#But Like...I Woke Up Late And Had To Cart My Scooter All The Way Here To The Practice

[xaykwolf]

Not me glancing at my supervisor's SimplePractice calendar to see when she's probably out-of-office for the day and I can reasonably bounce without consequence

[theonlygamergost]

What happens in the toy aisle, stays in the toy aisle - Fd!au

This fanfiction is based on the Family Dynamic au made by @antarctic-bay if you would like to know more, go check them out!!!

Also please bear in mind that the things written in this might not be canon!

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Tommy Techno and Will are pretty chaotic without supervision, so when they go pick up Phil from his workplace, they make a fatal mistake: they enter the toy aisle.

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Enjoy~

Phil sighed in relief after a rush of clients had gotten out of the store, the offices had just closed so it was pretty normal for a rush to be around this hour, yet this one ending only meant that in a half an hour, the students rush was going to begin.

This also meant that he had half an hour to refill the shelves, so many things to do, so little time.

“Evening everyone! Evening Phil!” The new employee’s shift started round about now, he greeted everyone and went in the back where he worked, Phil was able to reply with a wave and a smile. The new guy had it rough since he worked the night’s shift in the warehouse, but Phil sometimes brought him coffee or something to eat before leaving work: the guy was slightly older than Wilbur and Phil only felt empathy for the guy.

He stretched his very tired body and started to put the products on the shelves, sleeping three hours for two nights in a row wasn’t the best idea he ever had but convincing Techno to stop studying so late wasn’t an easy task, plus, insomnia is a bitch ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

The store’s “peace” (for how peaceful a store can be that is) was abruptly interrupted by the shouting of “HEY BIG P!!!!” coming further down the aisle. Customers and employees alike stared in confusion at the young boy who had yelled and the other two teens with him.

Phil turned to see his brothers wave at him with a grin on their faces, “Boys? Wha- what are you doing here?” He asked in disbelief, what were they doing here?

“We came to see you Big P!” Tommy hugged his older brother out of nowhere, making them almost lose balance. The other two smiled as they watched the wholesome scene.

“Thank you for coming to see me boys but, the store is on the other side of the town from your school! There has to be another reason you came all the way here” Wilbur and Techno snickered, making Phil more suspicious

then he already was.

“Now I’m genuinely concerned, what are you little shit-heads up to?” Phil engaged his dad-mode, placing his hands on his hips and looking at the teens for explanations. Tommy and Techno smiled innocently while Wilbur answered.

“We came here to pick you up after your shift ends! There was no point in going back home and then coming here so…” He looked around while putting his arms behind his back, Tommy nodded aggressively like he always did when Wilbur talked for the three of them, “We came here directly from school in my car, It just didn’t feel right to make you come back home on the bus. You work for all of us so this is the least we can do”

Phil stared at them in silence, that was so thoughtful of them.

Phil moved around town with the old trusted scooter their father gifted him on his sixteenth birthday, but as time passed, it only became more old and less trusty, so it was no surprise when two mornings ago the scooter didn’t start, the noises it emitted were more than worrying so he brought it to the mechanical near their house. He could afford the repair costs but he completely forgot that he had to use the bus to get to work, so he woke up “at the same time as usual” the next day… he didn’t calculate that the scooter was way faster than the public transport though,  so he arrived twenty minutes late.

“That is very… kind of you guys, but my shift ends in an hour, what are you going to do until then?”

Techno shrugged, “Laugh at kids toys” saying it like it was the most normal and obvious thing in the world.

Phil couldn’t help himself from face-palming, smiling behind the hand that covered his face: he loved his brothers very much, but god why were they so chaotic?

“Fine then, go to the toy aisle, just… don’t get yelled at for making too much noise ok?” Their eyes started sparkling, they were waiting for this.

After thanking and saying goodbye to Phil, Wilbur and Tommy bolted out of view, Techno sighed and shook his head before walking with hands in his pockets after them.

