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Post by The Chloe on Aug 30, 2003 1:05:33 GMT -5
These won't be nearly as long as my montreal ones, since I didn't keep track of what I was doing nearly as well. my notes are awful... I posted this in here so that it wouldnt' get moved to the archives later Perhaps we should move Leo's as well? I stayed at a hotel not far from the tournament site with somebody that I didn't *really* know. I wasn't really worried about it though, or I wouldn't have gone. This was my first solo vacation, so I was pretty pumped up about it. The hotel was only about a 15 minute walk from the site, which was a bonus. I took a bus to get to NYC, since that was the cheapest way to do it. My bus was scheduled to leave my town at 410 am on the 24th. I worked Saturday the 23rd from 1130am-930pm. I biked home and arrived around 10pm, then spent the rest of the night packing, doing laundry, etc. I finally called my cab to the terminal around 330am, figuring it would be fine that I hadn't slept since I could sleep ALLL day on the bus. WRONG. I hadn't accounted for: 1) My bus stopped in Toronto at 6am, after which I had a lay over until 715am. 2) After leaving Toronto at 715am, we get to the border 2 hours later and have to stop for almost an hour at customs. So I didn't really get to have full sleep until almost noon. With little food on my stomache, little sleep, and being slighty prone to motion sickness.... it wasn't pretty I began throwing up around 1pm, and spend a good part of the next hour and a half on the bus bathroom floor. I thought that I was going to DIE. I have not been that sick before... not in recent memory. I was AWFUL. If not for the 230 pit stop, I might have thrown up my stomache lining! I went into this place called "Pilot" - which I case is a travel depo and gas station? So I went in there looking for gravol and they didnt' have any! I had to settle for fake pepto bismal. The other people from the bus kept looking at me in pity as I walked by them with my medicine and water I sat on the curb for a while before boarding the bus, and took a good doseage of my medicine. It was rather effective! I was sleeping like a baby until we hit NYC. Then around 6pm, the puking started up again. A half hour later, after getting to know the bathroom better, I could hear the bus driver announcing stuff but couldn't hear him. So when I left the bathroom I asked the lady beside me what was up, and she told me that we were almost there. THANK GOD. I thought that it would never end. I arrived alive... but just barely! I had to spend twenty minutes in the bus station bathroom just to make sure I wasn't going to pass out. I forced a cookie down and some more water, in the hopes of giving myself some energy to get going on the subway for another 40 minutes. Just when I thought it was over.... The Subway to TimesSquare to Shea Stadium is a little more than half an hour. I felt better at this point, but still awful. I figured I would be able to hold my stomache for a little while longer. WRONG again! I started puking about ten stops from Shea Stadium. Nobody really noticed or said anything while I was doing... it was just water, so I was pretty quiet about it The worst was was that I had to hold the fucking bag for the rest of the trip. That, and the family of three that pointed and laughed at me with my vomit bag didn't help... That and the bag started LEAKING. So I had to recover another bag from my travel bag in the hopes of not smelling like vomit when I met up with the person I was staying with. lol... ah, good times. I finally got off the Subway, and was thrilled that I would not be on anything moving for at least three days.
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Post by The Chloe on Aug 30, 2003 1:06:38 GMT -5
Erm... I'll post my actual USO experiences tomorrow. Hopefully I've wet your appetites so far
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Post by Partridge In A Pear Tree on Aug 30, 2003 4:52:44 GMT -5
ahem...while reading this i am actually pushing some morsel in my mouth. lol *bon appetit*
you poor thing. i remember travelling in a remote island in the Philippines, we were on this crammed bus i sat behind this woman who kept puking and some of those actually landed on me! luckily i had a bottle of water and some extra packs of those wet tissues, which i gladly shared with her to ease her misery, she was so embarrassed, but really, on moments like this there's not much you can do about it. mind you she didn't have those "puke bags", so she threw up on the floor...
...as you were saying about the USO? ;D
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Post by Ilhame on Aug 30, 2003 15:49:38 GMT -5
It sucks that you got sick, but at least you made it to the Open ;D I don't really get travel sick when I go to Morocco, but somehow can't eat during the 3 day trip. Sometimes I vomit too.
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Post by Jasper on Aug 30, 2003 17:54:44 GMT -5
You poor thing! You cannot get me on a NYC subway, no way.
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Post by RogiFan on Aug 30, 2003 20:12:54 GMT -5
Becca, sounds like the road trip from hell! Glad you survived to see a bit of tennis! Awaiting your report...
