Aaron Around The World >> North America >> United States of America >> New York, New York
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Monday, 16 December 2013 - Windows to the soul
Wednesday, 18 December 2013 - No photos!
Friday, 20 December 2013 - Apartment living
Saturday, 21 December 2013 - Christmas overload
Monday, 23 December 2013 - Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Wednesday, 25 December 2013 - Merry freezing Christmas!
Sunday, 29 December 2013 - Smart
Monday, 30 December 2013 - I touched the ball!
This is a shot I took of Times Square in the summer of 2012 (my first in New York). And way up high in the distance there is the Times Square Ball. The ball is located atop the One Times Square building and is a prominent part of New Year's Eve celebrations in Time Square, colloquially known as the "ball drop". At 11:59pm EST every New Year's Eve (since 1907), the ball begins to descend 43 metres (141 feet) in 60 seconds down the specially designed pole you can see here, and resting at midnight to signal the start of the new year. The Times Square ball drop is one of the best-known New Year's celebrations internationally, with a million spectators packing Times Square to see it in person, and a billion more tuning in to watch it on TV and the Internet. Yup, at precisely one minute before midnight a billion people will stop what they're doing in order to watch a big ball slide down a pole.
Tuesday, 31 December 2013 - The ball has dropped
Wednesday, 1 January 2014 - The Guggenheim
Thursday, 2 January 2014 - Logical
Friday, 3 January 2014 - Hercules
Saturday, 4 January 2014 - No veges!
Tuesday, 7 January 2014 - Am I too late for the garbage?
Thursday, 9 January 2014 - The New York subway of old
Friday, 10 January 2014 - "Bridgegate"
Sunday, 12 January 2014 - The Book of Mormon
Wednesday, 15 January 2014 - "You hit me!"
Friday, 17 January 2014 - Nine years! Today is the ninth anniversary of my first leaving home (New Zealand) way back in 2005, and embarking on what continues to be the adventure of a lifetime! However, the end may finally be nigh.
This time last year my continued (legal) presence in the United States was contingent on the successful and ongoing renewal of my temporary work visa, which itself was contingent on my actually being employed by my (London-based) employer who was sponsoring the work visa, which itself was contingent on the ongoing renewal of our client contract with UBS (Swiss investment bank) in Midtown Manhattan hehe. Needless to say there were a lot of balls in the air, a lot of uncertainty, and a lot of possible and less-than-ideal outcomes.
Due to all of those balls and the constant threat of being kicked out of the country at a moment's notice, Kristina and I took the plunge a little earlier than intended and hastily tied the knot back in May. Doing so meant I was eligible for permanent residency in the US rather than living on egg shells from temporary visa to temporary visa. From that point on it was a fairly straight-forward process to make that happen, and I'm extremely happy to say those balls have all fallen into place rather nicely :) Furthermore, it's now virtually set in stone that I will in fact be here forever.
Our plan at this stage is to stay in New York for about another 18 months until summer 2015. We're then intending to pack up our life here and set out on a four-month road trip covering the bulk of the United States and bits of Canada before setting up camp in Austin, Texas, most likely permanently (yeehaw!). For nine years now I've been setting up 'camps' all over the world, always wondering where the final permanent camp would be. It looks like I may finally have an answer.
So unless something changes in the interim, it'll be business as usual in the Big Apple for Kristina and I until sometime next year, after which things will start to get interesting again (it's always risky business quitting your job and heading off into the sunset ;)
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