― Bimble... (Bimble...), Friday, 25 February 2005 17:15 (nineteen years ago) link
No worries about Brit ILX folks not drinking avec moi this evening, as my duties as needless lippy bastard are required by the mothership (i.e. the Gathering...sort've a geekier ILM, only we exclusively discuss Killing Joke. Mmmmm Mmmm...sounds appealing, don't it?) But thanks anyway. If anyone's feeling especially bold, though, please feel free to stop by a place called the Goldhawk Tavern (or is it the GoldEN Hawk tavern? Not sure)where m'self and gaggle of similarly-inclined Killing Joke fans will be drinking...although probably not as heavily and as irresponsibly as last night. I'd normally say: "i'll be the one in the Killing Joke shirt," but that won't really help you in this particular instance. Otherwise, I'll be the one embarassing himself by dropping a full pint of beer in front of some important and/or impressive person, splattering the leg (I did this *AGAIN* last night...please someone come and stop and/or kill me).
Anyway, cheerz......
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 25 February 2005 17:39 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 25 February 2005 17:44 (nineteen years ago) link
― Bimble... (Bimble...), Friday, 25 February 2005 18:51 (nineteen years ago) link
― Leon the Fatboy (Ex Leon), Friday, 25 February 2005 18:57 (nineteen years ago) link
notting hill < 7 minutes from TCR tube. how soon they forget...
> Goldhawk Tavern
that's about a 50 yard detour from my walk home. i might pop my head in. KJ t-shirt you say? shouldn't be hard...
― koogs (koogs), Friday, 25 February 2005 19:01 (nineteen years ago) link
Also, fuck you alex for living my wet dream and seeing killing joke in london.
― David Allen (David Allen), Friday, 25 February 2005 19:36 (nineteen years ago) link
alex are you still around tomorrow (=sat?)
(though i guess that's what you get for not posting on ilm for like 17 months)
― mark s (mark s), Friday, 25 February 2005 23:21 (nineteen years ago) link
― mark s (mark s), Friday, 25 February 2005 23:22 (nineteen years ago) link
― Bimble... (Bimble...), Saturday, 26 February 2005 07:53 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 28 February 2005 00:43 (nineteen years ago) link
(i woulda met up if if i'd seen this in time)
― mark s (mark s), Monday, 28 February 2005 01:02 (nineteen years ago) link
― Oscar, Monday, 28 February 2005 01:12 (nineteen years ago) link
Good lord am I fucking tired. Yeah, this is another long one, but gimme a break. And there are pics at the bottom.
Alex Back in NYC reporting once again for Active Duty.
Got in this morning. My flight was chock-full of THREE British high school classes combined on their way to a big communal visit to NYC. It was like flying over the Atlantic in a massive fucking school bus. Mr.inNYC was NOT at all pleased. They were fine, though, for the most part. On the way off the plane, who should be greeting me as I cross the threshold but Mr.RICHARD BRANSON, VIRGIN CEO himself! Actually shook the man's hand. Stranger than fiction.
....and then things got shitty again.
I was pulled over -- quite unexpectedly and frustratingly inexplicably -- by U.S. CUSTOMS. That's right, MY OWN FUCKING COUNTRY decided that it needed to have a little chatty-chat with me. Going through the motions at the custom's gate, the decidedly unsmiling man behind the desk drew a BIG YELLOW LINE down my declaration card and told me to "see the gate clerk." Not clued in that something was up, said clerk said "go see Number 15!". Okay. I walk over to Number Fifteen (despite the good-natured entreaties of clearly bored Number Sixteen, a jovial black gent). Oh no, I went with equally unsmiling Number Fifteen, a true jarhead with a buzzcut and a bad attitude. At this point, I *STILL* haven't realized that something is up. "Have you ever been in trouble with Customs before, sir?" he barks. "Umm.....what do you mean before? Am I in trouble with Customs NOW?" "Just answer the question, sir!" Fuck. "No sir.""Have you ever lived in Seattle?" "Ummmm....no, I'm a native New Yorker and always have been --- and have lots of documentation to support it". "What do you do for a living, sir?" "Ummm...I'm a journalist, I supp..." "LET ME SEE YOUR PASSPORT NUMBER IMMEDIATELY!" By this point, I'm getting alarmed. "Ummm....is something wrong?" I'm panicking now, as I didn't declare the six little jars of fancy mustard I bought at Fortnum & Mason for my mother-in-law. But, somewhat surprisingly, they don't look in my bag. Lots of frowning, typing, brow-furrowing and suspicious staring. Finally, some stamping of my passport and I'm given a "comment card". "Am I in trouble, officer?" I ask...sounding worryingly like Shaggy in 'Scooby-Do'. "I'm not allowed to tell you, sir, but if you contact the address in the document I just handed you, perhaps they can elaborate. With a last name as common as yours......" he trailed off. And waved me off. And off I went, shaken and paranoid.
Anyway, enough bellyachin'....herewith some piccies....
