"something wicked this way comes"

isn't that a cool phrase? it evokes a feeling of something sinister and foreboding, yet it's so poetic. what a great line...

i finally figured out where the phrase originated from... it's from Shakespeare's "Macbeth" play, where the wicked figure is none other than Macbeth himself, who is a traitor and murderer. the full line is "By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes," spoken by one of the three witches/weird sisters. i watched "Macbeth" two weekends ago in NYC for Shakespeare in the Park, an annual free summertime performance of a selected Shakespeare play in Central Park. Liev Schreiber played the role of Macbeth and did an incredible job.

i remember reading "Macbeth" during high school, but for the life of me, i just couldn't understand any Shakespeare at the time. i simply didn't get it. it wasn't until i got to college where i finally understood a few Shakespeare plays that we read. it was as though an "Understanding Shakespeare" switch had finally been turned on inside my head. ding! oh, i GET it!

even now, i don't find Shakespeare plays to be easy reading, it requires focused concentration to understand and get through. thank god, i'm out of school and don't have to worry about reading lists that include Shakespeare. ;)

gotta love free Broadway

tonight, Grace and I went to Central Park to catch "Broadway in the Park", an annual outdoor free summertime performance of different Broadway performers singing showtunes on the Great Lawn. it's one of the cool yearly performances held in Central Park that allows tens of thousands of people to just lay out on blankets on the lawn with food and groups of friends just enjoying a relaxing, musical evening of Broadway (an awesome summertime experience).

we didn't recognize many of the Broadway songs performed, so i was excited when i finally knew one song, and it happened to be from one of my favorite musical movies, "West Side Story". the song was the duet "Tonight", during the part when Maria and Tony first falls in love. i love that movie! i watched it when i was a young girl and totally loved it. :) but i digress...

so anyways, Grace and I both realized that we actually recognized the song, so we looked at each other with excitement.
both of us: ooooh!
me: West Side Story!
Grace (laughs): i was gonna say West Side Highway!
me: hahaha! West Side Highway!!!
Grace: i'm being too Manhattan!

for those who don't know, the West Side Highway is a local highway that runs along the Hudson River on the West Side of Manhattan. so yeah, i can see how that could be an easy slip-up by accidentally confusing the name of a famous musical with a Manhattan highway... but only if you're a New Yorker! hehe!

you know what i mean?

you know how you can tell that someone knows you very well?
when you say something to them that makes absolutely no sense or is completely wrong, but yet they understand exactly what you're trying to say, even when no one else can understand it!

i admit, i have a terrible short-term memory. when people tell me things, i forget half of the details. so when i have to relay information to people, i sometimes forget certain words or descriptions or details, especially if it's about something that i'm not too familiar with.

a few nights ago, i went out with friends to a Brazilian restaurant in the East Village for drinks. here's how i described that portion of the evening to Larry over the phone the next day.
me: we went to Churrascaria for some drinks last night.
Larry: oh yeah?
me: yeah, it was strong. we had a famous Brazilian drink. something called... (racking my brain for the drink name) uh, Syriana? (i pronounced it "seer-ee-ana")
Larry: uh, you mean Caipirinha? (correctly pronounced "cap-preen-ya")
me: YEAH! THAT'S IT! Caipirinha! oops, I called it Syriana, like the George Clooney movie. heehee! (laughing at myself)
Larry: aiyah, silly girl.
me: how'd you know what i was talking about?
Larry: of course, i'm your husband... i know you!

another perfect example of how well my husband knows me: a few years ago, we were packing up for our big move from California to New York. Larry's dad had called and told me to ask Larry whether we'd need to borrow his handtruck for our move. here's how i relayed the message to Larry later that day.
me: your dad called. he asked if we needed to borrow... some, uh, machine thing.
Larry: um, you mean a handtruck?
me: YEAH!!! that's it! a HANDTRUCK!!
Larry: machine thing? aiyah!
me: machine thing, handtruck... close enough!

go figure, Larry knew exactly what i was trying to say with my "machine thing" babble. haha! i don't think even I would've known myself what the hell that was about! he's definitely pretty good at understanding "Ivy language". if my husband can actually make sense out of all my nonsensical descriptions (and pretty quickly too), then he knows me pretty well, don't you think? ;)

take me out to the ballgame... and a "YMCA" sing-along

Sangita, Tabitha and i went to watch a NY Yankees game at Yankee Stadium last Sunday. i'm not a sports fan, but i enjoy going to watch basketball and baseball games. i don't follow any particular teams, so normally i'd cheer for the home team (it's more fun to cheer along with everyone else)... although i'm partial to Oakland (being my hometown and all).

it was a Yankees vs. Oakland A's game. the three of us, being from Oakland/the Bay Area, were rooting for the A's. however, we were sitting in the bleachers in the midst of rowdy NY Yankees fans, so we decided to keep a low-profile and only allow ourselves to silently cheer on the A's, since A's fans were definitely in the minority that day. i'm sure girls normally wouldn't be given a hard time like guys get for rooting for the opposing or rival team, but we didn't feel like testing it out.

