Just another day in Brooklyn

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were fairly uneventful. That means life took place in the realm of words instead of actions. I spent my time around the house cooking, cleaning and doing a little Thai Yoga Therapy with the roommates. Rangie was having difficulty with his housing and moved in on Monday until things straighten out. Housing seems to be a common problem in NYC, after all they did make a hit play/movie about it. I am beginning to look at the whole world as a strange place that I am visiting. Maybe even as if every person is an alien or in some way fascinatingly different from me. All people are familiar at the same time. I recognize all of the same types of thoughts and feelings in others. It's the particulars, the personal organization of experience and the methods of dealing with life that interest me I guess. A few highlights include a short walk around Brooklyn and finding a bunch of kids playing in an uncapped fire hydrant. I went over to wet my feet and noticed that the piping was made in Thailand and the water games reminded me of song kran so I tried to get a picture. Watching movies with Ricardo. Going to the store with Rangie and hearing all about his life. Getting a shaved ice from a very nice Hispanic vendor. Helping Broke screen print T-shirts. Etc, etc, etc.

Wendsday night is really where the story picks up. Diana convinced me to join a dating website while I was in West Virginia. OKCupid, it is rather interesting. On Tuesday I thought to myself. "Self, why don't you see if this Cupid thing works?" Next thing I know I have a date at a new Brooklyn bar called Franklin Park. Rangie was late with dinner so I got there a little late. 45min late actually. My date had left and and had to come back to the bar. Conversation was pleasant. She talked about her falling off a 30 foot cliff in Bali a month ago among other stories and then we went for a walk. The Brooklyn museum was impressive even though the doors where locked it was something worth seeing. Her friends caught up with us there and we sat on the steps and shot the shat for a while. Then they all went home and I went back to the bar. The first woman I met there was one of the sexiest black women I have ever met. She had a very large man there with her that she said was not her boyfriend... but he might have disagreed. He only got so uncomfortable with me before he dragged her off. Next I talked with a pretty lame white girl. Then I met Ayana. I noticed her when I had my date, she was tall and slender with delicate features. Hair that says don't fuck with me and eyes that are not afraid of tragedy. "Ayana means beautiful flower, in Swahili" she said. A little small talk and she was off to see her friend, I was invited but didn't join her immediately. A white man who was obviously a regular took her place at the bar. I commented on his shirt. I didn't find him very interesting so I went to join my beautiful flower. "You remembered" she said but really how could I forget? Chi Chi, Ayana, and I talked for a long time about all manner of things before it was time for bed. I joked about her taking my heart and she offered her number in exchange. I asked her who else I could possibly talk to after such a great conversation? She pointed around and we made fun of the hipsters and various other rich white kids who had mysteriously appeared at the bar. Apparently a bus from Bushwick (the trendy neighborhood) drops them off. She finally decided that I should talk to 2 kinda rednecky kids. When she left I introduced myself. They were slightly interesting in the fact that they didn't fit in but they were conversationally challenged. When a group of girls started an arm wrestling match and the guys were making fun of the dikes I thought it would be a good time to try out my new line. "I came to offer moral support, but my morals are questionable" I told the loser. No response, not even a look my way. Hmmm... I went back to the guys who explained that they really were lesbos. A few minutes later there was only one girl at the table and she was looking at me. I went back to talk to her. She had a very shy but beautiful face. I offered her my hand with an introduction and noticed that her hand had only 3 fingers on it. The other hand looked almost like a foot. "That's interesting" I inquired in the most accepting voice I have. It was a birth defect that took surgery to get it to the functionality that she had, and they were very functional. She was a bike mechanic by trade and fancied herself an artist. When her friends came back they tried to ignore me but we talked long enough that they introduced themselves just before declaring that it was time to go. There was no one left in the bar that looked that interesting and/or available for conversation so I decided to head home. At my transfer I saw two gorgeous women. The way they moved betrayed them as dancers. I asked and they were. The train was taking a while so we got talking. Katrina was headed to Northampton in a week so when I told her I lived there she was extra happy to meet me. The train came and I got on behind the girls. The five men in the train stopped talking and stared at her as she walked in. I sat across from her and smiled inside. When she handed me her contact information the guys looked at me with envy and I half nodded at them in a gesture of high status. Katrina and I tried talking across the isles but the trains was to noisy so I moved next to her. At first the kid who was to my left didn't move to give me space but eventually he conceded. I got home feeling like a million bucks, chatted with Shaun and Rangie for a few before going to bed.