New York Is A Dangerous Place

I've lived in Manhattan for a rather large chunk of my adult life (I don't live there at the moment), but one thing I can say about it is that it is an extremely dangerous place. I don't mean this in the context of one being at risk of getting mugged (or worse), though that is always a possibility, though more remote now than say, ten years ago. I mean crossing the street, waiting for the subway, or merely walking...that's dangerous. Consider: Manhattan is a twelve mile island, inhabited by 1.1 million people. During the business week during working hours, that number swells to four or five million people....all on this little island. The island is entire too small for this many people to be on it at any given time, so you see accidents all the time. Some of these accidents can be quite grisly. Three years ago, I had the misfortune of witnessing the after-effects of a garbage truck hitting a woman crossing at the intersection of 6th Avenue and 23rd St. Not to put too fine a description on it, but let's just say that there was little doubt that she was DOA, since her remains were all over 6th Avenue. On Wednesday of this past week, I saw at the corner of 42nd and 3rd an accident site involving a city bus and a civilian. Again, little doubt that the person hit by the bus survived. Awful stuff.

Forgive this morbid post, but I wanted to record my impressions of these accidents just to remind myself to look both ways while crossing the street and have a healthy respect for the traffic in Manhattan...and elsewhere, for that matter. I used to bike quite a bit through the streets of the city. One time, some friends and I decided we'd have a race from Sheep's Meadow in Central Park back to our apartment on 26th and 3rd. To add a little spice to the story, we'd been drinking and, er, smoking. (Smoking what, you may ask?) With abandon, we all took off in a mad dash, each taking alternate routes, to win the bet. I went through the tunnel on Park Avenue, under Grand Central Station, just to cut some time off my journey. (I did this on a bike!?!) Thankfully, it was a Sunday and a low traffic day. We all made back alive and in one piece, but I think back now, and it seems like we were really tempting fate. It wasn't the first or last time that we did such things, but given my subsequent knowledge of how easy one can be cut down by cars and/or trucks in the city, I shake my head at the bravery/stupidity of such endeavors. They were, however, pretty damn fun.

"Plus ce change, plus ce la meme chose..."

The following are observations about New Yorkers:

"They talk very loud, very fast, and altogether. If they ask you a question, before you can utter three words of your answer, they will break out upon you again-and talk away"

-John Adams, 1775

Class

I was heartened by the Yankees' behavior during the ring ceremony for the Boston Red Sox this past week. Manager Joe Torre put it best, "It shouldn't be about what the Yankees didn't accomplish, but what the Red Sox did accomplish". I don't follow baseball on television very much, preferring to read about it than sit through hours of it. That pretty much goes for most sports, save hockey (what's that?). But I do follow sports, specifically baseball, in the newspapers and on the internet. The press seems to believe the Yanks are old and their pitching staff is shaky at best. Could be. But I was gladdened by the Yanks' response to what must've been an awfully disappointing experience (watching the Red Sox coronation, that is). At a time when steroids have infected the game and classless behavior abounds, it is refreshing and heart-warming to know that there's still some sportsmanship in the world. Good for Joe Torre and the Yankees.

Ditto for Andre Agassi, who a few weeks ago in a match out in California withdrew due to a bum toe. Knowing that fans had paid to see this match specifically to see him, Agassi showed up on the court and personally apologized for withdrawing, and thanked the fans for showing up. He was reciprocated with loud applause and shouts of support. He didn't have to show, but he did.

A few years back Luciano Pavarotti was scheduled to sing at the Met. It was to be a special performance, the last time Pavarotti was to sing Tosca. He couldn't sing that night due to a sore throat. Despite the pleas of the general manager to come to the Met and say a few words of apology and gratitude, Pavarotti did the opposite. Said one concert-goer, “All he had to do was show up, croak out ‘I can’t sing,’ and the audience would have gone nuts with adoration.” Alas, it was too much to show respect for his audience.

My first boss while working on Wall Street was a guy named Elliot Smith. He had a long career on The Street (no small feat, mind), and he'd seen it all. He was the broker for the Hunt Brothers (Lamar and Bunker Hunt, that is) at a time when they were hell-bent on cornering the silver futures market. When the market collapsed, it left all concerned with a billion dollars in margin calls. (Consider, this was 1980; adjusted for inflation, a billion in '80 would be about four or five billion now. It nearly destroyed the Hunts, who at one time were the wealthiest people on the planet.) He gave me the best piece of advice that anyone could've given me in the business, "People will forgive you for losing money, but they'll never forgive you for treating them like shit."

Ain't that the truth.

Booze

Sure, I have quite a bit of experience with it. I've had great times and lousy times whilst under the influence of it. But in the end, I've drawn a few rock-solid conclusions about it:

a.) It'll wreck the following day, perhaps days, as you recover. Since we all only have a limited amount of time on this earth and even less beautiful days in which to enjoy them, it makes little sense spending those beautiful, shiny spring days on the couch or in front of a toilet wretching. Life is challenging enough. Why go out of one's way to destroy a beautiful day? But then, we don't really think about these things the night before, do we....

b.) Fights, arguments, rude comments, and generally execrable behavior all have a tendency of occuring whilst under the influence of booze, at least in my experience. I'd like to think I exhibit none of these tendencies sober( save arguments, but they're usually of a political nature, and I'm tiring of those as well). Again, why booze when this is what comes out? (I keep asking myself that question....)