Phil smiled and got back to work, moving the groceries from the cart to the shelves.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So wait, you’re telling me that the teacher gave you a vote without checking your paper?” Wilbur was playing with his yo-yo while casually chatting with Techno, Tommy was bouncing a basketball around them.

“Yeah, I mean… it’s pretty normal, the teacher says that it’s always a “waste of time” to check my papers because she never finds any errors” The blonde boy was half-listening to his older brothers, they said they were going to the toy aisle to make fun of stuff, “Stil, the teacher shouldn’t do that! Correcting homework is part of her job!” Yet they were talking about boring stuff, who cares about school anyway?

“I am aware Wilbur, that’s why she doesn’t like me anymore, I said in front of the class that she gave me an A+ but I made two errors she didn’t correct, now both the class and the teacher think I’m an asshole” Techno sighed, he never really cared about what people thought of him, but it still kinda hurt.

Wilbur stopped playing with the yo-yo, looking at the ground while in thoughts.

“Have you reported this to the principal?” Techno shook his head.

As he was about to say something, a bunch of bouncy balls hit them.

“GWAHAHA! YOU JUST GOT PRRRRANKED BRO!” Tommy laughed hysterically at them, holding a small box full of them.

“You in this Techno?” Wilbur grabbed a couple of balls off the ground, “Count me in Will” Techno juggled a ball in his hand, ready for what was about to happen.

“Wait- guys- w-we can talk about this!” Tommy slowly started to back away from them, hoping for an agreement.

“One…” Tommy gulped, Techno adjusted his glasses.

“... Two… “ Tommy became a stuttering mess, Wilbur grinned as widely as he could.

“THREE!” They said in unison, bringing back their arm to launch the bouncy ball as hard as they could.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Proudly, Phil placed his hands on his hips as he admired the work he had just done: The whole aisle was know refilled and ordinated.

He chucked the empty carton boxes into the cart along with the cutter and pricer. Taking it in the warehouse where the new guy and another employee were drinking coffee, the night was long for them so this was the first of many.

As they noticed Phil walking in, they greeted him, “Yo Phil! Want some coffee?” The older Pandel brother shook his head and thanked them, “No thanks mate, I’m good” Taking one card box at the time, he cut them and folded them to throw them away while making small talk with the other two employees.

“Did you know that the manager got caught flirting with that young cashier the other day?” One of the workers said after taking a bite of their sandwich, “He’s an asshole who looks like a creep, I’m not surprised… “ The other one was playing crosswords, he replied as he scratched his head. “Vertical, four letters, a Japanese company who products televisions and owns a console? Dude, I don’t play those videogames how am I supposed to know?”

“Sony” Phil replied while dropping off the cutter, the guy who asked the question stared at the journal. “Um… Oh Yeah! It fits! Thanks Phil” He scuffed it off as he closed the storage door, heading off to change out of his uniform. He wondered what mess the three brothers could have done while out of his sight.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Before he changed and waved goodbye to his co-workers, Phil had sent a text to Wilbur, asking him to meet up outside the store, when he arrived there, they were already waiting.

“Alright!” He stretched his arms “I’m so done doing shit today, who wants to order pizza?” The brothers agreed and cheered as they got into Will’s car, of course he was driving, so Phil sat in front and the other two in the back.

“Thank you for picking me up today” He looked at Wilbur.

“No worries big P!” Tommy emerged from the back seat, a soft “It’s the least we could have done” came directly from behind him, he smiled.

“So what did you end up doing while waiting for me?” The car became as silent as rock, Will’s eyes widened.

From that day, the three brothers never entered Phil’s workplace again, also bouncy balls were now banned in the Pandel household.

[bunvoyagesarah]

Malaysia: Langkawi, George Town, & Kuala Lumpur

Langkawi Thursday, March 5 In the morning, I woke up with what I thought was plenty of time to eat before I got picked up to go to Langkawi, Malaysia by ferry. There were some other girls eating, so when a truck came by I thought it was mine and it was 15 minutes early.  It was for them, but I knocked my whole plate of food over, breaking the plate and causing my ankle to bleed. The owner of the place got a broom and I went to clean up my foot. I still had time to drink my tea, but then as I came out of the bathroom the guy to pick me up was asking the front desk where I was.  I went downstairs with him and asked the girl I was eating with to wash out my tea mug for me, which she seemed happy to help me with after witnessing this fiasco of a morning.  

