My American Vacation, Part 1: A Touristy Week in NY

It feels strange as an American to use the words "American Vacation" but I feel it's accurate when you actually have been living and working elsewhere and rather than just coming home and chilling, you're actually actively on a schedule seeing things and people. East Coast Tour may have been more accurate, but it's written now, so I'll just live with it. **Kanye shrug**After a quick 5 hour flight to Shanghai, a layover there, and 15.5 hours in the air bonding with a teenage Chinese chick who speaks only a few words of English, I landed at JFK Airport in New York City. This was my first opportunity to spend time in NYC old enough to truly do anything. I went there with some preconceived notions that I actually found to be outdated fairly quickly. I think in terms of stereotypes, NYC is still widely characterized by the city as it was in the 80's. Most New Yorkers I ran across were fairly friendly and personable, the streets aren't lined with homeless people and prostitutes at Times Square anymore, the subway cars aren't covered in artistic graffiti anymore (a bummer because I was looking forward to taking pictures of the artwork), you don't feel eminent danger walking the streets in the middle of the night (although I'd still recommend you know where you are going), etc. I give Rudy Guiliani a lot of credit for cleaning up the city quite a bit. Now, some rumors did end up being true: the prices for parking, housing and such are crazy expensive (see parking 'special' prices picture below). I saw an authentic NYPD beating of an unarmed and innocent homeless man, who had already been tased. 10 cops were beating him when I arrived (pictured below); his crime: dancing on the sidewalk. I wish I could say I was surprised they lived up to their reputation. But I enjoyed my trip so much because for the first time, I got a glimpse of why ppl call NYC the 'greatest city on Earth.' As a graduate from a college of Architecture, I look at cities differently than most ppl already, and NYC is a treat from that perspective. You see building in so many different styles, textures, and from different time periods sharing walls on the same block. See the picture below of the Home Depot which is in an almost victorian styled white building, you would never see that in other parts of the country, and probably the world. You see small things culturally that you usually wouldn't run into, every corner has several types of food including a Halal food stand amongst the more traditional American quick cuisine; I must have had at least 5 gyros from street vendors while I was there, see the picture below of the multi-colored bike which I randomly saw walking from the Brooklyn Bridge. The Brooklyn Bridge and Empire State Buildings are like living legends of Architecture and were remarkably ahead of their time when built. The Guggenheim Museum itself and its art collection were fairly amazing, I would guess I stood out as the only young African American male and the only one wearing urban wear in such a prestigious museum. Any quirky interest or even fetish you have, there is a sub community (and possibly even a museum) there for it if you look hard enough. Any kind of music, hobby, food, clothes, art, you name it and you can find it there somewhere. The Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum in Times Square fulfilled my quota for quirky and odd things (see shrunken head and wooden Mercedes pics below). Even the house next door to where I was staying had a fake decapitated head hanging by its eye lids hanging in the doorway (pictured below) and it's nowhere near Halloween. LOL. I got to meet Morgan Freeman (pictured below), so what if he was made of wax. LOL. The 24hour a day subway was very convenient, pretty much anywhere in Manhattan and much of Brooklyn, you're never more than about 4-5 blocks from a station. I had interesting discussions with various people, especially a gentleman I who was helping coordinate the renovation of the house I where I was staying in Brooklyn (shout out to Ms. Rita Brackeen for having me, apologies again for misplacing that set of keys) about different conspiracy theories and feelings towards the government; When I went to the 9/11 construction site and temporary museum, the side was lined with conspiracy theorists trying to 'educate' the tourists about how the attack was an elaborate hoax by the CIA. Whether or not I agree, I wonder just how strong of convictions a group of people have to make shirts, signs, and flyers to give out to people at the site of America's greatest tragedy site; it's a big step beyond talking about your suspicions in your living room. It's a spirit I can truly respect. On the walk back from the train station to where I was staying, I encountered a very public (although it should have been kept private) conversation between a cute girl with low self-esteem and her boyfriend (or whatever he'd called himself). It was entertaining if nothing else; it was like watching TV. LOL. Overall, I'm still not sure if I could live there due to the expensive living and all those ppl, but New York impressed me. And although I was underwhelmed by the women, I'll make sure I go back. Didn't get to see the Statue of Liberty, I guess I'll have to catch that girly next time. More vacation stories coming soon...

