Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Utah-大提顿-黄石 road trip!

很愉快的一趟旅行,而且是我第一次跟朋友走那么远!不是跟父母呦!!嘿嘿,难忘的一次!见到了野牛,黑熊,银河,还有第一次“犯了法”see below

这次旅行是三人行:我,小郭,和小郭的好基友李喆。Note:我没见过李喆,连他长什么样都不知道,所以另外“有趣",对嘛,我跟两个小伙子旅行还不说,有一个还是个wild card嘎嘎嘎嘎嘎!嘻嘻嘻

Day 1 6/29/16

下午5:40本该起飞的飞机,上了后pilot才发现轮胎的什么问题,所以耽误了1个多小时,8:05到了Phoenix,转机可是8:18起飞!!gates还隔得他妈的远😂500m我是喘不过气的奔跑, 幸好最后还是赶上了…… 当时真的已有一晚睡在机场的心理准备。

当地时间的11点多我们到了盐湖城,去租车,正排队一个小帅哥过来,我朝他礼貌的笑了笑正要说“Go ahead" 他拍了小郭的肩膀,喔喔原来是小郭的朋友!(嘿嘿嘿嘿 果然挺帅嘛 不错郭儿 没让老娘白期待😝😄

那天晚上我们住在了盐湖城外面的Hampton Inn,条件很好,黑夜中我几乎能看到旅馆背后高山的轮廓妈呀,内心开始激动!

Day 2 6/30/16

早上起来吃了Hampton的早餐,然后开往了Antelope Island State Park (据说是男神特意推荐的!不愧是男神啊!)好。美。

早上还有点阴天,有雾蒙蒙的感觉,梦幻中的那种,很喜欢。


下午我们爬了个trail,李喆说等于60几层楼呢(两个Cathedral那么高!!)有一个尽头太远,主要是我们水不够,只好去了更近的Dooley's Knoboh well还是很满意!坐在那石头上,一望是蓝天蓝山,底下是盐湖,风吹着,太阳大大的,美呆了。

我们还去了个bison ranch,回来的时候路上过来个大野牛然而antelope无处可见😂 ah well...


离开了公园,在Ogden吃了晚饭(Smokey's BBQ and Grill)。实在是饿昏了。。。点了牛排!


然后我们向往了Portabello, Idaho,这一程可都是老娘自己开的哦~ 景色非常美,我以为爱德华就是土光光的土豆地,没想到还是有很多高山的(至少挨Utah的这边)高高大大的山,蓝绿色,我最喜欢的那类,那时候正好还是夕阳,光线特别美,但也有一段路下了大雨(+闪电!!)我竟然都开过了,got us to the hotel in one piece...

Day 3 (7/1/16)

下楼去吃早餐在电梯里遇到了一对匹大Alumni的夫妇(G那天穿了皮大的衣服嘛 卧槽后来我也穿过好几次的匹大衣服没有人却跟我打招呼呀!)夫妇很友好,跟我们聊起来,当年和我同一个本科系!好有缘!尤其是后面,当我们提到了要去黄石的时候,夫妇说他们刚刚去了,门票是一个星期的所以还没过期,给我们吧!哇哦哦哦哦真是好人(^^)票包括大提顿和黄石,50美元(虽然后来其实我们还是会买票的,see Day 7,可是当时还是嗨皮~~“省了”50刀呢)

Target补了补食粮和水后,开往大提顿。路上路过了一片油菜花田,“风光狗”的这几位必须停下照个痛快。



到了Jackson Hole的时候是下午34点吧,我们饿了就去吃了顿饭,去了Liberty Burger, 我点了什么Apple and almond salad还蛮好吃
也去了下国家公园的Visitor Center,那里有个小博物馆,看了个讲公园里野生动物的片子,然后!出发至大提顿!!

大提顿,法语“Grand Teton” (a.k.a. “big tit” 2333), 是一座高雪山。男孩子们看到了雪山就直喊硬了硬了,我能理解。。。我!爱!雪!山!!