What I didn’t realize when I booked the transportation from Koh Lanta to Langkawi, is that it was mostly drive a few hours drive to Satun, Malaysia followed by about an hour ferry ride to the island of Langkawi, Malaysia. Luckily, there were a couple other travelers in the same boat as me (no pun intended).  I made a run to a market for food with my remaining Thai Baht and could barely spend the $10 or so I had.  The van then drove us to the Satun ferry terminal, where I was able to spend more of my Baht on a cold drink and snacks for the next few days.  We had about an hour to kill, while this lady took our passports and returned them with our tickets.  We out our exit stamps as we boarded the boat and then had upon arrival had new stamps placed in our passports.  

The usual line of taxi drivers was waiting to pick us up and one gave me what I thought sounded ok, but then he followed and waited for me to get money out of the ATM. While in the ATM line, I got wifi and looked up the price on Grab, which was slightly cheaper. He agreed to that price. He tried to sell me on his all-day tour for the following day, which included going to ride ATV (but not the cost of the activity) while he waited in his car for me.  

He took me the hostel and immediately someone came out and said this hostel had new owners and the hostel I was probably looking for was a couple miles away. He drove me there and I paid him. I got all checked-in and a guy from my room told me about the Thursday night market just down the road and people getting drinks later at the hostel. After settling in a little, I walked down to the market and quickly learned how Malaysia truly was different than the rest of Asia with a large Muslim population, as well as the more traditional Asian.  I got some mint lemonade, which I thought had a strange after taste, and a pancake/chicken/falafel type thing that I ate wrapped up in paper.  

I went back to the hostel and some people were hanging out, along with one guy, who I’ll call Wakanda because he claimed to be from Wakanda and I missed the joke, having never seen Black Panther, so I asked him what country that was.  Wakanda offered to go to the store on his scooter and pick us up some drinks. He came back with beers for everyone, and told us some guy left his whiskey in the freezer and left that morning, so we also had that to drink. Before long, there was a group of us, including Fabio from Italy, who coincidentally looks just like a young, blonde Fabio, the actor.  

Friday, March 6 I woke up and the owner of the hostel made the best free hostel breakfast I’ve ever had—eggs, sausage, beans, and toast. Normally, the free breakfast is just make your own toast and a weird assortment of jams, so I try not to let a free breakfast lure me into choosing that hostel when booking. But I digress, I ask to extend another night when the owner informs me they are having a barbeque for some of the people that have been at the hostel for multiple weeks and this is now their last night. I then go rent a scooter down the street.  

Once on my scooter, I head up to the Langkawi Sky Bridge, which is said to be one of the best things to do in Langkawi.  I drive up there and it’s like an amusement park type setup.  I have to buy a ticket for the cable car to get up the sky bridge and then another smaller admission price to cross the bridge. This is apparently the thing to do here, so I buy the cheapest ticket, which also includes a ticket to the 3D Art Museum and a dinosaur “ride”.  First, I head up in the cable car/gondola to the view point, get off there and then go up to the Sky Bridge.  There’s some glass on the pathway of the bridge to look down the 125meters into the trees. There were some good views, but I found it overpriced for what I paid for. From the top of the cable car there’s a nature walk that goes down another 15 minutes that I also took advantage of, despite it being hot and humid in the middle of the day.  

After the trip down in the cable car, I went into the 3D Art Museum, which has huge murals on the walls and if you place yourself in the mural and someone takes a picture of you, the mural becomes lifelike. I asked a few different people to take my picture with some of the murals, but there were so many it was hard to keep asking people.   Then I went into the dinosaur “ride”.  I had no idea what to expect here and arrived just before it set off, but was ushered into a building and then a “van” where I took one of the last remaining seats on a bench.  A bar came down over our laps, a door opened, and then a screen had the dinosaurs on it while the van tilted around to stimulate the features of being on a real amusement park ride.  

