NYC on NYE '99 - Times Square, baby.

The Final Countdown.
(Photo ganked from the web)

Here you go. My complete New Year's Eve in Times Square story. Let's start from the very beginning.

Ok.... well, I left Tuesday morning from Fort Wayne IN, and it was snowing just a little. My dad said they were expecting some flurries, but not much accumulation. Well, I was a dork and just rarin' to go, so I didn't even check forecasts for where I would be driving through.

Instead of going up to I-80 and taking toll roads the entire way, since time wasn't that much of a factor I decided to try and avoid the extra costs and go to Columbus OH and hit I-70, which takes me directly to Baltimore-DC (where I was staying). But of course... they got a weeee bit more snow than we did up here.

Like 3-4 wee inches more.

And it was windy as HELL. lots of drifting... and Columbus drivers are total dicks...

And because of the snow, it was going so slow, but those dickheads were causing SO many accidents! (and I'm in a rental!) I literally passed at least 2-3 dozen cars in ditches and in various crunches... just in Columbus alone.

And then, oh wow... they had to shut down the entire highway for about a half hour (on the OTHER side, though, not my direction) because of an EIGHT SEMI TRUCK pile up!!!!! damn!

So, it was taking sooooo long. The trip should have taken 10 hours or so, and it took over 14! But once I got into Maryland, it was almost totally clear. But those stinkin' wiper blades on my car totally were shit. I mean, there was this one big strip of cloudy non-wiping right in my line of sight ;-p And I went through the entire wiper fluid! haha! But that dang thing (ford escort lx) got amazing mileage. heh

Ok, so I finally made it... and I was staying with Christina, an ex-girlfriend from Purdue actually, because she wanted to go up with me to NYC and hang with Jay (our mutual friend and my former roommate) for New year's eve... and it's only a 2 hour commute to Philly from there, and I don't know anyone directly in Philly so she was cool with having me stay. We left the next morning to go apartment huntin' and get my pre-employment physical, which was the real reason for my trip. The NYC gig was just an added bonus, really.

Well, unfortunately, for whatever reason, she started not feeling good that morning, and actually went to the walk-in clinic (at the U Penn Hospital - ivy league, baby!) when I was getting the physical there.

I took my drug test... hehehe. and I had to witness them putting the "stuff" in the container and sealing it and I had to initialize it and all that silly stuff :-) To make sure it wasn't tampered with or whatever... but I couldn't flush or even wash my hands until it was sealed and signed! ewww.

Christina was feelling like total shit by the time we got back, and got some Amoxicillan to try to help her feel better, but the next morning she wasn't better and so she ended up not even going to NYC or up to Philly for day 2 of The Hunt. (We'd planned to go up to NYC straight from Philly). She was pretty bummed.

So it was just me and Jay, and I made it up to Brooklyn with no hitches, except for a long-ass wait getting into Staten Island through the NJ turnpike. hehe

But the adventure was just beginning!

Ok... we were hanging out after I got there, went down to chill a little at this cafe/record store/DJ club/store (where EVERYTHING is for sale) - cool place! I bought an old hiphop movie soundtrack from 1985 (Krush Groove), awwww yeah. groovy kids there. cool "modern artifacts" for sale. ;-p Jay has even spun there before (he's a "deep house" DJ).

And then, we get back and he gets a phone call... and he just starts speaking German like a madman! (he's very fluent, he spent a year and a half living/working in Germany a couple years ago, and he wants to go back in 5 years or so).

Turns out it was this German girl he met at a NYC club a few months back, who has kept in touch... she lives in Jersey and is a Nanny. heheh! He had invited her to come up to Times Square a couple weeks ago when he was inviting people, hoping to get a group, and it ended up being only me! Hehe. so she said she would like to come, and she was bringing four girlfriends with her! hehehehehehehehehehe. and they're all nannies, and all European. Three German and one French. ;-p hehehehehehe! Cool with me!

So it was going to be interesting!

But they weren't even coming into town until 6 pm on NYE and we had to meet them at the Port Authority bus terminal to pick them up. And by the time we woke up (11 am) there were ALREADY a few hundred thousand people in Times Square. We were hearing about stories where cops would block things off and you couldn't get in if you weren't there mega early.

