After discovering another (much more minor) scratch on my car, Cook insisted I get out of the house and have fun so I wouldn’t sit on the couch and wallow. So I finally paid a visit to my friends up north.
After a few previous trips, we had decided that driving just under an hour to a big train hub and hopping on NJ Transit from there beat going to the local stop and taking a two hour ride. So about 50 minutes and $2 in tolls later, I was at Metro Park station. I had a mild panic attack after getting to the platform and not being sure which train I was waiting for (lazy me always relied on Cook), but I told myself if my younger sister can figure this out, I can, too. They didn’t end up taking my train ticket till like the 3rd to last stop which ALSO made me slightly panic, so I’ve decided that I just have general pub trans anxiety…possibly due to that one time I got terribly lost in Taiwan because the bus system made a slight change so I completely missed a stop and ended up in the wrong city.
Once I was at Penn Station I was much more relaxed, and as expected, was immediately heckled for wearing my Packers hat. I accidentally moseyed into some random international food court that was open 24 hours a day and decided I’ll have to check it out again another time. After I found where I was supposed to go, I heard a heavenly choir sing as I saw a Gong Cha across the street.
Everything was instantly better. Thank you, wintermelon oolong with aiyu and white boba!
I knew I hadn’t wanted to work in NY cuz of the 2-hour long commute, but being there further reminded me why I didn’t want to have much to do with this place–EVERYWHERE SMELLED LIKE TRASH because, well, there was trash everywhere. I suppose it’s one of those things you stop smelling after a while, and maybe it’s a tradeoff for access to good Asian food and boba, but I guess I haven’t reached that level of desperation yet.
Speaking of good Asian food, we had Korean bbq for dinner and man I sure miss $20 AYCE kbbq in SoCal! But while pricey, the food was very good, and definitely scratched an itch.
I was asked why I took photos of the meat pre-cooked. I said the red pops better in pictures, and the moment it’s done cooking it’s going in my mouth, I ain’t got time to photograph it then.
I passed on dessert knowing I had another two hour trek home, so back to Penn Station I went. There was a train boarding as I arrived, and I was like SWEET and almost hopped on–luckily I hesitated just long enough to realize it was an express train and not stopping at Metro Park. Whew! Dodged one panic attack, at least. So I joined back into the crowd, staring at the screen, waiting for them to announce which platform the next train would board on.
When I try to sneak quick photos, my finger always end up in it somehow.
And so I’ll probably do that like once every month or two to get my Asian fill, but aside from that, I should really start looking at what museums and Broadway shows I want to catch. Until then, NY! Smell ya later.
Squirrels Ate The Car! 