On the way out of this Oriental Park, I saw a bunny petting zoo.  I went in there and there must have been 50-70 big rabbits and their bunnies that could be played with. That was pretty unexpected! I then scootered to Temurun Waterfall. It was only about a five minute walk from where I parked to the waterfall.  However, there was absolutely no water coming down or through the river bed. Hello, dry season, but at least I tried!

I then drove up into the middle of the island, where at the top of the hill sits a nature preserve called Gunung Raya.  It was a scenic ride up that took about an hour with lots of twists and turns in the road and no traffic. The top should have been a lovely view, but I could barely see 50 meters out due to all the clouds. I didn’t even spend five minutes up there before heading all the way back down the other side of the island to where this place called Legends Park was. It was supposed to have some sculptures that told some Chinese legends.  However, I never found this park despite driving past it on Maps.me three times. This wasn’t the first time in the past couple weeks that Maps.me had failed me.  At this point, I also was getting hungry and wanted to go back to my hostel to book transportation for the next day to George Town.

I arrive back to the hostel, book the early ferry to George Town and go get food and walk along the beach.  It soon begins to rain, so I walk back and sit with my last beer from the night before.   Soon the guys that had been living there are cooking chicken and making punch for this barbecue.  Most of the hostel was there enjoying this late night feast into the wee hours of the night when the punch ran low.  

George Town, Penang Saturday, March 7 I got up pretty early to return my scooter and get some food before I was going to be picked up at the hostel.  When I arrived at the scooter place no one was there. I tried contacting them through WhatsApp.  Finally someone arrived, only to not speak any English and then go off into another business that I assume she worked at.  Another 15 or 30 minutes later, someone came that actually worked there. I told him I was just returning my bike and he quickly gave me my deposit back. I just got a muffin from the 7/11 because no other places were open this early and knew the hostel wouldn’t be serving breakfast until 9am and I am supposed to be picked up right at 9am.  

Then I walked back to the hostel, hung out for a little bit, and sure enough the owner asks if I want breakfast before I go. It’s the same delicious breakfast I had the day before and I do my dishes all before the driver comes to pick me up right at 9 o’clock sharp.  

I’m squished in the backseat with another couple that is traveling long term while this guy drives us 30 minutes to the ferry station.  When we get out, he hands us our tickets to George Town.  By this point, I have no idea how long this ferry ride is.  Some couple recommended flying to George Town from Langkawi because it was half the time for the same price, but I didn’t know until I already had the ferry ticket.  

On the walk to my hostel I am seeing how culturally different George Town and Malaysia is.  George Town is one of the only places you can find a Hindu Temple, Muslim Mosque, and Christian Church on the same street. I end up walking this row of holy places on my way to my hostel on accident and then see even more temples, churches, and mosques along the way but not as close in proximity.   My German friend, Michael that I met in Koh Lanta had studied abroad in George Town so he gave me lots of tips for where to stay and what to see while I was there. I was at Drippin’ Dragon hostel, which were the same owners as the hostel he recommended that I couldn’t get a reservation for called Tipsy Tiger. I arrived and they didn’t have my reservation but honored the booking confirmation I had.   I went for a walk to Pinang Peranakan Mansion, which is a home once owned by Chinese tycoon, Chung Keng Quee.  The home is dedicated to the Peranakans, which are considered the first wave of Chinese settlers in the Malay Peninsula and Indonesian Archipelago.  It was a beautiful home.  On the way back to the hostel, I walked around the streets a bit, finding a fair amount of street art that Michael had also told me to look for.  I also cooled down with some of the best unique ice cream I’ve had at Coko. Then I had a more substantial meal from a street cart of some noodles.  