拍完了后我们去Jenny Lake周围稍微的走了走,因为太晒,觉得今天就不hike了。湖边很美,风大,浪也不小,水里还有人划船。


之后我们沿着Teton Park Road开,过了Jackson Lake Dam(必然停下来照几张):

到了一个有名的旅游景点,Oxbow Bend:

仙!

接上的是Snake River Overlook,据说这是名家Ansel Adams1942年拍过的,这照片当时造了大影响。

站在同一个角度,我们也想emulate,可是。。。他妈的太多树😂

晚霞背光的时候蛮难照的,晚霞能照到可是前景就照不了 :/ 

只好用眼睛好好享受!不过,马路对面的云也好看~

两位摄影大师终于照满足了,这次换我开车回旅馆,路上的景色真美,好仙,我说我感觉像在《魔戒》的世界里一样。。。

我们那晚住在Motel 6200刀一晚,条件果然。。。差😂 厕所的门都没有锁,装饰就像80年代的“retro”风格,床根本不像queen size,可委屈了他们俩。一晚上他们没怎么睡好,害得我也醒了几次。第二天打算要赶上日出,我们迷迷糊糊按照闹钟4点半从睡眠中挣扎而起。。。


Day 4 7/2/16

早上5点多其实天已经微微亮了,但太阳还没有从山后爬上来,所以还是赶到了Mormon Row照相的好时间。到的时候,已有一群的摄影爱好者围着小木房😁

据说是“the most photogenic barn in the world”😂
在这里咔嚓了很久,我们又在周围照了些别的木房~和野花~

^同志们。。。get a room...
下一站是昨天去过的Jenny Lake,这次我们要走trail,要先坐船过去到湖对岸,我们只买了单程票(cough 错则#1)

下了船爬上山就能看到小瀑布~

穿过树林又爬上小山坡,能看到Jenny Lake的全景啦~

早上特美!
但我们没有在Inspiration Point停留,因为有个trailCascade Canyons“3英里左右(cough cough 错则#2)也没觉得特远,所以接着走。

马克,我当时只背了一瓶的水,还是店里包装的小瓶子,就500毫升的水吧。。。图样图森破。

走啊走啊走。。。


没有一朵云!!!太阳晒的不要不要的!

幸好不是全程都在大太阳底下,树荫下的路也多~ 路过了很多野花。


先开始都很开心很有energy,可一个小时又一个小时过了,水也越来越少了,,,我们要走到的那个“Fork”怎么还没到咧?!

走走又歇会儿,我们都累了,看一下Apple手机上的app,卧槽至少5英里了。。。😂

但是!!我们没有返回!!!要走到那个Fork!!

鼓掌~ we made it


回去的路就好走了许多,因为是下坡,还有,我们也知道尽头在哪儿了😂

全程最后走了10-15英里(我的app15,李喆的说10,是因为我的腿短吗😂),爬了54(?give or take)层楼。从早上10点左右hike到下午3点!!
一路水不够,太阳又大,真的怕是会中暑呢。。。但怎么说,做到了呀!!
(哈哈,这段路还是我们bond最好的时候,路上只能闲聊,让自己分心,解决痛苦😂。。。)

回到车上第一个念头:吃吃吃。

问题是,那时也快4点了,餐馆刚好午餐打烊,晚餐都是55点半才开始,去哪里吃啊。。。

本来搜到了个餐厅,想去,可是一进去是个winery ?!

饿的不要命了,所以就去了隔壁家的一所,叫“Hatch: taqueria and tequila” 我喜欢Mexican food所以二话不说就进去了。

结果。。。4点是他们的Happy Hour5点才开饭,菜单上没啥东西,就是酒和tacostortillas,我没问题,我喜欢吃,可是两位哥哥很不满意😂

我点了冰凉的啤酒,爽!吃的还没上就使劲的喝!。。。然后就有点醉了😂但是开心的那种醉,小郭说什么我都开始疯狂的哈哈大笑,停不住。

嘿嘿,good times…

出来后他们还没有解饿,就立马选了家pizza店,点了个bison pizza😄


大家满意的回了旅馆,设了闹钟,洗了澡补上几小时的觉,9点起去照银河!!对,我们就是那么拼!

