Battle of the Laundromat - who will be the winner?

I have won again! 
I have not lost this year!

I'm on a winning streak!!

I will not be defeated! 
I will be number 1!

I will be the first to start the laundry!!!!


Your weekend plans all depend on 
If you get to use the basement laundry machine NOW!

I will finish it all before noon so I get to go enjoy my day!!

As usual, I won this weekend as well.
Even with extra amount from my travel last week, 
I manage to squeeze 4 loads!


New York City apartments are old.
There's a lot of prewar buildings.
Mine's about 115years old.

We are lucky that there's no earth quakes, 
We weren't attacked during WWII , 
and we haven't been hit by natural disasters in the recent years.

So the buildings lasts a long time.

No one had washing machines 100 years ago.
People used their hands and washing boards.

So the buildings arent' designed to pump out so much water.
We aren't allowed to install washing machine or dishwashers.

My Landlord will kick me out if I did such thing.

So pretty much all the New Yorkers wash dishes by hands.
Well, most of us that's not part of the top 1%

So we also go out and use the Laundromat on weekends.

Gather up your week worth of dirty laundry and all the quarters you've been collecting.
You can drop it off to have it done for you,
but it costs twice as much and all the darks and whites are mixed together,
and everything goes in the dryer.

So I rather do it myself.


You know what?!?
My building has whopping 2 sets of laundry machines!!

it's been upgraded recently too.
Brand New machines!

and they have installed the card system!!

There's no need to collect quarters anymore.
What should I do with this pile of quarters now?
Arcade?


Anyway,  I do feel like I got closer to the top 1%
just a tad bit, but closer for sure.


The basement prior to the upgrade was dark.
The lighting was off to one side.
It had paint chips all over where 
I think I was able to count the layers of the paint 
just like rings of the tree trunk to determine the age of the building.

And the painting on the wall has faded so much that it lost all the colors.
And full of erotic alterations done by some delinquents from a few decades ago.

The bare ceiling shows pipes of various forms growing all over the place
decorated with cobwebs.....

Who ever moved out has left their exercise equipments, most of them broken.
The super has brought them all to the basement to have it showcased
But those odd and ends equipments sitting in the dark corner of the basement 
forgotten by their owners only looks like torture devices to me.

AND! 
there's a HUGE water tank with some fish.
With the dim lights and some moss growing, 
the fish moving around is unseen and I think it might just be some body parts floating??

There is a storage room and super's father used take a nap there.
Just when you least expected,  he will be standing right behind you!!!

I kinda like my very own haunted laundromat in the basement,
but since the upgrade, more people started using it.

The battle gets more fierce on weekends.


So, what do you do when someone is already using the machine?

Would you leave your load right next to it 
and hope that people will get the message that you are next in turn??

That does not work in my building.

There was a basket full of dirty clothes next to the washer this time around too.
But the machine is available, and no one else is here to use it.

So of course I'll load my wash!

As I was inserting my card to the machine, 
a lady comes down saying 
"I left my basket there!"

"well, So did I!!! "  (no I didn't)


Well, she didn't press it further.
so I won!

It's a guerrilla warfare!!! 

Being abroad doesn't give you the rights to do whatever you want

Since I traveled recently,  I've met a lot of them.

Chinese tourists.....


I'm So SORRY!!!!!


I'm sorry so sorry!  really sorry
To everybody in the world, I'm truly sorry.

I like to formally apologize as a fellow Asian decedents...
I'm very sorry.

Japanese has done it too.
From 80's through 90's
We have made lots of headlines throughout the US and the world.

We have bought Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Prada....
and plenty of shame along with it!!

We've gone to the 5th Ave on a tourist bus full,
bought the entire store full of expensive bags you would have never bought otherwise,
hang a humongous camera around the neck,
and took group pictures everywhere and anywhere with piece signs all over.

I'm sorry!!!!!

But, you know what?
Those who embarrassed us would go home and tell others and spread their own stories.

and tell new comers as though they've always lived in NY.

"the New Yorkers were dressed like this..."
"You drink coffee in the morning in US..."

"New Yorkers wouldn't do that!!!"

and then hopefully spread to others that spitting in the public is considered rude.

or that Hotel amenities you get to take home does not include the pillows.
you also do not get to take the paintings or the lamps home.


So, it's actually a good thing that they left their comfort and saw the world.
I know the mass number scares you,
but in 10 years it will pay off.


Sometimes, you just don't know unless you see it with your own eyes.
If you stay in your hometown only, you would become Jeff Sessions.

If he ever visited Hawaii, I'm sure he would have never said anything like that.
That it's just an island in Pacific???

Come on Jeff!
It's not just an island, it's HAWAII!!!

Oahu alone has 4 times more population then Birmingham city.
Everyone wants to honeymoon there,  Not Birmingham Alabama...
It has year around warm weather!!
It has pineapple!  papaya! mango! macadamia nuts!!!!

Your Islamic phobia would be cured in NY too.

A bunch of my daughters classmates are Muslims.
These are good smart kids. 
They are friends.

Sure, birthday parties are challenging, 
but pretty much everyone is ok with no meat pizza and a cake!

my daughter has learned that marshmallows contain pork!
it's actually in the gelatin, but I may have never thought about it unless they pointed out.

So,  go!
Travel!  
See the world!  

Jeff! you too!  before you become a real dinosaur!