New York, New York

Today was our trip to New York City. I love the city. I have only been once before, when I was 12, so I was excited about going again so that I could actually remember things this time. Unfortunately... we only had one day to spend in the city instead of a solid week like we did when I was 12. The main attractions were the Empire State Building and the American Natural History Museum. We tried really hard to see the 9/11 memorial but you had to reserve a place in line, and we did not know that until we got to the museum, so we didn't get a chance to see it. The Natural history museum was wonderful for me; I love museums. My brother had a headache and there were a ton of junior high school groups there that were very noisy, so I'm sure that didn't help him. He enjoyed the Deep Sea exhibit and the African Wild Game exhibit. I think my favorites were the Origin of the Human and the Space/Astronomy exhibits. We got lucky at the Empire State building and happened to miss most of the crowds (we saw huge lines coming in as we were leaving). The elevator took you to the 80th floor. After that you could choose to walk up the stairs for the remaining six floors, or wait twenty minutes for the next elevator. We chose to take the stairs to save time. I definitely realized how out of shape I am because of that! Well worth it though; the view was amazing. After those visits, which took most of the day, we just wandered the city. We walked about twelve blocks to the huge Lego store for my brother, and ate hot dogs from the street vendors like true tourists. We walked through Central Park a bit, which was a vast difference than that of the city. We also accidentally made our way to Times Square. By the time we got to the square it was starting to get dark, so all of the street signs and advertisements were lit up. It was neat.

Princeton

After getting kicked out of the hospital, the family and I ventured to the town of Princeton, because my stepmom's boyfriend grew up there. He wanted to show us his old schools, hangouts, and homes. He also wanted to take us to the university. He said he knew that I liked old buildings and so did my brother, so he wanted to show us the college. It is known that Princeton is one of the oldest in the United States, and because of that, the buildings that make up the college are stunning. They are so elegant and detailed in the architecture. I felt like I was walking into the grounds of Hogwarts when we went through the front gate and saw all of the stone buildings. It seems like the builders cared so much about their final product, and that is evident in all of the small parts of the buildings. The windows have beautiful metal hinges and locks. The stone walkways are designed different at every building. The columns of the buildings, along with the walls of some, have gargoyles, angels and animals carved into the stone. Each one slightly different. Some of the buildings have Latin quotes and sayings carved into them, and others have dedications to previous educators and other important people. Even the gutters are fancy. They are copper, or some other dark metal, and the top part that catches the water is a different shape and design on each one. There are chimneys on every building, sometimes in multiples of two and three. Trees and bushes are everywhere, making the quad very relaxing. I am very jealous of all of the students that get to go there, just for the sights. I would love to wake up in the dorm and get to see historical buildings like that every day on my way to class.

New York

Two days ago, the family and I went to upstate New York to see the Hudson River State Hospital. It was about a two hour drive, but the scenery was beautiful. I was so excited to see the hospital. Built in 1871, it was home to over 3,000 patients inside 52 buildings and on 300 acres of land at its highest point in time. It  didn't start out that big though, over the years, buildings were added to it. It finally closed down in the 90's and was left abandoned in the early 2000's. As I've mentioned before, I love going exploring in abandoned structures with my boyfriend, so when given the opportunity to see this, I jumped on it. We were under the impression though, that it was free to go into; not patrolled or privately owned. We learned later that it was in fact privately owned and patrolled. No signs were posted though, so we just walked right through the front gate. The driveway was long, and over grown with trees and bushes, so we didn't see the buildings right away. Soon, though, you could see the largest of the 52 buildings towering over the trees. The closer we got, the more we saw. Eventually the road split, and we chose to walk to the right. Looking down that street, you could see the main building, where visitors were welcomed and where some of the more "normal" patients were housed. The building on the right was the dormitories for the employees; this was the first building we chose to go into. Of course, all of the doors were locked, but we did manage to find a window that had been broken by previous hoodlums. You could tell people went in and out a lot, because there was a chair on each side of the window. That's how we climbed in. The room we hopped into seemed to be a wreck room of sorts, with two old vending machines and some seating along the walls. Through the halls we went, coming to a large cafeteria. The paint was peeling and the wall paper was falling off, but you could still see all of the original colors and designs. The ceiling fans were turning slightly from the breeze coming through broken windows. Upstairs we found more narrow hallways and empty rooms. In the middle of the building was a large room that was primarily empty, save for a few miscellaneous items left behind. In the center of the room was a huge fireplace and chimney; the walls surrounding it had been knocked down, so that you could see straight down to the lower floors. Actually, you couldn't even see the bottom, it just faded to darkness. The ladder to the roof was skinny and rusted. The roof was soft and felt like it could fall in at any moment. Going back inside we went back downstairs, past the way we entered and into the basement. It was creepy. There was no light down there, so we used the flashlights. Pipes were falling down and electrical wires were coming out of their holdings in the walls. The floor had a layer of water and it was cold and damp. It felt like the setting for a horror movie. Other than the maintenance items, there was nothing in the basement, so we went back to the window to venture to another building. Further down the road, there was a more modern looking building, so we decided to look into it. Again, the doors were locked, only this time there were no windows in the building. So I found an entrance on the other side, a garage door, probably where trucks made their deliveries. It was flooded though. We were about to wade through the water when a car stopped and out came the site coordinator for the complex. He told us that we had one chance to leave, or he would call the cops. We were not there to cause problems, and I think he saw that, because he immediately apologized for sounding demanding and asked us what we were doing there. We told him that we thought it was government owned, but we were informed that seven months ago, a private owner purchased the place. He also said that he would have been more than happy to give us a tour, but that he couldn't legally, due to the asbestos in the buildings. So, unfortunately, we ended up leaving after only seeing one of the buildings. It was neat, though. There is a strange beauty in dilapidation, especially when the subject is so rich in history.

