I promise I'm not a Gangsta...

I've recently re-examined my reasons for wanting to start a blog in the first place: I hoped to become more adventurous and open my eyes up to the city by exploring new neighborhoods just for the hell of it; however, my blog has so far only been an account of things I would have normally done or experienced, rather than experiences that would make me step out of my comfort zone or known territory.

So today I tried to change that. I decided to go to Soho, Little Italy, and Chinatown with one of my friends. While I visit all of these places on a somewhat-regular basis, what I did today is what I hope to accomplish more of in the future: walking around and trying to uncover hidden gems in the city to increasing my knowledge of the place I call home.

I spent the entire morning on the Upper West Side at a friend's house and finally went downtown at 5ish. I went to a place called Macbar for dinner. I don't know whether to call it a restaurant or not, but it's basically a tiny little shop that only sells macaroni and cheese. Of course, there are a myriad of different types to choose from, so you can never feel bored of mac & cheese. I got margarita macaroni and was given a noodle-shaped container to hold it in, which I still have. I've noticed that more and more places in New York are coming up with fancy containers for their food, probably just to charge more money for their dishes. However, the macaroni and cheese was reasonably priced ($8 for a medium container, which can serve as two meals for someone with a mild appetite).

After dinner, I went to Rice to Riches (website to come once it's finished), one of my favorite stops in all of New York. Just like Macbar, Rice to Riches only serves one type of food, but in this case it's rice pudding. I'm not normally a rice pudding fan, but Rice to Riches hits it out of the ballpark, not to mention all the funny signs that hang on the walls of the restaurant. It's always hard to choose from the variety of different flavors, but the butterscotch, cheesecake, and caramel are tough to beat. Rice to Riches also serves it's food in a nice container, which I've now started to collect and can use as tupperware for dishes I eat at home. However, Rice to Riches is very expensive, so I only go once every couple of months as to not go bankrupt.

The exterior of Rice to Riches

After, my friend and I just walked downtown a bit. We passed by a very nice balloon man, and I got my friend to pose for a couple photos with him:

We then went to a sketchy alley, where I took several photos of my friend hoping she would use them for her facebook profile picture, which she did.

 The day was pretty normal until two aspiring rappers came up to me on my way home and shoved a CD in my hands and demanded that I give them a tip for it. After handing it back, I walked for another block until I was approached by the same two men--they had been following me the whole time. I was not put at ease in spite of one of them telling me "Yo son, don't be worried. I promise I'm not a gangsta." They went and harassed some different people after my friend threatened to call the cops. It's useful having friends who actually have balls.

Overall, Soho, Little Italy, and Chinatown are incredibly fun neighborhoods to go and visit, which is why I do it so often. Hopefully I'll walk around Brooklyn sometime soon, as I very frequently go there unless it's to get to the New York Aquarium to volunteer.

Junior Team Tennis Finals!

I had some trouble deciding whether to write about my Junior Team Tennis finals or the choir trip first. Then I realized it's only fitting that I go in chronological order:


SO, throughout the year a select few of kids in my tennis program played on a tennis team (called the "Harlem Treers") that competed on weekends in a lead-up to the regional championships in April. My team was absolutely amazing and I'm extremely grateful that I'm able to train with them on a regular basis. We played well throughout the year and we were ultimately seeded second at the finals, which took place the last Sunday of April (the 24th???).

Since my family doesn't own a car, my dad had to rent one to be able to get to the National Tennis Center out in Queens. We could've taken the train but the subway system was incredibly messed up and it would have taken an extra hour, so we thought driving would be more convenient. My father ended up driving two of my teammates as well, so I guess renting the car was a good choice.

We got to the tennis center at 11, checked in, and then warmed up on an empty court before the contest started. It was extremely windy, but luckily I brought a warm-up suit which did not only save me from the cold but also made me look like an incredibly legitimate tennis player, which I like to think I am. The official competition started at 12, so we then headed over to the courts we were playing on, and we all snapped a few photos on my camera:

Tyra, captain of the team (pictured left), and Sofia (on the right)

Isadora (left), and Dina (right)

Unfortunately, the girls were much more interested in taking photos than the guys, so I have no pictures of Stephen or Justin.

Tyra getting ready to serve (featuring my racket)

We beat the first two teams incredibly easily, losing only one match out of 10 (unfortunately I was the one who lost, but the guy cheated so I'll forgive myself). Each round we would play one boys' singles, girls' singles, boys' doubles, girls' doubles, and mixed doubles match.

Then we played the last team. Out of nowhere we had to play people who were incredibly talented, and we were already tired from the day (our opponents only had to play one team to make it to the finals) and weren't playing well because we had only played crappy teams. We ended up losing, but it was pretty close. Tyra and I were still playing a match from the second round when we started playing the last team, so we weren't able to select who on our team would play who on the other team. We maybe could have won if we were able to choose, but the other team really deserved to win.

I got a nice silver medal and a participation ribbon, but of course it would have been better had we won and gone on to the state finals. But I guess you gotta take what's given to you.

Yay summer!!

I'm finally done with school!

While I'm not only pleased that this means I no longer have to wake up at the crack of dawn every morning and proceed to do strenuous work all day, I'm also happy that summer break is here because it'll give me more time to write. I still have not fulfilled my promise of posting photos and writing about my Junior Team Tennis finals nor my choir's trip to Washington, D.C. Both of those will be coming within the next couple days, I promise. And I really mean it this time.

I would write more/write a post about something else right now, but it's currently 1:35 in New York right now and I don't have the energy to do so. I'm barely able to stay awake to write this.

I will be posting soon. Thanks for tolerating me.