New York and New Years

alright..this is gonna be a long post....but it'll be full of photos...and I promise I'll post a picture of me without my face being blocked out by Pucca...hehe

anyways, most of you know that I did not go back to BC this winter...instead went on the ROCSAUT New York Trip with a few friends for three nights and four days......I had a blast since I havn't been to New York in more than five years...so I was really looking forward to this trip..especially to see Ground Zero...more on this later

Dec. 27th, 05
Woke up at like 4:30am to get ready to catch our tour bus in front of Con Hall at 7am. Freakin James C and Connie were late so we ended up sitting near the back of the bus...(bad for me since i get really bad bus sick. Good thing I had my trusty Sea Bands to help me). Anyways, day one was uneventful since the whole day was spent on the bus travelling down to New Jersey. Slept, watched Korean drama and Taiwanese "fun" talk shows until we arrived at Wellesley Inn (no relation to where i live now) in New Jersey. At night, played mahjiang......kicked ppl's butts...muahahaha...nah..not really :P...

bedmate was annoying as heck tho ....kept on taking my blanket and kicking me....and i was forced to sleep on the very edge of the bed because someone had to make some room for someone's gazillion stuff animals...

i had to share my bed with these two stupid creatures...Totoro is photographed in front of the lake in central park...and the ugly monkey is pictured in front of Ground Zero





























Dec 28th, 05
Woke up bright and early.....earliest among my roomies......had yummy waffles topped with strawberry sauce for breakfast...yum...i like making my own waffles..

Anyways, our first stop in the Big Apple was Central Park....walked around, took some pictures, saw the Shakespearean statues and then headed off to the MET (Metropolitan Museum of Art). Even tho I have been to NY before, I have never been to Central Park or the MET. So I was pretty excited.

A Group Photo Taken On A Bridge In Central Park...There..I didn't block out my face...so you can see me if you look very hard...














Metropolitan Museum of Art

































I have been wanting to go to MET since GRADE SIX...for those who were in my grade 6 class...should remember a novel we read, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankwiler. Till this day, it is still one of my favourite book because I was fascinated by the MET (where the book took place). Though I have not read the book since, I still remember many of the places that the novel mentioned.....and of course...just had to take pictures......Too bad that the museum is sooooo freakin big.....after carefully observing the first floor, we quickly walked through the second floor, and then gave up the third floor. Though we still had time, me, John, William, James S. decided to leave MET and walk around the streets instead.......

We wanted to find a cafe shop and sit...but who knew that every single freaking cafe shop was filled with ppl and we couldn't find a place to sit..........so we decided to take the subway down to Grand Central Station...where we took more pictures...but seriously, i think all the Main train station in the large cities look the same (Union Stations in Washington DC and Toronto)...but anyways.....then we walked...and saw a three level Micky D..and decided to finally go in and sat down....had to track all the way to the third floor to find a table...freakin......

Grand Central Station














New York Public Library















Then we walked down to NY Public Library...that's right..the same one that was featured in the movie The Day After Tomorrow. We got to go inside and take more photos....what an amazing place..............After that, we walked along 5th Ave to get back to the meeting place to meet with the rest of ROCSAUT peeps....on the way, in front of the Rockerfella Centre, and Saks 5th Ave...was PACKED with ppl....took us literally 10 mins to gain like 5 metre.....holy moly....

Sak's 5th Avenue...the snowfakes would also blink along with music blasted out of the building......















When we finally have the whole ROCSAUT group, we walked back to the Rockerfella Centre to take a group photo of the largest Christmas Tree in the World........

Group photo taken in front of the xmas tree at Rockerfeller Centre (Pucca wants to make an appearance..so..yea...i'm blocked)














There, another photo of me..with Yao Ming at the NBA Store on 5th Ave.



















YOU'RE FIRED! At the Trump Tower on 5th Ave, where fired contestants walked out on the Apprentice















then...walked down to Empire State Building to begin the most dreadful part of the day. By the time we got there, it was around 7pm....after a full day of walking..EVERYONE's feet were hurting...NOT sore, but hurting like there's a bruise on the sole of the feet.....To make matter worse, we had to stand in line for an hour and half to get to the top of the building....that..was pretty painful...Once we were up there...i made a quick lap around the observatory deck...and then sat down against the window .......too tired to take any pictures....so i figure i'll just bum pictures off other ppl....hehehe

Empire State Building



















Anyways, it was an amazing feeling once we were back to the hotel and got to lie on the bed....but of course, the gambling addict that I am....got up quickly when MahhJiangg was mentioned....hehehehe

Dec. 29th, 05
Ground Zero















Today the first stop was Ground Zero. Now, the previous day I have uploaded my photos onto Connie's crappular iMac....but when we got to Ground Zero, and I tried to take some pictures, for some reason, my memory card did not work..saying that it's not initialized...I couldn't even format it with my camera...now this have never happened to me before........AND WHY DOES IT HAVE TO HAPPEN WHEN I WAS AT GROUND ZERO.....and since it was raining that day...the group only spent like 5 measly minute at the site...so by the time I finally fixed my memory card (using James' camera to format the card)...we had to leave...I was..pretty upset.......since Ground Zero was the ONE place that I HAD to visit during this trip (yes, even before MET).....as 911 was an extremely big event that hit me.........so yea......after one or two quick pictures..i was forced to leave........

