2002-11-11 12:54 p.m.
meditating while walking

I laugh at how many people don't get this:

I love talking to strangers, even if it's for a few minutes. Just a little yakkity-yak to break up someone's day, a friendly face in the middle of a quiet afternoon.

That's probably why Tabi and I are such good friends; neither of us believes in the New York Mindset: eyes averted, keep your distance, personal bubbles always intact.

I was meandering through the 6th St. community garden and there was a guy who'd found the perfect perch, a bench underneath one of the trellises, shaded by a huge willow. He'd come down from DC via the Chinatown bus just to get lost for the weekend, and found himself here, smack in the middle of a overcast day and surrounded by green (well, and hipsters). We talked about karaoke and the differences between DC and NYC (DC's more segmented, ethnic neighborhoods are more defined, not to mention the Lobbyist and Government zones)...and then I had to run and catch up to the pack so we could drink tea and look at my new friend's art. She paints/oil pastels/charcoals on top of old photos she finds, unremarkable images by themselves, but she singles out just one element and either surrounds it or embellishes it with paint, ink, color, and remolds the rest of the photo to fit. Pretty. The girl who ran the cafe strung them up on a little clothesline the same way S. used to have photos up in her old place.

And the cafe had, as a special, a strawberry, brie, and honey on brioche sandwich. I want a cafe job; I'd love to talk with people, sling coffee, and design sandwiches a day or two a week.