This Random Ass Unbelievable Magic Arouses
It's really been too long since I just sat at my desk to do work unrelated to my actual job. Usually after a work day, the last thing I want is to be in the same spot to stare at another computer for even more hours. So on top of numbing life away with tons of tv when I’m home and the fact that I’ve been going out to restaurants and events nearly daily for the past few months, I can’t remember the last time I was here like this, especially on a Sunday.
It’s nice to just sit in my chair and be. There are no distractions or nowhere to run to, and because my roommate also isn’t here, I can really just chill.
Recently, I feel like I’ve been living my life at the speed of go-go-go. Last weekend, I came home from meeting friends on Saturday afternoon and then changed to go back out for this other thing. I was a block away from my apartment when I realized I had left my keys at home, which pretty much never happens. Getting back home that night was an ordeal, and then yesterday, something else funny went down.
I had bought some groceries at the East Village H Mart and then walked over to 7th Ave to take the 1 train back home uptown. By the time I got to the 59th Street stop, a stranger sitting across from me pointed at my super heavy paper shopping bag resting on the subway floor to say that it was leaking.
I was confused at first, but when I looked down, I did see something clear like water streaming from where the bag sat. There wasn’t anything really in there with liquids that would spill and no banchan, kimchi, seafood or whatever with juices either, so by the time I got to the 79th stop, I was feeling mortified and decided to get off the train to figure it out. As soon as I stepped out, as I was holding it by its handles, the bottom of the bag broke through after becoming soggy and everything dropped onto the subway platform.
With my AirPods still blasting music in my ears, I salvaged whatever I could by putting a few things into my messenger bag and tossed everything else into the nearby large garbage can on the northbound platform. When the next train arrived, I hopped back on and as it pulled away, I noticed the music in my AirPods slowly fade away. I didn't think much about it until stops later and when I checked my bag for my phone and realized it was gone.
I eventually made it back to the 79th St station and thought I might have accidentally thrown it into the trash can with the H Mart bags. I guess the trash can was designed so that people couldn’t easily dig through it and I had to dive in from the top to look deep in, and fortunately, there was a bench next to it for me to step on. With no luck there, I even checked the train tracks and the whole area towards the back platform of the station but still couldn't find it.
When I got home, I had someone call my phone and to my honest surprise, the person on the other end said they found it on the 79th subway platform and that I could pick it up from them. I immediately hopped back on the subway and headed towards the stranger's apartment in FiDi, and am so grateful to have it safely back in my hands.
I did eventually figure out what caused my bag of groceries to leak and break. It was this packaged Pyongyang naengmyun product that somehow was leaking its broth. It's funny how because that happened, I got a great reminder that there are plenty of New Yorkers (shout out to the kind person who returned my phone!) who continue to look out for one another and do the right thing.
Flossing and Swiffering help realign things when life feels chaotic.
Your thumbprint is wrecking my donut.
Hello.
Ever since I stopped my blog in March, I've been searching for a new place to upload my writing. Social media doesn't feel like the right place for it, so here we are.