Back in La La Land

Yup. I'm back. No matter how I love to travel, it's usually good to be back home after a while. I'm very pleased with all the fun experiences I had, new friends I made, photos I took in this trip. San Francisco was pretty different from LA, but east coast was even more different and it was awesome to experience the different atmosphere (and temperature).

NYC was very cool, but no matter how I loved being in NYC, I still prefer to live in LA than NYC. I love how it is so alive in NYC, I love the subway system, the Italian food, the snow, the shopping, the Broadway shows, the going out till 5am in the morning (bars close at 2am in LA), etc. I also find that people in NYC seem to enjoy live a bit more, at least from my observation. However, I hate the stinky-ness, the expensive-ness, and the uptight-ness of NYC. So yes, I prefer the more casual, relaxed, and sunny California for the long term or at least for now.

Here is a picture I took of the famous Rockefeller Center ice skating rink with the famous humongous Christmas tree (which was not so impressive in my opinion).

Top of the Rock

Went to the famous Top of the Rock tonight. I totally picked the wrong day. Today is frrrrrreeeeeezing and windy; it feels like 6 degrees F (-15 degrees C) tonight according to the weather.com. Imagine being on the 69th floor. Due to the strong winds I could only stand in the cold for so long to take photos which a lot of them came out blurry. I am actually quite disappointed. I get better pictures from the Top of the Hub in Boston. Don't get me wrong, the place and the view is awesome. But it is always so packed; even on a very cold and windy day there are still tons of people. I had to wait every time I want to shoot in a new spot. Plus they have "no tripod policy." I did not see any signs of this but I was told by the security. There was no way to take good pictures without the tripod so of course I kept on using my tripod. I thought better kept on using it until I get kicked out than taking crappy photos. Despite all those things, I did get a couple of good ones (above). I of course expected a lot more, but considering all those things I mentioned above I guess it is better some than none.

NYE in NYC

So I went to Times Square to see the ball drop on New Years Eve. As I had mentioned earlier, I was not sure if I really wanted to do so thinking that it would really be super boring and such torture to wait in the cold for hours around people who would be pushing you all the time. But we went anyway and I thought it was not so bad. We started going pretty late: around 9pm. So we were not anywhere near the ball. In fact, we did not see the ball at all.

We ended up watching it from a big screen. Seen in this photo on the left side. Kid Rock was performing when I took this picture. I was quite disappointed with the lack or performance and entertainment that they offered in Times Square. Sure there were Kid Rock, Miley Cyrus a.k.a Hannah Montana, The Jonas Brothers, Kerry Underwood and Blake Lewis (which I think gave the best entertainment and music to me), but many people don't even know these people, especially those who came from out of country (big percentage of the crowd). Ryan said that last year they had Christina Aguilera and two years ago they had Mariah Carey. Why is the entertainment keep getting worse and worse each year then? I was expecting something more festive. Maybe I was expecting too much.

Despite all those things, we had fun. The funnest moments were in the beginning when people were screaming to the police to open the barricade and when the police did so. People were running towards Times Square and were so excited. Sure, I was pushed and crushed at some points. And was so scared that my camera will be crushed. But everything turned out great. Will I do it again? I'm not sure.