My angel Fran

Believe it or not, this tale ends on a positive note. =)

Yesterday I went to the NYC DMV. It opened at 830, and when I arrived at 829 I was greeted with a line outside of about 57 people (give or take). The line moved fairly quickly, and after another line for the information desk (15 minutes) and one for the photo desk (50 minutes) I was ready to get my New York License.

The problem is that because I physically don't have my Michigan drivers license that I need to bring in a copy of my driving record including my initial issue date. Yes, this is 2012. And no, the NY DMV does not allow for secured emails or faxes. Nor are they capable of utilizing that new invention called the internet to look up the information in the database.

On my first trip to the DMV I explained my situation, and was informed not that I needed the record from the State of Michigan but only that I needed my Social Security Card (no copy or other substitution).

Broken hearted and a life an hour and a half shorter I left the DMV and called the SOS in Michigan to get my record. Because I cannot simply go into a SOS office I had to apply for my driving records by filling out a form and mailing it in (Michigan too is a little behind the technology curve). Luckily, the representative I spoke with informed me that they DO accept the form via fax. Elated, I explained that I needed the record expedited to me. The SOS employee told me that wouldn't be a problem, that as soon as the form was processed it could be sent over-night to me.

When I asked how long it would take to process the clerk told me that they were working on applications for driving records from the 10th. THE TENTH!!!

Desperate, I explained that I had an interview on Thursday and that I desperately needed the record sent to me before then so that I could gt my NY license in order. I pleaded. And it was my luck to have been connected with Fran.

Fran explained that if I noted the faxed application to her attention that she would process it and send it out the next day.

I cannot, nor could not, begin to explain how thankful I was and am for having met Fran. The NY DMV still operates the way it always has. Same with the Michigan SOS. But thanks to a kind hearted person who was willing to listen and understand I was able to get my driving record in time.

This blog post is half a thank you to Fran, and half a reminder that there are people out there in our lives whether we know it or not who share a heart with us. It may not be someone you even know. And it gives all the more reason to be kind, caring and thankful to all those you encounter.

You never know when your own Fran may come into your life and save the day!

A Street Fair Tamed Desi Ire

I awoke this last Sunday morning as usual as ever. I made coffee, read a little, ate some eggs. But this Sunday was different. My roommate had sent me a text exclaiming that there was a street fair at the end of our street!

It reminded me a whole heckuva lot of Main Bazaar in Delhi

There were lots of people with brown skin, loud music in another language, and lots of ethic food.

... just like in Delhi...

At first I had the feeling like I had unknowingly walked onto the set of Ghostbusters II

... but as it turns out the giant Statue of Liberty was just interested in eating her own hand.

A few feet later I stumbled upon KidTown...

complete with an inflatable jumping room...

some sort of action maze...

an obstacle course...

a huge slide...

and some sort of dragon's layer.

Inside the layer was perhaps the best, as this kid wants to ride the inflatable dinosaur...

does...

then gets tossed from it just like that. Now you see him, now you don't!

There were also so some super fancy balloon guys...

some carny games...

and a water dunk - the first I had ever actually seen!

Everybody missed. I would have totally hit the bulls eye, but UNFORTUNATELY I had my camera with me. So I couldn't show everybody up. And that's the ONLY reason that I couldn't hit the mark =)

But perhaps the coolest thing I saw was this guy and his ridiculously loud bicycle playing quite abrasive rap music. Not for money, seemingly not for a purpose, just to be loud and anything...

Just another weekend in my neighborhood...

An open-ended letter to no one

I think what I find the most difficult about being creative - whether it is writing or taking pictures or whatever it may be - is the feeling like I cannot fully represent what it is that I feel inside. I would venture to argue that each one of us has had that moment where we were filled with awe and inspiration and beauty abounded yet we struggled to portray that to others. Maybe it's a loved one that you never can quite explain how much you love them, or a really serene feeling in the park that you can't quite capture on film. Whatever it may be, it is the struggle of each and every one of us; to let someone into our minds and share the beauty of things as we experience them is the most daunting of tasks.

I don't believe that artists see things differently than anyone else. I don't believe that their imaginations run more wild than yours or mine, nor that they are able to sense things in a different way. I simply believe that those who are gifted in the arts - whether it be written, visual, movement, sound, whatever - are simply able to let the beauty out of themselves to share with others. True geniuses are able to paint or draw or sing or write things that we ourselves feel or see or hear or think. The people that inspire and amaze me the most are those that are able to speak to me.

This is where I struggle most. How is it I can share happiness? How can anyone share something which comes from within rather than being given? I find myself almost crippled with the weight of self-disappointment that I so rarely am able to communicate the beauty that lives within my head.

I have decided to focus on simplicity. Too often have I allowed the enormity of what exists in my mind attempt to come rushing out all at once, and as a result it has often jumbled and confused the message that I want to share. 

So here's the deal: From now on this blog, as you read it now, will no longer be the complicated and meaty one that it too often has been. It will instead be simple. I will share what makes me smile, and I hope that it will inspire you to smile too.

Thank you as always for spending your time reading my words.

Sincerest of regards,

-Kyle