CASH, NO TAX...

NYC as usual was a blast! Genevieve was a great room mate and we had a ball just hanging out and eating! That's basically all we did... eat, shop, sleep. Then the cycle starts all over again the next day. For three full days, we were stuffed with food as close to as what we get back home, lots of great laughs, gossips and reminizing the good old party days back home and bitch bitch bitch about the immigration system of the US, people and more people (what's new?! :D).

So what's up with Chinatown?! Where everytime you pay with a credit card (IF they accept them), they look at you in horror and/or with curiosity wondering where in the world did you fall out from, paying with a credit card?! You see, in Chinatown, whether it's for food, shopping for cheap dvd's or groceries, if you pay them in cold hard cash, you don't have to pay tax. Wait a minute, isn't that illegal!? ...and this is not just applicable to Asians. It's a well known fact, apparently; and now to me and you guys reading this. Isn't paying tax part of being a US resident's responsibility?

Of course, with the number of illegal aliens in the area within Chinatown alone is inconcievable. Tons of Malaysians, I realize. Including people who have been in the country for more than the last 10 years! How do you live like that?! They work, they might own houses, they certainly pay rent and of course, how could they not have kids!? Meanwhile... here I am, doing every damned right thing to go through to get my green card and where am I after three years? Absolutely not much different from the day after I got my first interview. Aggravating.

Well, whether it's bring lots of cash or being looked at disdainfully by the Chinese, NYC is a great place to hang out for a few days. I think I might just go insane if I ever lived there. It's so different from Tokyo where everything seems much similar and yet, much much more organized. Go to Tai Pan Bakery (with the yummiest Dan Tart and Curry Puff) and you'd understand.