Summer seems to have installed itself now; the mug…
Summer seems to have installed itself now; the mugginess along with warmer temperatures led to a summer rain yesterday that left the air fresh and clean after last week’s sandstorm. I went to sword practice on Wednesday night after a long hiatus due to my knee. I didn’t do too much, but it was good to be back into it. I also need to buy either a new bicycle seat that’s long enough, or just a new bicycle that doesn’t suck, to take more rides down along the riverside path that runs all the way through the city.
Dragonboat Festival is approaching, and every day I hear the beat of drums and the shouts of rowers as teams practice down on Bitan. This kind of noise I don’t mind at all, nor do I mind firecrackers, the occasional temple music, or even garbage trucks. The riverside Karaoke, however, has got to go. I’ve talked to them and gotten them to turn it down, but a fellow badminton player friend of mine says I should go to the EPA and submit a complaint, especially as they are profiting off of a piece of public space without paying any rent.
If you think that’s petty of me, you should have seen me on the subway the other night. Across from me was a woman clipping her fingernails. I took out my camera and started shooting pictures. She didn’t look up. She must have noticed the distance light, but she gave no sign, and kept clipping. She had earphones on, so I turned on the flash. Still nothing. So I started up a conversation with the middle-aged woman next to me about how gross the other woman was. “You just know,” I said loudly, “Many of those pieces of fingernail are flying through the air and landing on everyone here.” She agreed, saying the woman “had no sense of public decency,” and the other woman started to look a bit embarrassed. Then I lamented aloud the lack of a broom to sweep up her mess and began making sweeping motions with my foot at her feet where all the clippings had fallen.
She got off at the next stop. When it came time for the other woman to get off, she thanked me as she exited the train.
