Friday/Shabbat – Day 4/5

December 31, 2013

First thing today Molly and I commuted back to NYC to meet up with Paul Marret and Steph Garace for tea and lunch. We spent quite a while at David’s Tea as the two girls perused the many items on offer. Lunch almost as long. For me, a bagel and lox was first pick and I was grateful for the way it was presented with all the ingredients separate from the bagel. This allowed me to remove about two-thirds of the cream cheese before eating it.

Immediately following lunch I raced off to Penn Station to get to Ariella Levine’s in time for Shabbat. When I arrived I unpacked a little before scurrying into the kitchen to help out with the preparations. When the table was set and all was ready I had a little tinkle on their grand piano. Old and quite out of tune but a beautiful instrument nonetheless.

Dinner that night was with Sarah and Bob (Ariella’s parents), Dani (Ariella’s lovely sister), Ariella and some family friends of theirs. The food was good, especially a squash kugle that Ariella made, and the conversation was quite interesting. American Jews have a very different perspective on things to what I’m used to and seem to experience very different cultural pressures as a result of high intermarriage rates. Both families also seemed fascinated by Australia, from the animals to the societal structures. After a few hours I felt the weight of the jetlag pulling me down and so excused myself and fell fast asleep, glaring light in my face be damned.

Shabbat was a quiet affair, another few meals, some quality time with Ariella. Over lunch I discovered that someone at the table was working on a legal case that I was quite familiar with, as it was within the realm of my scientific interest and this led to quite a long discussion on the matter with a number of documents produced that I had a good familiarity with. This was entertaining to most present as the case was highly domain specific.

After Shabbat Ariella and I caught the first train back into the city to meet with Rina Krevat, a Penn friend from the Digital Media Design course. Our intention was to go see The Hobbit, however by the time we reached AMC 42nd, tickets were all sold out! Knowing Rina, I suggested that Frozen might be a good option as the screening across the road was also yet to begin. Additionally, I was disappointed that I hadn’t been able to see it with Joyce back home, whose dream it had been for months. Thus we caught the 9.40 screening and very much enjoyed ourselves. I thought the film was excellent, particularly the animation, however some of the songs I felt paralleled just a bit too closely to Wicked and Idina Menzel’s presence didn’t quite help dispel that.

After the movie I headed to Dan’s apartment where I would be house sitting and promptly sat down at his gorgeous piano, not remembering that apartment life was a little different from living at home…

There and Back Again – Days 1/2/3

December 26, 2013

DISCLAIMER: This post is being written while I lie in bed with some serious jetlag.

And I was off again! This time to intern at Facebook on the Security and Site Integrity Team. I was to start on the 6th of January and decided to book a flight early on Christmas Day, so as to have a little holiday beforehand. Though my internship was to be in Silicon Valley, California, I booked my flight to New York City to catch up with friends from Penn first.

My first two flights were relatively uneventful, UA840 from MEL – SYD and then from SYD – LAX. Average all around. No personal screens, not much room and little else. I tried to keep the staff in good cheer by bringing some chocolates for those stuck working on Christmas Day and this had a positive effect on their moods. When I arrived in LAX I had to clear customs and immigration, taking around an hour and a half. Not much fun. Then to my dislike I noted that my connecting flight was LAX – SFO and then SFO – JFK and also not leaving for four hours. Thus after collecting my bags I headed to the ticketing desk to ask about alternative direct flights. Nothing was left on the next flight out, the one I wanted, but for $75 they could put me on a later direct flight and also include me on the standby list for the earlier one.

I accepted the offer and went to wait at the gate. Later, as passengers boarded, a bit of chaos erupted. Many passengers arrived very late holding up the flight, and one went missing. I was top of the standby list but things weren’t looking so good. One minute before the flight was due to leave I approached the desk and overheard that their computer listed one empty seat. They soon called my name but after printing my boarding pass, the computer refused to board me listing the seat as already taken. I was escorted to the door of the aircraft and told to wait while staff looked for the free seat. As it so happened, the seat wasn’t in economy, as per their system, but in business class. They ushered me in and I had just sat down when the head of staff told me to grab my bags, get up and move back to economy where they were freeing a seat by upgrading a passenger more valuable to them. However said passenger put up a fight, wanting to be with her husband. This caused such a fuss that I was directed to return to the business class seat for the rest of the flight.

Flying business class was a great experience. I slept on a flat bed, drank and ate my way through the flight, and even had a personal widescreen tv! Though I wouldn’t pay for the experience again it was a lot of fun and I thanked the staff profusely. They seemed a little amused at the way I was taking the experience but were glad to have a passenger enjoying himself so much. The lady in the seat next to me on this flight was a political lobbyist on matters of foreign policy (middle eastern) and though we only got talking late in the flight, proved to have a fair amount in common with me.

On landing in NYC, I was forced to disassemble my phone to remove and replace my stubborn Australian SIM card and frustrated myself attempting to repair a somewhat broken suitcase. No carry handle would soon prove to be most irritating. I texted Dovi ‘Barry’ Rosenberg, a friend from Penn, to inform him of my arrival and set off on the Skytrain and Subway to reach his apartment.

I reached the apartment to find a number of other Penn grads and students present, notably Kevin Beckoff, Michelle Kaplan and Rina Krevat. After a good chat, I crashed on their couch to enjoy a little rest, for an early wake up at 6AM the next morning.

I awoke with a bit of a headache, knowing I definitely needed more rest. However, I was really excited to meet with Dan Pincus who was letting me use his apartment for a number of days over the break. Over breakfast we discussed international politics and activism, alongside a regular catch up. However the highlight of this visit was seeing the ‘Gamelatron’ with my own eyes! More on that to follow.

From there I headed back to Dovi’s apartment before catching the Subway and Long Island Railroad to Huntington, Long Island, where I met Molly Hutt, my roommate from the prior semester. The afternoon was largely spent eating, mostly cheese and bread. By around three pm waves of exhaustion were washing over me, and I struggled to stay awake till the end of dinner. I was most grateful to make it to a comfy bed and to sleep before another early rise.

© 2012-2024 Shaanan Cohney