Friday, June 18, 2010

2. George Washington Bridge




Still June 5

I'm still running on the thrill of having my first lock down, but I want more. It's somewhat early in the evening and I live near one of the locks. I had planned on saving that toward the end since I knew I could definitely get it, but I also didn't want to wait forever for my next unlocking, so I headed up to the George Washington Bridge.

The book detailed the lock being at the third gate, and I suppose in my quest for adventure, I entirely overlooked the first pair of gates you walk through on the pedestrian walkway of the bridge. Having overlooked this, I headed out to what is in actuality the fourth gate (and fifth and sixth - unlike the first sets of gates, these were all individual which was red flag #1). This was farther on the path (red flag #2) than I anticipated being, and directly in the line of view of the security guard stationed on the bridge (red flag #3). It also led to some potentially dangerous areas (red flag #4). After trying - in vain - to open some of these very wrong gates, I ask the watchman if he knows where the gate is, and he sends me back the way I came.

Shortly after, I see the gate - the exact same one as pictured. I also see the lock and come to a number of realizations.

-The gate pictured in the passport is the gate that contains the padlock. I assume (correctly) that all the photos included in the passport are of the exact location of the lock.
-Unless I can't count in adventure mode, the lock was at the second set of gates, not the third. (It turned out to be the former - I passed the overlooked third set on my way back).
-Upon unlocking the padlock...the padlock unlocked. The padlock the Key went to was merely attached to an already open gate. I understand why - some areas were probably harder to get full access to for random strangers to unlock that others (can you imagine giving free reign to thousands of people to close and open one of only two pedestrian walkways on a bridge that saw both foot and bike (and of course in the street, vehicular) traffic? Or worse, access to the earlier mentioned Scary Areas?). However, there was still a little something anticlimactic about this one. Probably mostly because I couldn't leave a note, or at least not one that wouldn't get blown away or destroyed in the rain.

Ah well. I again encountered no one while unlocking - though did see a few people with the passports heading up right as I reached the base of the footpath. The sight of others on my mission cleared away any grievances and brought back into the line of fire the important part:

2 locks down. 22 to go.

1. Bryant Park


June 5

Auditions go smoothly, and I convince my friend and the stage manager of the show to accompany me to Bryant Park, the site of my first lock. I am thrilled.

We arrive and oddly, no one is there. I am not, however, complaining, and following the instructions in the book, proceed to the appropriate lamp post with a lockbox at the base. A lockbox I have the key to.

I use my key, and open the box.

I'd describe this more artistically, but really, the box housed a switch (a light switch - it's a lamp) that I flipped and after a bit of warming up, the light turned on. People with no clue about the project are watching me and the light I'm causing with awe and fascination. I feel amazing. And like I have 23 locks left to reach. And like I need to prove that I was there. I have my friend take a picture of first Anubis, the puppet I brought with me (I wanted to distinguish my pictures from other folks', just in case a bunch of people hopped on the "reach all the locks" bandwagon at the promise of a prize; he also works to protect my digital camera from scratches in my bag) and then with me and Anubis. And then I'm compelled to leave my mark while not committing vandalism, so after a brief detour to a Japanese bookstore across the street, with makeshift business cards and a blue moon stamp in tow, I write out a card to leave in the box.
I have no clue what to write, and somehow settle on the following.

1 6/5/10 6:37pm
Why is it so hot?! Bright ideas :)

It was very hot (although it's June, I guess that happens). And I'm a sucker for blatantly cheesy puns. I leave the card in the box, where there are maybe three others (a far cry from what it would contain when I return with Holland a few days later). I leave Bryant Park with my friends, happy to have left my mark, thrilled that I am now entrenched in this, and ready to take on the next one.

0. The Key-osk


June 4

Since I was little I've been fascinated by keys. I've never really known why. I never questioned it either - I have plenty of weird obsessions (subways, maps, pandas, penguins). I'd encounter keys and keep them. Discarded keys that no one remembered what they unlocked, or were lying on the sidewalk, or were to an old car, or lacked a background story and so needed me to make one up for it. They'd all go on my keychain. Up until no more could fit on that one keychain, so another was started.

(Yes, I still have the keychains, and yes, one of them is unrotatable now that there are so many keys.)

