September 11th

Today felt like a day off…and that was my intention.  Karishma and I decided semi-last minute to go to Governor's Island.  Lately, I haven't done enough of that kind of thing.  We both sort of lamented the passing of summer and how we didn't manage to do half of the fun things we wanted to.  One of my big things was sailing.  Seeing the sailboats all over the harbor as we sat on the south end of Governor's Island kept reminding me of that.  Oh well.  There's always next summer.

I'd just like to say that Governor's Island is fun.  Not for the events or the art installations or the biking or all the other things you hear about that are meant to attract you to the island.  No, what I'm talking about is the sense of history in the old buildings and the fact that, for the most part, you can just wander at will wondering what all these places were for.  Of course, I've been meaning to actually read up on the history of the island more but it's much more fun to just stumble on it all not knowing anything about it.

We came upon Fort Jay, on the north side of the island, and with no one around on such a dreary day, it was a little spooky.  On the south end of the fort, beyond a dry moat was a large black door in the wall.  Sneaking up to it, we pushed on it only to find it was chained on the inside.  But as I pushed further the chain slid completely out of the latch and the door opened enough for us to slide in.  Feeling a little mischievous and a little unsure of ourselves we wandered up a short tunnel that led into a courtyard surrounded by what looked like houses.  We were most certainly okay to be up there but the chained door and the lack of other people sure made us feel like we were up to no good.  So for good measure, I actually jumped up on the highest part of the defensive wall behind the houses to get a good look around.  It was at this point that I saw the trapese down in the field below.  Yes, the New York Trapese School has some of its classes here in the summer time.  Later on when we walked down in the field and approached their setup, I started to get some ideas in my head.  This might be my next thing.  :)

Continuing on, with Karishma getting nervous about my adventurousness, we walked along the wall for a bit until we came upon some vines wrapped around a fence which blocked us from getting anywhere near the canons up on the highest part of the wall.  Closer inspection revealed them to be grape vines...which were in fruit.  So you can bet I tried some.  The Lower Manhattan skyline loomed over the embankment reminding us that even despite being so isolated, we were still in the city. 

Today was September 11th and I manged to miss the barrage of coverage I would have taken part in had I worked during the day.  Instead, I got to be out and about on this day.  Some of my friends back home would say things like "be extra careful this weekend!"  But I shall be no more careful than I usually am.  If we live in fear the terrorists have won exactly what they were after.   Besides, no terrorist would plot something when everyone's expecting them to do something.  As Karishma and I lazed around on the south end of the island (hammocks are so nice!) we noticed a red helicopter and a military plane of some type circling the Statue of Liberty.  The harbor was full of police boats too strangely, all with their lights flashing.  Cops were set up at the entrances to the subway station at South Ferry.  So, I wasn't worried one bit.  Just another day in the city. 

I came into the city a little early before work and walked from Rector St. up to Chambers, taking a meandering course so I could glimpse the tribute in light up close.  Hauntingly beautiful and moving.  There were so many more people coursing through Lower Manhattan than usual.  I stumbled into a candlelight vigil or two and stopped for a bit to get a view of the new towers under construction.  You needed to have tickets to get into the memorial museum and I think they were only letting in family members of victims today.  I will go some time this week when it's open to the public. 

Tonight, though, I plan on pushing forward on the music for the trailer to Sides of the Track.  There's not much left to do.  Tomorrow, I'll meet Mohammad for the payment right before I head to Union Square for a Gluten Free Meetup I signed up for.  I'm pretty excited about that.  For now, I should get going.  Maybe some pics in the post eventually.