So Manhattan was ridiculously fun. I can't even begin to explain how much fun it was to be in a big city like that. We arrived at Penn Station around noon or so. Upon arrival, we thought it best to use the restroom. Start walking around aimlessly trying to find the bathroom. Nice, there it is. Head on into the bathroom and it smells absolutely horrid. There is a dirty fucking bum shaving in the mirror with what looks to be a pile of pubes on the floor. Funny thing is he wasn't shaving how you or me would, he was using a pair of scissors. Not exactly the close shave you can get with a razor, but I guess if you smell like he did, you probably can't afford one. After that horrid experience, we walk upstairs and out onto the street. The noise. Don't get me wrong, I love the silence the country side offers, but city noise is heart warming. It makes me feel so good inside. I know I am not alone and there are many other people out there just like me.

First stop of the trip to Manhattan was to Alex Grey's studio, the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors. After a little walking around, we managed to find Chelesa Park and his studio/chapel/spiritual center/kick ass place/shrine. We got there and found the entrance. Up a set of dark, dimly let stairs, up four floors, the door to his sanctuary. At this point, I am nearly shitting myself. I have been wanting to go to his studio since I read about him in high school some 8 years ago. I knew I'd make it some day. I hoped for sooner than later, but as it all turns out, I couldn't have found a better time or a better group of people to have gone with.

Read on for more because there is a lot more.

So we enter his studio. The space is beyond amazing. The floors looks amazing. The place is perfectly lit and when you enter, it's quiet. There aren't any people talking to you trying to sell you something. You don't have to wait in some huge line to buy a ticket to enter. You walk up to a desk and give them $5 and they give you a button to keep. Thats how you get in. The place changed my life to say the least. I wish I could have had an entire day to spend there and just sit and stare at the paintings. They are beyond amazing. No one today or from the past can do what he can. His work is simply mind boggling. The paintings look three dimensional. They have so much color and the perspectives change as you move. If you look at the paintings from a different angle they look completely different. His artwork says so much about humans and where we are at today. I can't even explain what his paintings did to me and continue to do to me. The prints and pictures of his work don't do the real ones justice. I found this out in Amsterdam at the Van Gogh museum, but with Alex Grey's vibrant colors, it is much more apparent. Alex Grey is working on getting a new Chapel built outside of the city. I hope to be able to go to the new one when it opens. And I still need to meet this man. I don't even know if I am going to be able to meet him. I think it might be too much.

After being at Alex Grey's studio, we continued on out marry little way. We walked to Times Square and to the Virgin Store. That place is beyond huge and if I actually paid for music and movies, I probably would have bought a few things. There are three levels in that place. Three levels of merchandise, music, and movies. Crazy how much stuff is in that place.

After leaving there, we walked to Central Park and on to Strawberry Fields. My friend Hannah told me about the place and recommended we go. I didn't even know the place existed, but I am seriously glad I went. The Strawberry Fields stands as a memorial to John Lennon. Not exactly my favorite musician, but I have to give the man credit for his life outside music. He started a movement and told everyone in power to fuck off. The memorial they built for him is pretty serious though. His name is no where to be found. Instead of his name, there is the word, "Imagine." Surrounding the word is a mosaic of tile. Simple and meaningful. I love that about that place. And on the circle mosaic people lay down flowers into arrangements that just look amazing. I'm so happy we found the place.

After that we started walking to Ground Zero. We walked for a good hour and decided beer would make the walk much more fun. We stopped in Deno's Bikini Bar for some Bud Light draft. It actually tasted more like Natural Light, but I wasn't complaining. Deno probably bangs all the hot foreign girls that work at his place. Deno must be a cool guy and live a good life. While there I talked again with my friend Hannah who had lived in NYC for a semester last year. We told her we were going to be walking to Ground Zero and she told me there was no way we would want to do that and that it was too far of a walk. It didn't take much convincing for us to decide it was time to get drunk. What it all came down to was titties or Ground Zero. Sounds like a hard choice, but it wasn't that hard to make. I'd much rather be a little excited to see some hot babes in NYC dance topless rather than see a hole in the ground where a lot of people died. The moral dilemmas I find myself in.

So we left Deno's bar and hit up some Irish Pubs. Thats all we went into. There were many to be found where we were. We even manged to find a liquor store and decided to purchase some liquor to get drunk faster and cheaper. I bought a bottle of Devil Springs 160 proof vodka. I originally opted for a bottle of 151 proof Everclear, but the cashier introduced me to Devil Springs and her beauty. She was $1.00 cheaper and had more of a kick. Much better choice. So we went into another Irish Pub and took turns going into the bathroom to take swigs from the bottle. Joey bought a little bottle of Jager instead. He couldn't hack the Devils Springs. He went into the bathroom to poop and drank some Jager while pooping. I gave him my camera to document the journey, but he forgot to take pictures. Haha.

After getting schwasted, we decided it was time to go to the titty bar. We stumbled around Times Square among a few hundred thousand people for a bit and found the club we wanted: Lace. It was supposed to be cover free, but I am guessing since it was dark out and we were already hammered upon arrival, they felt it best to charge us. Joey covered the tab on that for us. And he also bought us a round of $9.00 a bottle Bud Lights. Delicious. Many beautiful girls dancing and walking around. God damn was it sweet being in Times Square looking at tits and girls dancing like hoes. I felt like Niko Belic. And the GTA4 ad was sweeeeet. Joey got a few lap dances and had to go to the ATM twice for more money. He was slinging bills left and right. All the girls liked him to put the bills between their tits. Fucking rad. "The things I would do to you." Hahaha.

After that, we ran back to the train station. Man was I hammered. When we got back on the train, thats when I realized just how drunk I was. Joey was fucking hammered. He kept talking about his "boner" and a bunch of girls up front found it hilarious. We later migrated to the front of the train and chilled with those girls. It was one of theirs 21st. She was long gone. Fun times to say the beast, I mean least.

I'll hopefully have some pictures for you real soon here. I hope you're okay. I still worry. And think of you.