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Post by Lee on Aug 30, 2003 20:14:50 GMT -5
You poor thing! You cannot get me on a NYC subway, no way. LOL Leo, it seems Canadians are braver than you! I rode the NYC subway too! It's, erm, an very educational experience ;D
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Post by Lee on Aug 30, 2003 20:18:04 GMT -5
Becca, sorry for your very unfortunate bus trip. It reminds me my trip from Vancouver back to Hong Kong after visiting relatives in Canada. I was so sick that I almost wanted to jump out of the plane when I saw my appartment from the airplane.
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Post by The Chloe on Aug 30, 2003 23:51:52 GMT -5
I meant to do this today, but just didn't get around to it... I move tomorrow morning, and doubt I can do it before then. I have three days to talk about (saving the best for last ), and might be able to scoot over to the library tomorrow night to get it done. Otherwise we're looking at around Monday for me to spit this stuff out
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Post by The Chloe on Aug 30, 2003 23:55:19 GMT -5
You poor thing! You cannot get me on a NYC subway, no way. No? Have you been before? It's really not so terrible. I felt very safe, and I was a young girl on my own, carrying luggage... I love public transit... you get to cross people from all walks of life...especially in a big city in NYC. For example, the area I was staying in in Queens was populated largly by people of asian decent... I apologize for not being able to distinguish what part of Asia specifically, btw... anyways, when I took the subway to the station on my way home, I was the ONLY white person on my car. If I didn't take the subway and really try to experience things that the locals do everyday, I would never get to be in situations like that. It's very educational, in some ways.
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Post by Lee on Aug 31, 2003 0:07:25 GMT -5
No? Have you been before? It's really not so terrible. I felt very safe, and I was a young girl on my own, carrying luggage... I love public transit... you get to cross people from all walks of life...especially in a big city in NYC. For example, the area I was staying in in Queens was populated largly by people of asian decent... I apologize for not being able to distinguish what part of Asia specifically, btw... anyways, when I took the subway to the station on my way home, I was the ONLY white person on my car. If I didn't take the subway and really try to experience things that the locals do everyday, I would never get to be in situations like that. It's very educational, in some ways. From what I was told, Flushing Meadow have quite a large population of immigrants from Taiwan and Korea. Last time I was in NYC, about 12 years ago, Hubby and I stayed in a friend's married-students quarter in Columbia University, took the subway to the so-called new China Town there. About 2 stops after THE Flushing Meadow. When the subway (which was not underground at that part) passed Flushing Meadow, I saw the big Globe and wondered what's that place . Well, I was not a follower of tennis in that good old days.
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Post by The Chloe on Aug 31, 2003 0:19:50 GMT -5
From what I was told, Flushing Meadow have quite a large population of immigrants from Taiwan and Korea. Last time I was in NYC, about 12 years ago, Hubby and I stayed in a friend's married-students quarter in Columbia University, took the subway to the so-called new China Town there. About 2 stops after THE Flushing Meadow. When the subway (which was not underground at that part) passed Flushing Meadow, I saw the big Globe and wondered what's that place . Well, I was not a follower of tennis in that good old days. 2 stops, huh? There is only one stop after Shea Stadium... Main Street - Queens. I stayed two blocks from there. So it was obviously the same area. It was a nice change of pace after staying in Manhatten last year.
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Post by Lee on Aug 31, 2003 0:36:20 GMT -5
2 stops, huh? There is only one stop after Shea Stadium... Main Street - Queens. I stayed two blocks from there. So it was obviously the same area. It was a nice change of pace after staying in Manhatten last year. Can't remember how many stops since it was 12 years ago I only remembered the Chinese food there was really authentic.
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Post by vaiva on Aug 31, 2003 9:10:45 GMT -5
The intro was very appetizing, Becca! ;P
I hope your horrible travelling experiences were worth it and they wouldn't be the highlight of your trip.
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Post by RogiFan on Aug 31, 2003 21:00:29 GMT -5
No? Have you been before? It's really not so terrible. I felt very safe, and I was a young girl on my own, carrying luggage... I love public transit... you get to cross people from all walks of life...especially in a big city in NYC. For example, the area I was staying in in Queens was populated largly by people of asian decent... I apologize for not being able to distinguish what part of Asia specifically, btw... anyways, when I took the subway to the station on my way home, I was the ONLY white person on my car. If I didn't take the subway and really try to experience things that the locals do everyday, I would never get to be in situations like that. It's very educational, in some ways. Becca, that does sound educational and v interesting! Definitely NOT the tourist route! NYC has so many neat neighbourhoods. Waiting for more!!
