October 12, 2009

The power of a timeshare, and to luau or not to luau?

For a mere $7000/year + ~$1000 in maintenance fees + trading fees, you too can generously house up to 7 guests on a week-long trip in Hawaii!

“Is that worth it?” was on the tip of my tongue, but as I’m one of the invited guests, it seemed prudent not to question my hostess’s financial decisions. 😉   No, really we talk money pretty liberally, she’s deemed it a worthwhile expense in her budget, and she’s got her long-term plan, her financial advisors and all that jazz taken care of.

Now, to worry about my own money! My friend has invited me to come stay with her and a few other friends in Hawaii for a week in November. It’s a rare opportunity for me, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I can afford it.

I’d be responsible for my own airfare, meals, and rental car. I’ve already volunteered to cook to “pay” my way. We’d be staying in a 3 bedroom villa, and it looks like single bed guestrooms start at $200/night, you can just imagine the market value of these accommodations!

Flying United, I can use a left over travel voucher to defray the cost of a round-trip ticket (approx. $500). Another option is to check through each of my rewards (hotel and others) to see if any can be redeemed for airline miles and/or value cards to further bring down the cost of airfare. For example, 20k Starpoints could be redeemed for 25K United miles to bring my total United account to 41k, but that’s only enough for a saver fare to HNL, which isn’t available for redemption.  S’ok, maybe next time.

Meals would just go on the credit card and get paid out of the travel fund, there aren’t a ton of ways to get creative with groceries. As for the rental car, Hilton points can be redeemed for a few days’ rental. I should have enough for at least a couple days with either Budget or Alamo.

My travel fund sits less-than-pretty at about $500. If I take this trip, that’d be it for the year unless I can come up with extra cash between now and then. On the other hand, when am I ever going to get to go to Hawaii for the price of a plane ticket and food

Oh wait, the fun stuff!  My friend insists that I have to go to a luau for my first time in Hawaii, but I just went to a luau party where several people said the dancers and fire dude were significantly better than the shows they saw in Hawaii this year.  The only thing missing from the huuuuge spread of food, mai tais, pina coladas, and the show was a roast pig.  Does anyone think the whole authentic package is worth between $50-200 per person just for roast pork?  (Yuuuummm…)  Is there any other reason to go?  Right now, I can’t really get behind it.

I’m hoping to have tons of free fun walking the island, enjoying nature and maybe reading lots.

July 24, 2009

18 days of Manhattan

There was the insta-rage lady at the newly open, already crumbly pizza joint in Chelsea. A brown paper bag and crumbs on the bench seat set off a tirade, one part speculating, two parts accusatory, regarding the probable lupine parentage of previous patrons. There was the bewilderingly affronted lady, forced to stop for our street crossing when she came to the intersection and stop sign. Evidently had it not been for our outrageous legal use of the crosswalk, she’d no intentions of stopping. And then there was the bellowing chess player on the top step at Union Square. Screaming and shaking his righteous fist at the sky, he refused to be judged by an unseen, unidentified, unprintable word of an unspeakable origin. This was the New York I expected: a raucous landscape textured by the terse, the taciturn, displaced, misplaced fear or anger. My most vivid memory of New York to date was an extremely hostile woman on the subway, shoving her way through the mass of transit passengers and cursing out my luggage. This fit my mental picture.

It wasn’t until 45 minutes after boarding my return flight to Los Angeles, 45 minutes of creeping along the tarmac with no real intent to take off, that the real New York really settled into my bones.

Entering the city, the strobelights of the brilliant, the driven, were blinding. Time and again I was told: New York is the best city in the world. The food, top flight theater, medical centers, art, music, everything here was the best. [It’s worth the rent!] Residents and transplants alike resonate with an instinctive fight to survive, thrive and endure. To create, produce, dominate. It’s dirty, rough, very rough on the senses of a tenderfoot. The incredible anonymity and isolation was evident in the straight-ahead stares of so many fellow pedestrians, alien glares and snips and bites of the yellow cab drivers. It’s a prizefighter’s city, in a way. Nothing here comes without sacrifice and ever higher prices. How much a sacrifice, and of what, remains a point of pride among those who live(d) there. This I felt to be a true challenge of surviving this city.

Truth be told, I harbored a lurking, nibbling away fear that on July 1st, I’d arrive and immediately wish myself away, discover that I desperately wanted a job in New York while desperately hated the city. On July 4th, I could hardly fathom how complete strangers, incomplete strangers and acquaintances could be almost uniformly gracious, welcoming and friendly. By July 6th, I’d tentatively accepted that this strange city was stranger still than I’d imagined. By July 7th, I’d gone so far as to ask a random lady, another subway rider for an assessment of my appearance pre-interview. I was that nervous. And she was that nice, to approve my get-up and wish me well.

