I’m surrounded by probably 60 people, a diverse group from all walks of life. There are a few sets of customers who have really captured my attention. To my right, there are a group of black men, about 8 in total, age ranging between the late 30s to somewhere around 60. To their left are a group of 5 punk rock kids, probably all under the age of 24 wearing studded leather coats and proudly displaying their facial piercings. You wouldn’t think just by the description that these groups had anything in common, but they do. They’re all homeless and have come to starbucks for temporary relief from the 20 degree weather outside.

Its times like these where I really feel helpless, like I could and should be doing more to help those who are less fortunate. These souls are all over New York, shit, they’re right in front of me. Often I think about offering my apartment for a night of shelter or even my restroom to help someone freshen up. My logic tells me it isn’t safe, but my heart sometimes think its worth the risk.

At this stage of my life I’m so consumed by work and my social life that I seldom think about volunteering. It’s really a pity because its one of the few things I really cherished in college. In a city of millions, you’d be amazed how difficult it is to find a meaningful human interactions. I think volunteering could help me get that feeling back, help me fill a void in a way that no number of shots or fancy meals could ever come close to.

The picture below was posted on the twitter profile of the person in question. The moldings, walls, and hardwood floors are nearly identical to my apartment.

So far I’ve seen:
Debra Messing
Mark Salling (Glee)
Steve Earl
Chuck Nice (Best Week Ever)
Julia Styles
Mandy Moore
Slick Rick
Q-Tip
Matthew Settle (Gossip Girl)
Jamie Hector (The Wire)
Eamonn Walker (Oz)
Chris Diamantopoulos (Starter Wife)
Becki Newton (Starter Wife)
Mike Britt (Best Week Ever)
Steve Martin
Carson Kressley (Queer Eye)
Gabriel Byrne
Elton Brand
Gravy (NOTORIOUS)
Rakim
BJ Armstrong
David Chang (Momofuku)
Nate Appleman (Iron Chef)
Adrian Peterson (Vikings)
Jericho Cotchery
Nick Mangold
Rex Grossman
Amani Toomer
Channing Frye
Randy Fenoli (TLC)
Diddy
Clipse
Liev Schreiber
Nikki Hilton
Whoopie Goldberg

Its beginning to feel like I’m approach the end of my east coast adventure and I know I’m going to regret not keeping a journal.

Starting today you will not be neglected. As a matter of fact I have months of memories, pictures, videos, and experiences that will keep you satisfied. Light up a cigarette.

So this afternoon I was up on Brooklyn Vegan checking out today’s concerts (instead of working) and the site showed that Mr Fishscale and Digable Planets were set to perform at Highline Ballroom. Right away I knew there was a 30% chance I’d go, a 50% chance I’d stay too long at the gym, and 20% chance I’d just pass out and call it an early night (unfortunately, I’ve succumbed to the 20% way too much recently)

After heading home early, I head over to Crunch and sign up for the Knockout Boxing class. It wasn’t nearly as hard as the Chisel with Boxing Elements class, but still worked up a good sweat. On top of that I made a new friend with a really odd, but unforgettable name. Resolva - it was great to meet you and sorry for spraining your wrists, I forgot you weight about 50lbs less than me… and you’re female. My bad.

By this point I’ve already decided to attend the concert all the way across town. I shower up, put on my pathetic attempt at looking down (backwards fitted A’s cap, supreme shirt, 514s, and some hemp green dunks) then hop into a cab. Worst $8 I spent in my life. Not because it was a bad ride, but because when I arrived at the venue they weren’t letting anyone in unless you were on the VIP list. Motherfukas… After a few futile attempts to get in (sweet talking the door girl, drawing the “2″ handstamp on my hand with a nearly empty ball point pen, I was ready to give up and walk my ass 7 Avenues and 14 Blocks back home. No Ghost, No Beats, No Rebirth of Slick, No F’ing Luck.

Then Highline realized they were hemmoraging people and started to sell tickets at $7 a pop. $8 was already invested in the cab ride, so whats another $7? I had already missed Digable Planets (well, technically I heard them while I was trying to weasel in) but Ghostface, Alcemist, and the Red Bull Producers battle was still to come. Like RB says, I was in there like swimware.

Stepping through the door I was luck enough to catch a new producers 14k, Frank Dukes, Hitmakers, Best Kept Secret, and C Sick do their thing. There is a lot of young talent in hip-hop and tonight gave the audience confidence that the next generation is ready to take the torch. Also in the house were CrazyLegs from the Rocksteady Crew, Prince Paul, and some other mid-level hip-hop acts.

Between the semi-finals and last round, Ghost blessed the mic for the crowd playing favorites such as “Ice Cream”, “Victory”, “Shimmy Shimmy Yall”, and “Be Easy”. In an awkward moment GF tells the crowd he’s outta time and abruptly leaves the stage. The crowd is puzzled, but is eager to see the final matchup.

In the end C Sick ( who is 17 y/o) won over the crowd beating Frank Dukes in the final round. It was close, Frank had him after 3 rounds but the crowd wanted more and in the 4th round C Sick proved victorious. IMO Frank Dukes beats were more complex and had depth. C Sick’s beats hit hard no doubt, but they followed the same formula and it was hard to tell them all apart.  Either way, that kid just made himself a millionaire today — don’t let it get to your head duke.

