Part of a NYC day
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tweeter Offline
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#1
Just talking  Part of a NYC day
Ever heard of a chick-a-pea?

Yup, she said it several times too. I didn't have the heart to correct her, cause it was soooo good. This was at bistro I frequent for their healthy food. There was a woman at the communal table who was very nice, not a native English speaker (something I'm thoroughly sympathetic with), along with being not quite sure about the currency here (yeah, memories of how I was a beauty with the drachma in Greece).
Anyhow, the lady ordered lentil salad, and said she didn't like the round things in one she had at another of their restaurants. The waitress was at a loss. It became obvious what was meant quite soon. The chickpeas were moved neatly to one side of the plate. Waitress carefully taught the lady how to name the object of her Yuk: chick-a-peas. That's how she pronounced it. I kept on thinking of chickadees, which would have been even funnier.

The next event of this crazy day.... Let me say first that I was Not injured.
I was minding my own business walking uptown on Broadway. A lady (5'6" or 7", maybe 140 lbs, 30s.) tripped with the grace of a cow in labor, as she was starting to pass me.
I often swing my arms a bit when walking, not too much. Feels good and gives me some space. Well, she got a grip on my right forearm. We both hit the pavement. Hers was a forward fall (all over the place), mine on the side and rolling upon impact. Thinking about it after the fact, I tried to help her at first, couldn't, and then her grip broke. I'm fine, and she was too, though she would have done better to relax and let go, rather than fight it. Apologized for taking me down too. I was good natured about it. Though I wondered if there was any minimum size human she would not have grabbed. Yeesh.

Next.
At a bus stop in Queens, driver pulled away, not seeing someone approaching. Isn't as if the guy was right at the door. He was a good looking white fellow in his 30s, dressed in nice casual clothes; he took a whack at a bus window as driver was pulling out. Now, a special moment.

The driver stopped and opened the door. Apologized to the man and said he didn't see him, which was so. Driver was medium sized, husky, even tempered black guy, very self-possessed. He looked ordinary, but ya know, this was a special person in this world. The window whacker calmed. I could see that he had taken all he could that day, and was appreciative though couldn't manage a smile. I wonder what had happened. When I got off the bus, I told the driver he had done a good job ridding the world of some rage, and that I appreciated it. He smiled happily, without a swelled ego.

tweeter
"Even the very emptiest of the emptiest
Has a false bottom, a false bottom."
08-25-2012, 12:27 PM
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MakersDozn Offline
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#2
Friendship/Support  RE: Part of a NYC day
Cool post. Makes us feel like we were there, which we easily could have been.

Sorry we've been away the last couple of times you called. Work is still busy, and we're often away from our desk.

Your fellow Noo Yawkuhs
(Laura, Allegra, and a bunch-o-teens and middles)
08-25-2012, 08:32 PM
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tweeter Offline
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May trigger  RE: Part of a NYC day
(08-25-2012, 08:32 PM)MakersDozn Wrote: Cool post. Makes us feel like we were there, which we easily could have been.

Sorry we've been away the last couple of times you called. Work is still busy, and we're often away from our desk.

Your fellow Noo Yawkuhs
(Laura, Allegra, and a bunch-o-teens and middles)

Wonderful! Exactly what I wanted to do -- give a sense of immediacy of my NY experience to others.

Hey, I know. If I need a call back, I let you know. Other times, it's often wanting to touch base and hear a sincerely friendly greeting, even if its recorded. Not that I don't welcome talking to you. Smile

It was some week, some day, in fact. The above was just late afternoon and evening. I used an icon of caution and wish I could have included a blue flower too. So, I'm doing so now.


Earlier, I had passed by the street where my f*th*r's manufacturing office had been, a small part of a very old building that housed other small businesses. Well, the whole corner of that block is gone and will be rebuilt into something. I had no great love for the building, but it was where my parents dumped my toys into drawers after I had outgrown them. His place was full of dust and chemicals that were part of fine jewelry manufacturing. I remembered seeing and reluctantly leaving the stuff when I was there a long time ago. Now I think it might have been nice to rescue some pieces and clean them up to keep. So, it made me sad when I saw the building was gone, though the business hasn't been there for years. I was crying over lost toys.

After that surprise, I went to the Chinese doctor. I had been confused by their website and thought he was a different kind of Chinese doctor. A real M.D. from a hosp. in Shanghai, also trained in the old ways. Nope. I feel that having my Medicaid card with me prevented a financial situation I didn't need; he wasn't right for me, and admitted it. I handled it quite well, but was disappointed, though not surprised that day. Sometimes I just know, especially if I don't rush the processing. Their liniment is good though.


It's a strange experience living here. I didn't come back the same way I left. New Mexico had a strong effect in a lot of ways, good ones.

