The Monotonous shouldn't speak Chinese

Finals that are easier than the quizzes are the best finals.
She must have thought we not only didn't listen, but also are stupid.
Unstoppably stupid.

"¿Cómo se significa de 'agua'?"
Yo creo que agua, en íngles, se significa Water.

This holiday makes me smile. I smile regularly, but this season, I make sure
to make eye contact as I smile.
It comes as really friendly,
or creepy, really creepy.
That makes me wonder to whom I'm smiling.
Just with averages, I've got to be smiling at a crook or a grifter every day.
("Even in Manhattan?" someone in the back asks.
"Especially in Manhattan" I say, fixing my cuffs.)

So what does that Crook do with a smile?
Is he aware that he's batting for the other team?
"Oh, I bet that small unshaven man thinks I'm a good person."
or "I feel regret for living an unfulfilled, dishonest life because of this enthusiastic smile."

Who knows? We're only playing with averages.

You'll meet all sorts of fun people when you come to New York for some months.
I was making sure where Shakespeare and Company was located and I saluted a woman with "Hey Man," followed by an unhelping explanation about how I salute most people similarly.
That's how I met Tatyana from NYU.

There was a street musician at Union Square West and 17th. He was, I think, a rapper selling his cds and I told him I didn't have cash (without an introduction, I was out of the blue), and I would prefer giving him money for his art. He thanked me for the fresh of breath air. He described the earlier assaults he had incurred and then a Public Service Announcement:

"I haven't always been like this. I used to be clear in the mind when the world was brighter and I could think clearly. Remember that commercial, man? It was like," sternly, "'where did you get this from?'" Softer, pleasantly, "'and the kid is like, I got it from you? You did it twenty years ago.' You remember that, yeah?"

I must look older than I am because I remembered nonesuch commercial.
I said I did and we laughed together. What a habit it is to lie!

I walked home and spied two painted black fire escapes on opposite sides of a building. Unobstructed. It was stark. The escapes were like two twin black spires, raising up towards the turrets for the Kingdom behind. It was gothic and royal.