Been having mild stomach issues, decided to use my day off to get it checked out. Couldn't get an appointment with a general practicioner in NYC till August (after I leave) so I had to go to an Urgent Care walk-in facility.
Got off on the wrong subway exit (schedules are all screwed up this weekend), walked twenty blocks, then learned how to use the bus! I graduated from the subway to the bus! I love the bus!
While I was waiting to get on the bus for the first time, I felt a brief moment of anxiety that accompanies doing something new - I was actually nervous for a second that I wouldn't know how to pay for the bus and look like a jackass or a tourist (hello!) or something. It was the most retarded thing to worry about. (And no, I never rode the bus in LA; I tried once, but it passed me by. Jerks.) Anyway, I know a lot of people who have this kind of anxiety about doing new things from the second they start thinking about them; for me, I don't get it until the very last second, way after I've made the decision to go ahead and do the thing. I feel blessed by this freedom, and I have a hard time relating to my friends who don't have it.
Anyway, six hours waiting in the Urgent Care, (which ended up being the ER, stupid NY hospitals), then: released with the advice to go see a general practitioner when I can.
Ugh.
Saw my first NYC rat on the subway tracks. I don't do rats or possums. Mice, yes, rats, no. But this rat was not huge or gross, watching it actually sort of made me wish that I had a pet here in NYC. BTW, how is it that they don't get electrocuted on those tracks? And also, BTW, I think I enjoy watching subway rats more than caged animals in zoos.
Got to walk through some of Central Park. Seems pretty great. Also got to spend time on the Upper East side, I really like it; the way people live here sort of reminds me of dorms and college life.
Tim Keller tomorrow. Finally.
There's actually no electricity going through the tracks, if what I've heard is correct. There's a "third rail" that looks different from the main two, and doesn't bear the weight of the train. A rat would have to touch the third rail and something grounded (like the main rails) to get electrocuted.
ReplyDeleteI find all that underground stuff fascinating. The subway would be one of the first things I explore in NY.