Thursday night:
http://homepage.mac.com/alexinnyc/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2005-02-27%2016.27.26%20-0800/Image-ABEB1B78891611D9.jpg
me walking around on Friday...hungover and somewhat lost...
http://homepage.mac.com/alexinnyc/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2005-02-27%2016.45.31%20-0800/Image-7DF4E453891F11D9.jpg
Nice shot of ye olde Thames...
http://homepage.mac.com/alexinnyc/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2005-02-27%2016.45.31%20-0800/Image-7DF4EE5C891F11D9.jpg
Friday night...http://homepage.mac.com/alexinnyc/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2005-02-27%2016.45.31%20-0800/Image-7DF5387F891F11D9.jpg
Check out that guy's hawk! http://homepage.mac.com/alexinnyc/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2005-02-27%2016.45.31%20-0800/Image-7DF6234D891F11D9.jpg
http://homepage.mac.com/alexinnyc/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2005-02-27%2016.45.31%20-0800/Image-7DF63911891F11D9.jpg
The Kilburn tube stop...
http://homepage.mac.com/alexinnyc/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2005-02-27%2016.45.31%20-0800/Image-7DFCACDA891F11D9.jpg
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 28 February 2005 02:23 (nineteen years ago) link
Customs always make you think you're in trouble even if you're not. That's what they're hired for.
― Bimble... (Bimble...), Monday, 28 February 2005 05:34 (nineteen years ago) link
― Bimble... (Bimble...), Monday, 28 February 2005 05:44 (nineteen years ago) link
― Matt DC (Matt DC), Monday, 28 February 2005 07:11 (nineteen years ago) link
Now THIS is really *honouring the fire*!
― Dr. C (Dr. C), Monday, 28 February 2005 10:02 (nineteen years ago) link
in a welsh tourist shop i once found some beer-flavoured mustard!! not a good idea
― mark s (mark s), Monday, 28 February 2005 10:05 (nineteen years ago) link
haha, well part of the deal for me to come to London involved my mother-in-law flying up from Texas to stay with my wife & the baby, so some sign of gratitude/compensation/tribute was truly due. And she loves that fuckin' stuff.
Incidentally, if I never set foot in Piccadilly Circus again (or the surrounding area), that would be absolutely fuckin' fine with me. It makes Times Square seem sparsely attended.
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 28 February 2005 14:10 (nineteen years ago) link
Seriously, with a last name as common as your actual last name, there are probably plenty of people with your exact full name.
― Ken L (Ken L), Monday, 28 February 2005 14:18 (nineteen years ago) link
http://www.studio-c.co.uk/maliciousdamage/graphics/mdbutt129-f2.jpg
Ummm.....could this really be something that would set off a customs agent?
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 28 February 2005 14:26 (nineteen years ago) link
Piccadilly Circus again (or the surrounding area), that would be absolutely fuckin' fine with me. It makes Times Square seem sparsely attended.
Funnily enough, when we visited Times Square, I was surprised at how quiet it seemed. Now I know why...
― MGrout, Monday, 28 February 2005 14:30 (nineteen years ago) link
It's full of Americans, that's problem!
Hope she enjoys the mustard. Is there room for it alongside "the shortbread biscuits my son in law bought me when he went to see Throbbing Gristle" and the "Slayer teddies in national costume"
― Dr. C (Dr. C), Monday, 28 February 2005 14:42 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 28 February 2005 14:59 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 00:13 (nineteen years ago) link
Hmmm ... so why Seattle? Is that the new hotspot for the terrorists?
― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 00:24 (nineteen years ago) link
― KeithW (kmw), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 00:29 (nineteen years ago) link
Seattle held the G8 conference in 2000. Maybe the Customs officer thought Alex looked like an Anti-Globalization protestor.
― DJ Martian (djmartian), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 00:42 (nineteen years ago) link
― The Argunaut (sexyDancer), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 02:38 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 15:37 (nineteen years ago) link
― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 15:50 (nineteen years ago) link
however most likely on comment card: scruffy rocker needs to smarten up ;-)
― DJ Martian (djmartian), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 15:56 (nineteen years ago) link
― Jeff W (zebedee), Tuesday, 1 March 2005 16:19 (nineteen years ago) link
http://homepage.mac.com/alexinnyc/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2005-02-27%2016.45.31%20-0800/Image-7DF5421E891F11D9.jpg
http://homepage.mac.com/alexinnyc/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2005-02-27%2016.45.31%20-0800/Image-7DF656B1891F11D9.jpg
http://homepage.mac.com/alexinnyc/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2005-02-27%2016.45.31%20-0800/Image-7DFC6804891F11D9.jpg
That's a fellow Gatherer, my absolute not sober self, and Raven after the show on Friday night. Hooray for alcohol.
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 3 March 2005 01:01 (nineteen years ago) link
About the customs thing, my opinion is don't bother. If they really had something on you I can't imagine why they would have left you up to your own devices to contact whoever anyway. And the way you tell the story you make it sound like they only told you to contact someone for an answer to your question, not because THEY specifically wanted you to contact someone. The way you tell the story, it just sounds like a lot of scare tactics to me.
― Bimble... (Bimble...), Thursday, 3 March 2005 05:21 (nineteen years ago) link
actually jars of food like that are the perfect thing to get caught at customs for, as they're commonly used to smuggle drugs (masking scent for the dogs, icky stuff for the customs agent's hand). don't ask me how i know.
i'd bet, given your last name, there's somebody on the big "no flight list" with the same or a similar name. good thing your flight didn't get turned around. but don't worry, ted kennedy's on it too!
― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 3 March 2005 06:52 (nineteen years ago) link
― anthony easton (anthony), Thursday, 3 March 2005 08:53 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 3 March 2005 14:15 (nineteen years ago) link
― don weiner, Thursday, 3 March 2005 15:06 (nineteen years ago) link
― Bimble... (Bimble...), Thursday, 3 March 2005 15:43 (nineteen years ago) link
― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Thursday, 3 March 2005 16:04 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 3 March 2005 16:12 (nineteen years ago) link
― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Thursday, 3 March 2005 16:26 (nineteen years ago) link
― you will be shot (you will be shot), Thursday, 3 March 2005 16:28 (nineteen years ago) link