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.)

Staten Island Ferry

We had gone back and forth all night long on the ferry.  I always wondered what kind of ferry would let you ride it all night long. Well, it turned out that Staten Island ferry runs all night long. And it's free too. No wonder St. Vincent Millay and friend rode it all night long, very tired yet very merry.

I've been planning on doing this trip since I learned that Staten Island ferry was free. And today was the day. We took 1 train all the way to the end and then the Whitehall ferry terminal was right there to meet us. Once you get in the terminal you just wait for the boat and then stampede through the entrance to embark.  This was 1 PM boat and there were chock-full of people. I wouldn't want to imagine what it would look like during the commute hours. It's a wonder that nobody ever died.

As soon as you exit the subway, you will see peddlers trying to poach hapless tourists, to get them to spend buck on the statue cruise. Ignore and proceed to the ferry terminal. You will get to see the Lady just fine unless you really want to look at it up close on one of the boats that circle the statue like birds over a carcass.

We spent half an hour in St. George terminal licking Sangria and chewing chicken satay before returning. Overpriced eatery, but it sure had the view. The total cost of $27 for the "package tour" for 2 wasn't bad. It was a "pay for food, ride for free" tour, just like St. Vincent Millay's.

Rethinking Park Avenue

So, I plopped myself down at 96th and Park Ave yesterday. The first thing I noticed was the hill that I could've mistaken for SF if it weren't for the wide avenue.  Yes, NYC streets, its avenues in particular, are wider. That and the east-west orientation of streets let sunlight in more than SF does -- sunlight ordinance often used by SF NYMBYs to stop new developments probably is not an issue in NYC.

It's much too inconvenient to get to the UES from UWS, it turned out. All trains run north-south and moving east-west requires bus. Getting to UES is more problematic because the M4 bus has to go through perennially congested 5th Ave. So I may have to give up on the idea of trekking Park Ave in UES. I'll trek it from 60th Ave instead. It's easier to get there on 1 train and then a short ride on a bus.

Park Ave in UES was not particularly interesting place to walk through anyway. It is a bedroom community with lots of strollers, colored nannies and spiffed young moms with kids in tow. There were no shops to speak of or benches I could rest in. Bustling, dissonant Harlem was comparatively more interesting.