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Post by Jasper on Aug 31, 2003 22:20:16 GMT -5
No? Have you been before? It's really not so terrible. I felt very safe, and I was a young girl on my own, carrying luggage... Compared to the Paris metro, the NYC subway is horrible for me.
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Post by The Chloe on Sept 1, 2003 13:16:45 GMT -5
Compared to the Paris metro, the NYC subway is horrible for me. NYC subway isn't as nice as Montreal metro either I won't have internet until tomorrow - I'm just at the library now... and since it's going to take an hour to type out everything I did, It will have to wait another day I did get to see most everybody I wanted, and some people I hadn't seen before. I finally got to see Nadal, and I've always liked Vinciguerra so i got to see him as well... I saw Todd and Jonas in doubles, which was a treat, and saw a bit of Draper who I have always liked... yada yada. I watched more womens tennis than I had originally planned too... I'll give all the details tomorrow sometime, assuming my internet gets hooked up according to plan. Hopefully people are still interested in reading it then
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Post by DBBN on Sept 2, 2003 11:12:20 GMT -5
Here's a preview:
"Monday. Today I met Hurley. Sigh. He is so dreamy. Wherever he went, he was fending off sexual advances. Hurley and I hit on Rainer and his match was postponed so that we could all have a romantic lunch at Tavern on the Green. Hurley told me that Lopez was playing Radek, but I thought he said "Roddick." That was funny. We compared bellybuttons and arm scars. Tennis? What tennis?"
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Post by Ilhame on Sept 2, 2003 11:52:19 GMT -5
lmao hurley
paris metro wasn't that great IMO. Too much people in there and too many strikes ;D
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Post by The Chloe on Sept 2, 2003 18:32:29 GMT -5
Here's a preview: "Monday. Today I met Hurley. Sigh. He is so dreamy. Wherever he went, he was fending off sexual advances. Hurley and I hit on Rainer and his match was postponed so that we could all have a romantic lunch at Tavern on the Green. Hurley told me that Lopez was playing Radek, but I thought he said "Roddick." That was funny. We compared bellybuttons and arm scars. Tennis? What tennis?" Arm scars? Don't forget piercings! Too bad mine will never be as hot as Stefan's
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Post by Dissident on Sept 2, 2003 21:03:43 GMT -5
lol It all looks so promising!! ;D
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Post by The Chloe on Sept 3, 2003 16:19:01 GMT -5
ugh - for the love of fucking God To make a long story short, everybody else in my house has internet access except me And I don't want to write up what I did until I have all my notes infront of me and the schedule of play, so it will ahve to wait another 5 years or so. As you can see, I'm very impressed at the moment
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Post by The Chloe on Sept 10, 2003 17:07:21 GMT -5
If anybody is still interested. I should get time to type most of this up at work tonight. I work from 8-12, and that should give me ample time to finally write this out... I was unpacking and came acrosss some USO stuff and remembered I hadn't boasted yet
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Post by RogiFan on Sept 10, 2003 17:11:30 GMT -5
If anybody is still interested. I should get time to type most of this up at work tonight. I work from 8-12, and that should give me ample time to finally write this out... I was unpacking and came acrosss some USO stuff and remembered I hadn't boasted yet sounds good to me Becca! bring it on!!
