| "Happy Holiday" by Konstantin (2005-12-27) |
Hope everyone's enjoying their holidays! I'm spending the week's break
with family friends in New York, so I'll keep it brief since I'm writing
this on someone else's computer.
I grew up in the suburbs of New York (immigrated there from Russia when I
was 11), but only visited the City a couple of times since my parents
moved to Europe a few of years ago, so it's particularly nice to revisit
all my old haunts. The Kinokuniya next to the Rockefeller Center where I
bought a good chunk of my untranslated manga (too bad they closed down the
Asahiya book store next to Grand Central), the underground shopping center
in Chinatown where I got a cabinet's worth of fansub tapes (always thought
it was amusing that there were stores happily selling bootleg VCDs right
across the street from the local police station), and the little Japanese
restaurant right next to where I did one of my summer internships in
midtown that got me forever hooked on yakisoba and gyudon. The sort of
things one grows to miss while living in Pittsburgh, which doesn't even
have anything vaguely resembling a Chinatown. Amid all the friends of the
family and distant relatives who seem to be even more concerned with my
(lack of) love life than I am, and all the holiday gorging, it's nice to
still have the opportunity to get my geek on. ^^
Happy upcoming New Year, everyone!