Dreams Do Come True

Hey there.

Thought I'd pop in to share with you the exciting news I just found out. The New Kids on the Block are reuniting!

Which reminds me of a story I have about my brush with my favorite New Kid, Joey Joe, but I'll save that one for another day.

In the meantime, I forgot that I need to follow up with my previous Celebrity Chronicle. The movie premiere that I attended was waaay back in 1992, "Boomerang" starring Eddie Murphy and Halle Berry.

This was way back before Halle was the mega superstar she is today. My friend Joy and I had driven up to L.A. on a random day and saw that a huge crowd had formed outside of Mann's Chinese Theater in anticipation of the Boomerang premiere. Being the outgoing guy magnet type she managed to finagle two tickets from an intern from Power 106 who was stationed in a van in front of the theater. Walking down a red carpet is pretty fun and exciting for a pop-culture obsessed 17-year old girl as I imagined that the photographers were taking pictures of me instead of Holly Robinson and Karen from "Fresh Prince of Bel Air". The celebrities we saw ranged from Grace Jones and Dikembe Mutumbo to Brian Robbins (remember "Head of the Class"?) and Shawn Wayans. We actually got to talk to Marlon Wayans, Heavy D, and Denzel Washington (nicest: Marlon Wayans, most annoyed with fans: Denzel Washington). Overall, a fun and memorable time for a little teenage nerd.

Speaking of Denzel, I just went on a whirlwind on-the-cheap trip to New York (flew into the tiny Islip airport and crashed on a futon at an apartment in East Brooklyn) where my travel companion, Suzanna, and I went to see taping of "Late Night with David Lettermen" where Denzel happened to be one of the guests. Here are a few highlights of the trip:

Me in Times Square (still had to show the West Coast pride by taking a picture with a ginormous Kobe Bryant)

Cool graffitti at 5 Points, a building where the owner legally allows people to express their artistic side al fresco. We got to visit a few amazing museums (PS1, the Noguchi Museum). The exhibit that I found to be most memorable was called "The Meeting" - it was just a room with a big square hole cut in the ceiling (is it still considered a hole even though it's square? well, whatever). There were seats in the room up against a wall with a slanted back so you could just sit there and stare out at the sky above you. It just gave me this calm, serene feeling and made me think about how so rarely do we have the chance to enjoy nature without any interruptions. As people entered the room, a noticeable hush permeated the space as we all sat in quiet contemplation at the awe-inspiring masterpiece that is Mother Nature. I didn't want to interrupt such a lovely feeling by snapping away on my camera so I didn't take any pictures, but I found this one on the PS1 website:

The picture, of course, doesn't do it justice, so I highly advise anybody who is planning a trip to NYC to go see it for themselves.

Phew, all this deep thinking and New York walking sure can work up a girl's appetite!

Luckily I found a small snack at the Hershey's Store in Time's Square to tide me over...

...that is until I found some yummy hot dogs at Gray's Papaya!

This was just one of the many stops I took on my informal "How I Met Your Mother" tour, which Suzanna kindly endured (Gray's Papaya was where they stopped on New Year's Eve for an almost midnight snack). I figured any hot dog that was worth risking missing out on a fun New Year's Eve party better be good and boy was it ever! This spot was also recommended by one of my fellow foodies and good friend Sarah, who was kind enough to send me info on all the places she used to frequent when she lived in New York (thanks Sarah!).

Stop #2 on Cheryl's "HIMYM" tour was McGee's, the bar that is the inspiration for the one in the show:

An added bonus was that we were able to catch Happy Hour while we were there - where else would you be able to get $5 martinis in the heart of Time's Square? As Barney would say, it was LEGEN...wait for it...DARY!

On a much more somber note, we were also able to stop by the 9/11 site and the firehouse located just across the street. As I looked at the pictures of all the firemen who lost their lives on that tragic day, all of the emotions I felt when I first saw the Twin Towers crashing down came rushing back to me. Just to see how level the ground is compared to the last time I visited New York and saw those enormous buildings towering before me really reminded me of how much that one day has altered where we are today. On our trip we met a lady who worked on Wall Street and at the time worked in the building right next to the Twin Towers. As she told the story of how she rushed out of the building, leaving behind her cell phone and wallet, walked across the Brooklyn Bridge in high heels, later discovering that the security guard who had helped everyone out of her building died when a piece of the Twin Towers destroyed the atrium in which he had stayed behind in, I could see the pain etched in her face and the words displayed on the wall outside of the firehouse came echoing back to me..."May We Never Forget".