My camera isn't really great with close up shots but take a huge step back and SNAP! It does the job. The opening blog shots here were taken from my window seat on the airplane flying into New York. I had a good flight experience this time. Time seemed to fly by quickly. It must have helped that I left home at 4am without any sleep from an entire day of activity. I slept most of the way. But if you know you can't sleep on planes, then better not zombify yourself with a flight like this. Sleep in advance! My
experience at the entry point into the US was not so great on the other hand. (Click on any
experience for the
experience).
What mattered was that I made it through and was soon on Broadway again - catching shows like "August: Osage County" (best acting on Broadway I've seen ever), "In the Heights" (backstage pictures for those with access to my NY 2009 Facebook album), "Shrek" (I won lottery tickets!), "Equus" (I saw Harry Potter naked!), "Dear Edwina" (my friend was in it) and "The Little Mermaid" (even though I had seen it before).
It was also nice noticing little differences in Manhattan like some improvements on the subway, more Wi-Fi zones, things like that. Following the demise of CompUSA, Circuit City is set to follow its footsteps. A couple of years back, Tower Records had been in that spot. (I dug up an old photo so you can make the comparison). I couldn't help but feel the impact of the recession around me.
I spent Chinese New Year in the Big Apple going back to one of my favourite haunts. I didn't know its name for years because I couldn't read the chinese characters on the shop's front and couldn't recommend it to friends. But I finally found it on the paper menu and took a picture. Another place I had been dying to go to was Serendipity - a dessert cafe made famous by the movie of the same. I'm pictured with three frozen hot chocolates, their signature drink! One can choose between the Original, Peanut Butter and Mint.
It was a great ten days spent in the city and I definitely explored it each day. My shoes would attest to that if they were still around. I bought them in the US, brought them home to Singapore and said goodbye to them back in America. My new shoes don't know half this story.
Even though the melting in the Arctic will soon open up faster shipping routes and newly accessible sources of energy, polar bears are losing their homes and dying, sea creatures are choking from a huge swirling plastic vortex larger than the United States of America, and the North Atlantic current which carries warmth from the Equator into northern regions may die out, dropping overall temperatures drastically on both sides. Overfishing itself is causing an imbalance in the ocean's food chain and destroying ocean floors.
Nature is biting back at us. Rising mercury levels in fish are causing health problems to those who feed off them. The rising sea level has caused overflooding and threatens to destroy more homes than it already has. These are but examples of a multitude of problems caused as a result of our exploitations and careless behaviour towards the earth.
As governments and companies shift towards a more environmental focus, consumers must follow suit. Being environmentally friendly is no longer the simple act of recycling paper. It is our duty to be aware of why we need to save the earth. Finding out and eating fish that is not in danger of overfishing is one way to start. Reduce your personal trash. Things that you never thought were recyclable like shoes, bags, used CDs... can all be recycled. Take the effort to find out where to bring them, in your community. Support products with less packaging. It may be more time consuming or more costly especially with the recession in full swing, but the combined effort will make a difference.
On a smaller scale, work with reusable rather than disposable, whether it be towels, cutlery, bags, whatever you can think of. If anything, do this for our children and our children's children. Peace!
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