After the euphoric first day of my 18-day life in Manhattan, I learned that even in a bonus life, one has to run errands: the drugstore, the ATM, etc.
However, doing these mundane things here makes them fresh and new. For one thing, everything was in walking distance. No driving. That alone was staggeringly refreshing.
And, coming back, half a block from "my" apartment -- hereafter to be referred to as my apartment -- I walked up on a crowd of people all over the sidewalk on both sides. And there were lots of piles of stuff on the ground and on tables. A multi-family yard sale, I thought. But then I tried to figure out what they were selling: cross-country skis, folding chairs?
A second later, I figured it out. It was a shoot. For Law & Order, I learned. (A surge of feeling lucky overwhelmed me at this point.)
I didn't see any of the stars. What I saw was people who were referred to by the shouting crew as "background" being taped walking back and forth on the sidewalk. One woman's assignment seemed to be to rummage in her bag while walking. I thought she did it very well, but somebody yelled "Cut" every time she got a few seconds into her rummaging.
Had I been really bold, I'd have said to one of the guys with clipboards: You need any more background?
Still, a surprise shoot was a nice addition to errand running.
This morning a mini-transcendent experience in the Cooper-Hewitt design museum: Lobmeyr Glass. I was drawn to the place by a photograph of a cobalt blue bowl. I like glass art and love cobalt blue. What I saw stretched my idea of what glass can do. (This video is Lobmeyr glass, but not the display at the museum)
One case of goblets and such was made of extremely fine muslin glass, "with a restrained iridescence, a whispered reference to Roman technique." The curator said these pieces have "the delicacy of a soap bubble." He wasn't exaggerating. The glass seemed barely there.
Bold design ideas are the point of this museum, and there were so many astonishing ones on display. Example: a machine that "prints out" houses, extruding concrete in lines that make walls, rather than print in lines that make type.
And some contemplative moments watching model sailboats skim across a pond in Central Park....
Bonus life personal change: I'm getting rid of a couple of pieces of clothes that I brought. They're worn out. How had I not noticed that back home?
