little or big

today was a day of juxtapositions.

i headed into manhattan with Gill (whose home i'm staying at along with her husband Roger) her daughter and grandson. on arriving we parted ways; they headed uptown to the natural history museum, i downtown for some discount shopping (although i never bought anything.)

manhattan is big. or at least in character and ego. this little island sure does make up for any square feet shortcomings by packing as much as possible into what it has.

as a reaction to this i decided to take in a little more of the character than i had planned, getting off the subway a few stops early spend the last leg of my trip above ground.(despite loosing bearings and travelling a couple of blocks perpendicular to my intended course and then doubling back a couple of stations before eventually heading in the right direction) i came across a menagerie of shops; peoples; sights and sounds that did not fail to fascinate.

chilling out in crowds of faceless people.

and then home to chill out with people that are far from faceless, and i wouldn't have it any other way.

it never fails to amaze me how small a world we live in sometimes. i never would have imagined that i'd be in ny this year, spending time with people who knew me before i did and left the village i grew up in when i was barely at school.
as if that wasn't amazing enough i found out the day i arrived here that a great friend of mine whom i met in taiwan last year (who's korean by origin; born and raised in l.a.) has just started studying in manhattan for a bit.

after speaking to her this evening on the phone (arranging to meet up sometime) i realised how blessed i am that wherever i go i have great friends to share life with; old and new.