Now I'm dealing with how and why I've not succeeded in life, driven by a major failure that I've shared here. In fact, after a six-month hiatus, I wrote to trainman about that this week.
With all the emotional mining, I was able to organize the pieces I knew were there. But, it's starting to go further than that, right to a negative introject I knew existed, but not like this, to its original intent and form, unfiltered. I knew it was my m*th*r years ago.
In writing to trainman, I verbalized something that I had known emotionally on some level. I wrote it twice in that letter and it shook me up. This is all I'll say about it for now.

A big change in me, something nice, is that my loving someone has become balanced with my really needing to be loved in return at least to the same degree. I don't know why I considered this so much less important in the past, but I did.


I'm thinking of going back to my original Kung Fu teacher in NYC. When I was getting to know myself as a defender, I trusted in him to take over if something went wrong with me. It never did, because my character is okay.
This something else that is messing with me, left from a terrible parent. And I don't want it. I can get what I need from this moving meditation (using what I have learned), in the right place.

This teacher...... I don't have the innocent trust I had in 1990, and it was disappointing to me when he wouldn't help me to recover in 2007. But, when I asked if I were welcome to return to the school some time, he said "Yes." I think that this might be the right thing to do now, once a week. I'll let the teacher tell me when he wants me there, if at all. I thought of it today. Will let it settle, and then drop a short email to see what he says.


All of this because I want to be happy. If trainman continues to shun me, I at least want to be happy in myself, and to be a better friend.
I hope health would improve. Will go to a hosp. clinic that takes Medicaid and get some tests I need; I still won't take the meds for those ills because they're as bad as the maladies for me, and for many other people. It would be unbearable within a week, and no recovery from that. No point.

Let's see what happens,
tweets
"Even the very emptiest of the emptiest
Has a false bottom, a false bottom."
08-26-2012, 03:23 PM
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nats Offline
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RE: Part of a NYC day
hi tweeter, good to see your posts always. sounds like you're finding ways Smile
Blush Learn how to manage conflict, because the greater the level you can tolerate, the more freedom you will retain - E. Walsh Smile
08-27-2012, 12:37 PM
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MakersDozn Offline
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Friendship/Support  RE: Part of a NYC day
Howdy,

Sorry to hear that the Chinese doctor wasn't the type that you thought that he was. We hope that visiting your karate master helps in some way. We know that karate isn't medical treatment, but it still means something to you.

Laura and her trusty sidekick, WhatsHerName Tongue
08-27-2012, 05:55 PM
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#6
RE: Part of a NYC day
(08-27-2012, 05:55 PM)MakersDozn Wrote: Howdy,

Sorry to hear that the Chinese doctor wasn't the type that you thought that he was. We hope that visiting your karate master helps in some way. We know that karate isn't medical treatment, but it still means something to you.

Laura and her trusty sidekick, WhatsHerName Tongue

Hi ya, Laura and trusty sidekick Smile

Yes, but I didn't get taken advantage of, and that was the initial intent. The opening conversation was impressive, with a lady there who had some command of English. I'm not saying they didn't want to help me, but I also knew by the end of the interview that they just wanted to sell me something, whether it was good for me or not. I couldn't believe they didn't know better. Parted on good terms, at least on the surface. People like myself can be deeply resented, even at my limited level, by those who would rather the visitor arrived and remained clueless.
Actually, I think they all shared some English comprehension. I've come across this before. A master will visit a school. He doesn't understand or speak a word of English. A teaching assistant is at his side translating. It's a riot. Give it a week or two, and aforementioned master understands and speaks at first a word here or there for an hour, or a day or so, and then full sentences, and then a lecture. It's a miracle! I've seen this more than once.

If kung fu (not same as karate style, though from terms like "kung fu karate" used to advertise schools, things get muddled) master lets me attend when he or his son teaches, it could make a difference. It's up to them. If it's with a teaching assistant, it would become "why bother?" very quickly, unless this is used as a test of sorts.

Um, medical treatment takes many forms. From the outside, an interaction looks the same but can carry an entirely different energy from student to student when teacher makes the rounds. What is used to fight can also be used to heal. In fact, that is part of mastery. In my case, it's kind of late in the game.

However, I'm ready to get to the roots of my character. In fact, this teacher will know exactly what I'm after, and it's pretty rare for a student to ask this. In the years I was there, I never heard anyone voice the correct kind of concern. So, I will not be asking for healing; I will be asking for help in personal enlightenment, because it is necessary.

In some ways, this has been a wonderful day for me. In another, made me nervous. Glad I'm 3,000 miles away from fm, because during our phone conversation today, he showed something I'm sure he didn't know (or remember after). I'm going very deep into human psychology. Unlike fm, I do want to deal. As he is losing himself, I wish to reclaim myself. He doesn't want that, regardless of some of his comments, and it's upsetting. I needed this teacher's supervision years ago, as noted in another post, and I need it again, to become what I was to begin with, and should have become. I might become more healthy for a while, or not.
Health is not, nor can it be the central motivation. It's like reaching for the rose and dealing with the thorns in one's self, from whatever source. The final question: what thorns or relatively benign flaws (not same as a thorns because flaws not necessarily based in a bad thing) really belong to me, or are the result of external influence (introject), how do the two mix? How do I deal with what I've discovered?

