A Glimpse of New York

The best 3-letter word is NEW! That’s six points if you play scrabble… 18 points if you land on a triple word… 33 if you have a double word on “W” + a triple word score. Life brings you through mysterious ways… sometimes you get 6 points… once in a big blue moon, you get 33 points. The question then is: “Are you or will you be happy?” But isn’t happiness a state of mind? I choose to believe that it is more than that… it is also a heart condition; or rather, a state of the mind and which reflects the condition of the heart.

For some people, they have a positive outlook and NEW represent a greater progress of one level to the next. It’s always exciting to launch a new project or a new journey; a new beginning or a new life. It doesn’t matter how bad the past was, NEW brings in a different perspective… a wiser you… through the past may wound, the new gives hope and restoration…

Super 8 movie billboard.
Super 8 is a 2011 American science fiction film written and directed by J. J. Abrams and produced by Steven Spielberg. The film, starring Joel Courtney, Elle Fanning, and Kyle Chandler, was released on June 10, 2011 in conventional and IMAX theaters. The film tells the story of a group of children who are filming their own Super 8 movie when a train derails, releasing a dangerous presence into their town.

The movie was filmed in Weirton, West Virginia and surrounding areas. After witnessing a mysterious train crash, a group of friends in the summer of 1979 begin noticing strange happenings going around in their small town, and begin to investigate into the creepy phenomenon.

Yellow Cab
The bright yellow taxis that you will first notice in the streets of NYC is a daily norm of everyday life in NYC. There are so many movies being made out of it, or simply with it. It is what makes New York… New York!

The taxicabs of New York City, with their distinctive yellow paint, are a widely recognized icon of the city. Taxicabs are operated by private companies and licensed by the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission. The Commission is a New York City government agency that is best known for its responsibility for the more than 13,237 taxis operating in the city. It also oversees over 40,000 other for-hire vehicles, including “black cars”, commuter vans and ambulettes. “Medallion taxis,” the familiar yellow cabs, are the only vehicles in the city permitted to pick up passengers in response to a street hail.

As of June 2006, fares begin at $2.50 ($3.00 after 8:00 p.m., and $3.50 during the peak weekday hours of 4:00–8:00 p.m.) and increase based on the distance traveled and time spent in slow traffic (40 cents for each one-fifth of a mile or 60 seconds of no motion or motion under 12 miles an hour). The passenger also has to pay the fare whenever a cab is driven through a toll

New York City taxis have a relatively low standard fare, charging an estimated $14.10 for a distance of five miles and five minutes wait time (compared to an estimated $18.48 in West Hollywood, CA and $12.87 in Houston, TX). Taxi drivers are not permitted to use cell phones while transporting passengers, even if they use a hands-free headset, although this is widely ignored by drivers. In 1999, 241 million passengers rode in New York taxis. The average cab fare in 2000 was $6; passengers paid a total of over $1 billion in fares that year.

Calvary Cemetery (Queens, New York) – Used in “The Godfather” Movie
Calvary Cemetery is divided into four sections. The oldest, First Calvary, is also called “Old Calvary.” The Second, Third and Fourth sections are all considered part of “New Calvary.”

In 1847, faced with cholera epidemics and a shortage of burial grounds in Manhattan, the New York State Legislature passed the Rural Cemetery Act authorizing nonprofit corporations to operate commercial cemeteries. Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral trustees had purchased land in Maspeth in 1846, and this land was used to develop Calvary Cemetery. The first burial in Calvary Cemetery was in 1848 and by 1852 there were 50 burials a day, half of them the Irish poor under seven years of age.

The original division of the cemetery, now known as First Calvary or Old Calvary, was filled by 1867. The Archdiocese of New York expanded the area of the cemetery, adding more sections, and by the 1990s there were nearly 3 million burials in Calvary Cemetery. The cemetery was used in the film The Godfather for the funeral of Don Corleone.

For some, a tombstone can be a stepping stone… To know your past brings hope to where you want to go into the future. There may be reservations about your NEW future… But NEW is always and mostly a positive word. Maybe that’s why New York is such as great city!