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Underwear Ninja comes with Space Suit
to blog or not to blog, which is the path a true underwear ninja must take? whichever path it be, it will surely be a rough-hewn one. argyle, possibly. |
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Monday, July 24, 2006
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the armpit of the northeast
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newark...
blegh!
i was to attend the international game developers' association (IGDA) yearly meeting on saturday.
great!
the meeting started at 1pm at bloomfield university. the website said you can get directions on how to take NJ transit from the website, which i did. the website said to take a train from 34th st penn station to bloomfield station and walk across broadstreet until you get to liberty street and its right there.
i left at 11:30am from heavy melody, got to penn station at 11:45. find out that there are no trains to bloomfield on the weekends.
blegh!!!
so i am told to take a train to newark and then a bus to bloomfield. already i feel uneasy about this coz trains and buses can kill you if you get multiple lines on the same stop. which, incidentally, happened.
next train to newark departs at 12:07. how exciting to be on a real train! and to go over a bridge made just for a train! weeee!
arrived in newark about 12:30p
i'm told that the bus i want is the m72. that bus departs at 1:10. grrr i'm gonna be late coz of these dumb public transportations, but i'll just be a little late i suppose.
the m72 gets here and i get on and we start going east instead of west to bloomfield. hmmm was that info guy realllly that sure where bloomfield university is?
i call chris (my producer) and his friends (who know the area) and i start rattling off the streets i'm passing.
washington street
broad street
broadway (weird..)
they say "you're going the wrong direction. get off the bus"
o great. so i get off at some non-descript stoplight. in the burbs i guess.
man what a dump this is. its like something you don't wanna see. think of like 1950s poland. i'm asking where broad street is... where liberty street is...
"no english"
ok so i'm walking through a rough spot i guess. boarded up houses. people yelling in spanish from inside the houses. woopty cars passing every now and then blaring some nice rap tunes and reggaeton. not "ghetto fabulous" woopties, just "ghetto" woopties with no frills. paved sidewalks chunky and falling apart into the streets. fat hooker on the porch says "sup sweety...."
ok ignore her and move on.
another oldish hooker on a porch asks if i got a cigarette.
moving right along i pass a dude yelling at this other dude "i'm gonna be back in 1 hour! you better have my money!" the other dude says "aight" and walks off
then the first dude yells "what did you say?!?!?!" and the other dude starts running away... and i'm thinking i'm gonna witness something here so i'd better just keep walking.
i'm looking around at cars passing sparatically, thinking "man i hope i don't get shot"
(side note, i do know people that have been shot at, and some that have seen people get shot. in fact, my new roommate john has seen people get hosed down in a bodega as well. its chilling to hear the details from a first-person perpective)
old black dude approaches me and asks if i want to buy dvds. then he shows me his "lady" dvds. he speaks english well enough so i ask him where liberty street is.
he says "man you got a helluva walk!"
he points me down the street and towards another street and up another street.
i walk about a half hour and end up where i started at the newark train station. its about 2:30 now and i found out that the m72 DOES go to liberty street, but first it makes this bigazz loop around town first. it takes about a half hour to get there. and that bus departs from the station again at 3:30
grrr!!!
so i ask all the taxis nearby if any take credit card and they all say no of course. you should always carry $60 cash anywhere you go! just so you know....
fie on newark!
so i go home; defeated, beat, and thirsty. and at that point i still didn't have power. that cranberry juice cocktail was the sweetest nectar on earth! |
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posted by underwear ninja
9:12 PM
 
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Hey Hey, sounds like a dream vacation... if you like skank hoes and ghetto thugs.
Glad you didn't get wacked.
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Golly!
Good thing you've got the power of Greyskull.
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Tsk, tsk...so close-minded!
It's not anyone's fault but your own that you don't know how to get around outside of New York. And yes, you went into a bad part of town. But characterizing that as the whole city would be as though I stumbled off the subway in Bushwick and thought that was how all of NYC is. I quite happily live here in a nice neighborhood at a reasonable price and with wonderful neighbors. Newark may be the underdog, but I love this city and feel compelled to speak up for it. Lord knows, there are enough New Yorkers moving in now that at least some of you agree.
Take care (and ask for directions at the train station)!
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the problem is that i asked for directions from people at the train station. it wasn't until after i got off and went back there that the guy said "o ya, it makes a big loop first".
but to be fair.. yes i probably was in the raunchiest part of town.
jeez, its just a blog. settle down
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what interesting tales you have. You should print out your blog so you will always have a record of your time in NY.
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It's not just perception.... Newark is recognized nationally as THE most dangerous city in the USA. That puts it in the crapper in my book.
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Hey Hey, sounds like a dream vacation... if you like skank hoes and ghetto thugs.
Glad you didn't get wacked.