Broken phone

A few days ago, I broke my phone, thus losing a whole bunch of contact numbers. I remembered most of them, or had them written elsewhere, though. I have: Alpie, Anna, Laurie, Lil, Shelley, Stacy.

If you're not on that list, please email me your phone number. Or call me!

Something rich and strange

I forgot to tell you all about one of the most interesting things that happened to me on Friday :)

Walking along at the busy Times Square subway station, I felt like there was something I should see on my left -- and when I glanced over, I saw these women, sitting like statues, around the base of the columns at the station. They were meditating, and they ... I hate using such fluffy language, but they were radiating stillness.

Around them, there were posters that showed photos of women beat up and abused -- the victims of China's massive persecution of the practitioners of Falun Dafa. Many of us have heard of this persection before, of course, because there's the sentiment that it is a gross overreaction on the part of the Chinese government to essentially persecute housewives. My grandmother practices this particular form of qigong, and she seems calmer for it.

But I digress. When I paused, and looked over the posters, another, short Chinese woman came over and smiled at me. I started to reach for my wallet, but she said, calmly, bu yung yi qian. We don't need money.

For the first time in years, I had no problems with understanding Chinese, and had a brief conversation with her. I offered sympathies for the plight of the suffering, and told her I'd pass on the message of forbearance. And then I went on with my day, thinking of how rich, and strange New York city can be, with its odd, brave, packed in citizens.

Matzah ball soup

I had matzah ball soup with Matt T. That totally made my day