Riding the subway makes me want to laugh at times. This morning I was riding without holding anything, and when the train jerked, a woman who was holding a pole almost fell on me.

I love to eat seaweed. Swimming with it isn't as pleasant.

Adding insult to injury -

Last night I heard a man telling a homeless guy who was sitting on the street that he was a "disgrace to the country."

The video game industry rakes in over $10 billion every year. That's more than Hollywood does. Also interesting is that the average age of gamers is 29. Many games these days have adult subject matter.

The American Pet Products Manufacturers Association has said that the annual US spending on pets amounts to $34 billion. That's more than the GDP of many countries. Wow. Bow wow.

A lot of things change after a week and a half of travelling. When we aren't travelling the change happens so gradually we barely notice it.

When was the last time you went somewhere with your sweater on backwards?

I think that pennies should be taken out of circulation in this country. They're a nuisance. I have 50 of them sitting on my desk in piles of 10, but I don't know what to do with them. If I take them to a store to buy something, the cashier will look at me funny and not want to count them. I think nickels or dimes should be the smallest denomination. The way to do this is if retailers include the tax in their prices and set them to the nearest nickel or dime.

I will be VERY happy to see the end of the 99c (or $99) pricing phenomenon. It's annoying for something to be advertised as $4.99. I know the one penny difference has a huge psychological impact in how expensive we think the product is, but if EVERYONE uses the 99 pricing tactic, then it doesn't make a difference. For some reason a new version of Martin Luther King's speech popped into my head:
"I have a dream... that one day, little nine-nines will become little o-o's..."

It might happen in my lifetime. Especially with inflation making the penny more and more worthless. Even beggars don't want pennies.

I was waiting for a bus on 34th Street. The person standing next to me asked me what book I was reading, for I had one tucked under my arm. I showed him the cover.
"Ishmael," he read. "Is that a Bible book?"
"No," I answered. "It's about a gorilla."

I just wrote a sentence where the word "and" appears 9 times. I think that's a record for me. I'd break it down, but I was summarizing what an author wrote about international negotiations. Let's see if I change it when I redraft the document.

It's been a long time since I clicked my fingers and heard the sound. It seems to sound different than what I remember. Do people's fingers/skin change over time to cause a different sound? Does our hearing change? Does our memory of the sound change? It's interesting what happens when I'm in the midst of writing a paper... where my mind goes, what I start doing.

Something rather interesting is happening in my life, and I wonder if anyone else is experiencing or has experienced something similar.

Some entity that has been part of my life has gone into a coma. I've been used to it being around, but it's not any more. There are small reminders of what is no longer there - as in the case of being able to see someone in coma, but not interact as you did before.

I am more or less an observer now. I can see the entity laying there, but I cannot bring it to wake up. I can't get doctors or other people to change anything. It is out of my control, except the only thing I can do is pull the plug and let the comatose entity die. Should I do that? If I do I can let go, pick myself up and move on. If I don't, maybe it can wake up and thrive again.

I should know better than to think that there is a should. But where does that leave me? Waiting. Waiting for Godot.

Today while I was waiting for a bus I was splashed with grey slush from the street. A taxi zoomed along the bus lane and sent slush flying at me. Even though I jumped back a little bit, it hit me as high as my chest. Interestingly, I wasn't angry. Why? I was wearing black pants that were going to be washed soon anyway, and I was wearing my cheap grey puffy jacket from Hong Kong. If I was wearing my wool and cashmere coat from London, then my reaction may have been completely different. I know not to stand too close to the street when there's slush on it.