I've written about the adventures of Porno-Boy in this space fairly extensively. I may or may not continue to do so. What I haven't stated in this space about him is the fact that he has been, for all intents and purposes, excommunicated from both my life, as well as everyone else who know him. He's not a bad person by nature, but he's a drunk. And with being a drunk comes rude behavior, flakiness, welshing on loans, and a propensity to get into life-and/or-limb threatening situations while in his company. Every punch up that I've gotten into or almost got into occured in a bar or a club while under the influence. There aren't too many things I enjoy more than passing a moment with a drink and a friend while engaged in some meaty conversation. But boozing for the sake of getting lit disgusts me at this point. This post is probably more for my benefit that the readers', but I felt it was necessary to put it up anyway. It might provoke some thoughts.

Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind...Was Awful

Watched the DVD of "Spotless Mind", and I must say, it was ghastly. I'm not overly interested in making a point by point dissection of it; just take my word for it. It tries to be arty and cutting edge, but fails on every level. It is my first inclination to avoid simplistic opinions about most things, but I can't avoid it this time 'round, so I'll leave this review with a two-word conclusion: it sucked.

No...This Isn't Ripped From The Onion

The saying, if I'm not mistaken is, "anyone who legally represents themselves has a fool for a client"...or something like that. Well, this guy has taken it a step further and not only represented himself in court, but also sued himself for incompetence. Unless the San Franciso Gate has morphed into a west coast version of The Onion, I have no reason to beleive this is a farce.

Did You Know....

...that Marvel Comics put out a commemorative comic book in 1982 about the late, great Pope John Paul II? I didn't either, but here it is on E-Bay.

Had I known....

Information Overload

I've been back in the States for a week. On some level, I wish I had missed this week, given the heart-wrenching Terri Schiavo situation. Couple that with the loss of John Paul II, and this has really been an emotional seven days. One thing my trip to Costa Rica made me realize is that I suffer from information overload, and frankly, most of the information I digest isn't of a very positive nature. There's not much that can be done about this, as I've never been one to be "out of the loop" news-wise, even as a kid. On the other hand, all of this information doesn't help one's morale all that much. And no, it isn't as if I specifically seek out negative news. It is merely that the majority of news that is out there is of a negative nature. Also, I'm almost at wit's end with the infinite political discourse that swirls around all of us on a day-to-day basis. Between Fox, CNN, MSNBC, C-Span, and CNBC, I think I've had my fill of political debate for quite some time. Now, it isn't that politics at this point in our history are more divisive than ever. American politics has always been raw, going back to the Washington Administration. (Sidenote: During Washington's second term, Jefferson and Madison ghostwrote scathing editorials in both the National Gazette and the Aurora newspapers, accusing Washington of either being "a senile accomplice, or being a willing co-conspirator in the plot to establish a Hamiltonian monarchy".) The United States isn't any more polarized than ever before, for it has always been polarized. But that's not really the point. What is the point is that it can grind you down, all these debates, discussions, arguments, etc. And while I certainly was aware of this prior to taking off for Central America a few weeks back, it has become much more apparent to me now. When you contrast the peace of walking in a rain forest, the smiles and laughter of your travelling companions, the adrenaline of moving at 20 mph down 200 yards of cable whilst suspended 250 ft. above a jungle, or observing a toucan in flight, with the knockdown, drag-out debate over the some political issue of the day, you realize what is good in the world, and what is not. We can't have a society without vigorous debate about anything and everything, for it is the benchmark of our democratic society. But sometimes...this time...I wish everyone would just shut the fuck up.

Farewell, Karol Wojtla

Pope John Paul II has passed at the age of 84. This isn't a tragedy given his advanced age and failing health, but it is a loss of incalculable magnitude. Joseph Stalin once said derisively about an earlier pope, "How many divisions does he have?" Well, it turns out that this pope, John Paul II, had divisions in the millions, ones that would not and did not accept the nothingness of communist atheism, or its moral void. And John Paul II was not afraid to mobilize them. He openly challenged the communist government of Poland, and by extension, the Soviet government. It was John Paul II, as well as Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, that was primarily responsible for the implosion of the Soviet empire. Many have (and continue to) debate that these three icons had anything to do with the demise of communism in Europe. Let them. Lech Walesa, the leader of the Solidarity movement in Poland, put it best, "It is true that communism would've fallen at some point, but it would've taken longer and it would've been bloodier." So threatened was the Soviet leadership over this "insolent priest" that they subcontracted an assassination on him to Bulgarian intelligence, and used a Turkish Muslim, Mehmet Ali Agcar, to pull the trigger. Whilst Reagan and Thatcher checked Soviet military aggression with calculated gambles, John Paul II checkmated the communists where it hurt the most and from where they could never respond in kind: spiritually.

Well done, Karol. Godspeed.

Back In NYC

I see faces and traces of home....back in New York City.

Got back into New York from San Jose, Costa Rica, on Monday. As the trip was a whirlwind of sights, sounds, events, and road tripping, I've still not fully integrated myself back into the pace of home. I fully anticipate that I'll blog much more extensively about this trip in the coming days, but I'm still absorbing and making sense of the experience, which was truly amazing. More to come on this matter. Stay tuned.