PIFA Street Fair and Chinese Lantern Festival
Yesterday and last night I hit up two events in the city that I found on uwishunu.com. I meant to get to the first event, the street fair, early and stay all day but it was raining in the morning when I woke up. Instead I choose to snag a few more hours of Saturday morning slumber. I'm glad I did, even the couple hours I spent at the fair, were more than enough. I couldn't imagine being there longer than maybe 2 hours. 3 at most.
I'm also glad I decided to take the train in. I have taken the train a number of other times from when I used to live over in Wayne. So I knew the basic gist of it all and where to go and what to do. The only thing I wasn't exactly sure of was parking... Over in Wayne I lived close enough to the station to simply walk from my apartment to the station. But my house here isn't quite close enough to walk... In a worst case scenario situation, I could, but I'd rather not since some of the roads don't actually have sidewalks and it could be dangerous. In all pedestrian versus vehicle situations, vehicles always win. It's a good 2 mile walk I'd say. Not terrible, but... If I can park for the day for free... Why not just drive over there?
I did, and it was fine. Parking at most of the SEPTA stations is free on weekends... Actually I think all of them are free day parking on weekends and then most allow you to park over night. I imagine it's probably similar for other cities. So, if I find myself a regular cat sitter, theoretically I could park on a Friday night... Train it into the city and Bolt bus or Mega bus it up to NYC then I could come back Sunday afternoon.
I just looked it up and the walk to the station is 2 miles or 40 minutes according to Google maps. Also the daily overnight parking is only about a buck I think anyway. So... even if I wanted to go for a three day overnight trip somewhere... I could park and pay a buck in addition to the weekend. Or I could just suck it up and walk the 2 miles. I mean... If I'm going on a week vacation with luggage or something? I might just call a cab. Or ask a friend to drive me over. Or just Uber it to the airport entirely.
Or just airport park. And take the shuttle to the airport. It's not like I don't have options. I'm definitely going to be traveling more in the future. I mean, I like traveling.. It's a mixed bag. I hate to pack. And coming back is always like hard to get into the groove of life again. Financially speaking, even with being fairly loose with my budget last month and kind of splurging a couple times on some food and drink and what not with friends... I still came in 100 bucks under budget. My next thing is to chop some of the Comcast services that I'm paying for but not using, and to eventually cancel my mom's cell phone. That will free up another 150 bucks a month. On top of that... well... There's going to be estate and trust money eventually. Although I do need a new fridge, and washer and dryer. And I'd like to buy a new iPhone, perhaps a drum set. It's not like I REALLY have to worry about budgeting. The amount of money I'll eventually be receiving in addition to the money I've saved on my own from work that I have invested in my own portfolio... I don't know why I'm even bothering to budget. I guess it's just in my blood. My mom was a saver and so was my grandfather... so I'm a saver. There's a reason why there's money to pass down in the first place. I don't really like to blow tons of cash on crazy things. I like to make lists and be cautious and make sure that my cashflows out are equal to my cashflows in. I prefer to always have a budget surplus actually. Then I reinvest the excess cash for future unknown expenses.
But I'll definitely start traveling more in the future as my free cash starts to increase... Just have to find a reliable cat sitter to take care of these little kitty ones. Then once all the estate and trust stuff is set and I have my money invested... I'll use income to travel. I'm not going to touch principle. So I will only use my income and interest and capital gains from investments to travel. That's the plan. For now... I go to local events and stick to my budget.
{PIFA STREET FAIR}
So, I took the afternoon train. It was a nice ride in. It's actually much quicker than I thought. I'm going to take the train into the city more often during the spring/summer/fall months... Winter months... Maybe. Sitting outside on the platform in the cold... It's just not as pleasant as the other times of the year. But on a nice day... Definitely. Oh, by the way, PIFA stands for Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts, in case you were curious.