我们先开到Oxbow Bend,一下车哇噻!!!!抬头就是星星!!好!多!!银河能看得到!!!激动的我!!(第一次看银河!!!!)

Oxbow Bend那边车还是多,所以我们又回到车上,寻找别的地方照~

后来在Jackson River Dam停下车,准备好三脚架,照!银!河!


这是我第一次拍银河,原来还挺复杂的,两位摄影老司机教了我:要先用远处的光对好焦,然后再对好银河,一般用的是20-25“的曝光,aperture打到最大。^虽然比不上老司机的作品我还是很满意啦~ 能看得出银河就是了嘛。他们俩还继续折腾了很久,我更宁愿躺在dam的柱子上欣赏天空的星星。很可惜,这个地方没有信号,我很想查查constellation chart,但没办法连上网,只好按着记忆认出Big Dipper和(貌似)Little Dipper。。。Summer Triangle我好像也找出来了,可是对不上哪个是CygnusDeneb星星。:(

拍完后老司机们还想换个前景, 于是我们又开到了Signal Mountain,这时候路上已没有什么人,我们都有点提心吊胆。郭儿还说他看到一只狼穿过马路。。。!如果真看到了,我错过了,not fair!! T_T

Signal Mountain Summit没什么意思,树太多,所以又换了个景。这次去的是Schwabacher’s Landing,这时候云比较多了。其实,最好拍银河的地方和时间就是dam那里。

那晚主要是冷!!晚上降到了39-40度的华氏度,我穿了两件外衣但还是不够(可能不应该穿牛仔裤的,不是很保暖)。冻得哆哆嗦嗦,在车上昏昏迷迷睡着了。。。这时候,车突然的swerve了一下把我吓醒。。。郭儿说是差点撞上了大露!!公鹿呢,有很长的角!(Elk,很可能!)李喆说他也抬头看到了,大屁股有车头那么高。他们俩吓尿了,我又因为睡眠而错过了,真是惭愧呀!!!

本来还说想回到Mormon Row那里去照银河,可云这时候多,男孩子们也累了,我们就回宾馆啦。这时已经半夜三更。。。literally, 3:30早上我们才回到了旅馆房间,洗涮了趴倒在床上。那晚,我们都睡的像死人一般😂。。。丰满的一天。。。

Day 5 7/3/16

因为昨天太嗨,自然今天起的晚,睡到了1011点,在中午之前赶快收拾好check out, 我们又去了下Kmart补上了下零食和水。李喆晒脱皮了,我倒没这个问题。。。可是我出现了感冒状况。还好,不过是流了点清鼻涕和咳嗽了点。在店里买了包cough drop。午饭,我们在Local Restaurant吃的,burgerfries

下午我们开车向往黄石公园。路过了Schwabacher’s Landing, 白天当然完全不一样,停下来照了照~


这里还有个沿着小溪的trail,走了走~很轻松的一个~

快到黄石的时候,草坪上出现了一群bison!!! 终于--看到了野生动物!!!😂
云好酷~~ (仔细看,还有小鹿!)
到了黄石,我们去的第一个景点叫做West Thumb,在Yellowstone Lake的边缘上。


手机拍的就是效果没那么好,但那次我们都没带上DSLRoh well

这张合影蛮喜欢的~

快傍晚的时候,我们到了Grand Prismatic Spring,非常著名的旅游景点。旅客当然很多了(可下了一场雨,好多人就走了嘻嘻~)


Geyser蒸发的气好仙~~

拍完照的时候太阳快下去了(9点之后了吧)我们打算回旅馆,明天找trail上山照Prismatic Spring的全景。。。(错则#3😂。。。see Day 6

晚上这路小郭开了一会儿有点疲倦,我接过来开。。。这路没想到还很难开!!!!黑暗暗的,路又弯又陡(又窄!),还貌似在山角角,我那晚开的超紧张。

不过,终于到了旅馆,GardinerRodeway Inn,开进小镇时还看到了烟花!!哇,当时我好激动!!大声喊了“Happy 4th of July everyone!” 。。。然而车里的两位并没有反应😂 还鄙视我说这烟花有啥好看的。。。唉!!你们就不懂!!!。。原来,我还是个美国人!😂

那晚的旅馆条件应该是最好的了,和Hampton一个档次,manager还给我们留了张卡,so sweet!

