Melodie Takes Manhattan!!: Hell's Kitchen

From 1/11/10
To say that I'm stressed is definitely an understatement. Some things in my life are spiraling outta control and its out of my hands. Then I thought, what's the one thing I can do no matter what? I can walk it out! I totally needed to de-stress and bop my head to some Tribe Called Quest (still haven't updated my music).

So I got started with my usual routine before I left work. I filled my travel mug with hot tea (lady grey today...ummm) and a filled my water bottle with cold crystal light (pomegranate cherry). I have my handy map now so I decided to walk in Hell's Kitchen. I figured it was only natural since the devil reared its ugly little head over the weekend and tried to bring me down. So why not conquer Hell's Kitchen. LOL! Hell's Kitchen is roughly 9th-12th avenue 34th-42nd street and 8th-12th avenue 42nd-59th street. To this day, I still don't know why they really call it Hell's Kitchen. I hear the area used to be a little dingy, but that's about it.

Feeling quite geeky and a little touristy with my map. I realized that I've walked in so many different neighborhoods. The Financial District, Tribecca, SoHo, NoHo, Flat Iron District, Midtown South, Midtown West, Garment District, Times Square, Theater District, Chelsea, Upper West Side, Upper East Side, Murray Hill, Kips Bay, Alphabet City, Little Italy, and Chinatown. No I haven't completed each neighborhood in its entirety but I certainly plan to do just that.

I began my journey on 34th and 9th Ave. after about 6 blocks, I realized this was brand new territory for me. I don't think I've ever walked in this area in all my years living in NYC. Hell's Kitchen really wasn't "hellish" at all. I don't know what I expected. Perhaps a little red creature with a long tail and pitch fork stirring cake batter in a bowl on every corner? I don't know. The area was quite charming with it's dozens of Thai restaurants, pottery shops, and odds and ends stores. I went into "Ricky's" which was really random I know, but I've never been inside one. Ricky's doesn't quite makes sense. They sell costumes, hair and body products, quirky keepsakes, magnets, etc. I really couldn't figure this store out, therefore, I really liked it. I've seen plenty of Ricky's around the city. The prices for some of the hair and body products and cosmetics were a bit overpriced. But, the little gag gifts were hilarious. I found a shelf of fake pills (really candy) all labeled for crazy ailments.

There was "Shake n Fake" orgasm faking medication, "No ONE Cares" The Pill for Chronic Complainers, "Sex Lax", "Bazoomers" cures ittie bittie you know whats and plenty of others that had me cracking up in the store. Oh my gosh! I'm totally gonna get the No One Cares pills. Imagine leaving those on someone's desk. And I would be bold enough to stick a post it on it with my name it. All in good fun of course. LOL!

Lately I've been obsessed with Asian people in surgical masks. All around the city, I'm seeing people of Asian descent wearing surgical masks and I seem to be the only one noticing or taking a second look. # of surgical masks seen today, 7. At first I was like...oh my God! What am I missing on the news? I haven't been watching much TV lately. I soon got my answer from a friend of mine a few days ago who happens to be Japanese. She explained that this is totally normal in Japan and most people wear the surgical masks when they are sick so they won't spread their germs. So they are actually being considerate of other people. I thought, why doesn't everyone do that? And would it be effective? My hilarious cousin was like "Nah, we are just a bunch of filthy dirty Americans". Are we? Ponder....

I continued up 9th avenue until I got to 59th and turned to walk towards 10th ave. Oh...this is where John Jay College of Criminal Justice is located? Hmmmm...okay. It was a very nice looking school. I thought it was in Queens for some reason. The area started to look more and more secluded which I don't like at all so I ended my walk soon after. I can't wait until we have more daylight and warmer weather. I bet I could walk for hours and hours. I used to say I loved the cold, but since beginning this walking routine it's been my enemy. It shortens my walks when I'm not really ready to stop. Lets see how much I complain once it gets really hot...oh joy!LOL!

On the way home on the train, a little old man who looked to be at least 70 yrs old asked me "Excuse me Ms., is my watch right?" it says 7:30. I told him it was the right time. He replied with a toothless grin "Awww....I must've been sleeping while I was downtown." I quickly assessed him and he didn't look homeless and he didn't smell of alcohol and when he was standing he didn't have the "heroin lean". The heroin lean is when a person appears to be asleep while standing up but their knees are bent slightly and they sway back and forth or lean dangerously forward and you just know they are gonna fall but they never do, say it with me kids, "The Heroin Lean". So I wondered if he was suffering with dementia or something. I didn't know if I should be concerned or not. But in NYC its hard to figure out when to offer help because people are just plain crazy and can hurt you, especially the mentally ill. So unfortunately we usually do nothing out of fear, not selfishness. I just said a silent prayer to myself when he exited the train that he got home safely. Ya know what, this walk totally cleared my head and my problems no longer seem so bad. Endorphins rule!!