Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Another Cable Cut

One of the trials of living in New York is that work never stops. Especially if work generally happens in a time zone six hours away. So when Verizon, our internet company, occasionally, which is actually often, shut off our i-net, it can get tricky to meet deadlines. Last night the rude man on the phone had no answers, so I set off on a search for a signal in the hood. This midnight stroll with apple under arm was conducted in a neighborhood that isn't the best around that time of night. Add to the fact that it's late october and zombies patrol the streets, I became a little concerned with my stoop surfing. Apparently everyone around here are Verizon users, so after an hour I found a signal a mile away. All because someone cut a wire while digging a hole around the corner. Thinking about how many wires are in the ground under my step, it made me grateful we don't have them above us like this township in Cape Town.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Yawn


Insomnia. It's just one of those things that kicks in now and again. The work of a churning mind, sleep's true poison. As I battle this temporary disease, I look through pictures, trying to get organized, which is the whole reason my mind is spinning anyway. Vicious cycle. I found this one from last month, taken five feet from my front door. I saw it and remembered I liked the signs, which made me want to ramble about signs for a page, but then the lady made me yawn. Which is when I realized that would be a sign not to write about signs, and also when it came to me that yawning is contagious. My insomniac self went on a mission to find out why, and ten minutes plus many search engines later, I found out that nobody can really say. Basically they think we yawn because of self awareness. It's the compassionate thing to do. With that I send this yawn around the world. Did it work?

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Blissful Crowd


The irony of city life is that sometimes, to get away from the hectic life of the city, the only thing to do is completely immerse oneself in it. Like taking a stroll in the middle of Chinatown, ignoring your usual need to keep an 18-inches-of-freedom bubble around, and just take in the fact that the city is what it will always be: hectic, impersonal and sometimes completely necessary.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Spam-a-lot


Among the many pleasures of living in a big city is the constant access to everything technological. You can keep up to date on everything you want instantly if you have one of those fancy gizmos which works as a phone, email and internet compacted to a thing the size of a credit card. It's amazing how well connected people get, and instant knowledge makes sure party conversations never dry up. RSS feeds and emails will plop into your gizmo making you a walking 24 hour news channel, all thanks to the inventions of busy America. In a sense these gizmos seem to be invented with such small gaps so as to keep people busy from getting bored. Perhaps needed in a place where people average a seven minute attention span. When I recently considered upgrading from Gizmo 1 to Gizmo 2, a huge pull was the fact that the busy people in the invention plant had made Gizmo 2 foolproof, which is what I needed seeing that I still don't fully understand Gizmo 1. But upon further contemplation, I realized that with this new technology also follows an older, more annoying technology; spam. Which begs the question, do I really need to read about how Barry got a huge cock, and Viagra will save your marriage 24 hours a day? I think not. Welcome back Gizmo 1.

Monday, October 15, 2007

No Standing

I'm feeling rebellious. Somewhere between the airport and the gutter it's time to take a stand.

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Let's get out of town...

Imagine this scenario... You live in a place with 8 million people. You get claustrophobic. You need a break. Anywhere, anything, as long as it is away from the overcrowded humid streets. You find out one of your friends has an extra ticket to the best concert of the summer, probably the last one outside. The venue is in the city, but on an island, hence it’s like getting away. An escape. It involves travel time, first on a train, then a boat and a finally a walk on grass, before the stage will present itself, in front of about 10 000 bladders sharing green port-a-potties and seven dollar Heineken in plastic cups. The music starts, and you wonder how is it possible to feel so relaxed in a crowd this big, enforcing the love-hate relationship of a city overgrown. The band sings and you realize it is the right decision to break up. Because there's definite love there, just not the right kind. The band sings, and you agree:

New York, I Love You
But you're freaking me out

New York, I Love You
But you're bringing me down

And with that, I decide with a 100 percent certainty, it's time to leave.

Friday, October 5, 2007

October Wishlist and a Blue-eyed Bull

It’s October. Really. October. The month of changing leaves, rain, weather that goes sub zero overnight, sweaters, fresh air, Halloween and a bunch of nice things I’ve forgotten about. So where is it? Because October so far has been sticky, hot and humid. I want my sweaters, my shoes, I want to go outside and not feel as if I’m dressing myself in New York’s polluted air like an unwanted coat. Instead we’re still in short skirts, tank tops and flip flops. October. We’re having conversations about the beach, what beaches are open, the public pool, anything to make the coat go away, if only for a second.

I did, however, meet a blue-eyed-bull-dog, which was cool. October!