Day 6 (7/4/16)

这一天应该是我一生最深刻的国庆节吧。。。

早上我们去了 Mammoth Springs (Mammoth Terrace)。。。不知道为啥,没有图里边那么好看啊😂 就是一层层的石头嘛。。。哦,不过在停车场的旁边看到了鹿! (但不像是elk :()



男同志们*莫名*的喜欢这块石头。。cough cough

那天我还不舒服,因为前一晚上刚来了大姨妈。也没想说,但他们看我抱着肚子,真相就出来了。两个男生态度立刻转180😂说要这几天伺候我,还问我要不要热水袋。对他们来说大姨妈这么可怕啊?哈哈哈哈哈 (不过,突然有男孩子关心我还是很温馨的~~嘿嘿)

Firehole Falls还发现能游泳!!!!!!!!!!!艹,早知道就好了!!!脱了鞋去试了试水,不冷。里面好多人游呢 还有跳水的 😭 游泳衣没带。。。好惭愧。。。
至少泡了脚丫。。。

下午去了Old Faithful,我擦,这个东东那么有名,为啥?!等了15分钟,最后才喷了15秒!!



我们看的是2:45那场,喷完了就开始下大雨,我们跑进Visitor Center避雨。。。看了看education center的东西~Geysers原来全世界只有5个地方才有耶!2个在美国!

这样在Old Faithful吃了饭后。。。咳,故事就来了。。。

昨天我们不是听说有个Overlook能看Prismatic Spring吗?(其实是小郭听那位神秘女士说的,我真有点怀疑他是不是听错了!🌞wait and see...)我就在网上好好查了走Overlooktrail, 读了一下也觉得hike不是很远,我把directions抄好了,准备这下午去嘛。

啦啦啦~ 因为本来没找到路口(叫做Fairy Falls trail),我们去Old FaithfulVisitor Center时候就问了下服务人员。结果!他说,trail早已经封闭了,现在正在做construction,为了解脱尴尬他还给我们推荐了另一个trail,当然,我们还是失望啊,只有那一个trail是去springoverlook

其实。。。我也不是那么在乎啦,能在地面上拍这个池子已经效果很好,可是他们两个哥们儿很想去。郭儿就说,我们还是去看看吧。

那个路口倒是找到了,果然被封闭了,有个牌子在前面挡着路。我们就把车趴在几百米的附近,准备好了东西,准备sneaktrail。。。😂

走到了牌子那里郭儿还又问了我们一次,怎么样?坦白说,我很明确这是违法的行为(牌子清清楚楚说了不准进)换就我一个人我才不稀罕呢。但因为是我们三个嘛,我就想,应该不会有不安全的,去去我们就回,YOLO right😂所以,我就点头了!!!

Note:我就算有点担心也担心的不是被抓到而是遇到熊或迷路或受伤之类的。。。

当然!才走了两分钟不到,我就听到我身后,biu biu biu

我们大眼瞪小眼,有人还问,是鸟么?

我一回头, 操。。。有车啊!刚刚我们来不是没有车嘛?!

这时候又来了, biu biu biu的响声。。。

这时候我也差不多意识到是警察了。Oh shit moment

小郭还很calm,说我们回去解释吧,所以我们只好转回去,然后就眼看Ranger向我们走来,这情况真是尴尬无限。。。

Ranger问:Why are you guying doing this?

我们:

他:Did you not read the signs?

卧槽当时真是囧死了!!!!!!!!