The fair was a short walk from Suburban Station. I walked through love park and enjoyed the sights and sounds. My first experience was a grassy lawn and a funky statue behind a stage. A show was due to start soon but instead of waiting around for that, I decided to continue on my way. There were various food vendors... Lots of other things to buy... Jewelry and shirts and many other knick-nacks aplenty. The usual stuff at a fair. I browsed and leisured my way down the street. It was strange to experience Broad Street in this fashion. I've walked up and down Broad Street at various points in my life and various times of day. To see it closed off with only foot traffic available and lined with ferris wheels and merry-go-rounds and other attractions such as the zip line near the end of the street... It was strange, but wonderful. In my head I imagined this might be how future cities are if we ever get flying drone cars and personal transportation no longer happens in the street. Instead people fly drone cars overhead and we ride bikes and walk below. Maybe not. But it's fun to imagine the world in a different way than it is now.
By far my most favorite "exhibit" or " attraction" or whatever terminology is preferable, at the street fair. #PIFA #PianoSandbox A photo posted by Kenny (@kennywest82) on
I brushed by people. Funky artsy city folk... trendy families with babies all dressed like they belong in Back to the Future II... couples in love... elderly people... groups of unenthused teens... obvious tourists... fair officials and city employees. I walked along a ferris wheel and merry-go-round. Eventually I came to a giant sandbox with pianos in it. The pianos appeared to be reclaimed from lost attic spaces... Aged, used, victims of time and decay... Each piano painted two-tone obnoxious 80s neon coloring. People playing the pianos, kids playing in the sand. I feel like the idea was for people to "play". Old and young. Playing together as one. Which was almost exactly what I saw happening.
Leaving that brought me into a jungle... Or enchanted forest of sorts. There was a waterfall, and ponds with lily pads. In addition to the waterfall and ponds, pine needles cover the street and various trees lined the sides so that you felt as though you were in a forest. They had cute little tables and chairs painted various shades of neon pop coloring.
Selfie takers were coming out of the woodwork everywhere.
There were more vendor booths and tents. A beer garden, which I stopped in on the way back and enjoyed a Yards Brawler, one of my favorite beers due to it's pleasant mellow taste, cheaper price, and lower alcohol content.
There was another park this time just grass covering the street and some fountains for people to toss coins in, a marching band played nearby. Finally a zip line spanned almost a full city block.
I watched several people have a go, but decided against it myself as I had done this in a previous time in my life more times than I cared to count at summer camp. It's a novelty. Once you've done it... You've done it. It doesn't get better with time... And besides, it was 20 bucks PER go. I went hundreds of times at camp for free. And if I wanted to... I could go again over and over this June when I'm up there. And save my 20 bucks.
I decided on an iced coffee from Starbucks at the end of the street. The thing about street fairs is... The food is super pricey. I secretly had granola bars packed and other little munchy items. 12 bucks for a gyro? Don't get me wrong... I LOVE gyros. But... I'd rather make my own at home you know? Every now and then I will splurge. But mostly I just will buy a drink or a small snack. On my way back through the fair to make my way to the Chinese Lantern Festival I did grab a soft pretzel to sop up the beer I'd had, and a bottle of water. I got soaked a few bucks for that. Well worth it though. I headed up to Franklin Square from Broad Street to hit up the lantern festival.
{CHINESE LANTERN FESTIVAL}
I was under the impression that if I had arrived BEFORE six... I could stay in the park and avoid the $17 dollar admission fee. This was not the case. I feel as though the wording on the site was a little tricky. It said that the park was free during the day and then cost money after 6pm. It did not say that if you stayed you could avoid the ticket cost. So, I just assumed... And when you assume... You make an ass of u and me. My first boss told me that when he hired me.
When I got to the park, about 5 minutes before 5.... There was already a line. As well the man at the ticket booth confirmed that they made everyone leave the park around 5:30 and blocked the entrances. So, I could have stayed at the street fair until 7 when it ended. Oh well. Could-a-shuda-wooda... My life is filled with those. That's why I'm here at this very moment and not there. Wherever there is.
Well I waited in line for about twenty minutes. Not too bad. I bought a ticket and went right for the rest room. The thing about the city is... You never know where you might find your next bathroom. This is why my next business venture is going to be paid bathroom clubs on every corner. I'm telling you... It's a billion dollar industry. BILLION! Every city in the world. You know where they are with a friendly little app, and you can report back to headquarters when one isn't sparkling clean and we'll dispatch someone to clean it right away from our 24 hour team of professional bathroom attendants. Pay per use through the app, or save money and pay monthly. Because port-a-potties and bar bathrooms? We ALL know... trust me... WE ALL KNOW the state of those things. It's always the same. ALWAYS. Gross.