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Post by The Chloe on Sept 11, 2003 0:36:02 GMT -5
I remind you that my notes for everything unrelated to Day Three are pretty sure... and the Day Three notes were only good for one reason, which I will get to. Onward... Day OneI was feeling quite a bit better than I had the night before Perhaps it was the burger king keeping me alive Regardless, I already had bought a ticket but had to pick it up at the Will Call window, so we left early to get there in plenty of time for the gates to open. In line for the Will Call window I saw a tennis friend (sort of like you guys are tennis friends) of mine (who I have met a couple times), so we went over and waited for him. The dumb oaf thought he lost his health card and had us wandering around look at the ground - of course, it was in his pocket the whole time Then we walked over towards the line to get in... which now wrapped around the circle and crawled up the boardwalk. So we're like "man, that's far" (it's not really... and by we, I mean me =)), just as some burley fellow waves and motions for us to come over in line with him, right up near the front. No, this was not some random act of kindness by a lonely stranger - it was a random act of kindness of a lonely Burley! So we go get in line there, and chit chat about nothing for 2 minutes before the gates open. I wasn't that impressed by the security... they searched my bag, but seriously - I could have had anything in there. "Is that a camera", followed by a "yes".. should that really be good enough? I suppose that as long as people think it's safe, that's all that really matters, right? Burley got felt up btw... they randomly take people over to another line and give them a frisk. He liked it. Ask him about it. So we enter the park, and I decide to buy a schedule - yes, you have to BUY a schedule. I think that it was 3 bucks. Granted, at least it isn't just one page - it's several, contains all of the updated draws, and commentary on the days events. But still... they make you BUY a schedule! Nothing screams $$$ like the USO... Of course the front and back cover is a special page that is all dedicated to Pete and his greatness... we had a good laugh over this At least... i did ~more to come~
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Post by The Chloe on Sept 11, 2003 0:52:42 GMT -5
So we split up sometime after laughing at Pete, because we all pretty much wanted to do our own thing. I decided to go see the first few games of Kucera-Popp, while the other guys were going to watch womens tennis. Kucera-Popp was on court 6, which is right beside court 7 and there is a walkway between both of them. So I wandered back and forth a bit so I could see some of Vera and Kurhajcova. Neither match was all that thrilling - although to be honest, I only saw a few games of each There was so much going on that I wanted to be everywhere at once... I only watched one full match my entire time there. Kucera actulaly looked like he was in for a long match at the point I left... erm, he wasn't it turns out Which is good, as I was rooting for him.. Erm, so sometime during that I went over to Armstrong and watched a set of Ferrero-Vacek. I hadnt' planned on it, but somebody I was with suggested it and I was like "oohhh... well if you're going to pull my leg, FINE I'll go see Ferrero" He was playing pretty well, but it wasn't a very exciting match Again, this was likely just because I wanted to be everywhere else and couldnt' focus, lol So then I made a huge deal out of seeing Robredo play Verdasco (I have half a roll of film of Robredo), and that was an awful match - for Tommy Nothing he did was good enough, he just got hammered. Verdasco was impressive... if I had looked at him more, I might be able to give a decent report, but unfortunately I wasn't being a good "tennis" fan that match When Robredo lost he just walked off, and some woman, who must have been twice my age yelled after him "Tommy, can't I please have your autograph" and he just sort of waved at her and kept going, and some kid apparently was like "don't you have any respect for your fans" - it's best I left for the last part, or I might have kicked the kid The players don't owe us shit... if they are crabby because they lost, let them walk, leave them alone. Bloody hell.... I was standing around when Max and Davydenko came on, but didnt' watch very much of it...I was once again, running all over the place. I saw bits of Meltzer-Baker, because I wanted to scout Baker and see if the kid was any good. I wasn't too impressed, but he was obviously pretty nervous, and understandable so. I wanted to see Lina, but her match was pretty much over by the time that I went over there Following Lina's match, I went over to see Coria come on. I had thought that I would be able to get a decent standing spot or seat if I came 5 minute before the match - what was I thinking? The court was packed, and I had to peer over three people just to take a damn picture. I was not pleased with his court assignment after that... I just left before they started because there was no point since I couldn't see shit all I ended up going to watch Suarez-Roesch, because I was looking for somebody that I just knew would be at that match. Right across from this match was Koubek-Galimberti, so I could see both of the matches a bit. The story here is of the Koubek match - he had these super loud fans (Koubek has fans?) who would drunkenly sing songs everytime it was getting tight. They were so loud, that they made the Aussie's look pretty tame. I was impressed, if not annoyed. I spent as much time thinking "shut up" as thinking "Koubek inspires people to sing?" ~more to come~
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Post by DBBN on Sept 11, 2003 0:54:55 GMT -5
just as some burley fellow waves and motions for us to come over in line with him, right up near the front. No, this was not some random act of kindness by a lonely stranger - it was a random act of kindness of a lonely Burley! Yes. Me = fat. Seriously. It would be so easy to kill everyone at the US Open. WOW. I had totally forgotten about that! That was the most action I had all week. Before the Rainer sex, of course
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Post by The Chloe on Sept 11, 2003 0:55:21 GMT -5
At various times on day one I saw the following practicing: Capriati, Stepanek (rahr), Roddick with Kafelnikov, and some others I'm forgetting *scratches head*
Anyways, that about wraps up day one.. it was a good start.
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Post by The Chloe on Sept 11, 2003 1:01:11 GMT -5
I'll do days two and three tomorrow... that will have to do for now
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Post by Ilhame on Sept 11, 2003 3:09:39 GMT -5
Thanks for the moment
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