Back at the hostel, I had some happy hour drinks, which quickly became drinking games with people.  Everyone then left for Antarabangsa Bar, which was just a beer store with a bunch of plastic tables and chairs outside.  Michael had also hyped this place up a lot, so I was excited to see it with my own eyes.  It was hot though.  It had to have been after 10pm and the place had over 100 people oozing out of the “bar” and everyone was just sitting, trying not to move, and sweating.  

Sunday, March 8 In the morning, I took a bus to Penang Hill, which was supposed to have a good viewpoint. I figured I would hike up this hill, but when I arrived I couldn’t figure out where the trail was because there was this massive cable car station.  I did not want to go up another cable car.  I walked around and finally found the start of the trail, which they were clearly not advertising.  It was entirely uphill for all 833 meters.  

I found one other girl hiking up who lived in Georgetown and was a teacher. Within 30 seconds she asked me my age and if I was married, which I laughed at because of the pressure she has in her own culture to get married.  I was extremely hot and sweaty and she was wearing an entire headpiece, long sleeves, and long pants.  This entire conversation happened at one of our resting points.  Then I continued on and never saw her again.  I hope she made it to the top though.

After reaching the top, there was a food court I ate and took a rest in.  I walked around a little bit enjoying the view.  And then I headed down, a different way, a way that would lead me to the Botanical Gardens. It was so much downhill that I’m not sure which way was worse.  Both had stairs for the bottom half.  Once in the Botanical Gardens, I walked around a bit, but there wasn’t a lot to see except for the well-manicured grounds.  

I bought some more water and asked him about the bus, which he said comes just down the street.  As he goes to fetch me change for the water, the bus I need pulls into the lot and starts to loop around.  I fear I’m going to miss it, and wave him down, but he waves his hand, flashing four fingers at me.  Then he stops at the bus stop just ahead.  By the time I get there, the bus is closed up and the driver is gone, and I am thinking, “What did he mean by ‘four’?” I turn around looking for the driver, and see him over on a shady bench taking a nap.  I look at my watch and see it’s 3:10pm. I realize he meant he’s on break until 4pm. I figure I can walk another kilometer or so and catch a different bus. I wait for that bus for ages but it finally comes and I arrive back at the hostel to a pool party going on, which is exactly what I needed.   I change into my bathing suit and get into the decent sized above-ground pool. A lot of people are hanging out until the shade starts to cover the majority of the pool.  I get out for a shower and want to go to Chulia Street, where a bunch of food vendors set up shop at night. A guy says we can go together, but I end up waiting so long for him, I just leave without him. He finds me there with some other people from the hostel and we all sit together.  I get more Coko ice cream on the way home then rejoin people by the hostel bar.  A much smaller crowd goes out tonight and the bar we went to the night before is closed. This place is more of a restaurant turned bar and we were outside in more plastic chairs and one long table of people from our hostel.  There’s pretty lights hanging from above and live music just inside the bar.  

Kuala Lumpur Monday, March 9 In the morning, I took a bus to Kuala Lumpur (KL). It took some time, as the bus driver didn’t understand the ticket I had been issued by the office. I had to go to a different office and they didn’t understand either but gave me a new confirmation code.  Then I was able to get on the bus, got all settled in and then was told I was actually on the next bus that was arriving in 15 minutes.  It did not arrive in 15, but 30 minutes from another station in Penang. Finally, this bus left around noon. Once in KL, I got on the metro to my hostel. I stood in this terminal for the metro for a couple minutes trying to figure out which train to get on, when someone came over and gave me perfect directions for the train I was looking for.

It was just as hot in KL and I knew I had plenty of time to chill here, before the weekend in Singapore. I hung out at the hostel before getting some food at the next street over, Jalan Alor, which had dozens of places to eat. I sat back at the hostel talking to the Brazilian couple that worked there before going to bed, calling the day a travel day.  

