Tonite on the way back from picking up some gifts for kids, I stopped in a place called Garrett's. It's a specialty popcorn shop. I got some pecan caramel popcorn mixed with almond caramel popcorn. Got a small bag for $4.50 or so. Before I got downstairs to the subway, I turned around, went up the stairs, and bought a medium, this time including cashew caramel in the mix.
As I stood on the train eating it, a big guy beside me mentioned how good it smelled. (This popcorn, in different flavors, made Oprah's "O" list. A couple of things I like are on her list: The red velvet cake from Rockland bakeries and the now-defunct Harlem Tea Room). I offered him some, but he declined. Before I got home, I could literally feel the sugar coursing through my veins. It felt like electricity coursing through my body.
And I'm still munching on it. It is delicious.
Watching the news now. President Obama's hair has whitened noticeably, as has the hair of all our recent presidents, except the shrub. I made some not-so-flattering comments about that, but deleted them.
So these people are called "sex workers." They're prostitutes. While I feel for them and the fact that they are often victimized as a result of the work they do, are we now so PC that we're acting like "sex workers" are just like, for instance, "steel workers?" Is it not a choice to break the law and enter into sex work? Of course the answer to that is, more often than not, no. So perhaps the current trend to a kinder gentler label is the realization that pejorative labels simply serve to re-victimize an already victimized worker.
OK, I suppose I can get with that....
Before I hit the popcorn shop, I stopped at a camera store on 5th avenue and 31st street. I wanted to pick up a UV filter for my new lens. I'd looked online and seen a filter kit for about 30 bucks, so figured I'd go ahead and purchase that. I meant to get a capkeeper as well. So I go to the store and tell the guy about the lens filter kit I want. He tells me it'll be $129.00 -- which is about 4 times what I expected. When I tell him about the price online, he says "oh, that's our online special." So I told him I'd go to a competitor. I didn't, of course. But I did stop into one of those touristy places where they tried to sell me a single UV filter for $40.00, insisting that it was "Made in Japan" and was pure crystal. Um, yeah, Mr. Dude. I was born on a Thursday, but not yesterday. There is no doubt that filter quality can vary, but there is also no doubt that prices are jacked up in tourist traps. If he wanted $40.00 for one filter, then I should be paying about $40.00 for the set. So I came home and ordered a set from J&R. Just shy of $40.00 for the set, and I can pick it up tomorrow after I get out of the gym. B&H is closed on Saturdays (and they don't allow online ordering on Saturdays), and it does seem that north of $100.00 seems to be the price. I only paid $210 for the entire lens; I'm not paying more than 50% of that for a filter. At least not yet. Perhaps if my picture quality could be drastically improved, but I'd have to see that first.
The bus to the train from my South Bronx office didn't come for nearly half an hour, and when one finally came, it was so packed that people were standing on the steps. There was literally no room to get on the bus. So I tried hailing a cab. Just like the guy in front of me. A cabbie stopped for the guy first, and I said something to them that I won't repeat here. Later on a cabbie picked me up. When I got out of the cab, I thanked and blessed the driver and wished him a Feliz Navidad. Why was my response to the two cabbies different? Whether you please me or not, aren't all people worthy of the same blessings? Aren't we all covered by God's grace, which is not a function of our behavior or qualities, but of God's quality? There's a lesson there for me...
I see on the news where the Magnolia bakery has just signed a 10 year lease here in Harlem. It will be as a distribution point, but I wonder: 1) how come it's a freaking cupcake industry that's coming to Harlem. Which is not a fair criticism, because we have lots of businesses here. There is actually less and less reason for me to go below 86th Street these days. But the most important question I have is 2) How will Magnolia's move uptown affect Tonnies? Though the answer may be found in the fact that I neither know nor care if I've ever eaten a Magnolia bakery cupcake. It's Tonnie's that I take to parties.
Looking at Vada Vasquez, a 15 year old kid who survived being shot in the head. IT happened right outside one of our buildings. Kudos to the kids from PS 22 in Staten Island, whose videos have gone viral on You Tube and who have just been invited to the Oscars by Anne Hathaway.
If neither of us spaces out, Amit and I will go to see Tron tomorrow night. I kinda missed the Corporate world when he shared the amount of his bonus with me. A bonus for my current job will be keeping the doors open... Although the other night I got up and had some Almond Roca. There were only two pieces in the gift basked I got, and I wanted some more. Imagine how surprised I was the next day when someone delivered a gift tin of Almond Roca from a vendor!!! Reminds me that if God can give me the desires of my heart (and abundance) with something as small as a piece of candy, God will certainly direct my way with every other area of my life. I just need to make sure my life is lived in accordance with God's will. And stop getting annoyed with cabbies.
Missed my 10 pm bedtime, but need to crash soon. Lessons and blessings in everything.
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