Are you kidding? I am Queen's Boulevard.

So, yes, back from New York and mostly recovered. I pondered for a while, but the night before we set off I decided to leave my camera behind. Loaf had hers, and I knew she'd take enough for both of us, while I'd probably end up resenting carting mine about all the time. I'm quite sure you've seen the results* by now, which provides a nice overview of what we got up to. Still, a few words from me.
The flight out was pretty pleasant. After having spent 23 hours in the air during a journey to New Zealand as a youngster, no-where seems terribly far away any more. Still, an 8 hour flight is something that needs some some prior consideration. Waiting in the food court area past security a group of girls sitting a little distance from us got excited. Apparently one of their number had spotted Keanu Reeves. If this was true, I saw no sign of him. Maybe he was too short to spot, however. Is Keanu Reeves short? He is an action movie guy, and thus I automatically assume he is a midget. However I base this upon nothing resembling information on my part.
When we landed it was evening, which I believe helps out the process of time zones greatly. Whichever way you happen to be flying, you tend to be pretty beat by the time you get there, so the local clock agreeing with your internal one that it is bed-time is a plus. We hailed a bright yellow new york cab, and spend on our way. Well, we stood in a line for like 20 minutes first. It wasn't even a yellow cab, 5 of us plus luggage needed a big old people carrier. Work with me here. So anyway, New York City at night! Is there a finer sight? I suspect not. Perhaps you could think of one if you are the victim of a late night mugging, but as it stands, it's high on my list. It's such a weird place. They call it a city, but dang, the sheer size of it (and I mean vertically here), makes it so different from the cities I am used to, like London, or Stormwind. Steel Canyons, indeed. At the same time, however, is a sense of familiarity. How many of us have visited New York via fiction? I suspect it must be close to a million percent. As we drove from JFK to east side Manhattan, I half expected to see an thuggish east European man on a stolen bike come hurtling down the road, smash into something, and sail entertainingly through the air before his inevitable death upon impact.
I might steal some of the pictures that were taken and do my own little blow by blow commentary at some stage, but for now I must assure you that I am, indeed, pretty fucking Queen's Boulevard.



*I was going to put in a fancy hyperlink to the photos here, but whatevs dudes, you know where they are.