16 Dec 06

Time:

Left Astor Place station 1932, arrived library 1939.

Money:

Not a whole lot? I bought one round of drinks for the four of us plus my own dinner at Boca Chica. (Well, actually Roey spotted me the cash. But I paid him back already.)

More interesting things:

Smelled, floating in the air somewhere, that wintry smoky smell, but somehow this time it was sharper or something, and reminded me instantaneously of that pow-wow weekend in Jacksonville.

Noticed that the Italian restaurant on a corner I'm familiar with is called Bella Cucina, while the glasses store 22 feet away is named Bella Vista... are they owned by the same one-time biker Italian guy from (in my opinion) Long Island?

Felt like I had, to some weird extent, already seen the blue-and-purple checked shirt a guy on the subway wore, and realized just a second later that this was because the shades of the pattern matched precisely those two fat markers I used to do (kind of) my explorer project in fifth grade. That is a very strange thing to remember, ladies and gentlemen.

Sat on the train across from an older guy in Santa tie, bright red cords, and an arm-hugging elegantly dressed wife: Christmas party, anyone?