Birthdays & Falling in love with David Byrne

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Well, today will be brief as I'm off out to celebrate my birthday (something I've always wanted to ahve in NYC!) - and to have breakfast.

I'm very tired as I'm waking a lot in the night still - and I got back late as I was out with David Bryne!Well, I was at the Carnegie Hall seeing him perform the Knee Plays, a spoken word piece with a brass band. It was utterly spellbinding. It's one of my favourite pieces of his anyway - full of his usual quirkiness - but he was utterly charismatic and GORGEOUS. I was in love with him when I was a kid, but then fell out of love because I thought he was too weird - even for me (that's going some!). Now I'm just going to pack up and live here with him. His shock of spiky white hair and piercing bblack eyes (which looked at me - aah!) are stunning, but he's actually really relaxed and funny too. He has the most beautiful smile (and I'm a sucker for smiles). Needless to say I'm scheming to stay ...

Although I must admit I've actually found some flaws in NYC - the relationship, as any, begins to sour ... well, a little. I loathe the subway - so many different trains, some stop, some don't, so many transfers - you may as well walk to New jersey to change trains! I'll just get the hang of it then I'll go ... I hat the Whitney Museum of Art too - Sh*tney, more like. Grotesque concrete building and two floors closed. The stuff in there was too minimal for my taste as well. And the whole Upper EastSide is annoying - so blatantly class conscious. Restaurants full of white women with too white teeth being served by their ethnic waiters ... I used to think I was well-groomed - but here I'm a tramp!!! All the ads are obsessed by health and beauty products - buy this pharmatceutical, get your teeth cleaned ... when i guess half the peopl can't afford medicare....

The Frick is another outrageous expression of wealth - Frick must've owned every single important painting in the world. Holbeins (I oozed over Thomas More - a Renaissance PhD dies hard!) , Rembrandts and my favourite Rococo cherubmeisters, Boucher and Fragonard.

I then wandered around a cold Central Park, its ponds still traced with snow. I enjoyed a hot chocolate in the Boathouse and looked out at the grey trees and the apartment buildings behind. I then shimmied over to the Met Museum where I managed to whizz around the Tiffany exhibtion - I love his work more than anything in the world. iIwant a mansion withe replicas of his windows! See - the captialist American dream is getting to me!!! I could live in the Met - there is so much there - but not enough time.

I could never tire of being here - and I certainly couldn't get bored. I have a lot of my journey to go, but this city is hard to follow! But I did have a pang of homesickness this morning when I opened my cards ... thanks to everyone who gave me something to bring. But heck, it passed - there's more to do today!

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Photos

Chinatown
Buzzing Chinatown

Buddhists Rock
Who said Buddhists like peace?

Mahayana Temple in Chinatown
Big golden buddha

Drugs in Chinatown
Getting ready for the New Year celebrations

Chrysler Building
The most incredible building in the world - just as the lights went on