That was the end of the show. I proceeded to the exit, saw Ghostface standing by the door then mustered up the courage to ask him for a photo. Stunned at first, he quickly obligied and posed for the camera. Before I had a chance to step to the aide, Ghost asks me my name and if I BUY his albums. “Of course” I say, then he smirks and calls me a “goddamn liar”. Guilty as charged, I haven’t bought a Ghostface album since Ironman.

On my way home, I decide to walk up 6th Ave towards 23rd street. As I approach Chelsea Papya, I see a homeless man sitting on the sidewalk. No surprise, he asks me for change — but today I felt unconventional, a little different. I pause for a split second and ask “do you want a hot dog?” I can tell the man wasn’t use to that response, but after processing it for a second he happily nods. Thank you sir, you’ve just given me a reason to have a late night snack!

2 hot dogs with everything, 1 coffee. I roll back to the corner dish out the goods and eat my hotdog with a total stranger who just refered to me as “China”. We somehow manage to talk while stuffing our faces with processed pork goodness, we exchange names (Rasheed), home (Patterson, NJ), occupation (former dock worker), Age (51, although he looked like he was 30 something), what we were doing there (he gets a different perspective on things while in NYC), how we got there (he went to prision, lost job), clothing (keeps clothes and self clean at church), and what was next (immediate - get enough money to go back to NJ, long term enter a program to get himself help).

That’s about 10-15 minutes worth of conversation, most of which I would unfortunately forget in the next few days. There was on moment I had with Rasheed that will always stick with me, that is when he asked me if I had anyone special in my life. It was a bit of a personal question, but knew he didn’t mean any harm by it so I happily answered. His response was simple but really resonated to my core. He said, “That’s nice, its nice to have someone in your life.” There was no need for me to say anymore, his eyes told me everything I needed to know. We said our goodbyes and I haven’t been able to think about anything else since.

Bless you Rasheed - tomorrow is a new day and I know you’ll find your way. Stay up, stay strong, and I hope we meet again.

Here is an except of Cracked.com’s “5 Tiny Mistakes That Lead To Huge Catastrophes”

My favorite being: One Switch Leaves New York City in the Dark

Apparently because a conEd operator hit a few switches out of order all of New York went dark for 25 hours in the middle of July with a serial killer on the loose.

Excerpt:

“After all was said and done, 1,616 stores were damaged, 1,037 fires were set, and 3,776 arrests were made. A Congressional study estimated the total damage to the New York City area at $300 million. Also, as a bizarre side effect: hip-hop was born. Seriously. The looting apparently resulted in the first access to DJ equipment for poor inner city youths, launching the movement.

In the aftermath of the blackout, ConEdison implemented changes to make sure the same problem never happened again (which it totally did in 2003). We’re assuming this involved something along the lines of a few sequentially ordered labels above those switches.”

5 Tiny Mistakes That Lead To Huge Catastrophes | Cracked.com

Tags: newyork, 1977, hip-hop, power outage

“J-walking is not only allowed in New York, it’s both expected and necessary. If people didn’t do it, there would be massive crowds at every corner. But it’s your responsibility to not get run over. Even though most streets are one-way, look both ways every time before crossing–a bike messenger going the wrong direction can take you out as easily as a daydreaming cabby.”

Tags: tourists, time square, douche

“Dark Knight opens at midnight, and as the previews show, the city gets beat up pretty bad in the epic battle that ensues. New York is always getting destroyed over and over again in movies. Why? Because it looks awesome! Here are clips of the 15 best films featuring New York getting annihilated, curated by Nick McGlynn.”

If any of these ever happen *knock on wood* I hope it knocks out the Meat Packing District. I hate that fucking place.

Movies: New York, Destroyed 15 Different Ways

Tags: newyork city, destroyed

LEDs: Toshiba’s LED TV Screen Lights up Center Stage in Times Square

Tags: nissin, noodles, times square, billboards, toshiba

Shake Shack - Never been but with that line the shit must be good
Burger Joint - I think there was one of these on 3rd ave in Gramercy but perhaps “Burger Joint” is a pretty common name for these types of places
Peter Luger - Haven’t been here either but best believe I’ll be getting the steak and not the burger
Big Nick’s Burger & Pizza Joint - Upper West Side? Not anytime soon (UPDATE: Wait I’ve been here! But I didn’t get the burger… ok well UWS mehh..)
Blue Smoke - This one is on my way home, I’ll check it out this week

Here are the burgers I’ve actually had in NYC

Spotted Pig - Best burger I’ve had. Sure it was $15 but it makes Bay Area places like Burger Bistro and Barney’s taste like fast food
RARE - Also a delicious burger. Paired with their spicy Bloody Mary and Deep Fried Oreos this made for a fine brunch
McDonald’s - These taste the same pretty much anywhere you get them. Only difference is that they’re x2 the price in NY.

Gothamist: Alan Richman on NYC’s Top Five Burgers

Tags: burgers, food, new york