Chicken Shack with a Suitcase.*

Enough time has gone by that I can adequately reflect and relay my trip to New York. I'll be honest. Something about New York has always rubbed me the wrong way. It just annoys me and I really have wanted nothing to do with it. I still feel this way for the most part. However, I really enjoy Brooklyn. What a cool area. That is where my brother lives. He teaches in New York and I went to spend a long weekend with him. This is what we did.
On Saturday we went shopping in Park Slope, went to a farmer's market, went to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (where there was a strange man take pictures of the creepiest doll ever) and went to Manhattan to see a play called Avenue Q and ate there as well. Avenue Q is a pretty hilarious show. Neither my brother nor myself are huge musical lovers, but this show, what with its songs about the internet being for porn, everyone being racist and having no skills after college, coupled with a touch of puppet sex, well, let's just say this show was right up our alley. Sunday we went to this restaurant Rice where we split coconut french toast and eggs benedict with pork tenderloin. So good. We then went to see the movie the Science of Sleep with Gael Garcia Bernal. sigh. Freaky ass movie, but good if you like Michel Gondry films. We then walked across the brooklyn bridge into Manhattan. We ate at some restaurant called Edwards with David's friends and saw Christopher from the Sopranos. Monday we drove down to Coney Island and went to the Aquarium and ate some Nathan's hotdogs. We drove back, did some more shopping in Williamsburg then went to Junior's for dinner and cheese cake. Tuesday, I went with David to his school to talk to his classes about college, my job and HIV prevention. Personally, I don't know how my brother does it. The kids were cool and all, but keeping a class of high schoolers under control is no easy task and let's just say these kids were gifted at the art of not listening. Overall, I had a wonderful time. I know this is more of a play by play of my trip and less of the reflection I promised, so sue me. It was rad and I can't wait to go visit again.

* The title of this post can be attributed to my friend David (not my brother) who, upon hearing I was going out of town yet again called me and said, "Weeellll chicken shack with a suitcase, off again." I still don't really understand what it means, except the suitcase is meant to indicate travel. David is weird, but secretly, I kinda like the name.

Also, I know the format of this sucks and it is hard to read, but I really wanted to include all these pictures and blogger does not have the best tools for this. So sorry.