Hooray for me! My Jubei-chan site has been listed in this month's "Last Exit" at anipike.com for the best Jubei-chan site. A short but flattering review too about the design. Ironic though, since I ended up dumping that design in the Love Hina pages because I thought no one liked it. Oh well. You see, in my opinion, Jubei-chan was a small series, so it wasn't too hard to make a great page, simply because competition wasn't as tight. But with Love Hina, it's one of the biggest anime series out there, so of course, there are going to be lotsa people who are making pages for it, and so I have to be a step above and beyond. Hence, the theming engine and such.
In my absence, I got 5 DVDs delivered! KareKano #1, Cardcaptor Sakura #10, Kenshin #19, Evangelion Movie, and Escaflowne Movie (special edition). Gonna sit down for some hard core watching soon.
So, I guess you want to know about my trip to and from NYC, eh?
As you know, I left last last Thursday, the 25th of July and got to NYC. My sister had booked us in this place called Amsterdam Court on 50th St. and 8th Ave. through Expedia.com. On the site, she requested that we have 2 double beds, but we ended up with this one queen sized bed in a very very cramped room (the wall were literally 3 feet away from each side of the bed). I guess that's what you get for $100 bucks a night in NYC. My sister and I each took the floor for two nights during the 4 night stay there.
We walked around the city Friday and saw Austin Powers opening night in the AMC 25 in Times Square. That's also where I discovered that one of my favorite fast food restaurants, Yoshinoya, had opened up a store. My food worries for next semester have been resolved!
My meeting with the apartment broker was scheduled for Saturday at noon. I met up with him and we went around the city looking at apartments. I ended up deciding on this one in SoHo, which was a studio. It looked small and cute, with a separate kitchen. So I submitted my application for that. That night, I hung out with another friend of mine and went to see "Road to Perdition" at the Lowes also in Times Square (the AMC and Lowes are facing each other on 42nd St.). We also ate in Chinatown, drank Bubble Tea, and we're merry.
Sunday was another boring day. I spent some time at school using their wireless network.
Come Monday, my sister and I left the hotel and were supposed to go to New Haven to clean out the storage room we rented and to start the drive back to California. However, I got a call saying that the people who were helping me submit my application wanted me to go and pre-sign the lease so that I can move in immediately after it's approved. My sister and I go our separate ways for the day. I stay around in NYC, and she leaves for Connecticut. I go to agent place (this agent is different than my broker), and sign the lease. However, they wanted me to prove that I was doing something in NYC as part of the application, so I go and fetch my transcript. They also wanted me to show more money from my mom, who would be doing the guarentor. We already showed them that we had more than 50K in bank accounts, CDs, and such, but they wanted MORE and also wanted to see her tax return. Apparently, for a $1400 apartment, the guarantor needed to make more than 130K. So I tell my mom to fax them stuff about our business, which she is the sole owner, and makes quite a bit. I also asked my mom to get a business letter from the manager at the bank and our accountant to certify everything and fax it over. So I do that, and think everything is fine.
Monday night, we stay at New Haven, at a Econo-Lodge, where the a/c didn't work for half the night. Tuesday, my sister and I think that everything's okay in NYC, so we start our journey back. But first, I said I was going to stop by my undergrad college, Cornell, in upstate Cornell. So for Tuesday night, I was at Cornell and hung out at the places that I used to (including eating at HK, and going to Wegmans). Wednesday morning, I hit the campus bookstore and buy some official alumni gear and head off westward. About 3/4 of the way across NY state, I get a call from my broker saying that the other agent had some problems with the application. Because my mom's business is self-owned, the tax stuff isn't as clear cut as it would be if she was working for someone else. So I called up the agent and he tells me that they wanted me to PROVE that I had MORE money. Look, I already gave them the bank statements for 50K+ in personal investments (both my parent's and my account), gave them the bank statement for the business (which was almost as much), plus the tax portion for the store which showed the gross income from the store, which was more than enough to cover the guarantor's part. But they told me that they needed MORE stuff, otherwise they wouldn't approve. This is what they told me. They needed to see 250K in liquid investments or at least 750K in real estate. And this was only to RENT an apartment at 1400 a month! I got pissed off and broke off the deal since I got the feeling that they were playing games with me. Hell, the money I already showed them was more than enough to BUY OFF the place. Screw them, I have enough financial freedom that I don't need to bend backwards for them.