around the 2nd inning of the game, one guy strolled in late to his seat in our bleacher section wearing a bright red t-shirt and a red Boston Red Sox cap.

uh-oh... a Boston Red Sox fan flaunting his devotion to the team while he was in NY Yankees territory?! and during a non-Boston game?

immediately, rowdy Yankees fans in our section started yelling "asshole!" at him. throughout the game, he was relentlessly being heckled with yells of "Boston sucks!", "Boston still sucks!", and "Take off the cap". one guy walked past him and yelled out "How you like them apples? Boston's losing!" and pointed to a screen showing the scores of teams playing elsewhere. it was pretty funny, and everyone laughed at its reference to the famous Matt Damon line from "Good Will Hunting".

the most hilarious moment was during half-time while the Village People song "YMCA" was blaring. some Yankees fans started heckling the poor guy again. then during the chorus of the song, "It's fun to stay at the Y-M-C-A", instead of singing "Y-M-C-A", half of the people in the bleachers all pointed at him and in unison sang "Y-do-you-suck?" in perfect melody to the song! and then they repeated the chorus! it was the funniest thing i'd seen all day!

it was all pretty amusing, but i felt bad for the poor guy. the Red Sox fan basically did his best to ignore all the hecklers. he took all the tauntings in stride, stayed in his seat, and never took off his cap. gotta give him props for toughing it out.

i realize there's a bitter rivalry between the NY Yankees and Boston Red Sox (you know, the whole Curse of the Bambino), which explains all that hostility. i've heard stories of fans causing worse public humiliation and even mild violence to fans of rival teams or people who simply wore the wrong colored clothes to the game. obviously, sports fans take their teams and their rivalries very seriously!

at the end of the day, the Oakland A's beat the Yankees 6 to 5.
from our bleacher seats, we quietly cheered their victory.

the good and the bad of NYC

if you haven't already figured it out from the title of my blog, i absolutely love New York City! i loved living here, and i miss it a lot.

i admit, there are both good and bad things about NYC.

the bad: the freezing winters with temperatures dropping to the single digits (farenheit). the winter windchill that hits you and chills you to the bone. walking through dirty gray slush after the sidewalk snow has been trampled on. the hot and humid summers. the disgustingly dirty and stuffy, non-ventilated subway stations complete with rodents scurrying around on the tracks. the abrupt and sometimes rude attitude of some people that i've encountered. rising safety and crime issues. the ridiculously expensive pricetag on everything from food to taxi to rent (NYC is one of the most expensive cities in the U.S. to live in).

the good: the beautiful skyline and architecture of the buildings and bridges throughout the city (my favorites are the Chrysler Building and the Brooklyn Bridge). the uniquely different character of each neighborhood (some of my favorite neighborhoods to stroll around are the West Village, East Village, SoHo, and Meatpacking District). the convenience of public transportation and being able to get around on my own anywhere in the 5 boroughs (gotta love the subway and bus system). the abundance and diversity of restaurants. the happening nightlife. the overall energy of the city even at 2am. Central Park (one of my favorite places in the city to hang out in). the trendiness and fashion-consciousness of people here (i like it because i can see what's stylish and it discourages me from dressing like a slob. haha). the many museums, art galleries, Broadway shows, dance and musical performances, live bands, and plays available throughout the year, especially the free outdoor summer events like Shakespeare in the Park. my relatives and friends who live here. NY is where i was born, and for me, that gives it a special place in my heart (sounds cheesy, but it's true).

some people have said to me that they would hate to live in NYC because it's too fast-paced or for other reasons similar to those that i have listed under "bad".
i guess for me, the "good" outweighs the "bad".

back in NYC!

i'm back in New York for a month... and i'm ecstatic!

i'm staying with my college buddy Sangita for a little while, and since she's also currently not working, we've been able to hang out around the city all week. we went to check out a DC-based local band called Monopoli perform in the Lower East Side (they were good). we went used-book shopping at a book fair and i bought 25 books for only $2 each (whatta deal!). we went out to some bar/lounges with friends. we went to watch a Yankees game at Yankee Stadium against the Oakland A's (Oakland won, go A's!). we had a picnic lunch yesterday afternoon in Central Park with a few other friends, where we spent the afternoon lazing on the lawn under the sun just chatting, snacking, reading, and playing frisbee (which i'm no good at. i accidentally threw it at some guy lying nearby us. oops!) it was a perfect afternoon in the park with friends, and is definitely one of the many things that i miss about NY.

this is my first time being back since we moved to Hong Kong 7 months ago. everything looks the same, everything's so familiar, it's very comforting, and it's great to be back! i feel as though i've only been away on a long vacation and now i'm finally back. but then i think about how i don't live here anymore, how i can no longer call this my home, then it makes me feel a little bit sad...