The special day in a special place

Hi there! Guess what, I'm typing you this from the Hudson Hotel in New York! Yes! I'm over here on this side of the planet, about to sleep before a looooong day tomorrow exploring the world of art in NY! To top this off, it's my birthday today! Oddly enough, those who know me well know that I rarely do anything big on my birthday, mostly because I don't see the point in celebrating it really. But if I did want to celebrate, then this birthday really tops them all, being here in NY! :D

I walked around a bit down broadway tonight and to be honest, my leg got exhausted from that because we went from 58th street down to 30th street..... normally, I'm a-ok with this, but this damn leg brace I'm still stuck with is really irritating me now :(. Partly because it's not fitting me right, partly because I'm starting to be able to walk without the brace. But I don't want to risk walking the streets without my brace, it's not worth the injury since I still have like 2 weeks on this trip!

So far, Washington DC was quite peaceful but a little bit too dull for my liking. We got to see the great monuments and buildings and let me just say, I really appreciate how everything there is symbolic. It was quit inspiring, especially seeing Lincoln's memorial site. I'm beginning to like that guy a lot. Of course, Da Vinci still holds my #1 spot, but Lincoln is pretty damn interesting.

We passed through Philadelphia and I got to munch on a Philly Cheese Steak. Boy oh boy is that deadly but tasty! We passed Baltimore before reaching the big apple. Man, it is so awesome that I still remember so much of NY! It feels like I had just recently visited this place! The only thing I noticed that has changed is the Virgin store at Times Square is gone :P

I've got a little under 5 hours of sleep ahead of me and I really wish I could have one full day here in NY to just soak it all in, but no matter what, I'm looking forward to whatever little time I have here before we move on to Albany.

It's interesting to see some of the people in my group change over time on this trip. Impatient people become impatient, fussy people become fussy. All the real personalities are popping out. I'm just happy to be here, I don't find myself complaining that my time here in NY is so short, after all, I'm technically being compensated for being here, so why complain? I would have been in Hong Kong instead if it wasn't for my being selected for the International Visitors Leadershp Program.

I guess it's always good to stop and check if your complaints are valid. Personally, when you're given a free meal, to complain that it's cold is plain unacceptable. Then again, time is money so we're just getting compensated for our time here... ahh well, I better hit the sack :) Hello new york!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!