reassociation

"do you believe in life after love?" - pope francis

no one wants to sit next to spilled fried chicken

"people are the worst"

if you want someone to give you a reason that you shouldn't go to the gym; ask me.

if you want to experience one person being a lot less fun than everyone else in a room; ask me to play "apples to apples".

the person who thinks that everything is funny.
the person who wants to win.
and one person who is being a lot less fun than everyone else.

i took the subway in from manhattan to crown heights at nine thirty on a sunday night. i walked from ninth street and avenue c to union square. i caught the five express heading downtown.  i didn't realize until i was on the train that it stopped running at bowling green. i noticed this as we got to "the second to last stop on the train" and had that moment of panic where you aren't sure if this train is going to get you where you want to go. i learned that you can get on the four train at bowling green. so i transferred.

i got a seat because i know that you need to make sure you get a seat because it is a long way to stand.

borough hall, nevins street, atlantic avenue/barclays center, bergen street, grand army plaza, eastern parkway, franklin avenue. there are fewer white people as the stops get further out. i have never gotten off at nostrand avenue.

on the train, i hear that there is a man playing a guitar and singing. it sounds like it is maybe an evangelical song except that it is sung like reggae music.

then i hear that the song is about nelson mandela and i think "oh, i like this guy".

then i hear him say "nelson mandela is still alive" and i think "oh, he's crazy".

then he finishes the verse with "in out hearts" and i conclude that i do really like him.

he is not close by, but after a minute of deliberation, i decide to give him a tip. at first i don't want to in case he is crazy. then i think that he is doing great work, and that all of the old and newly historical figures he is summoning for me (with his songs via my own mind's association) would want me to demonstrate my appreciation.  then i wonder if he might be offended if i offer to give him money. who am i to assume that is why he is here? then i think that i work for tips too, and i pull out the last two dollars from my pocket (which was tip money anyway, so better it not stay in the same hands too long). we stop at atlantic avenue/barclays center and i am afraid that he is going to leave the car without making it to my end.  so i hold out my two dollars and he kind of meets me half way to grab it but neither one of us really moves from where we are stanidng.

here you go. 

thank you. 

it was an unremarkable moment.

the doors to the train close and he stays in my car as we head to bergen street. immediately as we begin to move, two white men my age with backpacking gear call out to the man with the guitar.  one of the men extends a hand with a few dollars and in the same breath utters "you're great, can i take a picture of you."

the man with the guitar (whose name i don't know) stops playing to pose for the picture. i turn away because the image as a whole confuses me.  a few seconds go by with no more music, and i realize that it is because the boy with the camera is taking multiple pictures of the man with the guitar. many pictures. then the man with the guitar starts to play and sing while his photographs are being taken. but instead of finishing the interrupted chorus to "redemption song" by bob marley, he begins to play "who let the dogs out".

the man with the guitar moves on down the train car after the man with the camera finishes.  he begins where he left off with his original tune.

i get off at frankin avenue, along with the two white men my age with backpacking gear.

it's not too cold in crown heights four days after the blizzard, and the snow has finally been cleaned off the streets.

i stop by the grocery store on the way home to pick up some coconut flour to bake triple chocolate chips because my roommate is gluten free.

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and what feels better than walking around with your jacket unzipped? nothing! nothing! nothing! nothing!