Long Day’s Journey Into Night

OK, this is going to be more Joyce than O’Neil — here is my stream of consciousness from my Boston trip.

buzz it’s 8:30 couldn’t go to sleep until 3 busy day yesterday randomly met janet reno the bus left at 7 supposed to have lunch with s– at noon dropped off my laundry grabbed my laptop bag got to fung wah bus at 9:30 in chinatown looks like nobody’s there bought a ticket woman doesn’t understand round trip gave me only one ticket walked to get a lai cha and cha siu bao crowd gets bigger woman walks out with shoulder pack leads everyone around the block to the arriving bus chinese mob overruns english tourist in the virtual queue the bus is clean better than greyhound read honolulu frommers guidebook on the way up called the office dealt with three people the bus took a reststop at mcdonalds diesel filled up 30.00 connecticut seems to go on forever ezpass is called fastpath in mass turnpike leads to back bay then to south station then to the gate at chinatown four hours later wizened ticket man with nyu stern cap leads people off of bus woman waits patiently while druggies and vets walk aimlessly s– shows up go to chilean chicken sandwich place guacamole spread yummy around downtown crossing go shopping in filenes basement shirts too new no discount found survivor black and white tv sets with flashlights compasses flashing reflectors for 25 bucks walked to the commons s– had to go to class took a look at the changing colors of the foliage and changed direction quickly to avoid the drug buy dude with red flannel jacket I tried to ditch walked around squirrels jump around and pose for the camera i took pictures went into the cemetery and took scary pictures of paul reveres tombstone creepy skulls on top shopped at cvs with my member card wonder what the mbas must be thinking i’ve used the card in brooklyn, nj, dc, vegas, sf and now boston thought about walking to south station but i’m freezing my ass off so take the t kind of a mistake because it’s rush hour but at least i’m warm get free metro papers and a map which should come in handy walk up atlantic avenue along the wharfs walk past franks lobster roll maybe when i get back walk across the bridge to boston world trade and back by then franks was closed so thought i should find fanuleil hall new world plaza hotel has awesome architecture then under I93 the highway that the big dig should be getting rid of so many yuppie asian probably chinese on the streets two wrong turns finally get to fanuleil hall walked through nothing changed in three years then through to quincy market took a pass on the dry looking fish and chips went for the japanese teppanyaki chicken teriyaki instead so much better sales guy sat next to german guy tourist trying to pick up german girl tourists japanese couple having clam chowder owen the guitarist not doing well but looks good from balcony dome lights reflect from the windows walk out saw cheers the replica bar then rushed off to cambridge stupid me put a dime into the turnstile spent five minutes trying to find the token in my pocket transferred from green to red went past mass gen central station harvard five before seven couldn’t find the pit nor bittle street s– called met at the out of town newsstand made two wrong turns but then comic book guy set us straight around eastern mountain sports then to the biddle theater screen is rear projected clock with purple neon the movie robot stories actually four stories well worth the trip director was there doing q&a he was an android office worker connecting to another hapa female android in the film stories are like twilight zone or outer limits episodes actually emphasizing the humanity to be found anywhere even a machine there’s flurries greeting us outside one hour before the last bus we go for drinks at the red house wonderful bar full of fireplace smell 2 whiskey sours yankees losing on tv mad dash for bus almost left laptop bag behind get to red train that arrives central station looks like the sign for central in hong kong mgh park green train group of chinese teens one looks like vivian chow only 20 minutes left get off the train at boston commons no idea which way is chinatown get pointed in the right direction find the dunkin donuts s– mentioned found the bus but its travelpath not fung wah made sure it was a new york bus conductor says i have to buy ticket from ticket booth got on and collapsed s– called and made sure i was all right p—im-ed me but i just told her i was running for the bus watched iron chef wayne brady and las vegas on the laptop dozed off at 1 suddenly awakened in nyc chinatown walked to the f train not going to pay 20 bucks for a 5 minute taxi ride after a 10 buck 4 hour bus ride the train came right away walked down the alley to the apartment looked at the pedometer racked up 20656 steps or nearly 10 miles in 24 hours downloaded my camera and collapsed in bed by 4 am buzz it’s 8:30

Various

I’ve been negligent in contributing this week; it’s been busy. My uncle from Toronto showed up unexpectedly. I judged a moot court (law student) competition in Newark; they were short of judges, so I ended up judging three rounds, which was mentally exhausting. I’m going to Boston in the morning to watch the movie Robot Stories.

The New York Times has a story on how a paralegal was ordered to produce a three page memo on sushi restaurant options because that day’s sushi delivery was so poor. See also, Gawker. Sometime soon I will compose here my epic on pizza.

Every Step You Take (Redux)


Stairmaster in your future?

[I’ve recreated this article from memory. I hope it matches what I wrote.]

My mom gave me this pedometer (see picture at right) that she got from the 99 cent store. She couldn’t figure out how it works, so that’s how I got it. I wore it watching the Yankees-Red Sox game 3 (pretty violent) and Kill Bill Vol. 1 (very violent), and racked up 6800 steps, or 3 and a quarter miles. People say you should walk 10,000 steps a day. Let’s see how I do during the week. [Today, I walked under 600 steps as I didn’t leave my apartment, so I have a lot of catching up to do!]

NYU suffered a second student suicide this year. The unidentified student walked off the side of the 10th floor indoor balcony of Bobst Library, the same way as last month. Supposedly there are psychological design features to discourage jumping, such as spike patterns in the floor and cross-shaped cross-sections in the railing. Up until now it seemed to have worked, because no one had ever dared to jump from there before now. When I went there, the preferred method was walking out of dorm room windows.

How is it that the world knows that a coach was cut on the nose, but students die so anonymously?