The day the big bird saved me from the pouring rain

"How do I tell this slow rat that the rain is pouring down in no time?"

After the first "videography" gig in my life, I decided to take the remaining of my walk along Riverside park at around 5-6 o'clock.

It was getting a bit cloudy though the weather seemed to be relatively fine still...

Then, I saw this gentleman filming something with his camera... also... a red-tailed hawk hanging out on the nearby tree...

When I got closer, I stopped for the big bird and tried to take a clip or two before it eventually flew away...

It was at the same time when I heard the sound of "rain" although I didn't feel the rain drop yet.

Just when I was watching the big bird landing on another distant tree while wondering to myself, "Am I hallucinating the sound of rain?"-- that gentleman who was then back on the bench asked me, "Did the hawk fly away?"

So I replied, "Yes.  I think it heard the rain..." while huge raindrops finally started falling on my arms.

In my imaginary world, this was what happened from that gentleman's perspective...

So I asked that woman with a cane, "Did the hawk fly away?"

She looked back at me with this response, "Yes.  I think it heard the rain." as she looked down on her own arms.

I remained seated, thinking to myself... "Strange woman... what rain is she talking about?  She must have disrupted the hawk and now the hawk is gone..."

It was then when I felt raindrops coming down.

Since we were by the exit of 108th street, all of us near by tried to get out as fast as we could at our own top speed.

As for me- without an umbrella and unable to run- all that I could do is keep walking on....

The rain eventually came down to Broadway from Riverside Park as I was arriving at my building... just so happened... quite a few heavy drops caught me but I escaped the heavy rain.

So I thought... I would have kept on going along the park should I have not stopped for the big bird...

The big bird saved me from getting all trenched from the pouring rain...

The rain brought forth by the same storm causing all the havoc...

Riverside park

Joe's Shanghai

I took my mom to Joe's Shanghai in Chinatown the other day... ordered our favorite juicy buns/soup dumpings and the Shredded Eel with Yellow Chives.

Some people who shared the same table with us seemed to have some problems with the juicy buns... the way I was taught is to bite and suck... 8-O

Biting the top of the bun off and suck the juice or soup out...

The first same-sex couple married in NYC

A picture of the first same-sex couple who got married today in NYC.

Another record-setting day I and many others live through in New York (state)...

what it takes to get there (unmentioned)

This question comes up to my mind again and again, "What is the biggest challenge I find in traveling?"

Transportation itself.

On moving vehicles... airplanes, subways, buses or cars... two words summarize my entire existence: "pain" and "discomfort".

Forget about the explainable discomfort as a result of the sitting in any vehicles that move-- or not.

Them bumpy roads... them bumpy roads... them bumpy roads.....

To the others such are only roads bumpy; to those in pains, each bump wakes up a whole universe of pains... one bump at a time-- up or down-- undiscriminating... all bumps together weaves up a web of pains.... inescapable... inescapable... shall you be blessed with such to endure...

On foot... the body gets tired easily and needs frequent rest while the speed ain't so fast and the distance I could travel is actually still pretty limited.

Interestingly, whenever I tried to get to a place or to partake in an event nowadays, one thing that comes to my mind first is-- what it takes to get there-- while, the trip itself often unmentioned.

So I thought, many a thing I see and experience might be nothing grand to anyone else...

I had climbed not up to Mt. Everest and either did I dive down to the Mariana Trench (only if I could- though I did move myself down to Bed, Bath & Beyond.  8-O lol)

One thing that might have made things meaningful to me- what it takes to get there (unmentioned).

I am hot

I am hot and you might be hot, too.

According to weather.com, the temperature in Central Park was as high as 104 degree, which set up a new record high for July 22nd.  It is also the second hottest temperature on record.

How hot is it?

So hot that I did not take a walk today... although, on a day when I voluntarily stop my daily walk, I live through a record-setting day in NYC.

The temperature at 6:23 PM by 110th and Broadway

Current temperature by Riverside Park.

Caffè Taci

I tried to get some old friends together to go to Caffè Taci last Saturday.

It was a nice night out since it's been a long while since I went to the opera night... almost a year or so.

Took my mom as well although she was not too familiar with opera at all.

Following is the clip I tried to take when Marc and Scott sang the nice duet "Au fond du temple saint" from Les pêcheurs de perles by Bizet, and, of course, with Iya on the piano.