A Long Overdue Update: The Crash Landing

If I were to tell you that I crash-landed in New York, it wouldn't be too far from the truth. One of my friends predicted that I would arrive in The City looking something like this:

Not pictured: suitcase full of dreams.

Reality included more sweat, frizzier hair, and was accompanied by the acrid smell of burning rubber.

Plan A  involved my sister and I flying into Hartford and then renting a car so that we could drive ourselves to the UCONN campus to pick up Aubrey's Jeep. I'll pause here to offer you a life lesson: it doesn't matter how cranky you are after a long flight, be nice to the lady at the rental car counter. This is good advice because no one likes a jerk, but also because she might just toss you the keys to an electric blue Mustang convertible if you smile and act generally decent.

All was going according to plan for the first twelve or so hours. After a night spent crashing on Aubrey's friend's couch, we packed up the Jeep, returned the rental car, and started heading towards New York. This is where things started going awry. So here's life lesson number two: if your car's breaks are making a weird noise, it's probably better to have it checked out sooner rather than later.

We managed to hit New York City right at rush hour on Friday afternoon, and let me tell you, there ain't no traffic jam like a New York City traffic jam. We were sitting in bumper to bumper traffic when the smoke started pouring out of the wheel wells. Once we crossed the bridge into Manhattan, we pulled the car off the road to have ourselves a nice little panic. The fact that it was hot and also raining seems germane here. 

Needless to say, things were not going according to plan. 

We were eventually able to limp the car down to my building and find a spot to park (which is a small miracle in Manhattan). We had planned to spend Saturday exploring around the city. What we did instead was hoof it around Brooklyn and watch an on-foot police chase while the car was being fixed. A few hours and one big bill later we were back on the road.

C'est la vie. Here's life lesson number three: take things as they come, laugh, turn up the stereo, and sing anyways.

Poem for a New Adventure

I ran across this Walt Whitman poem in the midst of a sleepless night last week, and I have been thinking about it ever since. It seems especially appropriate as I get ready to head off to the airport and on to Connecticut before finally arriving in New York tomorrow. And now, off on an adventure!

On Journeys Through the States
by Walt Whitman

On journeys through the States we start,
(Ay through the world, urged by these songs,
Sailing henceforth to every land, to every sea,)
We willing learners of all, teachers of all, and lovers of all.

We have watch’d the seasons dispensing themselves and passing on,
And have said, Why should not a man or woman do as much as the
        seasons, and effuse as much?

We dwell a little while in every city and town,
We pass through Kanada, the North-east, the vast valley of the
        Mississippi, and the Southern States,
We confer on equal terms with each of the States,
We make trial of ourselves and invite men and women to hear,
We say to ourselves, Remember, fear not, be candid, promulgate the
        body and the soul,
Dwell a while and pass on, be copious, temperate, chaste, magnetic,
And what you effuse may then return as the seasons return,
And may be just as much as the seasons.


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