Pinay New Yorker

There are perks to not having Alan around, and one of them is being able to go about taking a slight detour on the way home to do some of the things I like.  So I grabbed my camera as planned and I found myself at Grand Central Station in Manhattan, perched myself on the stairwell leading to Charlie Palmer’s METRAZUR restaurant and clicked away.

I was experimenting with the continuous shots function of my camera, the night scene light adjustment option, and taking shots with and without a flash.

The pictures you see below were culled from a selection of around 3 dozen shots.  As you can see, I discarded 3 for every shot I chose to keep.  Due to the absence of flash, some of the pictures tended to absorb too much light and tracked movement showing blurry lines and images.  The camera also tended to focus on one point in the picture which may have remained clear, but blurred everything else that moved around it.  To "repair" or highlight this effect, I doctored the first picture to show it in black and white which I think improved it’s visual quality.

I’m no professional photographer.  I’m just another New Yorker having fun with my digital camera on a regular day in the big apple.  Like most people, I was a little shy in taking some of the shots I took.  There were times when I moved the camera away from the object I was focusing on too early leading to less than desirable pictures.  Still, I’m pretty happy with my first photo essay on Grand Central Station.

It’s another beautiful day in New York and I’m actually stepping out for lunch to try and catch a glimpse of my favorite edifice on Fifth Avenue — the New York Public Library.  Literally a hop, skip and a jump away from where I am right now, I’m heading out in a while to try and capture glorious New York while having lunch at one of the first places that I "oooohhhed" and "ahhhhed" over when I first explored Manhattan back in 2000.

Pictures taken January 18, 2006

People moving in a blur through Grand Central Station in New York

The Grand Central clock in the middle of it all — a favorite landmark that serves as a meeting place for people trying to find each other in the hustle and bustle of the daily commute

The interior main entrance to the GRAND CENTRAL MARKET

Decisions!  Decisions!  Murray’s Cheese — your best bet for any cheese you might need to cook, to serve as an appetizer or for hours d’ouvres, dessert (as the French do), or as a cooking ingredient

Turo-turo New York Style at WILD EDIBLES — my personal favorite: Sesame Seared Tuna with Asian Citrus Dipping Sauce.  (Picked up one for my dinner and a serving of Tuna Pasta Salad for Mom)  At $9.99 a serving, it’s a little pricey but filling unless you’re hungry as a horse.  Even shared it with Mom so she could try it.  Makes the sashimi more palatable for those who have an aversion to eating raw tuna because the sides of the Tuna are cooked and crusted with sesame seeds.  Truly yummy!

Turo-turo for a party — you can pick up the appetizer and main course here — salads to dips to actual servings of chicken, beef or salmon (as shown on the lower right hand corner) to serve your guests.  Very expensive but works well if you don’t have the time to cook and would like to impress!

A breathtaking work of art atop the exit to Lexington Avenue — an upside down tree adorned with crystals hanging above the entryway.  (I would love to take a second picture with the sunlight streaming into the Market from the windows you can see behind the tree.)

Everybody says time flies so fast.  It’s one reality that we are hard pressed to deal with and before we know it, time has passed and we are left wishing we did this or that.  I used to be one to cry over spilt milk, but as I grew older, I’ve come to realize that there are things that are just not worth fretting about.  So instead, I dwell on the blessings of the previous year.

I am thankful that I have my family, I have a job, I have been blessed with the friendship of so many wonderful people, and that I have the discernment to know that God is behind it all.

So as I say goodbye to 2005, I look forward to 2006 with a lot of hope.  There is much to look forward to in 2006 with Alan and Angel, seeing my family back home hopefully towards the middle of the year, doing good at work now that I have found a very understanding and professional boss, and fixing up our home which Alan and I have come to truly cherish as our lovenest.

And yes, on the "lighter" side of things (no pun intended) — I do intend to take better care of myself by losing weight and seeing my doctors more often.  (Mom will be very relieved to hear that!)  Now that Angel is almost 2 years old, not only must I worry about his health, but more importantly, Alan and I must remain fit to see him through to his adulthood.  I do look forward to seeing grandchildren eventually, although I know that is still far off into the future.