Whatever, 能咋办,就乖乖听警察的话咯。警察没收了我们的bear spray,要我们的ID(我们都落在车上了),他跟我们说回车吧,在那里等他。

我们就默默的回车上了。把身份证交给了警察。。。警察说要给我们写个citation,我们稍等他一会儿,就回车里折腾折腾。卧槽,citation啥意思?!小郭说应该就给我们一个罚单吧。这个时候,我们还是有些紧张,不过至少没有刚才那么恐惧了。。。至少Ranger不像是要压我们进牢的节奏。。。

过了好久那个警察回来了,一切了然:这不是罚单,而是一个”violation”(需要去法庭的那种。。。😂court date还是一个月多后,89,我擦根本不好回来啊。。。Fortunately警察说我们可以提前一个星期打电话,安排个phone hearing。我们问会是什么样的判刑?警察只说,up to the judge… 

问题是!!!那张单子非常吓人!!!Class B Misdemeanor (like wtf does that even mean 😂)有max sentence of 6 months in jail, $5000 fine… 卧槽,真是吓尿了,但我问了警官,我马上要上学了-需要告诉学校这件事吗?警察说“Oh this petty little thing? No.“ 卧槽??

哎呀妈呀。。。其实,我已经没有那么担忧了,可现在写着写着我又开始冒冷汗。在网上也搜不到具体的信息,因为这都是看谁是prosecutor,各州的法律,等等。

谁知道会怎样!!!只能耐心的等到7月底打电话给prosecutor! (我也不打算hire律师了。。。卧槽,应该不用吧。。。)

怎么说还是蛮严重的,警察叔叔走了之后我们都好一会儿甩不了情绪。都挺害怕的。车上都没人吭声。。。当然,过了一段时间我们也能开开玩笑啦~ 小郭道歉,但也不能怨他啊,毕竟我们都是同意走进trail的人。。。唉,反正错误已经犯了,抱怨后悔有什么用,对吧。

为了不要这件事故毁了我们的trip, 我们还是尽量暂时忘掉,去玩下一个景点!Norris Geyser Basin,很漂酿的地方~ 

走了走就逐渐放松了些~

那天晚上我们住在黄石公园的东北门口(Cooke City),开车要路过Lamar Valley,我能总结是我黄石里最喜欢的景点(其实不是一个景点,是一片草原)。没有geysers,没有臭鸡蛋味,就是好多树、草、山、、、和野生!!!我们开了一半的路就眼看前面车都停满了路边。咋回事??原来是。。。黑熊妈妈和两个熊宝宝!!!!!!

耶耶耶!!!一瞬间,从worst day ever变成了best day ever!

还更精彩的是:开过了黑熊妈妈,前面又见一群的野牛要穿过马路!!牛慢慢的走过,车才可以继续行动。。。过几分钟,又来了一群!!哈哈哈哈哈当时真是爽翻了,我就在等看野生动物呢,没想到简直会在眼角下路过。。。离我们真的好近,十几米的样子吧!

(对!!我在驾驶!!)
所以那晚我快快乐乐的把我们开到旅馆~ (这次也发现比前一晚好开的多了~ 是路好点,还是俺的技术提高了呢~ 哈哈哈哈)Even better ! 我们住的Motel 6那晚也有火花在放!就是motel的后面那些房子~~ 我又激动了一发!不管!哪里是能看到火花,可是今天是国庆节啊!没想到会在偏僻的小镇看到呀!

唯一一点sad的是。。。明天是我们在黄石的最后一天。。。😢

Day 7 (7/5/16)

早晨,吃了晚饭最后一次进公园;__;  别人送我们的门票,记得吗,是7/4就过期了。我们本来说要不要早点进公园,在守门员工作之前(那时候好像不用交费了就可以进),但是小郭已经打算要买annual pass,下次还要带女友和他父母来玩,所以就决定不用着急进公园了。

我个人还是希望我们早点去,因为7月的太阳太大,升得又早,如果6-7点就进公园光线最好。(其实,5点刚刚日出的光最佳!)