Wall Street















We walked down to Wall street...but I was not in the mood...took some pictures..but most of them turned out to be shaky...meh...been there already..so it was ok..

Then we got back to the bus..and I was calmer..........we then arrived at the Cruise dock...for a three hour cruise around the island and to see Statue of Liberty.....since I been on the cruise before, and seen the Statue.....and because it was raining and pretty pricy..I decided to skip the event....instead, I visited the near by Air and Sea Military Museum (Inside and on the Intrepid, an Aircraft Carrier that was hit by two Japanese Kamakazies during..WW..I(?) and survived.........it was pretty cool, though it's not an area that i'm particularly interested in...but it's still cool to see all the crazy combat planes....but the best part of that museum was this section devoted to the victims and the brave firefighters/police in the 911 incident.....:cry:

The 911 Display at the Museum














Deck of the Aircraft Carrier















After the cruise group finish, we were suppose to go to Soho...I never been to that place, and didn't know what it was...I have always thought Soho was a huge department store...but I think it's because I got mixed up between SoHo and SoGo (a large department store in Taiwan)....but anyways, I think because of traffic and time restraints, we didn't end up going to Soho...instead..we stopped by this.public market/mall place to shop...which had some pirate-like boats in front of the harbour.........the place also had some very nice views of the city line along the shore and the Brooklyn Bridge.........so got to take more night time pictures..so that was nice..

Group Photo In Front of the Cool Looking Boats at the Pier















Brooklyn Bridge Night Scene














Time Square















After that, we went to our final Big Apple desination...Time Square.....lots of police and construction there tho..but I think they were getting ready for New Years Countdown....took lots of pictures...shopped...got CONed into buying someone a christmas present.......and ate dinner at this Japanese fast food restaurant that SOMEONE recommended...but...it..was not that good...I think i prefer those Jap places in mall food courts better......

Oh look what i found at Time Square- A Restaurant Named After Me!! Though it was a little run down and...was somewhat empty :(















That basically concluded our trip to New York City

Dec. 30th, 05
Today is shopping day. We stopped by Woodbury Outlet Mall for four hours to shop till we drop...with only 8% tax..and stores displaying signs of 50-75% off....I thought I was going to empty out my wallet...but I knew I didn't really have much to buy....so I ended up only spending around 80 bucks......oh well....the mall was huge tho....it's an outdoor mall..so that was kinda cool...and the stores ranged fromt he regular Banana Republic, Nike, Addidas, to Puma, FCUK, Chanel, Lacoste..and even outlet stores for Gucci and Versace.....didn't know those super expensive brands would have an outlet stores too....that was cool...

after shopping..was another long bus ride back home to Toronto...arrived at Con Hall at 12am...said my goodbyes to all the old and new friends.....and stepped out of the bus...HOLY SMOKES...SO FREAKING COLD....

yup..so that concluded my trip....time went by fast..but i had a blast...thanks guys

Dec. 31st, 05
Woke up bright and early to accompany David, Wayne and Kevin (my highschool friends) to CN Tower......because they want to buy stuff....then, while we waited for Megan for lunch..we played Bridge at CN Tower (now that's something you don't do everyday)....i finally learned how to play bridge!! so that was fun..

Then went to Richtree/Marche at BCE place for lunch....heard so much about the place, but I have never been....so it was a pretty cool experience...

Me, Kevin, David and Wayne at Richtree- Mini RHS Reunion















After saying bye to the guys......I headed home and got ready to go meet some more ppl to go down to Niagara Falls for New Year Countdown..

We drove down to Niagara....and arrived there around 10:30pm......sooo many ppl there.......correction..soooo many drunk ppl there....anyways, we stood by the falls...and waited for the countdown...........but there wasn't any......well...there wasn't any verbal countdowns at least...all I saw was this light going up the Niagara tower or whatever the name is....

The Light Thingy Going Up The Tower With Ten Seconds To Go (It's NOT The CN Tower)



















Jan. 1st, 2006 00:00:00
...and then it burst into fireworks...though due to thick fog..we couldn't see much...........then....at the lake....another set of fireworks started.....the view was much better...and everyone was cheering and celebrating....I took lots of pix......it was fun tho..

Fireworks at Niagara (Not the best picture of the fireworks..but its the only one where you can kind of see the Niagara falls off bottom right...and the sign...just to prove that I was at Niagara)















Then we tracked down to Casino Niagara............hanged around there for a couple of hours....lots of drunk ppl there that likes to hump random strangers..or give strangers high fives.....

I hugged a drunk stranger :S....he was cute tho...hehehe............Didn't get to gamble...but watched Joe turned two $25 chips into $225 in one round of roulette....what a lucky bastard...


Anyways, I think this post is long enough to last a couple of weeks

Happy New Year Everyone...May 2006 be even better than 2005!