So we were getting a little worried and trying to figure out how the hell we were going to swing it... because the girls were also all bringing sleeping bags and clothes and junk, and definitely wouldn't want to be lugging it all through NYC.

So we finally take off, get off the subway right at 42nd just a couple blocks from the crowd, at around 3 pm. We scope it out, cops are already blocking shit off, we can only really get a look at where we want to be...

...snap a few pics, grab some footage... move on...

The calm before the storm.

...and catch a glimpse at a squadron of cops all lined up one block, about 50 deep! awwwww yeah. get ready.

We even caught this one guy walking around with a sign that said "The End Is Near" - so we both got photos. You might not be able to tell, but he's got a big smile on his face. heh. He was way too happy about armageddon. (The smudges on the sign are from the scan, not the sign).

Further on, we see people with passes or invitations or something getting through some blockades, and we talked to one cop where Jay told him we were invited to a party and the cop said,"where at? if you had some invitiations, then we could see..."

So Jay gets this great idea. Make fake party invitations.

Then we take off to his building where he works, about 4 blocks in the other direction from Times Square. His building is open, but the net access is cut off, because they were preparing to shut it all down at 11:30 to make sure about any computer problems... so he couldn't get online to get info for our fake invos. Then he thought we could at least store the girls' stuff in his building but the guard said they weren't planning on opening the building back up until 6 am... doh.

Soooo... then we went to a Kinko's near Times square to make our fake invos... it was 10 til 5pm, they were closing at five, but had already shut down!! Everything was turned off, the nearest Kinko's that was open all night was FORTY blocks away, hehehe... so we couldn't make it there and back in time to pick up the girls...

So we went to the bus terminal... and had the idea to just get a locker for the girls' stuff. But they were having all kindsa security issues and it was declared that absolutely no lockers were being used due to bomb scare shit. So no go on that! hehe!

Alrighty, we sit for a spell and chill and then we meet up with them, and a couple of 'em are cute! ;-p Check it, there was Stefanie (Jay's girl), Claudia, Ana, Sabena and some French girly whose name started with an M. ;-p [I think I probably spelled some of those wrong, too].

We tell em our situation... they agree the fake invos is a good idea to try and get in to the action, and we head off on the subway up to the 78th street Kinko's. :-)

We make it to the kinko's, and so there are 7 of us, chillin' in the computer area... hehehe. employees were freaked out. Jay gets online and goes snooping around... looking for a club right on the street where we want to go, in the middle of the action.

Jay at the computer and the ladies chillin' around him. Kinko's - 78th & Lexington.

He picks one out, and then actually TYPE MATCHES the font from the picture of the club on the net, and makes up these fake invitations... hehehehehehehehee. It was great: yellow print on black, with red accents. They're numbered and signed ;-p - totally official. We got them color printed on paper, then color copied onto heavy card stock and cut out, so they're nice and thick.

One hour, 25 minutes and $35 dollars later, we head back on the subway to Times Square! ;-)

We get up there, and of course even more streets are blocked off... cuz its like 8 pm by now... and everytime we try to go somewhere, they're like... you gotta go down one block and go around. doh!

After a few tries of this, Jay just decides to get to his building and put the girls's stuff in there because they had been carrying it around for a couple hours, and just worry about getting it back later (he thought the guard was just saying 6 am, thinking we would probably be able to get it out before then). And then we could try to use the fake tickets to get closer.

So... first road block, about 4 blocks from his building... Jay pulls out his company ID... and says, we need to get to my building.

"I work there", he says.
The cop says, "oh you live there?" [super hardcore ny accent]
Jay says, "no I work there".
Then the cop says "oh you *live* there?" (heheheh, wink wink.)
"Yeah, I live there!" says Jay.... hah!
The cop then says to this other cop, "hey this guy lives down here, he needs to get to his building!"

So they let us through!

I had my video camera and he he was like, "what's in the bag?" A camera. "Lemme see" hehehe.

So we got searched a little, and made it through. one block down, three to go!

