Attempt at Keeping a Journal, 1

Thursday, 9 January 1997

A major retail cave-in day. I stopped at Bradlee's to pick up a new pair of sneakers, as my old ones were falling apart, and we were getting our first snow of the season. Bought my first set of footwear in over a decade that was anything but Velcro-fastened sneakers.

(Chris reminds me of 1: the sandals I bought when I was recovering from a ingrown toenail five or six years ago, and 2: that I owned a pair of black canvas high-tops briefly, two years ago. I threw up on them, which hardly bodes well for this latest pair.)

Anyway, these are Spalding-brand sneaker-like boots, with laces, a shoe-fastening technology I find far inferior to Velcro, but Bradlee's didn't have the Velcro sneaks in my size.

Also caved in and bought a new knapsack. This is not The Perfect Knapsack that I've been looking for since my present sack started falling apart a couple of years back. It's just a temporary holdover. Honest.

Riding the N train home, I sat not far from a woman reading a book. At Canal Street, three Oriental folks (probably Chinese, possibly Korean) came in, carrying on a conversation in their native language, and sat between us. The woman shushed them several times, but they ignored her. I exchanged a glance and a "What can ya do?" shrug with her, more for the sake of the rare human connection with another subway rider than out of any actual sense of annoyance. After all, her right to read on the subway does not trump their right to converse; it's not a library or study hall.

I wonder if I would have found them annoying if I'd understood what they were saying. A few days ago, I was at the opposite end of a subway car from an upper-middle-aged couple who were arguing loudly enough for me to hear most of what was being said. Not that I understood it. Not only was there important context that I was missing, but the argument consisted largely of sentence fragments. They were clearly reprising parts they'd played in previous arguments. I suspect they're the sort of couple who stay together only because they know that neither one of them could ever find another partner.