New York, here I come!

I'M GOING TO NEW YORK CITY!!!!!!!! *squeals*  I booked my flights yesterday. I'm flying out on 14 May and returning on 29 May. I got a really good deal too, which is a nice little sweetener.

I haven't mentioned this before here (I dont think...) because I dread the reaction it usually provokes, but for you to fully understand the gleefulness of this trip, it should be revealed: this will be the first time I have set foot outside Australia. No, really. It's not that I have never wanted to travel, it's just not been at the top of my list of priorities for one reason or another. But I decided I was going to do it before I hit 40, and I am.

So, it's a big deal in more ways than one. And I'm doing it on my own! I can't deny that I'm a little daunted at doing it alone, but I'm also looking forward to it. I know I won't regret it one bit and it'll do me good to push myself outside my comfort zone -  personal growth blah, blah, blah.

Now I just need to work out what I'm doing while I'm there... Of course, I've already decided to visit the libary!

Speaking of doing things on my own, I went to see The White Stripes music doco Under Great White Northern Lights last night on my own and I didn't even feel like a friendless loser. There couldn't have been more than 20 people in the whole cinema and I think I was the only one flying solo, but it didnt bother me. Go, me.

There were only three people in the cinema when I walked in. I made my way to my allocated seat and it was right next to a not unattractive man all on his own too. I left a seat between us (not like it was sold out) and we had a chuckle and a quick chat...and then his girl friend showed up. Dang. Then another lone guy sat a seat away on the other side of me...and then his girlfriend showed up. Story of my life....

Anyhoo, the movie was great, not perfect, but certainly visually and aurally pleasing. It follows the band on a tour taking in every province in Canada to mark their 10th anniversary. They played gigs in small towns in a range of unlikely places, including a bowling alley and a pool hall, and also did a string of impromptu free performances, like the one on a bus where they had the passengers singing along to The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round! 

There was lots of grainy black and white footage, both on stage and off. I love grainy monochrome pictures. The best was the film shot at Iqaluit, waaaaaaaay up in the far north of Canada, where Meg and Jack went for a wander against a backdrop of stark and desolate scenery, including the beach and a cemetery with rows of white wooden crosses. Beautiful.

This is macabre, but I really like cemetries - to look at, I mean. When I was watching Meg and Jack at the cemetery I thought, "Hmmm...maybe I could visit the cemetery in New York...." Yep, I've googled New York cemeteries. Am I strange?

The final scene in the doco was the most powerful - Meg and Jack sitting at a piano as he played and sang White Moon. About half way through, tears rolled down Megs cheeks. Meg is so painfully shy and hardly speaks during the doco which makes the scene so much more affecting.

Oh, and Jack White....I could watch that man all day long.

Here's a bit of the Iquluit footage (wouldn't fit properly, dammit - click on it to view on YouTube).