Tuesday, March 10 The hostel was right next to a restaurant where we could order free breakfast of toast or this roti with curry dish. I got the roti dish every day.  Then this girl comes up to me and asks about going on a hike today.  I said sure, and she found some more to come to share the cost of the grab, but it became an issue as we were sure if it would be open with coronavirus, and we were half waiting on this guy to find his lost room key. By the end of this whole conversation, we end up walking to Chinatown.

On the way there, just outside our hostel, we could see some monkeys playing on the electrical cables and all this commotion. We look up and there is a monkey, not moving in the mess of cables at the pole. A firetruck is now below it, trying to grab this other monkey that is clearly trying to rescue his friend but also not electrocute himself.  The fireman pulls the one alive monkey down and when we return the other dead monkey is no longer there.  

Things in Chinatown were just opening and all of us had just eaten breakfast. We walked around a bit and Tilly bought some pants and Linus bought a Blackhawks jersey for cheap. We went through another street market and stopped to get smoothies. Then we walked to the Botanical Gardens and sat by a nice fountain for a while before getting a Grab back to our hostel and seeing the National Mosque of Malaysia from the car on the way back. We had talked about going to an infinity pool, which Michael from Koh Lanta had said I should do. We sat in the hostel trying to research free infinity pools for a bit before deciding we were just hungry and we left to Jalan Alor together for food. We ended up getting a bunch of beers and sharing a bunch of seafood dishes and snails.  I don’t think I’ve ever eaten with a group of strangers where everyone was so open to so many dishes. It was all delicious and then I went to use the restaurant’s bathroom and saw a huge rat sneak by my foot. It was too be expected of a restaurant row with all their kitchens opening into their outdoor seating, but still I was happy to have been done eating and glad we were in the process of paying. Overall it was a fun, very unplanned day.

In the evening, I met some new people at the hostel bar, which had unlimited drinks for like $11 for an hour as their happy hour special.  Then everyone goes up the street, where ladies drink free. All of these places were completely empty though, so after being with this indecisive group standing outside another empty bar, I left and went home.  

Wednesday, March 11 In the morning, Tilly, a Swedish girl she met from our hostel, and I set out in a Grab for Batu Caves. It is beautiful with a huge Buddha standing next to this massive ombre colored rainbow staircase. 

The staircase was actually quite frightening if you don’t like monkeys. There are four parallel sections of the staircase and I chose the one with the least amount of monkeys, but they run and hop so much between them that it didn’t really matter which one I chose. I have never bolted up a staircase so quickly in my life. I waited for Tilly and the other girl at the top.

This cave is open at the top, but massive and hardly anyone is there as coronavirus looms more and more each day. We don’t spend too long in the cave before heading back down, taking some pictures with the cool stairs in the background, and then walking the grounds.  

Tilly had heard from her friend that the place to go for an infinity pool is Aloft Hotels. We then head straight there. We weren’t guests but had heard no one checked at the pool, so we walk straight up to the escalator and take the elevator to the top floor which opens up into the pool. We all change and I laid my towel down in the shaded chair. It was another hot day in KL, so the pool felt great.  We hung out there the rest of the afternoon, getting lunch from the restaurant inside. Once it started to rain and cooled off around 5:30pm, we went back to the hostel.  

The Brazilians, Cristina and Rodrigo, that I had hung out with the first night at the hostel, invited me to go to this bar with them, which I did. First, we went to a nice cocktail, rooftop bar with an amazing view of Petronas Twin Towers. It was pretty empty when we first arrived so we were able to get a good spot to soak in the view.  By the time we left, it was pretty full.  While a lot of people recommend Heli Bar to see the Towers, you do have to pay to get in there and get one free drink.  This bar, Vertigo Bar was free, arguably nicer as it was part of Banyan Tree Hotel.  

