Peaceful Afternoon
Last night was a mess. The subways were shut down in at least two places and we were an hour late to the game as a result. I picked up chinese take out on the way, but the restaurant forgot to give me a fork. None of the stands at Yankee stadium seemed to have utensils either. I finally got a spoon from an ice cream shack. I knew I should have brought a sandwich instead. The Yankees lost to the Angels, 1-3. Not that I care, I'm not a fan of either team particularly. The stadium was nearly packed with over 54,000 people in attendance. Interesting to see a different slice of American society and culture. Interesting but not enjoyable. Baseball games have never been my thing. I woke up early this morning in spite of myself. Puttered around cleaning and making breakfast for a while then went to the New York Public Library and finally got myself a library card. On the way I saw an old man collapse in the street on the opposite side of Amsterdam Ave. There were some street performers on the same corner as he and they came to his aid, as did a man who ran up on a cell phone. A hospital was right across the street and a woman fetched a doctor. I felt oddly powerless to help as the traffic prevented me from crossing. I suppose there is little I could have added anyway. I thought he was having a heart attack but he had actually managed to trip on his own shoe. He appeared to be all right and I continued on. The weather was very pleasant as I meandered home with a new stack of books. My next stop was the Hungarian Pastry Shop. I brought a book of existential philosophy along and proceeded to idle away the next few hours reading essays by Kafka and Sartre while sipping orange spice tea, which grew cold long before I finished it. I wasn't in the mood for pastries.
