2005-03-02 the bike messenger 2

snowy day -
bike messengering
slush in the street -
easy routes -
soho / west village.
21st and broadway
2 messengers taking it easy - hanging out.
ask them how much they make
they work full time so they get 401 k and health + dental.
100 a day more or less.
they are smoking a blunt in front of a store window -
it's 1pm and ask me if i want to hang out and smoke with them.
paranoid of getting caught by plainclothes cops-
then "bye bye greencard - farewell NYC".
smoke pot and end up in a pothole.
gotta be sharp and watch out for jersey vans and those freshdirect trucks, the new doom for bike riders.
i see freshdirect trucks everywhere. double parked - turning and stopping suddenly. are new yorkers too lazy to go to a grocery store? dont they want to choose their vegetables anymore?
i love the veggie markets in chinatown. how can you compare with a stupid delivery truck?
plaza hotel, a clean urinal.
idont have change for the guy that hands me the towel to dry my hands.
always feel guilty when i see someone working for hours in a restroom.
it may be the plaza but a toilets stinks the same.
march 1st
exactly
5 years since i moved to nyc.
sounds like it is real this time.
I get the letter from DHS for the fingerprinting date.
I go to the upper west side. Braden's place. his wife Mimi's birthday. she is pregnant with the second kid.
I look at pictures of Armenia.
Braden tells me he used to be a bike messenger in Chicago and so was Ian.
Bicycling magazine sends me a free trial subscription.
2 free booklets about riding tips. how to fix your bicycle.
what to eat before long rides.
bike messengering. 8 hours non stop on the bike.
a lot more than I used to ride. i feel my legs getting stronger everyday.
if you are a part time they give you the long rides that the full time hourly paid messengers dont want to take.
you end up from wall street to 90th and first.back and forth - east and west,
the whole city in a few hours.
what I hate the most is the east forties and west thirties.I read on the guide
about high carbohydrate diet in the days before a long ride.
they mention that the best bike riders always ate a ton of pasta.
sampan congee at congee village has got everything in it. carbohydrates + protein.
meat poultry seafood legumes. and it fills me and it is good and hearty - i can ride on a windy night.
a full meal for 3.50
and tea and dessert are comp.
go to the liquor store across the street and get half a pint of jim beam.
it is good to sip straight at the end of the winter.
of the cheap stuff it is the one I like best.
someday i will buy a bottle of talisker. hopefully.
fascinated and amused by the misspelled signs and notices around.
United Dyslexics of America.
Mississippi John Hurt and PiL. juke box and boom box at home.
Jaiko wants to film me for some project she is doing.
she ask me what i feel like doing in front of the camera.
just sleep and listen to Can. Future days.
I need some rest