A Year On
Thursday January 25, 2018
It's been just over a year since I left New Zealand on my amazing OE. I don't think about it as much these days, nor do I dwell on what my life was like when I was in Wellington. I guess travelling for a solid six months helped me forget about routine and responsibility, which I'm super grateful for actually.
I was in New York last week for the Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary Distant Worlds concert. Still as magical as the one I saw in Montreal 2017, but more special because Nobuo Uematsu himself, the man behind all those amazing songs, was in attendance. The crowd went wild when he appeared on stage, everyone knew how big an impact he has made to the franchise, the industry and our lives. The set list was:
- Prelude
- Clash on the Big Bridge (FFV)
- Victory Theme
- Cosmo Canyon (FFVII)
- Not Alone (FFIX)
- The Oath (FFVIII)
- Flash of Steel (FFXII)
- Searching for Friends (FFVI)
- Fang's Theme (FFXIII)
- Theme of Love (FFIV)
- Apocalypsis Noctis (FFXV)
- Liberi Fatali (FFVIII)
- Opening Theme ~ Bombing Mission (FFVII)
- Somnus (FFXV)
- Heavensward (FFXIV)
- Chocobo Medley
- Hymn of the Fayth (FFX)
- To Zanarkand (FFX)
- Maria and Draco (FFVI)
- Credits
- Aeris's Theme (FFVII)
- One Winged Angel (FFVII)
The FFVI opera was epic, complete with narration of the story. The build up to that final note with all three singers resonating throughout the entire hall - absolutely fantastic. Nobuo himself joined the choir for One Winged Angel, as did the audience for the SEPHIROTH!. After the concert, I got to meet the man himself, as well as Arnie Roth, the conductor. I was so nervous. I saw there was a piano in the room and I would have loved to perform Zanarkand for the man responsible for inspiring so much of my piano playing, but I would have been mortified if I had ruined the song in front of the person who wrote it. Instead, I told him about what a beautiful piece it was, and how I learned to play it before playing Final Fantasy X. I thanked him and shook hands with him, and I will forever remember that moment I got to meet the world famous Nobuo Uematsu, composer of so many Final Fantasy songs.
Apart from the concert, I wandered around the city, admiring its busyness and charm. It's been five years since I was last in the Big Apple, and apart from all the regular touristy stuff - the Rockefeller Centre and the Nintendo store, Times Square, Central Park - I also visited the World Trade Centre Observatory, which wasn't finished in 2012, as well as the Highline. I sampled some amazing New York style cheesecake from Juniors, and some delicious pastries from Lady M at Bryant Park. I got to experience Pokemon Go in New York as well! I was actually staying in New Jersey, with an old friend from New Zealand, and to be honest, the one thing you won't get in New York is a magnificent view of Manhattan's skyline - there's a park on the east side of NJ with a beautiful view of the towers and lights of Manhattan.
Returning to Toronto was tiring, as we were delayed boarding by an hour, then sat on the tarmac for another hour as we waited for Pearson Airport to give us clearance to land. Snow had thrown the flight schedules into chaos, and it was around 11.30pm when we finally arrived back in Canada.
Posted by Jeremy at 3:52am on Thursday January 25, 2018 :: 0 comments :: 
Train to DC
Wednesday June 6, 2012
Man, even the train has free wifi.
Yesterday we started the day at the Museum of Natural History near Central Park, only a few blocks from the hotel. The place is massive, with four floors taking me a total of three and a half hours to explore. There's plenty of exhibits on space, geology, extinct animals, cultures of the world and dinosaurs.
I did a huge candy run. So much candy. I'd say I have around five kilograms of the stuff and it was tough carting all of it to the train station this morning. Sadly I won't be eating all of it... It's mostly gifts for friends and family.
But the best part of my day was being able to witness, firsthand, the historical Transit of Venus, which will not happen for another 115 years. My luck with viewing astronomical events has never been good, and with rain and clouds forecasted for the day, it looked like it was going to be rather iffy at stages. But shortly after 6pm, the clouds parted for a brief glimpse into the heavens and the several telescopes that had been set up at the Pier 1 Cafe on Manhattan's west all caught the intense black spot nestled on the sun's rim. My thanks again to the Amateur Astronomers Association of New York for organising this event and I am totally stoked to be out of stormy Wellington for this!
The Amtrak train is cool. In the two hours I've been on the train, we've been from Penn Station in NYC to New Jersey, Pennsylvania and now in Delaware, with Maryland and finally DC to go.
Posted by Jeremy at 1:08pm on Wednesday June 6, 2012 :: 2 comments ::
Rain
Tuesday June 5, 2012
For the first time on this trip, the rain has actually inconvenienced us. It was a wet walk from the Grand Central railway station to the UN Buildings, but since the tour is completely indoors, we weren't really affected that much in the end.
