november 15, 2001

On the tenth anniversary of September 11th, I decided to pull out my journal from 2001-2002 and see where I was then. There are 32,696 words in a Word document answering that question, but to summarize: I moved to the Lower East Side in Manhattan on September 9, 2001. I didn't know anyone in the city or anything about it. I had three duffel bags, a bucket, a guitar, a computer, and a bicycle. I moved into an apartment I found on Craigslist occupied by a woman named Diane. I saw things I didn't expect to see. I learned a lot. Everything felt new, exciting, and a little terrifying.

I'm not quite ready to post my entries from around September 11. Here's a non-event from November 15, 2001:

In other news, I have been trying to steal little things from Diane without her noticing.  Mostly it is food.  She buys more food than any single woman waif with a bowel condition who is never home than I know.  So I steal a slice of toast and a pinkytip of peanut butter every so often, a fourth-cup of grapenuts and a squirt of ricemilk diluted with water and a blot of honey, an indiscernible millimeter of toothpaste, a swipe of the soap.  Fuck.  I’m starting to get quite bad.  I’ve been eyeing the bananas trying to figure out whether or not she’ll notice that a fifth of the bunch is gone.  I would take a smaller portion but stealing half a banana is more conspicuous than stealing the whole.  This much I have learned in my short but informative life.