Broken eye

Today my dear future roomate Mandy was meeting me on the corner in front of Duane Reade. I noticed she had something on her eye. She got injured at work. And while the people she worked with were sweet about it the people she was waiting on in the restaurant were assholes and complained that they had to wait a long time for their drinks. I don't understand this insensitivity that has become way too common-not just in a big city-but everywhere! Perhaps it's just that I feel I have amazing empathy for other people, maybe it's a downfall, but I believe the problem with people so often is that they're lacking in this. Though the class system in the country isn't really so great of a thing to say anymore--we still have it. I'm beginning to notice it more and more. It's the little things that people do sometimes that makes me stop and smile.
Though I frequently find myself in this unusual rush here in the city to get to where I'm going I generally find that strange appreciation, as frustrated as it may make me, for the older guy or younger couple who is going their own pace regardless of how fast other people are moving around them. I admire this sometimes, and though it can be irritating when I need to actually get somewhere and am panicking when I'm worried I'll be late-it's kind of a nice to see the way people just do their own thing. I've decided to not move at this break neck speed anymore, and rather than rush through the day yesterday to an important interview I decided I would make sure I got to E. 42nd and Park Ave. at least 25 mins. early and if I did that I would treat myself to a stop at Starbucks for an espresso before the interview. Of course I'm directionally challenged and the 25 minutes turned into 10 after getting off a stop too soon. So I treated myself to my fav. diner which is across from Carnegie Hall.
It's also the little things about the city that I love when talking to people who have lived here forever...we seem to get it into our heads that this place is so foreign, so different, so crazy...well yes I admit in so many ways it's all that and much more--but hearing people talk about how they just adored this movie they watched on AMC last night, or how the roses in this shop were so gorgeous, or how they were so happy to hear from their grandparents in Long Island just makes me smile. Realizing again that we are all from the same kind of thread.
A deep conversation happened tonight working the opera about different films and their impact on society...about different actors...and went so far as to the different stagings of a certain opera and how people had perceived it. Some of these conversations came from people who really weren't performers at all-writers, designers, and just ordinary people. What was extraordinary to me was that some people have truly dedicated themselves to the arts in some way. I find this refreshing and it's amazing to feel enriched by something so powerful. I sit in the opera and see business men and ladies who seem to go simply for the spectacle, the show, the drinks, and just the social "elitism" of it all. This is when I sit there alone and realize just how lucky I am and how blessed I feel to be a part of something so extraordinary in life---ART. We are servants of something so great and so much bigger than us. This is amazing to me and I relish in the fact that this feeds me. Even though we can be financially poor, not have all the material things desired, etc...we are the richest people in the world in so many ways. I would choose this life over any other. I'm reminded by God every day to remember this period of my life always, to never forget what I'm going through, how I feel, the pain I feel, the happiness I feel, the joy, the anger, the loneliness, etc, etc. I am reminded by him to never lose this hunger...when my cup is full in so many other ways I am reminded to always look back on this and have it close to my heart. Wherever I may be in ten years this part of my life will always be with me. I listened to Clair de Lune last night as I fell asleep...this may be redundant to some people but this piece still gives me chills and is something new for me each time I hear it. As I fell asleep I was reminded just how powerful music can be...