Staying Awake in The City That Never Sleeps....

Saturday, December 1, 2007

Waiting...

I arrived at the bus stop the other night with no question that the M7 bus would come. When an M10 pulled up, I waved the driver on with confidence. Though its route wasnt a straight shot, the M7 bus with its many twists and turns, would eventually take me exactly where I wanted to go.

So I waited.

Another bus came, an M10, I could take the M10 most of the way and with a brisk walk, reach my destination, faithful that the M7 I needed would soon be there, I shook my head giving the driver permission to go on without me.

I began to wonder what the delay was.

When yet another M10 bus stopped to let passengers off I contemplated getting on but didn't.

Knowing there was something that would give me exactly what I needed and take me exactly where I wanted to go made it hard for me to settle on a substitute. It made it difficult to consider another way, an alternate route.

As the minutes ticked by, thoughts of doubt began to trickle in. Has the bus stopped running? Am I at the wrong stop?
I walked out into the street to see if a bus was in the distance. The streets were empty with not even a taxi in sight.

I came to the bus stop with the intention of waiting for the M7 until it came. What I didnt realize was that i had a subconsious timecap on the busses arrival.

Sometimes the test of faith isnt believing something will happen but how long you can hold on to that belief and how open you are to the way it will take place.

Eventually I took the M10 and walked the rest of the way to my destination, I got to where I wanted to go just not the way I intended.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

A first sip....

The first time I had wine I wasn’t particularly impressed. From then on, I would have a glass here or there but it was nothing I craved. Drinking more than a single glass of wine was not something I did.

Then, around the time I turned twenty, I had a glass of wine that changed my life it was a Cabernet and it was amazing.

For the first time in my life I wanted a second glass.

All this time I thought that I wasn’t a wine person, but it turned out I had just been drinking sub-par wines. It was then that I began to explore the types of wine that suited my palate.

In the same way that I went so long drinking a single glass of wine and never wanting more, I am the queen of first dates. I go on first dates all the time but when a guy calls for a second, I’m not interested.

Looking back, I suppose I could have forced second glasses of wine, but wine is meant to be enjoyed not suffered though so… wouldn’t that defeat the purpose?

I recently encountered the dating equivalent to my Catalyst Cabernet. I went on a date with a perfectly aged, full bodied, man with nutty overtones and he suited my palate perfectly.

Even after the first sip of wine there is always more to be discovered; an infusion that you didn’t notice before or combinations of food that bring out flavors you didn’t know were there.

All I can say is that the taste of my first date is still lingering and I can’t stop thinking of having second glass.

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Get your kicks

In the city, when the stores close for the day metal grates are brought down over the glass windows for security. Today as I was leaving the gym, I noticed three boys huddled up against one of these metal barriers yelling and kicking at something.

I almost reached for my cell phone, assuming a helpless kid was being jumped, but before I could two of the boys jumped back and I saw that no one was there. One boy was left still kicking violently, he jumped back and began to stomp when I realized... they were killing a rat.

Time Stamp

As I walked along 125th street today I made my way through the vendors, shoppers, native new yorkers and tourists that flock to Harlem daily. I'm not sure which category the long haired girl with pale skin fell into, but as she passed through the crowd she flipped her hair over her shoulder she said,

"I wish I could be black for an hour"

An older black woman whipped her head around and her eyes met mine, "Did you hear what she just said? Did you hear what she just said?" she asked incredulously"

While the woman seemed offened at the statement, I remained perplexed by the idea of being black for "an hour". Could a person experience what its really like to be a different race, gender, sexual orientation or class in one hour?

Maybe that's why she put a time stamp on it.