I've also been in love with the city of New York since before I can remember and really, can you blame me? I'm a bit biased because I've never lived anywhere else, and would love to travel much more, but I'd be so much more bitter about my lack of travels and so much less me if I wasn't a true New Yorker. (I don't put too much stock in the phrase "New Yorker"; if you've lived here a certain length of time, you are by standard definition a New Yorker. Encountering more and more people who have migrated here however, the truth that I have always called New York home puts me in a different category to them. I was raised by a single mother; New York is probably the closest thing to a second parent I have. THAT'S how much this city is in me.)

I'm still fascinated by keys. Anyone that knows me will tell you that I have a skeleton key necklace that I've worn everyday since purchasing it two years ago. People bring me keychains to compliment the keys I value so deeply. And I am still undoubtedly in love with the city. Even when it's getting things wrong (the M is turning orange? What?), I love it. And so it doesn't really surprise me when my mother tells me about this art project where people are being given a key to the city. I need to be one of those people. There is no question about this.

I pick an amNY (a free newspaper distributed here) on my way to work that morning and read the brief blurb. The kiosk is in Times Square, not even four blocks from my job! My determination has grown. I need to have one TODAY.

I am twenty minutes late for work. Not really a surprise since I am often late for everything, but something that has now grown to be a concern to people in positions of power. We;re only allowed an hour for lunch, and I need to dock twenty minutes off of it due to the morning tardiness. And I've read enough about the project to know that you need to have a partner to exchange keys with, so I call a best friend, Holland, to wait in line for our keys. Holland lives also not four blocks from the kiosk, which I now only refer to as the Key-osk. This will be imperative to the success of the Speedy Lunch Key Obtaining.

Holland agrees, and holds up her end of the bargain, and is in line by the time I join her (some seven or so minutes into my lunch break). Apparently everyone has read amNY this morning, or paid attention to the various outlets the project was being reported on, because the line is obnoxious and lengthy. It is not a forty minute line. It may not even be an hour line. But it is a line for the Key to the City. I must have one.

Somewhere during the wait, we run into my mother, a messenger, who has just delivered in the area and wants a key as well. We are now a trio, and it is now an hour into my lunch break. I am running the risk of being written up - or fired - but I could care less. It is a Key. to. the. City. I call the receptionist at work and tell her I am deeply sorry but I will be another fifteen minutes. This is before we get to the "20 minutes until your key" sign. As much as I don't want to, I need to be a responsible adult and return to work. A volunteer reaches us and sees we're a trio and agrees that I should go, since the ceremony works better as a pair.

Everything sours after that.

-I skipped eating during this lunch break because the monthly office party was being held that day, and there would be bounties of food upon my return to the office with my shiny Key in hand. I returned Keyless, so naturally there was no food left to match.
-I explain the length of my break to my supervisor and apologize for taking so long, but he, being the laidback guy he is, says, "I know this is important to you. You could've stayed to get the key."
-My mother IMs me to inform me that moments after I left, a reporter from the Pix11 news showed up and selected my mother and Holland to be the pair they followed for the evening's newscast on the project. I attempted to watch the broadcast while quelling the "That could've been me" chanting incessantly in the background. I don't think I succeeded.
-Lastly, in a scramble to GET THE KEY, TODAY, I call practically everyone I know to see if the can stand in line for us to get us both a Key and since my getting out of work at 7:30 when the cutoff time is 8 is a little too close to my liking. After trying roughly 20 people, my friend Lindsay agrees and shows up at the Key-osk ready to wait for our Keys - only to be told that the line is closed for the day. Not for the guy in front of her, who apparently made the cutoff...

But I digress.

Despite my needing to be helping a friend with auditions for his play at 1, and having no partner to exchange keys with, and being tired and cranky and wondering if the Cosmos saying NO to my Key pursuits the day before isn't maybe some sort of sign, I get to the line at 11:30. I am half an hour earlier than the line opens and I am still 24th in line, but after a close call (a friend of a friend showed up to exchange with me RIGHT before I was called to the commons to exchange with my up-to-that-point-invisible partner), and a brief ceremony, I. own. a. Key.

There are 24 locations the Key grants access to. While I would've gone to all 24 regardless, there is apparently a mystery prize involved if you can prove you visited all 24. A task I was to do anyway comes with an added bonus. Or a challenge, if you will.

I love keys, and I love this city, and in addition, I love a good challenge. Bring it on, keyholders.