Central Park

I've been in New York for a few weeks now, and I've made the effort to go to Central Park at least a couple times each week. Today the city was blessed with incredible weather--low humidity, a slight breeze, only a few clouds, and a high of 74. After class I attended a public health policy colloquium--today's topic was what medicine can do for writing, and what writing can do for medicine--and gorged myself on the incredibly well-catered lunch. Post-lunch, I came back to my room, picked up a couple books, and departed for the park.

A bit north of 73rd, I found a great spot to get some reading done. As I read medical poetry and studied "narrative medicine" I also did some people-watching. There was a tee ball team practicing, a few girls sunbathing, an old man "throwing" a ball for his dog to fetch with a Jai Alai-like sling, and a pair of young parents filming their kid's crawl up a hill. Looking up from the pages in my lap, I saw a man walking in a Bat Man outfit and carrying a matching lunch box. A minute after putting my head back down, I heard two kids sing "Duh na na na na na na na, Duh na na na na na na na, BAT MAN!" to which the man responded by crouching down, faking left, and taking off to his right, lunch box in hand, as if there were an emergency in the distance.

After finishing the reading for tomorrow's "Medicine, Patients, and Society" class, I turned northward and arrived at the natural history museum. I spent some time meandering, then returned southbound and walked down the Central Park Mall. There was a man performing in what seemed to be a traditional Incan outfit. He played a violin while spinning violently and singing like an opera tenor. It was one of the more unique performances I've witnessed in the past three weeks. Further south on the Mall, I saw a huge guy--more ripped than most cartoon superheroes--doing a dance on roller skates (not blades) and flexing every upper-body muscle he had (all 2,374 of them) to some sort of rhythm. Women slowly circled the buff skater.

I finished my park excursion at 60th, walked east to Park Ave and then turned north to 69th. Back on my home-street, I turned east and went back home. Here I am. I'm going to leave now to buy some food, come back home to cook it, and then go out for a trivia night at a local bar. Tomorrow is my birthday. Life is good.