"You don't HAVE to use the bathroom club bathrooms... but once you do... We think you'll never go back to normal bathrooms." That's my made up slogan for my made up company.
After my bathroom experience, which was exactly how you'd expect it to be... I walked around for a few. Then I found the beer garden and enjoyed a Tiger beer. It's a popular beer in China apparently. After the beer I walked around more as it was starting to get dark. It was interesting to watch the sun set and see the lanterns take on a glow as opposed to the sunlit scene when I first arrived. The change was relaxing. Just being hugged in the low glow warmth as the sun set. It was comforting and fun and relaxing to be there with people that had also been standing in line with you. To walk around in this enclosed space and see the same people over and over again.
As the sun finally tucked itself into bed, the lantern lights illuminated the entire park. A plethora of shapes and sizes and colors. Eye candy reds and oranges and yellows and greens and blues. They all popped with luminosity (I know, that's not a real way to use that word... But I like the way it sounds... Even if it's not grammatical correct). Photos were snapped left and right.
So here's another photo from the lantern festival last night that I meant to post. It was very cool indeed. A photo posted by Kenny (@kennywest82) on
I'm sure all the social media networks were blowing up... Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat... I know I had some likes from people that don't even follow me... they just found the hashtag.
I decided to grab another little something to eat from the food area. I went for a hot dog. It was only a couple bucks. I wasn't about to pay another 10 bucks for a burger and fries. Plus I still had my one snack in my pocket for the train ride home.
I looked at the time and decided I wouldn't make it in time to get the train I had planned on, so I went to the beer garden and had a second beer while I waited on the train. I chatted with a few random people. Someone told me about the dancing panda... I had missed this. I said "where is the dancing panda?" They said... "He's breakdancing! Go check it out.". So I did.
The later it got the more it was mostly 20s and 30s somethings. Families with kids dominated early on. The trendy city dwellers eventually over took the place. Hipsters left and right. After my second beer I purchased another bottle of water to take with me on the train...
I had one last look at the giant dragon next to the beer garden and went on my way.
The train ride back home was quiet. I snacked on the train platform (and rehydrated with a bottle of water which is always a good idea after a beer) instead of eating on the train itself. Three beers in one day is... Whew. I don't know how people do it without snacks and water and breaks between the drinks! I guess I'm getting old. I enjoy trying new brews though. I'm all about having a nice craft brew with friends, or while checking out an event. It's relaxing just to sip and savor the taste. I think I'm becoming a bit of a beer snob though. But I'm not above just have a Yuengling, or a Sam Adams or something like that. I just prefer if I'm going to have a beer, or pay 5 or 6 bucks for the beer that it be something more crafty in nature.
It was a fine day. My car was right where I'd left it after I got off the train. When I got home I decided to work on my book some. I fed the cats and did a couple things around the house before going to bed.
There's something about taking the train into the city on a weekend that really just, removes you from your normal world and gives you a different perspective on life. I enjoy taking the train. I actually talked to one girl on the train coming back who was super cool. The ice breaker was... When the ticket guy asked her which station she needed to purchase a ticket to she said... "Rolling rock, sorry, rolling hills, sorry... North Hills. Sorry, it's been a long day.". I laughed and she turned red in the face. Then we started chatting. She works in the city on the weekends. She had to get off one stop before mine. You know how travel conversation works... You're just to the point of becoming friends... Maybe even exchanging phone numbers or friend up on social media... And they get taken in a different direction because it's their stop. "Oh no! This is my stop!" She said... distracted by our conversation. "It was nice chatting." I said. And with that she went off into the night. Kind of like life... As soon as you get accustom to people, or places... Next stop is yours, or theirs... and then someone else gets on. Or maybe it's late at night and no one else gets on... It's just people getting off and fewer and fewer people remain.
Well... anyways. That was my day. Today is boring chores and errands, house work, yard work. Next weekend is Baconfest at the Chaddsford Winery though! Exciting. And next Friday night I think I'll head down to the Art Museum for Art After 5.
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