valentino pier in the morning, i thought i would go to connecticut to visit my family, but i didn't recognize the phone number ringing in my cell phone. it was my cousin, and he actually called me back! well, i didn't recognize it, so i ended up letting voicemail catch it.

no message.

i woke up ready to go back to chicago. i knew it would be another mellow day. our host and her friend didn't really feel like doing anything, and i knew why - i had known all along. but it's a touchy thing that everyone can relate to, but when blogged, turns the writer ugly. ahaha. so i'll leave it at that.

we had breakfast again at this great place back in red hook, called hope and anchor. i just had french toast for breakfast. i didn't know why i didn't want anything too heavy. at breakfast the last two days - two out of three cans of spam consumed! yay! - i ended up eating the last of the spam and rice. if there were no consequences, i totally wouldn't have minded.

i took a bite out of the food offered by the friend sitting in front of me. the potatoes looked crispy. but it was the restaurant's shirt that attracted me. i liked that their large size looks like a size small for here in chicago, now the u.s.'s fattest city. ahaha.

i liked the 50s nautical decor. the customer sitting right beside us offered to take our pix. i liked that the light hit us so that even without flash, our picture came out really well.

"you're the guy in the bar," her companion said, smiling, looking at the friend sitting across me at the table.

this suprised all of us. granted, the bar was the neighborhood hotspot. but how strange, to be able to recognize someone you saw only passingly at half-light. i wished i had something more to say - someone recognized us in the middle of new york city? we grinned and continued eating.

we looked for furniture again. then we walked to one of our party's apartment so she can retrieve a hat and gloves. she has a paper chandelier, and i have a couple of the asian american books on her bookshelf. yay!

we walked to the end of valentino pier on coffey street where remarkably you can see across the verrazano narrows to staten island and ellis island. lady liberty peers your direction but past you to france. it was close to sunset, the waves and the light just starting to glow its whitest gold. the pier was extremely clean, and new, and it was cold. the no fishing sign said that women of childbearing age shouldn't eat the fish caught in the pier. i think everyone knows that, be they have the ability to bear children or not, but it's good to have it in writing, anyway.

"hello," a voice greeted us. it was a woman, getting ready to go out, locking her front door. we turned and smiled, puzzled.

"you're in the bar last night," she said, turning a key and grinning.

people in new york are supposed to have this distinct accent, but last night she said she was from chicago, so the accent is there, the brooklyn one that is, but only barely perceptible. we thought that if we were left in an island, everyone would recognize us as a group.

"you are on an island," one from our party joked, and we all laughed, but i thought the islands were staten and manhattan. i left it at that.  ¶ 1/17/2006 01:11:00 AM