it was a kind of eery and lonely walk from lincoln center (66th street and broadway) to williamsburg, brooklyn. there were thousands of people around me, many of them walking in two and threes and even fours. i scurried past them.

i opted not to put on my headphones. i wanted to be aware of everything going on around me, sirens from cop cars and fire engines, the screaming babies, the radio news blasting from random cars parked on the street, the screeches of car brakes as they tried to make their way through intermittent deadlocks.

i stopped by the entertainment weekly building to see if there would be any familiar faces there. there wasn't.

i continued on and made my way downtown via second avenue. there were all sorts of wacko traffic activity because of the lack of traffic lights and traffic cops. conscientious civilians began to take matters into their own hands, helping to direct traffic. that was nice to see.

i kept walking.

many stores were closing. delis were also closing down. many people perched outside of their office buildings to wait it out. i wanted to get out of the hectic mess that consumed midtown. i trudged on faster, getting annoyed at all the slow pedestrians who happened to wear their stilleto sandals to work. suckers. i had my trusty converse.

i couldn't help my memories of sept. 11, which flooded back to me. the chaotic scene of thousands of people on the street, similar to now. i knew we were going through a huge blackout that spanned the north eastern united states, but who knows what would happen in our incredibly vulnerable state? i remember walking across the 59th street bridge on sept. 11 with several other friends. most of us walked in silence as we saw the empty, smoky downtown skyline from the bridge.

i got down to the east village and thought i would check to see if my friend rachel was home. she wasn't. i saw one of her neighbors, and they kindly offered me some bottled water. i took it. i started to feel like i was going to pass out, not only by the physical exertion and dehydration but because mentally, i just wanted to talk to and relate my feelings to another person and there was no one. my cell phone continued to not work, and i felt so frickin' irritated.

i continued to walk.



i got near the entrance to the williamsburg bridge, and i actually saw people i used to work with at alloy -- will, john, bill, and tim. i was overjoyed. i began to take some photos of what was going on around me. i smoked a cigarette. i trudged on and chatted about what the hell was happening around us. i felt the 59th street de ja vous again. it made me woozy.









we ran into deron who was on his way into the city to find anna. i thought to myself, that is totally crazy. he should just stay home and wait for her to come home! but it wasn't my business so i stayed quiet and wished him luck on his search. when i turned around, the alloy peeps were gone. they hadn't waited for me. jerks.

then i ran into chingyi and her friend. they were heading to bed-stuy. we separated.

i continued to walk, again on my own.

when i finally reached my house, keith was there waiting for me. he had been terribly worried, and i was glad that i had someone who still cared about my whereabouts. it was a nice feeling, and i didn't feel so alone anymore. the blackout was not the most pleasant experience, but at least one good thing can still result from it.