These are brief visions of New York City as I saw them in August 2008. I had spent about five days visiting my brother and his fiancé, Gretchen. They live on Roosevelt Island, which is on the other side of Manhattan (separated by the East River). Time there was nice. They have a little dog named Olive that likes to wake everyone up at 5 AM. For me, dogs seem to resemble humans most of the time. Why is it so strange that this dog looked like Sally Field?
New York is a bull whip of a town. I have been lucky as to have visited the city on numerous occasion as a musician but this time it was as a tourist. My brother (who was on vacation from his general law practice internship) and I got the chance to go to our usual watering holes (central park; McSorley's, etc..) but we also went to the Museum of Natural History. There, we did Very Important Things like calculate our relative weight on planets like Mercury and Saturn.
From Roosevelt Island, we can see the United Nations. This is inspiring for me.
*****On Roosevelt Island*****

*****Pre-historic Shark*****
Nightmarish models in the Museum of Natural History. My brother and I paid for general entrance and were later disappointed in the fact we could not enter the "Horses" exhibit. WTF?!?

*****McSorley's Pub*****
The oldest tavern in America. Whenever I see my brother in NYC (which is about once or twice a year) we go to this bar. There are pictures and news articles inside that date from the 1860s. There is a picture of Woody Guthrie that hangs in McSorley's -- he is playing guitar inside of McSorley's back in the '40s with a small crowd of gentlemen gathered 'round. There are only two options of drink at this bar -- 'dark' or 'light' (dark or light beer). I have always gotten the dark and I usually order some crackers and cheese too. The style of the pub is very communal -- it is always crowded inside as such that you are forced to sit with strangers. Strangers become long-lost friends within minutes and you become amazed on our ability of interconnectivity.

My brother in Central Park. I am very proud of him and I love him very much. He is just about finished with law school at New York Law School.
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