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| Karma, to the Fair
December 11, 2006
Store, or...
...In which I eat tons of non-nutritional crap, write a term paper and wind up in the depths of Rockefeller Center two weeks before Christmas.
It is no wonder that some tourists who come to visit NYC during the holidays wind up thinking that it is busy, rude and generally unpleasant. Midtown sucks. Walking around near Rockefeller Center is like maneuvering through a densely packed cow pasture, except bovine are content to chew grass and make cow patties while the crowds in midtown simply have retail on their minds. This weekend I watched a mother take her small child out of a stroller and then use it as a personal steamroller so that she could get closer to a Christmas display window.
I spent most of Saturday eating popcorn and ramen noodles in my pajamas, writing a paper, though to some degree I was also saving up my energy so that I could forge through Rockefeller Center with my family the next day. Normally I would not touch the area with a ten-foot pole, however it is rare that I get to see everyone these days, thus the ends justified the means. Kind of. On the agenda for the day: the tree, the American Girl Store, the Nintendo Store and then, especially for me en route home, the liquor store.
Highs: Seeing family; watching Grandma walk right into the back stage door of Jersey Boys (quote my mother, "She's 83 years old and knows she has nothing to lose. Who is going to yell at an 80 year old?")
Lows: Everything else, except maybe watching six children under twelve years old attempt to pose in front of a fountain while six adults formed a paparazzi around them. That was entertaining, especially when I realized that I no longer qualify as a kid and don't have to do it anymore.
I do not really remember ever going to Rockefeller Center during Christmas as a child, though I am sure that my parents took me. Still, I have no recollection of it being quite so insane during the period, but perhaps it is just that I am old now and have lost my appreciation for frenzied things in life. Does anyone remember the area being calmer when they were a kid?
Posted by callalillie at December 11, 2006 3:49 AM | City Life
, La Familia
I just remember awe. It was almost too much to believe, to take in...
Posted by: Bill at December 12, 2006 1:28 AM
You are correct about it being more crowded - NYC is now at its highest population ever, a direct result of the massive drop in crime. There's a good article in today's Wall St. Journal about how the city's infastructure can't keep up with the population boom.
Posted by: Janine at December 12, 2006 9:32 AM
Posted by: tien at December 12, 2006 2:23 PM