在路边看到好风景照了照相,太阳已经很高了噶

后面又路过了Lamar River trail,也必须停下来走走(因为我们剩下的景点就是Canyon Village那里,觉得时间不急~)这个trail虽然没在我们的计划中,很喜欢!舒服又easy的一段路,景色也好看,在草坪中-附近就是Lamar River,野生动物也多。

牛哥


鹿哥


路上好多💩粑粑

大饼的形状。。。

下午的时候开错了路,不小心往返了Mammoth Springs,就顺便在那里逛了gift shop,我买了一小本的postcards。我们还去了post officepostcard寄了出去;我给自己寄了两张,给Kelly寄了一张。

然后就开往Canyon Village… 不过之前还在路上停了停,照野花😂


😳静静的美女子” 哈哈哈哈哈哈
然后*又*去了个Gift Shop,在Canyon Villagevisitor center区-男孩们挑了好~久的纪念品(-_-;)。。。折腾了后到Lower Falls已经快5点了... 所以我们就走到Grand Canyon的景台,来了个到此一游的合影!


如果时间还多的话,我还是希望能走Lower Falls的小道,去那个景台照一照,唉可惜时间最后还是不够啊!😂

只好回车上,离开黄石公园,开始回盐湖城了。。。😭😭

晚上我们在Idaho Falls吃的晚餐(大家都吃腻了西餐,这次选了个泰国餐馆)那晚住的是Best Western。男孩子们买了啤酒。。。想把我灌醉吗,切!!想的美! 哈,老娘当然没(那么)醉,我们玩了些游戏,我也没有太embarrass自己😂。。。吧

Day 8 (7/6/16)

最后的一天很轻松,中午就回到了盐湖城。我们打算就在城里玩一玩吧。去了Temple Square,因为听朋友推荐的,结果。。。好没意思。。。=___= 😂
就是个教堂。。。还不准进去。。。理解一下文化和历史可能会好点,但我们都怕tour guideconvert咱们,所以上来一个就拒绝😂

Mormon Temple

下午太阳太晒,男孩子们不想做室外活动(-_-;) 所以我们就去了个博物馆!Natural History Museum.

其实还挺好玩,也不是很贵(13刀左右)我们真逛完了这下午。
阳台可以晒太阳。。。睡午觉。。。2333
8点博物馆关门,我们也这个时候去吃晚饭啦~~

餐馆是个香港餐馆,老板娘真的太nice!!!! (因为我回匹兹堡之后才发现我的账单也拿走了,就是说小费最后没付。。。给老板娘打电话解释她就笑着说没事,算了!感动!)吃的还蛮愉快。。。唉,也是旅游的最后一餐!T_T

去了机场还了车,我们只好告别。小郭和我同一路回家,但李喆就要回Boston,他的terminal和我们不一样所以就在机场门口说了再见。。。真的有点心酸哦!!!刚开始是陌生人,还比较尴尬(他是闷骚型 😄)但过了这几天像朋友(?)了。。。有点舍不得帅哥呢😏

飞机是通宵的。。。red-eye flight。。。好累啊,在飞机上睡着了,但还要在南卡转机,一趟折腾完也是第二天快中午才回到公寓。天昏地暗的睡了一下午。。。

旅游- 成功的结束!!

(违法的事故就不算了😂


总结

Monday, June 13, 2016

Finally finished The Wire. Sobs.

Over the course of... 5 years, finished watching The Wire. Like, 10 years after it was airing, but still.

Season 1 was introduced to me via English seminar in freshman year. Da-yum, I really have my hippie-long-haired-pot-smoking(he admitted this openly in class, I'm definitely not stereotyping him here)-adjunct-staff-teacher to thank for. We watched Season 1 and had to write a term paper for it. I wrote mine on Omar Little. God, best time writing a school paper, fo' sho!!!!


Heheh, I'll stop pretending to be gangsta. That's just embarrassing. But honestly, every time I watch the Wire I just wanna start swaggering out to the corner.


Now obviously the show's point is not to show how cool gangsters are and how cool drug-dealing is. OBVIOUSLY NOT. Actually, the show is to its core, about Baltimore. The city. "Baltimore is all they know"---whether you're a corner boy, homeless guy rifting through trash, drug addict shooting up, kid in a foster home, po-po, the hacks in City Hall, unscrupulous lawyer, cheating mayor, or whatever.

Baltimore is your home, and you damn love it even knowing how dirty it is.