Then we walked through a bunch of construction for 15 minutes and along the side of highways to reach this strip of bars located in a new complex called TREC.  The first bar in the strip was one that someone had recommended to me for its live music. It also had a ladies night deal that had just started, so we started there. The place was called Iron Fairies and was beautiful, with thousands of vials of glitter hanging from the ceiling, bowls of handheld iron fairies in different positions at every table, and huge glass jars of more glitter behind the bar and up the two floors.  We staked out a spot to listen to the music. Cristina and I were given the option of two cocktail drinks that we drank for free for the rest of the night. Rodrigo had a few beers that were cheaper outside on the patio, so during the set breaks we went out there.  After the ladies’ night special ended and the music was finished for the night, we went into another space they had called the Butterfly Room which had paper butterflies hanging from fishing wire from the ceiling. We took a grab back to our hostel shortly after that.  

Thursday, March 12 In the morning, I walked to the Petronas Towers, as I still hadn’t seen them up close or during the day. Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) also has a nice park right in front of the towers that I walked past.  I took some pictures and then got lunch in a nearby mall.  

At night, I went out with some people from my hostel to Jalan Alor for some bahn mi sandwiches that they knew were good and then we walked to the Towers for the light show at the fountain. We only caught the second half of the show as it only lasted about five minutes and we were a minute late and we also were sprayed with water from the fountain. Some of the girls hadn’t seen the towers yet, so we sat along a bridge taking more pictures of the Twin Towers.  

[janiklandre-blog]

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

9:21 a.m. cool day - getting used to a much brighter world - still, all a bit confusing.

Thinking how this here computer room now is structuring my day - used to write in Ken computer days - computer on my desk - early in the morning - have been waking up again around 6, the new time - hate the twice yearly time changes and am not alone - New England considering to abolish them and live on their own time.

First thought now the drops - then I do turn on ABC TV - since I never had cable and luckily Ken was around to install for me the $40 box I needed to keep using my TV - and ABC is about the only channel I get now,  also breaking up a lot - after pushing three buttons in the right order (it used to be one) - the breaking news is all about murders, fires, accident and a very extended weather report that only confuses me. Still, that is how I have come to begin my day. Since today Passover is over and the streets will get cleaned again - no alternate parking during Passover - also Moishe's bakery reopened - I head down the Bowery to 8th Street - so much garbage on side walks, people sleeping on the side walks - down 8th Street also called St.Mark's place - how changed from the time I came here - to a something Spa corner 8th and second ave - one of the few remnants of olden days - a friendly man selling me the New York Times - today a detour to 9th street to a bank with a relatively simple ATM - Apple bank that I used refuses to service my Amalgated bank card. On to Moishe's - no cake yet, no coffee, I got some cheese strudel - and on the deli on 4th street - super market opens at 9. In 1973 many stores opened at 6, all were open by 8 - now many don't open until noon - every store has a different time - but the delis: 24/7 - open day and night.My mother would have loved it, in her Vienna store was open from 7-12 - then a siesta until 3, and once more from 3-6 - closed from Saturdaynoon until Monday morning. She should have come to New York - she would have loved this city - I begged to come - to no avail. By 8:10 I was home again, to read the NY Times until 9 - with a coffee I buy, half of the cheese strudel - reading with interest the review of a British book about Snobbishness - and class - so discussed in England and denied in America. By now I've been made aware of people of value - the indication of the French woman that I was not one of them - this afternoon she once again is returning to Paris for medical treatment. Free so I hear in France - she  at this moment my cell phone rang and she returned my call from yesterday - she is one of very few conscientious returners of calls. She does get treated well in France, I was about to write - we all do hope she will return soon - she much prefers New York to Paris - most of my European friends much prefer New York to where ever they come from in Europe. They do feel a lot freer here. Another friend introduced me to the concept of a,b,c and so on lists - did correctly state - as a young and beautiful woman you are much higher on the list - that is why I noticed the list a lot less when I was young. But one topic I sort of started on yesterday was intrigue - in German we speak of "Intriganten" - English does not seem to make it into a noun - earlier I  looked for definitions in my Webster, found schemer, manager and a few other terms. One thing that came to my mind that people growing up in a brood - some still do with with nine or ten siblings, but even those with five or six - or even just one - by necessity become early schemers to get some attention. It obviously does make them the natural schemers that I never became. Obviously my this here blog is a tiny, very late attempt at a little attention - and very much held against me by some - who find it totally unbecoming.

