Awakened from a groggy after-work nap by what sounds approximately like the world ending. Looking outside, it appears that Central Park is exploding.
Or perhaps just the finale of a fireworks display, but at an ungodly sound level that sets off half the car alarms on the street below. Then someone
in the adjacent building yells "get back in yo' window!" I do so. The Upper West Side needs its own drudge report so I can figure out what the hell
is going on. We need drudge reports at all levels of community. And we will get them.

Later, out for a walk to clear my head, I synchronize my singing to the oscillation of the posterior of a girl walking 30 feet in front of me. (I
also do this with the heart monitor when in the operating room, but this is difficult when the patient gets nervous and the tempo changes a lot.) A
few blocks later, someone yells something resembling "giant!" at me from a cab as I stand on the Broadway island. I think to myself, if I were
famous, I would probably always interpret events like this as being recognized. But no, sometimes people just like to yell things.

At Chicken Fair, where I obtain late dinner, a man and woman come out of the bathroom together with mischievous looks on faces. The employees chatter
suspiciously in Spanish. One of a pair of young women asks lightly on the way out, "does that happen normally?" getting a smile from the manager.

* * *

Two nights ago I did the closest thing currently possible to spending a night in Japan. Watched an episode of FLCL, then went over to a friend's
place and drank sake while playing video games, then saw "Lost In Translation," then went to a very cool and seemingly authentic Japanese restaurant,
then talked to Amanda-sensei on the phone for a while. At the restaurant I spotted Michael Maronna of the Adventures of Pete & Pete, one of the
great television shows of our time and, one might say, a distant cousin of FLCL in its treatment of the infinite possibilities of youth. I didn't
say anything to him because, I don't really have anything interesting to say, and for all I know maybe he's now embarrassed about P&P, though he
really shouldn't be. But I did note he has a good grasp of basic Japanese, perhaps about the same level or higher as I currently do.