall buildings to the south.

A super pleasant day over all. It is always pleasant to go out after getting cooped up all day. How wonderful would it be to be able to go out and walk enough to get high everyday? I don't need to walk 10 miles. I just need 2 km. I was able to last June/July. That improvement came all of sudden and then faded. It it ever come back again?

Matchstick Tour

You've seen it in my pics of Central Park. You can't miss it, 432 Park Ave is an 85 story skinny building that sticks like a sore pinky in any Central Park pics. (Others may say middle finger, but I actually do like these buildings because they are different). People call it "matchstick". Then there is One57, a 75 story condo building known as the "billionaire builing".  Another one, at 117 57th, is going up next to it, destined to be even taller. But shorter than Central Park Tower going up at 217 57th. At 1775 feet, it'll be a foot shorter than the WTC Tower when completed in 2019. These buildings line 57th Street, also known as the Billionaire's Row, looking down at Central Park.

Russian oligarchs and Chinese tycoons have been pouring their corrupt money into them. NYC doesn't care. Money not only talks in this town, it sings and dances too. Neil Diamond, eat your heart out.

While at it, I might as well check out the Billionaire's Lair at 740 Park Ave. It is the building inhabited by the likes of Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone, the guardian angel of carried interest tax code, and John Thain of Merryl Lynch, one of the banks that brought us the 2008 meltdown.  And Davit Koch of the infamous Koch brothers. Apparently he never tips, according to the documentary on the rich and the poor of Park Ave. No one ever got rich by tipping generously, Scrooge might have said. Most of these folks have the whole floor for themselves with 20 or 30 rooms. It's not much of a building really, if you ask me. It doesn't even have a decent view. I certainly wouldn't plunk down $30m for one of the lairs. I'm guessing the birds of a feather just want to be together.

Price of Non-Sick Day

How much is it worth to avoid sickness? People swallow Tamiflu when they get a flu. It used to cost something like $200 per pill. Now that the patent has expired, it is about $100 per treatment that saves a day or two from flu sickness. Not losing a day of work could be worth substantially more if you are a billionaire.

The value of health is mostly subjective judgement though. For me, I'm spending substantial sum to experience NYC. And one day spent wallowing in sickness one less day of NYC experience. And who knows, I never get to come back here; it could be an irrecoverable loss. So, I'm coming to a realization that I should spend money to avoid sickness.

The kitchen floor is filthy as hell. The bathroom is a toilette, if you don't mind the pun. Our new dig was a student housing, and we all know how we used to live when in college. I was gonna scrub it to make it habitable, but I get sick if I do that. So I'm going to hire a maid to do it. Maid service seems substantially cheaper in NYC than SF for some reason. I should be able to get it done for about $100. And that will be the price of a non-sick day for me, a non-billionaire.

Flatiron Plaza

NYC is dense and yet sparse. Streets are wider to begin with. And then there are parks and plazas everywhere, that you have more room to breathe. Flatiron plaza, and the adjoining Madison Square park is yet another example.

I took a detour to Flatiron plaza after an errand run to Adorama camera shop on Wednesday. Then I threw in another 1500 steps in the evening to Rite Aid for a good measure -- I cut my finger badly while doing the dish and I needed an antibiotic ointment. The outcome? Two days of wallowing in fatigue and weakness. It was another 9000 step day in total, and 9000 steps are now regularly causing sickness.

So, if there was any doubt that I'm back to my normal CFS self, this crash should put an end to it. It should improve a bit though. I usually get over-sensitive for a month or two after a trip and then the condition re-stabilizes. I should know, I have enough experience under my belt. The only problem is, we'll be here only for one more month. By the time my condition stabilize, it'll be time to leave NYC. And I'll have spent most of time wrestling with CFS. Let's hope that it'll take less this time since I've been more careful watching my speed.

(I keep saying "normal" as if CFS is normal condition. But it's been going on for so long -- it's my 10th year -- that it is indeed the normal state.)