Never thought much about intrigue before, now I do. I am - I believe - utterly inapt - also my inaptitude at politics - that is all about scheming? Snob - the author of the book says some of it is good - and we often express it in ways we are not conscious of. I suspect I have and do express some snobbery.

Yesterday. Polish church - I do end up at a table with Chinese. Things were a bit slow - a Slavic lunch - cooked by some Polish restaurant in Brooklyn, the food is catered - very nice buttered noodles with lots of sour cream and some canned peaches and carrots - in Prague we often had something sweet for lunch - poppiseeds used a lot, cottage cheese more like what they call here farmer's cheese, with noodles and sugar, sweet dumplings and also some dish with cabbage that was sweet. Not all that much meat - not much meat during the war - I can happily live without it. Sugar also was rationed - nothing was too sweet. Then they have been wanting me to register - required for the city funding they get - it reminded me of Polish jokes, how many Poles does it take to change a light bulb - in this case it was two Polish women struggling with a computer - always forms, forms that go with anything subsidised - I guess that is one of many reasons people do like the Catholic Worker - no government involvement, they never have become a non-for-profit that among other things makes institutions tax exempt and also would facitilate - at least before our new president - extended visitor visas for volunteer workers. Among the very best workers they had were young German woman - there was some man in Berlin who was excellent at recruiting them - Germans were liked - I too profited from that. Now that source seems dried up - visas are for shorter and shorter periods.

In any event, anything having to do with bureaucracy exhausts me - the two Polish women were exhausted also - then I still did some shopping - and everything has become heavier than it used to be - I did take my little green back pack - most women in my house allot more time to shopping, go with their carts and go to Key Foods on Avenue A - three city blocks from my house - cheaper than the 2nd Avenue market where I go. Must be a tiny fraction of the markets outside of the city - they do provide motorized scooters for those with difficulty walking - will bring their groceries to the trunks of their cars - and until now drivers licences get extended until people die over 100. Couple of phone calls - I was exhausted - fell asleep for a while, woke by 3 p.m. - called a Central Park friend, she kept me on the phone - people do seem to do that - finally I headed for Washington Square Park, closer to the West, where I had gotten into talking to Ferdinando before - he arrived as I arrived - alas it had turned cold and I was cold, still talked with him close to an hour - he is 88 and in great shape - only once saw his father who was from Peru and did not speak English - he grew up in a Catholic orphanage and never learned Spanish, his mother was Puerto Rican, never told him about family. He profited greatly from years in the army, ended up in the Korean War, came down with TB, was cured - and should I see him again I'll find out more about his life. I told him he was a great example of being fit, healthy, bright at 88 despite of truly disadvantaged younger years. It was some politician - Moynahan I believe - also from a disadvantaged background who praised people pulling themselves up by their shoe strings - Feerdonando seems a good example. Talking to him cheered me up - obviously is in some awe of me, the world I come from - in much worse physical shape than he is and probably a good deal less content than he is. Pleasures of New York - pleasures of Washington Square Park - lots of young people, bands playing - I decided a lot more happening than in Tompkins Square park. Luckily, still a pleasant walk for me. My eyes acting a bit funny - I do see black floaters - am told it will take a while for complele normalcy - telling me, enough computer? Off to the dentist - some teeth to extract - what a drag it is getting old. Ferdinando has good teeth - found out what I have been taking is an Ace inhibitor not a beta blocker as I thought - Jane Brody in the nyt yesterday on how many people pay lots of money for pills and end up never taking them - to ill effect. I have been taking the pill. Hope to be back tomorrow morning - take train to 86th, then cross town bus to my dentist on West End Avenue - plan later stop in Central Park - yesterday on TV shown in beautiful bloom   -  still, fast cars, bikes, motorized scate boards coming from all directions so many people I know have gotten run over - say a prayer when I leave the house. Marianne