Liz, carly and me by a fountain in city hall park, some random park we found near ground zero. (we didn't actually go to ground zero since we've all been there before. i'm kinda glad i've been here before with my family, cuz then we did all the touristy things like statue of liberty and empire state building and stuff like that, so i don't have to do that again now!)
At South Seaport on the street filled with restaurants and shops
By the pier where the huge ships are floating aimlessly on the waters. i told carly and liz they'd be glad i'm making them take all these pics for memories! :)
Bodies exhibition!!
The manhattan/brooklyn bridge. it was such a nice sunny day, although it sprinkled a bit. i realize i keep wearing my gladiator sandals. they're so comfy and i didn't really bring many shoes here, in an effort to keep my suitcases light(er).
Mini taylor reunion
Met up with the only two taylor people who live in NYC - carly and liz! :)
(Also skyped with cartoon in the morning and unloaded all my crazy stories to her. so it's been a taylor day!)
Went to 16 handles, the yogurt place that liz works at, to get her paycheck.. it's so cool. they have like 10 flavors and you do it yourself and u put the toppings yourself, and then pay by the ounce. reminded me a little of yami yogurt. hahaha.
Took the bus and attempted to go to South Seaport in brooklyn, but ended up far away from it, so we had to walk for almost half an hour to get there. which i didn't mind at all. exercise is good. that's what i like about NYC.. you can walk anywhere and not be bored, cuz everything's so fascinating and attention-grabbing, even locals like carly and liz never fail to be mesmerized by the city's charm. We walked by the Brooklyn Bridge and the Manhattan Bridge, and finally got to the pier, which was such a quaint little place! there were ships docked on the pier, cute little restaurants by the water, a tiny mall filled with nice shops...
Good times. and good conversations.
Bodies everywhere
With great anticipation and a little nervousness, we paid and went in to see the Bodies Exhibition (i think it came to sgp before). was a little anxious, cuz i didn't know how gross it would be, and i'd heard horror stories about the disgusting displays. but it was surprisingly pretty cool and interesting.
since i've never taken biology, i definitely learned A LOT about my body today. too bad we weren't allowed to take pictures in the exhibitions.
i learned that our urinary bladder is like half the size of my fist. no wonder i keep going to the toilet. haha. they had real bodies made out of bone and muscle and nerves, and it was pretty gross. as we progressed, we saw bodies cut up into more and more pieces! it went from being sawed in half to being sawed into 6 pieces! grossness. i don't know how the person who cut the bodies managed to do it without screaming like mad. ew. i also can't imagine volunteering for such a thing. why would you want your body to be cut into pieces even if you're dead? someone said the bodies were all taken from china, and i was like, yeah that makes sense. it's probably cheaper there. haha. (inside i was thinking, 'no wonder they all looked asian! i thought my eyes were just biased.')
There was also a display on fetuses and how they grow... and we saw their little skeletons developed by about 12 weeks! just made me wonder how anyone can justify an abortion. babies obviously already are alive and have a soul the moment they're conceived. And we saw the nerves in our body, which looked like fancy little trees with tiny branches. haha.
So yeah. it was really interesting, although by the end i was a little nauseated. haha.
Last seminar
Today was the university of dreams' last seminar (thank goodness. the seminars have been interesting, but they take up an evening where i could've been doing something more fun)... the CEO of the company came and spoke to us, and even though he went on for two hours, i listened in rapt attention the entire time, along with everyone else.
His life has been... filled with ups and downs. he was co-founder of the Vans Warped Tour!! he did tons of stuff and earned LOTS of money... then he went through setbacks and obstacles, and found himself poor and in debt... but through it all, he never gave up, and pushed on with his dream of doing what he loved.
I like what he said to us about living life to its fullest - do what you love and what you're particularly good at.
And who cares about what everyone tells you to do. even if you're earning 8 figures at some boring finance job, you're not gonna be happy as you would be doing something you love.
He lamented on how he always fell asleep at his first job in finance, and so he figured out it wasn't for him. and it made me think of how i'm falling asleep in my job now. haha. it just proves that a 9 to 5 job sitting at a desk just is not my cup of tea. i'd rather be up and about, talking to people, doing something useful instead of staring at a computer screen for the rest of my life. but i'm still grateful for this opportunity.
And there was a point where he actually teared when talking about his best friend who was stabbed to death... it just makes you realize you never know what tomorrow holds, and all you can do is live today the best you can.
Yeah he was pretty good at sparking off that inspirational little flame in all of us. i swear, the entire room was just captivated by him. i totally wouldn't mind working for him. haha. it's amazing how he built this company up with his own bare hands. and yes, the name 'university of dreams' sounds sketchy, added to the fact that i found it online and it could've been a scam... but i'm so glad i did this. if not, i wouldn't have met these amazing people, i wouldn't have had the experience of working with an online magazine, and i wouldn't have gotten the chance to live in this awesome city and experience it all.
On a side note, my roomie and i went out and walked around union square after the seminar. i got frozen yogurt from this place called 'daydream,' and she, on the other hand, went to 5 different frozen yogurt places and got samples. she brings kiasu to a whole new level. and then, she got back and called her mom immediately (duh) to discuss her classes next semester. and when i say discuss, i mean a thorough, detailed, LONG chat about professors, classes, websites that rate professors, classrooms that are near good eating places, etc.
i can't help but wonder if she ever decides anything for herself.
other than that, we had good conversation during our walk :)
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