Back to 2006, besides the weight loss and the trip back home, these are the things I intend to accomplish before 2007 finds me:

Start my holiday planning early — as early as January 2006.  There was one Christmas when I started holiday shopping by June which enabled me to get presents for practically everyone on my Christmas list.  Then there was another Christmas when I started crafting Christmas decors (gold 3-D papier mache stars, paper basket woven christmas bells, 2×2x2 inch gift boxes adorned with fancy ribbons and trimmings) in October enabling me to achieve a gold color motif by the time we put up our tree end November.  It can be done if I plan way ahead.

So when I put away my Christmas decor (and we didn’t get to put up much this year owing to this little tyke running around grabbing everything in sight), I will organize what I have according to how I want to fix up the decor in December 2007.  In fact I will put up my decorations by mid-November, just before Thanksgiving to make the most of it!

On my list: set aside all the new silver trimmings and ornaments we bought as we hoped we could have a silver motif for our tree.  Start picking up discount gift tags and cards before the stores run out this first month..

Review my wardrobe and give away that which I don’t need anymore.  My mom has a favorite yearly ritual — asking my siblings and I to go through our things and collect those that we can get rid of for her to give away to her provincemates in Bulan, Sorsogon.  Between Alan, the stepson, Angel and me, we have managed to put away at least 2 boxes of clothes now which we will bring home when we go home this year.  I have yet to go through my existing wardrobe and I’m sure I can contribute at least another third to the whole bunch of giveaways.

Fix my side of the attic and make it my own working corner.  We were lucky to have had crafty predecessors in this co-op unit of ours.  They had converted the attic to a playroom for their young kids, and although we had always hoped to fix up our attic, we have just dumped things time and again, most around the opening, leaving a lot of wasted space forward and backward of the folding ladder that gives us access.  I have already started clearing the entryway and have made it look less cluttered, and organizing the attic means I would probably have less clutter down here in the living space.  Once I fix my corner up, then I can even do my crafts and scrapbooks up there without hesitation.

Work on my crafts more earnestly.  I have a ton of things I want to do and I will write a separate post on this, but maybe I can start knitting scarves to give away as presents for Christmas 2006 on a quarterly basis.  I have three major scrapbooks to finish by the end of 2006, and I have at least one or two more in mind.  The birthday scrapbook for Mom is a must, the Paris scrapbook I will finish definitely before the first half of the year, and Angel’s scrapbook/s will be done before we leave for Manila.  By the time I get back, we will have to start working on the scrapbooks from the trip to Manila and the other summer adventures we have had with Angel since he came into our lives.

Read up on, apply for and get my US Citizenship.  I have downloaded the information booklet and have it here in the house but have not even managed to leaf through it.  I will gather all the materials and apply when I get back from the visit to Manila.  I just don’t want to risk being called to an interview or an examination while I am back in the Philippines which might cause me problems.  While my 10-year greencard (which is just a year and a half old) assures me easy ingress and egress to and from the United States, I want to work on petitioning my Mom whom I can only get if I have become a naturalized citizen.

Revive my commercial website and define what it is I want to offer to the public.  I personally own at least 3 domains, two of which I had tried to tweak into a business venture in the making — but which never got off the ground.  I guess at that time, I was trying to be too many things to too many people all at the same time.  So I am trying to define where it is I want to be and want to continue to develop that into something which I can hopefully register and earn off of.

Decide on whether or not I want to start studying for another career.  This is an area of great indecision for me, that is why instead of trying to decide what I want to study, I must think about whether or not I would want to invest the time to study or go into learning another career at this point in my life.  It’s a nice thought but something I think I must finally resolve for myself.  I’m giving myself the whole year to decide on that.

I’m on a roll — perhaps it’s the whole business of another year ending and another beginning.  We all feel it’s a fresh start again in more ways that one.  It’s up to us to make the most of this new year beginning as midnight tolls.