I love that. I've felt that too, more and more now, spending time in Pittsburgh these years and loving it with a passion sometimes that surprises me. A city can be a person, can be living and breathing. It can be deeply flawed and problematic, and you can hate it just as much as you love it. But it's your home, the place you know, and you love the stinking sewers and polluted air and you love the nameless people on the streets, because they're Baltimore/Pittsburgh/wherever too.

Which is why the last episode, "-30-" was just so perfect. The few sequences of quiet shots, just of Baltimore, of scenes around the city, no music soundtrack, just dim noises from the city, moved me nearly as much as the montages (always my favorite from every season) at the end.

And season 5's montage was beautiful, of course. I didn't even realize how many shots they recycled from earlier seasons until I went on Youtube and rewatched those montages in a row.

(I'm seriously considering rewatching from Season 1 again... this show just does that to ya!!)

It really sucks that The Wire is so... obscure, like, I can't find anyone to talk out my feelings to in real life... boo. I only know one other guy who watched it too, and he loves it just as much, that goes without saying. He's been convincing me for a while to finish Season 5, but I've just been lazy (hunting for the streaming links is kinda hard ya know --cough--) but after discovering The Wire on Amazon Prime, I jumped. Yea, 100 bucks down the drain for this stupid membership I didn't realize I paid for, but at least I get this out of it eh?!

Trust me, I ALWAYS try to get people to watch The Wire, ALWAYS, but it's so hard to sell it for some reason. I mean, people always be asking me "What's it about?" and I say, "It's a cop vs drug dealer show" and I see them just be like, "Oh not my thing," and I have to be immediately like, "But it's soooo much more than that!!!! It's about institutions beating down individuals!!! Realistic things wrong with society!!!! It has amazing writing and incredible characters like Omar!!!!..."

Yeah so I keep ranting, and people just stare at me like I'm crazy.

Seriously people don't realize how great The Wire is until they sit down and watch it. But that's the thing too. It's not a show like Game of Thrones that's gonna grab you from the start (although tbh I thought Episode 1 of Game of Thrones was pretty boring). It's not full of sparkly action and gore and stuff. It's subtle (which I love!!!!! but not everyone appreciates), it's slow and smooth and kind of envelopes you into a warm hug. I can't even explain.

You just grow to love the characters, man, do you grow to love them. Oh and duh. You grow to hate some of them too. (Or you start out hating and always hate them).

That's why when I'm watching the Wire on my laptop I annoy and scare my roommate with my stream of curses and yells at the screen and mutters to myself. The Wire gets a rise out of you. (Or else something is wrong with your limbic system and you may be a sociopath). The Wire makes you angry, it makes you sad, and it makes you happy, and excited, and it's just overall a roller coaster ride.

It's taught me so much too, I feel like more than 4 years of college education did, more than my sheltered life has ever done for sure. And what's really AWESOME-LICIOUS is that it opened my eyes to a lot of parallels and similarities in reality. I mean, in S5 there was that line Bunk said, "In this country deaths of black men don't mean a thing" (I'm paraphrasing here), and I'm just sitting there with my mouth open at how eerily relevant it is to 2016. I mean with the Black Life Matters and all those incidents from last year???? Another deep hit in the gut that hey, all these issues are not new. Are not recent. The Wire has been talking about it circa 2003. And decades before that, it's been the same. 2016, it still is the same, and it is depressing to think in 2036, it might still be the same.

That's the whole message from the last season of the show: the cycles. Repeating, going on. The game is forever rigged and it outlasts the people.

And the game is not just the drug game. It's life, it's everything. The school system is a game; politics is a game; even newspapers run the same sort of pretend-game that keeps the bigshots at the top, and the people who actually have ethics and values on the bottom. Just the way it is.

I'm going to be a medical student and let's face it, I'll be part of an institution too. I already hear all this about UPMC being evil. Capitalism at its finest (but see how messed up China is too---maybe it's truly universal).

Institutions or not, it's still about the individuals, the people, I think---and The Wire does that, it zooms out and zooms in, plays a great balance. In the series 5 montage they show faces of Baltimore, Black, white, Hispanic, whoever, these faces that are Baltimore more than the players. They don't know what's going on outside of their own lives. They don't expect change, they just go on living the way they know how.