After extending my stay, I pointed half a dozen strangers, tourists all, along their way. I discovered that the subway system was navigable and had only gotten completely turned around underground twice. The subterranean treks, in no small part thanks to dressing for extreme humidity, were endlessly amusing as I muttered directions to myself, gesturing as needed, blending all too well the mentally unstable denizens of the streets. I still haven’t got the subways and all the stops down, but I note for posterity that the entrance at 60th and Lexington as an easy alternative to 59th and Lex is a lie, while the 59th and Lex escalator qualifies as Mt. Kinley when it’s not working. During one of many thunderstorms the first week, fellow pedestrians similarly caught without umbrellas chatted easily about the weather and their interrupted days. Again, I cannot believe the number of people who asked me for assistance. I charged my phone three times a day, I was using the Google Maps and subway app so much.

Most of all, the personal and professional encounters during my stay were phenomenal. Despite my otherwise near hysterical insistence on anonymity, I don’t regret meeting up with fellow bloggers. To the contrary, they were highlights of my visit. Friends I’d gotten to know through months or years of correspondence were gracious hosts in every sense, offering their time generously and without hesitation. I’ve never been so flattered than when a highly placed professional judged, “After speaking with you for ten minutes, I would call you a leader, not just a manager.” Another acquaintance, fast becoming a friend and mentor, then topped that compliment the following week with, “You have a writer’s voice. You have potential.” Both individuals followed up their statements with recommendations and introductions to their professional networks, suggesting they weren’t just feeding me a line. And who am I to merit that kind of attention? Nobody to them, not before that day. Certainly I understand cronyism and nepotism, I’ve seen it many times in previous employers, but I must conclude that these are true scholars of the pay it forward philosophy. Good people to learn from in so many ways.

What’s that saying? “New York: if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.” Is it true? Perhaps.

I feel like I’m slowly coming back from a foreign country, that this New York of 2009 is intricate and exhausting. The city can really wring it out of you, but I’ve met so many genuinely nice, thoughtful, interesting friends in my short time here that I have a sneaking suspicion that I’ve learned to love the complexity at least a little bit.

July 22, 2009

Highlights and lowlights

Homemade dinner 🙂

Central Park: The NY Philharmonic is playing free concerts in Central Park this summer, and I had the chance to attend Friday night. We were in the furthest back corner from the orchestra, but the acoustics were excellent and you could hear the music perfectly. It was a perfect summer evening, sitting on the blanket with girlfriends, wine, cheese, bread and jam. We were looking forward to the fireworks at the end, but the cloud cover burst and we were quickly drenched in a downpour. I failed to take a picture of the perfection. Flexo was there! I didn’t see him. Er, I wouldn’t know if I saw him, actually.

Pravda: Described as an underground Russian bar, I had the dubious pleasure of enjoying the strongest vodka martini of my life. At $14, I had more than my money’s worth well before I reached the halfway point, and was forced to order Speck with bread and cheese to stave off the embarrassment of passing out. Without a doubt, my single martini was stronger than the Limontini, White Russian and French Martinis ordered ‘round the table, combined. Naturally, I shared. Ambience: excellent. Memorable moment: while waiting in line for the two unisex washrooms, a dude in a striped shirt, texting, graciously waved us girls in ahead of him. Friend later speculated that that’s a decent potential conversation starter as it clearly generated good will. Confusion first, but good will that lasted.

East Village: On a mission to pick up goodies for the park excursion, I decided to hike south through the East Village and Lower East Side. Along the way, I discovered Pommes Frites, and a string of tiny little parks.

Bleeker/Carmine/6th Ave: Joe’s Famous Pizza. It only took two weeks, but I finally made it over there for a slice. Delicious. I have to hope that I’ve not been ruined for pizza elsewhere because I never believed that NY pizza was the epitome of pizzas…. Except it’s really really good. I love the really thin, light and chewy crusts. Surprisingly, I never went to town on an entire pie by myself. Really should have given that a go.

Rice to Riches: The rice pudding place that NY friend always takes newcomers to, and I tag along only so that I can collect their flying saucer like containers. I am that girl. Only worse, because who goes to shops where they won’t eat the food but want the containers? Weeeiird.

Friends: Two friends are entrepreneurs, and I materially benefited from our relationship: I tried on pretty clothing, none of which I took home, and I got to try on a pretty necklace that I did get to take home. Sparkly …..

Missed Opportunities: There’s an Edible Gardens thing going on in the Bronx, and I managed to miss it all. Also, I really wanted to go salsa dancing at one of those places that have a free lesson before they play the real stuff. If I’d paid an extra $356, I could have upgraded to First class and gotten my own personal media player. Totally worth it if I got to keep it, and it also transformed into a Netbook. And an EasyBake Oven.