Vacation!

I am so excited for this week! We flew out yesterday, and that was a blast all on it's own. My brother and I are very close, so I could not have picked a better travel buddy. Once we got here we stayed up a few hours to talk to my stepmom and her new boyfriend, but then we went to bed, and passed out quick. She apologized over and over for not having anything planned for today, my brother and I were grateful and told her not to be sorry. Part of being on vacation is relaxing. We had both had a rough couple of weeks, and sitting all day with no obligations or work to get ready for is wonderful sometimes. Tomorrow the real fun begins though. I mentioned in a previous post that my boyfriend and I like to do the urban exploration, and I convinced my family to do some exploring with me this week. Tomorrow we are heading to upstate New York to explore the Hudson River Hospital, which has been abandoned for the past decade. After that we are going to an abandoned subway in New York. My boyfriend is definitely going to be jealous that he isn't seeing them! Later this week we are going to the beach and boardwalk, of course, what tourist would miss that? We also have a lot of family up here to visit. My aunt is supposed to teach us how to go crabbing one morning. We are driving to NYC for some fun one day and D.C. for the museums on another day. My brother is into cars, so at some point we will be going to a car museum for all of the old muscle cars. It's definitely going to be a fun week. I know I've been looking forward to this week since we decided to take the trip in December. I'm sure my brother has too.

Airplanes

Yesterday I took a flight from Springfield to Chicago, and then a connecting flight from Chicago to Philadelphia, where my stepmom picked me up to go to New Jersey. I am on vacation for 11 days. My little brother just turned 16, and he is taking the vacation with me. He has never flown before; I have only flown once before. I remember being terrified, because I am scared of heights, and that is a drastically high ride. Everyone always told me that it is completely different, but I never believed them. Of course, after taking that first flight I realized that they were right, and I loved flying. So this time around I was excited; no nerves what so ever, just excitement. My brother, however, was terrified. For the same reasons that I was when I flew for the first time. He tried to play it off cool, but once we were on the plane he started looking a bit nervous. Once the engines started, he looked panicked. I just smiled and told him that he would love it once the initial fear wore off. He wondered why I didn't say "It'll be ok" or something else comforting. I guess I'm not good with comforting, because I told him that no matter what I say, the fear will still be there, until you actually go through the experience and see for yourself that it really is ok. Once we took off and were in the air he relaxed and we had a blast. I warned the surrounding passengers that we were your average tourists and were going to take full advantage of the situation to be touristy. That meant a lot of pictures. We had fun with it though and ended up being goofy enough to get other passengers involved. We even had everyone trading phones to take pictures out of each other's windows. I loved it. I loved the experience of flying in the tiny Springfield plane and then switching to a jumbo sized one in Chicago. I loved navigating the airports and the thrill of rushing to find our terminals on time. I loved looking out and seeing how close the clouds were; so close I felt like I could stick out my arm and touch them just like I always tried to do to the leaves of trees while driving in the car. I loved seeing the tiny cities and trying to make out the different plots of land. I will never understand how people can go on a flight and immediately shut the window to sleep or read a magazine. Don't get me wrong, I love reading (and sleeping), but I would never miss the opportunity to see the world at that height.

Late Entries

I am certainly late with my daily entries for the blog assignment. I have not found it as easy as it sounds. Life got in the way. I am now sitting at my step mother's house in New Jersey, as I have left Springfield yesterday to begin my almost two week vacation. I needed this. I could not wait for this. The five or six days before leaving for Jersey were hectic though, and it made my blog go to the back burner. I am in the middle of a job transfer for another promotion. I am very excited for that. I definitely needed the promotion so that I can move back to Springfield again. I miss living there. Due to the transfer and promotion though, I am working at two different locations, both full time hours. That's forty hours a week at two jobs, so eighty a week total. That means it's hard to do homework as soon as I get off work. The sleeping schedule is already messed up and it's been rough, adding homework to that makes it worse. I will attempt to catch up while I am on vacation though. I don't mind doing school work even though I am supposed to be vacationing, I like learning and could use the assistance with my writing anyway. Also, it's not like I won't have any down time while I'm up here. There will just be multiple posts for the same day, but each one will be for what should have been the previous post days.

Credo

I believe in knowledge. I believe that learning will make a life better. That gaining knowledge will improve the world. The old saying goes "knowledge is power"; and that is so true. Those who have knowledge can become the supervisors, they can become the teachers and doctors and politicians. I am convinced that you can't get anywhere in this world without money unless you are intelligent. You need to learn to gain intelligence. Being knowledgeable will help ease the pains that people have to go through with the material parts of life. It makes it easier to get a job and move forward in that job through the same positions or others. People will come to you with questions and concerns because they know that you most likely know the answer or that you will find out if you don't know. Knowledge is interesting. Being able to discuss the things that you learn with others is a good feeling, and actually knowing what you are talking about is an even better feeling. I enjoy learning and always look for ways to gain knowledge. I do not get upset or offended when others correct me, I take it as constructive criticism and fix my mistake, moving on after I have learned something. I believe that knowledge is a powerful tool that everyone should say they can use. I wish that everyone was impressed with knowledge. I wish that everyone took an interest in learning the way that I do, and took advantage of the many forms of education that is available in this age.