So even though it's a sobering/pessimistic ending for Baltimore, I'm still cheering when Bubbles sits down at the table, I'm grinning when Carver gets promoted (even as Daniels leaves for Valchek), I'm sighing indulgently at Kima and Bunk the new dynamic duo...

I'm even happy for McNulty, a bittersweet happy, because he was great police, he really was. And Lester, a true loss to the system. But there's some slivers of hope---getting out of that could be better for their health, and well, maybe it's fair too.

Bittersweet- that word to describe The Wire. For every like 5 horrible gut-wrenching-makes-me-want-to-throw-my-computer moments, there's that one beautiful uplifting moment, you know, and although that doesn't cancel out the bad moments, it's rewarding to watch.

Here I would like to honor in memory some of the best-now-dead-fictional-characters, may your legacy live on:
  • Omar
  • Bodie
  • Wallace
  • D'Angelo
  • Frank Sobotka
  • Prop Joe
  • Butchie!!!!
I'd like to nominate some people for the Most-Character-Growth&Development-Award:
  • Carver
  • Prez
  • Bodie
  • Bubz!!!!
  • Dee
  • Slim Charles (like who was this guy? I didn't even remember him appearing in S3, but man, I find him to be the coolest guy---and alarmingly attractive loll---at the end)
  • Cutty
  • Wee-Bey
  • Stringer
Best Written Character, flawed-as-hell-but-you-just-like-them:
  • McNulty
Characters that deserve to die in a ditch and were overall a POS (piece of shit)/Little Bitch:
  • Annoying lying sonabitch reporter, name does not even deserve to be stated
  • The white guys at the top of The Sun
  • Kenard (I don't care if he's like 6)
  • Levy
  • Carcetti (dude, I used to like you in S3 and 4, Tommy. If I knew you were rotten as Littlefinger all along!!!!)
  • CLAY DAVIS
  • Cheese (hehe, at least he's dead, thanks Slim!)
Characters I hated with burning passion for a while but... met their right fate:
  • Snoop (that last minute, man)
  • Chris (I guess he was just the muscle man---him and Wee-Bey in the montage was super fitting)
  • Marlo (but note I will never forgive him for Bodie and Butchie and Randy, fuck yeah, Randy!!)
Best comic relief:
  • Bunky Bunk!
  • That black guy on Carcetti's team (lol sorry forgot his name)
  • Donut (it took me while to remember him, but seeing him in S4 finale was so endearing!)
  • Jay Landsman, haha
  • Rawls (at some points)
"Good people":
  • Bunny
  • Gus (you go, Gus!)
  • Daniels
  • Kima
  • Bunk
Best bromance:
  • Carver & Herc (even if I am not as fond of Herc!)
  • McNulty & Bunk
  • Avon & Stringer
  • Michael & Dukie
Last but not least my babies:
  • RANDY
  • Michael Lee
  • Dukie (oh, Dukie T_T, why you gotta...)
  • Bodie (can you tell I really love Bodie?)
  • Omar ("")
Well, what a great show it was. It's already been 2 days since I finished the S5 finale but I'm still hung up over it, reading articles, rewatching clips, listening to soundtrack, writing blogs (laugh-cry-face). 

The Wire is hands down one of the BEST shows I've watched, if not the best (in terms of script and filming and acting). Thank you David Simon (if I could get to see him in real life one day I'll probably just pass out). Thank you to all the people involved, and btw how cool is it that some of the actors from previous seasons popped back for cameos in S5 (like Nick and Shardene and Poot!).

One last note: I wish to point out that every time I watch a movie trailer and see one of the actors from The Wire appear I start spasming and whisper-screaming, "HOLY THAT'S STRINGER/CARCETTI/MCNULTY/OMAR!!!!"

(I recognized Stringer's voice as that police chief in Zootopia. HAHAHAHA the irony!!!!!! -looks around, sad no one else gets it-)

Thank you, The Wire. 爱你一万年!