So we head down, feeling groovy, and got to the NEXT roadblock. hehehe, but that cop is like, no one is getting through here... Jay flashes his badge, we need to get to my building... and the cop's like, WHY? Jay says, we have these visitors from Germany who need to get to the building, we're staying there, blah blah...

And the cop looks at the girls, and says rather matter-of-factly, "Speak some German".

So Stefanie starts rolling off some German shit... and the cop goes...

"Good enough for me! Go ahead! I hope you didn't say nothin' bad!"

hahahahahaha!!

So on we go!! High fives all around!

Crossing the street, we realized... where we were now, just happened to be exactly on line with the BALL! We could see it! We were like 4 blocks from it, so we had the choice of either go on to his building, just a couple blocks away now, and maybe not be able to make it back (probably not) - or just stay there with the stuff and be thankful we were where we were. hehehe.

That little speck in the upper middle right is THE BALL.

So we stayed!

We threw the stuff in a pile and made a circle. It was now 9 pm!

So Jay breaks out some ham sandwiches (we come prepared!) and we all had a snack. He even brought some German hot wine (or some kinda funky liquor, in a thermos that he bought earlier that day, heh.)

So the girls enjoyed that and were all pretty happy :-)

They finished that off, and then we tried to make another push with our fake tickets... hehehe - but it was no go! so we went back to our spot and stayed there for the rest of the night.

We were looking at the ball for 3 hours straight, doing the hokey pokey, singing songs, being stupid, chatting with Argentinians and Australians around us, eating ham sandwiches, etc... people were ordering pizza's on cell phones and charging 5 bucks a slice! haha! It wasn't nearly as exciting as it would have been if we were in the middle of the big party, down by MTV... but it was still pretty cool. Not too many knuckleheads, and some cool people hanging around.

And then my camera battery died with 20 seconds left on the countdown!! hahaa! and I tried to dig out my spare and totally missed the ball touching down!! It was too funny... y2k issues with my camcorder!

But it was cool. nice fireworks, and we could see a little inkling of the real party that was happening a few blocks away. But we wanted to try to see if we could make it to the action and after people started leaving, we went around the block and got to this one roadblock that was just two blocks from the point of Times Square.

A couple shots of the fireworks going off in post-ball-dropdom.

So there is this huge push of people, and they were actually letting a few people through at a time with the correct passes. It's wall to wall bodies, and about 15 minutes into it... Jay gets through with his fake invitation!

One by one, we make it through!

So we're thinking awwwwwww yeah... and it was so funny, the tickets were for the Kit Kat Klub, which is a real dance club down there [rapper Q-Tip had his album release party there]... and the cop was looking at my ticket, and he says "kit kat, ok... go ahead" and waves his hand. hilarious.

But we go down not even a half a block and there was another roadblock and he says "that's not a pass. you gotta go around. The whole street is blocked off."

So we doubled back, again, and went down another one and tried, and that cop said "well maybe someone at the party can come get you, but you can't get through here". damn.

So we finally gave up.

We hit the subway and got back to Brooklyn around... I don't even know... 2:30 am? oh, the subway freaks we saw!!! I have pictures! Can't wait to see 'em. :-) Some cool vidoe, too. One dude kept doing pull ups and hanging upside down from the big hang-on bar on the subway, while in motion! And he told us this great story about how he went to David Letterman's show once (to tell him a joke, he said) and got kicked out by Letterman's own personal policeman. "True story!"

This guy was all over the place, man.

Oh, and I only got a peck on the cheek at midnight from Ana, which I initiated, because they are unaware of the kiss tradition at new year's!! doh! hahahahaa....

I went back to Christina's the next day, to shorten my trip and pick up some of my stuff, and left for home the following morning. It was a much easier drive this time. heh. 2100 miles in 6 days. awwwww yeah.

the end. how was your new year's? :-)

Here are some random shots...

Me and Jay!

Me and a cop! and his stogie...

Random people shots from our vantage point:

A street in Brooklyn, 1/1/00

Me on a street in Brooklyn, 1/1/00

Peace - Chris
and thanks to Jay for some of the pics.

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