So Wednesday afternoon, we swung back to NYC, so in essence, we traveled 400 miles and ended up in the exact same place. Needless to say, I wasn't happy nor was my sister. So on Thursday, I meet with my broker again and we go through our options. Apparently, there was this apartment that opened up in Chelsea Wednesday night for 1500, which my broker thought I would really love. However, when he called the manager again, the manager said that someone else already offered a year's rent up-front for the place that morning. So we go with my original #2 plan, another studio in SoHo. But it turns out that that was taken Wednesday night! So we walk around some more and look, but nothing seemed to interest me. So I figured that I might as well come back later in August and get it since I'd rather not settle for something if I'm getting help from a broker. But late that afternoon, my broker called me and told me that the Chelsea apartment had opened up! The owner of the building likes to get to know her tenants, and didn't like this new guy. Plus, the guy wanted to start his lease later in the month. The owner wanted a tenant NOW. And I wanted to get an apartment NOW (so that I could finally drive back). So basically, we showed her all the stuff I gave to the previous agent, and she just looked at it an approved me. Not even a call to verify the letters nor credit check. It's all luck, I tell you.
So Friday, I go and get the keys. That night, I decide that I drive all my stuff from the storage place in Connecticut into my apartment, so we can finally end the 2 year lease we had on that thing. The problem is that we had already loaded up the car with my sister's and my stuff that we wanted to bring back to California. So for Friday evening, we unloaded the car and switched the stuff with my stuff in storage. It just so happens that Friday night was THE WORSE night to be driving. After a week of clear weather, it started thunderstorming and rained mucho. Plus, I was driving into NYC, which has cramped freeways with many a crazy drivers. Very scary. We moved everything in Friday night and crashed at my new pad (there's actually curbside parking outside my apartment on weekends for free! The going rate for parking in parking structures is 10 bucks for 30 minutes). Since I had no bed, we busted out the sleeping bags and slept on the floor.
Saturday, we hit IKEA in New Jersey and I got my futon/bed, throw rug, and a table. We're gonna make my place POSH! =) That afternoon, we went back to Connecticut and reloaded the stuff from storage that we originally had and told the supervisor there that we're vacating. We left the east coast around 3pm Saturday.
We switched off driving and drove through the night (crashing at a rest area when necessary). Sunday, I visited a friend in the Chicago area. BUT BEFORE THAT, THE STRANGEST THING HAPPENED. I was a few miles away from Illinois on the freeway in Indiana when I see that the car in front of me, a limo, had stopped in the middle of the road and a guy had run out and was waving his hand frantically. Being a good samaritan, I pulled over as well as another car. Knowing it would be some type of emergency, I grabbed my cell phone too. Sure enough, the guy who was waving called out to me and the other guy, Todd, to call 911. I gave Todd my phone and went over to the car. Apparently, the driver of the limo was spazing out and was bleeding from the mouth. The guy waving his arms was the passenger and he thought the driver was having a heart attack.
The passenger, I think his name was Jim, pushed the guy over on the front seat and drove the limo to the side of the road. The passenger side door was open and the driver's head and arms were outside the car, so I was there holding his arm and head, running beside the limo, as Jim drove it to the shoulder of the freeway. When we stopped, the guy was still spazing, so I kinda figured that it couldn't have been a heart attack (he would have gone limp a LONG time ago if it was a heart attack). We figured that he had bit his own tongue and that's why he was bleeding from the mouth. Anyway, I told Jim to keep the driver laying down, but the driver didn't want to stay down. Rather, his eyes were wide open and he look just out of it. When the highway patrol finally came, Jim was there trying to hold down the driver near the rear of the limo. The patrol came and also tried to restrain him, but couldn't, and told the guy that he might have to use handcuffs. However, the both of them couldn't hold down this 50-some year old limo driver. Todd decided to jump in, but I stayed out. Todd was like 6 feet, I'm a scrawny 5'8". I didn't think I could help. Finally, more patrol came and Todd and I were relieved of duty. I thought he was just in severe shock from a seizure or something. Todd thought he was on PCP, crack, or some other potent drug.
So we went to Illinois, and at that time, I looked up the location of this comic book store in Omaha, Nebraska, where two of my online friends frequent. I arrive there at 8:30pm, while it was still open and scope the place out. It's more of a comic book store rather than anime, but I was impressed with it's collection of anime comics. It also turns out that one of online friends was also in there at the same time. In fact, he was the only other customer in there. But since I never met him in person, how would I have known?
From there, we just drove and drove and drove, finally arriving back home at 3am Tuesday morning. Not bad speed.
Posted by jupiterstar at August 6, 2002 04:06 PM