First Time for Everything

I awoke this morning with a plan to get myself to Bensonhurst, which is south of me in Brooklyn, in search of a piece of canoli. But first, I stayed in bed, with a full bladder, listening to Cornelia walk around before and after her bath.

Finally, I surfaced around noon to empty my bladder and finish watching Amelie. I'm glad I finished it. It was a bit slow but enjoyable, nonetheless. I did see a bit of me in it, but it had nothing to do with our appearances. The character made other people happy but failed to look for happiness herself. Even when she found it, she hovered around the situation, failing to make her presence known to her target of affection. I was getting annoyed: "enough already!" I shouted at the television (not really). But it was annoying. Finally, the two not-quite lovers meet and it's happiness ever after, or at least happiness till the credits roll.

I had to force myself to finally get up and go. Confusion and sadness reign but the rain didn't bother me too much. I went to the News cafe first in Manhattan and made a profit on a clove. "Excuse me, miss?" This guy walked up to me and offered me $.50 for one. He asked me what they were. "Cloves," I said. "Are they female cigarettes?" I asked him to repeat himself and I said no with a smile on my face, assuring him that there was no need for him to worry that he'd be mistaken for a woman if he smoked one. I didn't even correct his wording, because, afterall, cloves don't carry a biological sex. He was nice enough. And I was happy to take his quarters. I went back into the cafe and proceeded to break my headphones. I went to sit down with the headphones around my neck. The cord was caught on the booth and, well, they broke -- right at the point where the cord goes into the thing that goes into the iPod. Sucked. Now about that cannoli.

After the News cafe and a trip to Virgin to look for a replacement set of headphones (I did not find any suitable), I hopped on the W to Coney Island. I got off at 86th St. and headed east in search of an Italian bakery. I found one and looked around but did not see any cannoli. I soon realized, though, that I didn't know what a cannoli looked like so of course I didn't see it. I waited until I was asked what I wanted. I said "a cannoli, please." However, I was uncertain about the way I asked. Do they come in ones? Or bushels? Or gaggles? She walked over to the cannoli tray and asked if I wanted a large or small. I figured at this point that I had asked correctly. I told her I wanted a large and she granted my request. There was a chocolate one in there, but she didn't grab that one. She grabbed the other one, which had green things in the cream, which, to me, looked like chives. I was a bit scared. But they weren't chives, I found out later. I also asked for a chocolate one. This has chocolate chips on it. I gave her the money and got back on the train. The W has a Fort Hamilton Parkway stop but it's not that close to my house. Because I didn't want to take three trains to get home, I decided to get off there anyway and find my way home. So, without a map, I exited at FHP and headed toward what I presumed to be east. I knew that there was a cemetary up ahead on FHP and when I saw a man and a woman dressed nicely in black, I figured I would head from whence they came. So head I did and soon I was walking by the cemetary. I then saw a freeway, which reassured me I was headed in the right direction. And finally, I hit Prospect Park and saw Reeve Pl. I guess it was about a 45-minute walk. But I walked through two neighborhoods today that I had never been to. It's kind of fun. I should really get to know my environs. I'm off to eat a cannoli.