Stevie Wonder

I thought I would be bored coming back to New York, but I forgot that it's impossible to be bored in New York. One can be many other things--broke, stressed, tired--but never bored. If you are bored in New York, then you will likely be bored everywhere else in the world.

On my first day back, I went to a cocktail bar called Pegu, that is themed with the 1930s. There was live music and dancers in costume. 

Yesterday, I walked down fifth avenue, and went to the New York Public library. Lions are used to guard buildings in America too--I took a photo, to compare with the Chinese lions. Chinese lions tend to be portrayed with curlier hair and larger eyes. 

For dinner, I met a friend in Koreatown. She is having some problems with her apartment because her roommate rented to some person who is causing her trouble. She didn't want to go home, so I said we should walk to Central Park. She mentioned there was a Stevie Wonder concert, and she had tried to get the free tickets, but was unable too because they had all been taken within minutes of getting posted online. I figured we could just stand outside the concert venue and listen. When we arrived however, nobody asked for our tickets, so we just walked in. I haven't really listened to his music, but he is a fun performer, and it was very entertaining.

At the library, I started reading the novel Norwegian Wood. I thought of a line from it today, when I visited the United Nations. The author talked about lowering flags at night, and said he doesn't understand why that is done--the country does not stop existing during the night, and there are also many laborers who work throughout the night--don't they deserve the protection of the flag too? Every evening, at the UN, almost 200 flags are lowered and stored in a compartment below the flag pole. I thought the author's comment was interesting. 

I got a massage today too. It was a gift from my past self to my present self. I had forgotten that I bought a groupon a few months ago, and got an email reminding me to use it before it expired. That was nice. The masseuse was from China, and when I spoke to her in Chinese, she was so happy. She gave me extra treatments. I think it must be so tiring to work all day and struggle to communicate with people. When I was traveling through Italy, I remember feeling relieved to just hear some English on TV. It must be hard for workers like her, to constantly have that difficulty.