The UN tour was awesome. We were lucky to view the General Assembly Hall and the Security Council meeting rooms since they were empty and not in session, so we were able to take some good photos of those areas. They look just like they do on TV! There were also some great displays about peace and the Millennium Goals, as well as information about how the UN works and its structure and purpose. We didn't see Helen Clark though.
But the highlight of today was Avenue Q. Absolutely brilliant, an excellent performance by the cast and hilariously enjoyable, I was laughing so hard, I was actually in tears. Would recommend to anyone with a good sense of humour and who isn't offended easily!
Posted by Jeremy at 4:16am on Tuesday June 5, 2012 :: 0 comments ::
My Feet Hurt
Monday June 4, 2012
Yesterday we did the International tour of NYC: Chinatown, Little Italy and, if you've seen my Facebook photo, various set locations from Flight of the Conchords including their apartment, the New Zealand Consulate and Dave's Pawn Shop! For lunch we had the famous New York style 18" pizza from Lombardi's in Little Italy.
We made our way over to Brooklyn to visit the Superhero Supply store, as well as a Kiwi-owned restaurant called Kiwiana. Mat got his first flat white in two weeks (I wanted some L&P but they didn't have any) and we each ordered a pavlova. Ah the taste of home.
Today we wandered around Central Park. It reminds me of the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, being quite an expansive area in such a busy city. It's nice and relaxing, and there's plenty of places to just chill out and doze off in the sun. Unfortunately for a tourist, time is of the essence and we had to power through all the landmarks we could - hence the title of this post. We covered the zoo (Red pandas! Penguins! Seals! Snow leopard! Polar bear!), the Turtle Pond, Belvedere Castle, Strawberry Fields and the Conservatory Garden before heading back to the hotel for a breather.
Another full day tomorrow... phew!
Posted by Jeremy at 12:23am on Monday June 4, 2012 :: 0 comments ::
Memorials, Bulls, Statues and Bridges
Saturday June 2, 2012
We started the day off at Ground Zero, where the reconstruction of the World Trade Center buildings are underway, and where two memorial pools serve as a sign of respect and remembrance to all those who perished on September 11, 2001. The place is surprisingly busy and noisy, mostly from construction workers and equipment, which is in stark contrast to what I expected it to be. The memorials are simple yet beautiful water features, square in shape with water flowing into a large hollowed drain in the center. Around the perimeter are the names of those killed on that day, from the flights, the towers, the rescuers and the other landmarks that were affected.
The 9/11 Memorials hold much emotion and you can sense both the grief of the event and the hope of the rebuilding. Various videos from the visitor centers tell stories of people who have lost family and friends in this disaster. A giant American flag with names of the dead printed in red and blue hangs solemnly on the wall. I can't help but think back to what that day was like; a phone call at 6am from William urged me to check the news. I still remember the haunting images of the planes colliding with the towers and their eventual collapsing. It was all abuzz at school (5th form) but being so far from the action, I can't help but wonder what the feelings were like in New York, around that exact site where I was standing earlier today.
We moved on to Wall Street and the famous Charging Bull statue, a symbol of the aggressive financial optimism and prosperity that institutions around that area draw much needed inspiration from. We continued south and decided to take a ferry to Liberty Island for a quick tour of the statue; the statue itself is undergoing renovations so there is no entry to the observation levels inside. Back at the Battery Park, we made our way over to Brooklyn via the famous Brooklyn Bridge. We caught some magnificent sights of the Manhattan skyline from both the ferry and the bridge!
Day has been seized.
Posted by Jeremy at 1:08am on Saturday June 2, 2012 :: 1 comment ::
The Big Apple
Friday June 1, 2012
The subway system in New York is rather confusing. Each line has many trains running on them. A train may or may not stop at every subway station on the line. So it ended up taking us two hours to get to the hotel from JKF airport. Sigh.
But we made it and that's the important thing. We explored the Rockefeller Center today and saw the fantastic daytime views of the city from the top. We also visited the Lego store, Nintendo World, M&Ms World, Toys R Us and Macy's. All these places are massive and multistoried, full of merchandise and bargains and amazing things. I purchased a Mew plushie from Nintendo World, as a shout out to my favourite Pokemon website, Psypoke, since Mew is one of our official mascots. I spent quite a bit of time there playing a Kirby game on one of the several Wiis there too - so cute!
We also caught the amazing nighttime views of the city from the Empire State Building. Totally breathtaking, being able to see the entire city from where we were, and on such a clear day as well!
Posted by Jeremy at 3:59am on Friday June 1, 2012 :: 0 comments ::