Ha ha! I wonder if this will make sense to me tomorrow? If so, it will make up the crux of the email I send to the teacher.

You're good friends.

tweeter
"Even the very emptiest of the emptiest
Has a false bottom, a false bottom."
(This post was last modified: 08-30-2012, 12:11 AM by tweeter.)
08-30-2012, 12:02 AM
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tweeter Offline
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RE: Part of a NYC day
(08-27-2012, 12:37 PM)nats Wrote: hi tweeter, good to see your posts always. sounds like you're finding ways Smile

nats, I was just going over my thread and saw that neither of my attempts to answer your message were recorded. I knew the first hadn't been, and did another. Been having intermittent Internet connection problems. My whole cable system collapsed this morning (phone, TV, Internet). Everything back 'cept for TV now.

Anyhow, I don't remember what I wrote to you. I generally write different things to different people, with some overlap. Please know that I'm very happy to hear from you.

tweeter
"Even the very emptiest of the emptiest
Has a false bottom, a false bottom."
08-31-2012, 09:24 AM
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nats Offline
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RE: Part of a NYC day
(08-31-2012, 09:24 AM)tweeter Wrote: ..Please know that I'm very happy to hear from you.

likewise. we've lost a lot of our communicative spark over the past couple of years - being social and interacting has become a lot more of a struggle... but we read and try to keep up with how you're doing Smile.
Blush Learn how to manage conflict, because the greater the level you can tolerate, the more freedom you will retain - E. Walsh Smile
08-31-2012, 09:41 AM
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MakersDozn Offline
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Friendship/Support  RE: Part of a NYC day
tweeter,

A master will visit a school. He doesn't understand or speak a word of English. A teaching assistant is at his side translating. It's a riot. Give it a week or two, and aforementioned master understands and speaks at first a word here or there for an hour, or a day or so, and then full sentences, and then a lecture. It's a miracle! I've seen this more than once.

Yep, we've seen it watching baseball players over the years. A good example was Cuban defector Orlando (El Duque) Hernandez, a temperamental, quirky sort who pitched well into his forties. Despite the fact that El Duque always used a translator during interviews, then-manager Joe Torre noticed one day that El Duque was in the outfield with fellow starter Hideki Irabu, a native of Japan, who also used a translator during interviews. The two pitchers were enjoying an animated conversation with each other.

"I think they've been playing me," Torre said to one of his coaches. So it didn't surprise us when, a couple of years later, El Duque gave a press conference in English. By then he had remarrried and had a small child, so we figured that the changes in his life had made him realize that it no longer served a purpose for him to pretend.

We hope that something positive comes when you contact your teacher.

MDs
09-02-2012, 05:46 PM
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tweeter Offline
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RE: Part of a NYC day
(09-02-2012, 05:46 PM)MakersDozn Wrote: tweeter,

A master will visit a school. He doesn't understand or speak a word of English. A teaching assistant is at his side translating. It's a riot. Give it a week or two, and aforementioned master understands and speaks at first a word here or there for an hour, or a day or so, and then full sentences, and then a lecture. It's a miracle! I've seen this more than once.

Yep, we've seen it watching baseball players over the years. A good example was Cuban defector Orlando (El Duque) Hernandez, a temperamental, quirky sort who pitched well into his forties. Despite the fact that El Duque always used a translator during interviews, then-manager Joe Torre noticed one day that El Duque was in the outfield with fellow starter Hideki Irabu, a native of Japan, who also used a translator during interviews. The two pitchers were enjoying an animated conversation with each other.

"I think they've been playing me," Torre said to one of his coaches. So it didn't surprise us when, a couple of years later, El Duque gave a press conference in English. By then he had remarrried and had a small child, so we figured that the changes in his life had made him realize that it no longer served a purpose for him to pretend.

We hope that something positive comes when you contact your teacher.

MDs

Hi, I had no idea that this peculiar behavior extended to sports as well. Makes me laugh.

Thanks,
tweeter
"Even the very emptiest of the emptiest
Has a false bottom, a false bottom."
09-03-2012, 12:13 PM
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nats Offline
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#11
RE: Part of a NYC day
(09-03-2012, 12:13 PM)tweeter Wrote: Hi, I had no idea that this peculiar behavior extended to sports as well. Makes me laugh.

Thanks,
tweeter

politicians and diplomats too..
Blush Learn how to manage conflict, because the greater the level you can tolerate, the more freedom you will retain - E. Walsh Smile
09-03-2012, 04:04 PM
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