Damn good article from the "San Francisco Chronicle" by Harley Sorensen and brought to you via Common Dreams website. We all need to pull together, in a non-violent manner, and stop Bush and his bloody empire in DC. Right now! Not tomorrow ... today! Don't hide behind a flag like some whimp ... be a true American and patriot. Rally together and do what we can to keep Bushies from destroying our beloved country. Check out this article.............

http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0623-09.htm

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Rolling into this past weekend I thought the only excitement I’ll experience will be purchasing and commence reading the new Harry Potter book, plus going to the gym. Well, I did pick up the book yesterday at BORDERS bookstore and saved 40%. So instead of paying $29 at one store, I got the book for $19 and that made me happy. So far I’ve read up to Chapter 9 and it’s wickedly good. Proud to say I love the whole Harry Potter series. Its fun, interesting and a fast read.

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Saturday morning at 10:30am I received a phone call from an acquaintance of mine, whom I met through a Pearl Jam IRWT club pal [ie: Melissa]. Jodie was on her cell phone and calling me from her car in Pennsylvania. She also had three other friends with her and they ALL reside in Detroit. They were heading to NYC for a 24-hour whirlwind tour of the city. OMG! They had been out at a bar until 1am drinking and decided to go see NYC. Just like that! Whoa! Said they’d be pulling into NYC and Brooklyn [where I live] in about 3 hours or so. We discussed some plans, travel tips and I hung up the phone. This left me 3 hours to get the following things done … color my hair, shower, dress, makeup, do laundry & dishes, go to the cleaners and tidy up the apartment. And yes … I did all that in 3 hours! Must be a world record for me.

Between 2pm and 2:30pm I received another call from Jodie and they had just gotten thru the Lincoln Tunnel. I gave them directions to Midtown Tunnel and told them to call me once through that. Which they did … gave further directions to my place and ran out of apartment with umbrella [plus my house keys] to meet them at corner. We met up at corner [two blocks away] at the same time. I’m like … OMG there is Jodie driving the car and their all waving at me. Wild! I point them in the direction of Keyfood parking lot. Jodie introduces me to the others … Debbie, Richard and Matt. Then she calls Melissa [she lives in Arkansas] on her cell phone and hands it to me. We chat for a few minutes and Melissa can’t believe that they’re in NYC. She’s totally wigging out. Its softly raining at this point and abit chilly outside. You wouldn’t know it’s the first day of summer. Anyhow, we head up to my apartment to chill for abit and the two fella’s run to local Deli to pick up beers. Debbie and Jodie also go, as they want to get film and tampons. Back at the apartment their drinking beer and we’re discussing the agenda for the days outing. Yep, I’m going with them to be hostess and tour guide.

We head out at 3:20pm and took my two good umbrellas. I’m using one and Debbie [for now] is using the other one. At the subway station they purchase one-day fun pass Metro cards for $7 and we hop on the subway. Need to take three subways into Manhattan and head up to the upper Westside. First stop on agenda … the “Dakota”, Central Park & the infamous “Strawberry Fields” with “imagine” memorial to John Lennon. Yep, it’s still raining. Hum … what did you expect … sunshine on the weekend. Yeah … right! After that we took the subway down to the lower Eastside, as Richard wanted to check out a tattoo parlor for supplies et al. While on subway riding downtown I take some pix of the four of them. We’re having a good time … lots of laughs. They’re a fun bunch.

We get off at Second Avenue and try to locate a tattoo parlor. I finally asked one of the “locals” and he points us in the right direction [off of East Houston]. We find the tattoo parlor, but the three dudes were not at all helpful, even abit snotty. We were being nice and polite too. I felt badly for Richard, but he seemed to take it well. A few doors down from that place was a neat Italian place. We were all hungry at this point and wanted pizza. The place had a groovy atmosphere and the food was good, plus reasonably priced. From there we walked several blocks to Delancey Street to catch a subway. The third item on our agenda was next … they wanted to see “Ground Zero” at WTC. We got off at Chamber Street stop and walked west, stopping at Starbucks, as they wanted coffee. By this time the weather outside was getting worse. Rain was coming down heavier and the wind was really picking up. Not a good sign! We made it to Ground Zero and stood at the viewing area not far from Millennium Hotel. Lots of other people are there as well, mostly tourist. We also stopped at Century 21 department store to buy socks.

The subways in that area are closed, so we head down to Wall Street station of 4 & 5 subway. Can you believe it, the damn station is closed and the token booth clerk has no idea where nearest station is. Geez! By this time we’ve lost our umbrellas do to the downpour and strong winds. I’m getting wet and not happy about that. Still, overall, we’re having a good time. Really! Leave the Wall Street station and run up Broadway to the Fulton Street station for A train. Along the way ducking into doorways or under awnings to get away from the horrible weather. Good lord, it was nasty! Finally get a subway back to my neighbor and while walking to my apartment its still windy, but rain has stopped. Its now 9pm and we all look like drenched rats. Not a pretty picture. Jodie gets her car from parking lot and then parks it on my street. Back at my place we change into dry clothes or try to dry the ones they were wearing. I lent Richard one of my sweatshirts. They all utilized my bathroom to clean up, drink beer, I drank tea and we sat around chatting until 11pm.

While we’re talking I’m also going over subway plans with Jodie, cause the four of them wanted to check out Times Square and Greenwich Village that evening. So … at 11pm … we said our goodbyes and they headed off into the night. Said they’d be back around 5am to pick up the car and drive back to Detroit. Yep, all the way to Michigan. After they left I did some things around apartment before going to bed at 12:30am. I’m tired and not feeling too well, but I had a great time hanging out with them. And so ends my adventure this past Saturday.