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Went into New York today.
Sep. 7th, 2002 10:47 pmSunny day. Went up the Empire State Building ($9 ticket). Lotsa mucky haze around the city. It's odd, I've only been up there once before, but the southern view of Manhattan looks so different - see, last year's visit to the ESB was the last weekend in August. There were towers then...
I don't even remember where the Towers used to be.
I noticed that at the time, when I got sent in on the ERV (emergency response vehicle) on 11 September 2001. I had lived in New York City to the age of eleven. I'd worked in Manhattan for a chunk of time. I'd visited the city regularly, and I couldn't for the life of me find where the Towers were supposed to be - aside from, you know, the giant pillar of smoke. I find things by landmarks more often than not - all right, here's the house with the dog that jumps high enough to peek over the fence, so I'll be turning left up ahead. The Towers were the landmarks. Everything else in southern Manhattan, I found by relationship to them. I'd never thought to fix in mind where the Towers themselves were, because they were the core point and didn't need to be found. Trying to find where they used to be... it's like starting from the star you assume is Polaris and looking for the Big Dipper, only to discover that Ursa Major doesn't exist any more. Like trying to calculate distances on a medieval map of the world, only Jerusalem is missing.
I can find the place where they used to be on an aerial map. That's not a problem. I know what southern Manhattan is supposed to look like from the air even if the map shows nothing but streets and water. I don't need to see the names of the streets, even; I know which block of space it was, and I can find it like that and say here, this is where they used to be... I've known that for a while. Long enough that it no longer seems weird to look at the New York City subway map and find that spot, then glance sideways and see the slightly greyed-out subway lines that used to run down there and no longer do. I had to do that today, because there was a family from Boston in the 34th Street station cursing and swearing at the MetroCard machine - I helped them get their card and they mentioned they wanted to know how to get to Ground Zero, so I showed them the map. Far as I know, they took the N line to City Hall and got off there. I knew the space...
I just don't remember the place on the skyline where the Towers used to be, any more.
Damn. I had something else I wanted to talk about today and I can't for the life of me remember what it is. I mean, I rode the train into the city and I read 9/10 of Louis Cha's The Deer and The Cauldron in the process (hot damn,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
unseenlibrarian, you need to read this book - the main character's a twelve year old son of a whore, and he's got a mouth like Li Kui!). I had good soup in Penn Station and a nice smoothie. I did some sketching at the Met, I traded in a book I didn't need at The Compleat Strategist on Thirty-third Street, I saw and did all kinds of things; I just don't remember what else I wanted to talk about. Ah, well.
Today's pulp survival tip is #13. If you trust someone, trust them wholeheartedly, and make sure they know it. The ones who don't deserve your trust will spend too much time gloating when they betray you, and your righteous anger will enable you to get your revenge. The ones who do deserve it will repay you in a spectacular fashion before the end of the movie.
I don't even remember where the Towers used to be.
I noticed that at the time, when I got sent in on the ERV (emergency response vehicle) on 11 September 2001. I had lived in New York City to the age of eleven. I'd worked in Manhattan for a chunk of time. I'd visited the city regularly, and I couldn't for the life of me find where the Towers were supposed to be - aside from, you know, the giant pillar of smoke. I find things by landmarks more often than not - all right, here's the house with the dog that jumps high enough to peek over the fence, so I'll be turning left up ahead. The Towers were the landmarks. Everything else in southern Manhattan, I found by relationship to them. I'd never thought to fix in mind where the Towers themselves were, because they were the core point and didn't need to be found. Trying to find where they used to be... it's like starting from the star you assume is Polaris and looking for the Big Dipper, only to discover that Ursa Major doesn't exist any more. Like trying to calculate distances on a medieval map of the world, only Jerusalem is missing.
I can find the place where they used to be on an aerial map. That's not a problem. I know what southern Manhattan is supposed to look like from the air even if the map shows nothing but streets and water. I don't need to see the names of the streets, even; I know which block of space it was, and I can find it like that and say here, this is where they used to be... I've known that for a while. Long enough that it no longer seems weird to look at the New York City subway map and find that spot, then glance sideways and see the slightly greyed-out subway lines that used to run down there and no longer do. I had to do that today, because there was a family from Boston in the 34th Street station cursing and swearing at the MetroCard machine - I helped them get their card and they mentioned they wanted to know how to get to Ground Zero, so I showed them the map. Far as I know, they took the N line to City Hall and got off there. I knew the space...
I just don't remember the place on the skyline where the Towers used to be, any more.
Damn. I had something else I wanted to talk about today and I can't for the life of me remember what it is. I mean, I rode the train into the city and I read 9/10 of Louis Cha's The Deer and The Cauldron in the process (hot damn,
unseenlibrarian, you need to read this book - the main character's a twelve year old son of a whore, and he's got a mouth like Li Kui!). I had good soup in Penn Station and a nice smoothie. I did some sketching at the Met, I traded in a book I didn't need at The Compleat Strategist on Thirty-third Street, I saw and did all kinds of things; I just don't remember what else I wanted to talk about. Ah, well.Today's pulp survival tip is #13. If you trust someone, trust them wholeheartedly, and make sure they know it. The ones who don't deserve your trust will spend too much time gloating when they betray you, and your righteous anger will enable you to get your revenge. The ones who do deserve it will repay you in a spectacular fashion before the end of the movie.
