Mango Pickle Down the River

photo

Torrential downpour causes severe train delays in the morning and, even though I talked to her on my walk to work, I still receive a slightly frantic voicemail from my mother in the afternoon. She knows I was screening her call and so she sends an e-mail peppered with capital letters, “BE CAREFUL.”

In my Internet frenzy, I ignore the e-mail because even when a bridge collapses in Minneapolis, I still receive the same instructions. National news makes people nervous.

I suspected this last Tuesday when we stood on the banks of the Hudson (coast of the West Village) at night and my brain was passively parading in front of me, kind of like if the New Jersey party boat gliding past us were in fact a Mississippi riverboat circa Mark Twain.

On an unrelated note, I think it’s important to my sanity to keep close two friends whose work is completely unrelated to mine. Meeting up with a social worker and a law student at least once a weeks helps me set things in perspective, feel more grounded at least. No matter what, the social worker’s day is ten times heavier than mine could ever be, and it's just fun to argue with the law student.