The American Way and a lack of "substance"

As I'm often surrounded by people from other countries. I take note of the cultural differences that are ever-present. There are some differences that I regret, like the lack of a culture and traditions that are thousands of years old. Even things that are both a gift and a curse - such as a more homogeneous society as far as ethnicity or religion - has some benefits culturally that we miss out on; such as monuments as extraordinary as the Giant Buddha in Hong Kong or the Batu Caves here in KL. But I realize now that one of the biggest differences is a success oriented "dare to dream" mindset. Although I'm relatively inexperienced in my field, I maintain a mindset that I want to continue to improve at what I do. I ask a lot of questions and ask to be involved in more and more because I plan on being the man someday. And when some smart kid straight outta college shows up askin me tough questions the same way I do, I need to be good enough to answer. It seems many other nations have very successful people but they get content much easier. Noone sets out to 'change the world.' Of the many inventions that have truly changed the world or fundamentally changed the way we do certain things, many of them have been invented by Americans. With as little history as we have compared to so many countries, how did we get so ahead of the curve? Da Vinci designed a flying machine in the 1400's. There were no more great minded dreamers in Europe who could figure out how to finish it. It took two young bike salesmen in America over 400 years later to finish the job? With all the minds from different countries that had hands in giving the world the computer, how is it that it took Americans to allow them connect and form the Internet? Better yet, how did two college drop outs in Silicon Valley become the first to make a workable interface systems to operate computers? With foods from European originals being so popular - Hamburgers (named for Hamburg, Germany), Hot dogs/Frankfurters (named for Frankfurt, Germany), pizza (of Italian origin), french fries (self-explanatory), etc - how did fast food of such foods become an American creation? How'd someone like Henry Ford - who invented neither the car or the assembly line - become first to fuse the two into the modern automotive industry? Theater and entertainment go back thousands of years, how did Hollywod end up in America? There are so many others. Even lately, there have been several Internet-based inventions that have fundamentally changed the way we do things. Google has fundamentally changed the way the world shares and finds information; it was started by college students who expanded it from research project of theirs. Facebook has fundamentally changed the way people communicate and find each other; It's founder, Mark Zuckerberg is a programmer who dropped out to run with an idea. Wikipedia has replaces volumes of encyclopedia as the dominant way to research and find collections of information on certain topics;Its founder left a lucrative financial business to make the vision a reality. These are just examples of what I mean. Maybe it's a by-product of a nation of immigrants who went to the "New World" to shake things up. Maybe, we don't have sentimentalities that could hold us back. I'm not sure what it is. But I appreciate it. It almost depresses me to see people with little focus or ambition. I've come to look for it in conversation in general and especially look for it in women that I plan on taking seriously. The combination of intellect, critical thinking, will to stand for beliefs, and ambition are appealing. I've ccome to call this "substance." And I would say I have not met enough women here with adequate substance. I've met college grads with no sense of wanting to do more than just "hold what they have." Even among those still in college, there is often a lack of focus. I meet people who party almost every night and use that as an excuse to miss class; which they consider "boring." And I'm not saying classes aren't boring. I'm saying that this is not the proper mindset of an achiever. Do I think I'm some genius? No. Do I think I am going to be president? Not at all. Do I think I'm going to be Mark Zuckerberg and be a billionaire by my mid-20s? No, but if the opportunity and passion struck me I may go for it. The point is I'm ambitious enough to want to keep moving forward, to do things a cut above what most ppl my age do; like this trip in general. Even if I'm not a billionaire, or hailed as one of the minds that shaped my time, I wanna do something with myself. I wanna be successful. I want to look back and say I achieved something. I want to harness a slice of the American dream...