\t\t\t\tthat was freaky. at Queens Boulevard and Albion i seem to have lost 4 or 5
\nseconds of my life. i don’t know where they went, into what clutches of
\nobscurity that snap of time evaporated, but at least i know what happened.
\nthis wasn’t mysterious as are other of my current health travails. it was
\nthe heat that got me. i very nearly passed out right on the sidewalk. i’m
\nlucky this happened on queens boulevard, where i could catch a cab home.
\nsomething like this happened last year on the triborough bridge, and that
\nwas flippin’ scary. in that episode i needed water badly, my throat was
\nclosing, and i was a little bit dizzy from the heat. but the real trouble
\nwas the need for water. and up on the triborough there is nothing for
\nemergency situations. no emergency telephone, no way to wave anyone down
\n(at least not from the upper level of the walkway).<\/p>\n
today i was just walking, my flesh and subcutaneous inaards gorging on the
\nsunlight. i had no plan but as the walk progressed i chose the queens mall
\nas a destination. i had my Outback Steakhouse gift card handy and planned
\nto treat myself to a porterhouse or maybe just a cheeseburger. i had eaten
\nnothing, consumed almost no water, and i should count myself lucky that i
\ndid not fully collapse on the sidewalk. i managed to slink into a payphone
\nenclosure for some shade, and i dumped some of my tiny bottle of water
\nover my head. my only real concern is that it wasn’t really that hot. if i
\ncan’t take this then i’m not ready for any more of this cruelly-delayed
\nsummer.<\/p>\n
i called it in. “called it in” is my ongoing project that i
\nstarted in September. when a thought strikes or when something
\nhappens i find the nearest payphone and call it in to a Skype voicemail.
\nonce in a while i cheat and call it in from the cell phone, but that’s
\nonly when i have no other option and don’t want to wait. i usually end of
\ncalling it in again from a payphone. i’m assembling the calls into
\nsomething that i hope will be meaningful. when i started the project in
\nSeptember i had in mind that i would introduce it with a long, pre-written
\nstory about why i was doing this. i did write the story up, and i did
\ndeliver it a few times from a particularly beloved payphone. but i’ll
\nnever use that speech. it’s too grandiose and pretentious for the nature
\nof this endeavor. i’m guilty of that top-heavy advance planning in other
\npursuits when it makes best sense to let things evolve on their own.<\/p>\n
today was the 2nd cab i’ve taken in the last few weeks. those are the
\nfirst cabs i’ve hailed in years. cabbies never want to go where i need to
\ngo and i’ve assumed the habit of letting them go about their business
\nwithout me.<\/p>\n
but a couple of weeks ago i had a doctor’s appointment, and i
\nmisunderstood the address of the place, landing me a couple of miles from
\nwhere i needed to be when i needed to be there. had to find a cab, and i
\nwas surprised to find one that agreed to my demands of destination. it was
\na minor confrontation to start off, with the cabbie locking the doors
\nbefore evaluating my offer, before agreeing to drive me to a certain
\nintersection, before deciding if that destination suited his broader plan
\nfor the day.<\/p>\n
i knew a cabbie for a long time, and i sympathize with those guys for how
\nhard and long they work and how little money they make. but if they don’t
\nwant to take me where i want to go, as is normal, then fuck ’em. they’ll
\ndo fine without me, i’ll do fine as well, and everyone’s happy.<\/p>\n
today i didn’t have to get through that little layer of illegal
\nbureaucracy. i just got in and announced my home address, prepared to
\nthreaten the driver if he refused. i was that fucked up and tired from the
\nheat.<\/p>\n
i tipped well.<\/p>\n
i am sheduled for an MRI next week. there may be something very wrong in
\nmy system, or it may be nothing but poor nutrition and an encroaching
\nsense of depressed resignation. who can say… it’s probably not as
\nmysterious as i like to imagine myself. nothing about me ever is.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
that was freaky. at Queens Boulevard and Albion i seem to have lost 4 or 5 seconds of my life. i don’t know where they went, into what clutches of obscurity that snap of time evaporated, but at least i know what happened. this wasn’t mysterious as are other of my current health travails. it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-text","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/saumAn-pass","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wsbj.com\/sorabji\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wsbj.com\/sorabji\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wsbj.com\/sorabji\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wsbj.com\/sorabji\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wsbj.com\/sorabji\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wsbj.com\/sorabji\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2392\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wsbj.com\/sorabji\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wsbj.com\/sorabji\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wsbj.com\/sorabji\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}