futurebird's Diaryland Diary
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
the ultimate decadence
I don�t go out much. But I did last night. I had sushi and a drink at �sushi samba� some kind of trendy restaurant in the village. I haven't been paying much attention to fashion, but last night it hit me that the �back to the 70s� had caught on completely. The interior of the restaurant was done in pop-modern style with bucket chairs and all the women had on high heels and ruffle tops... all the men were in pink ties and chunky glasses. It looked like a bad knock-off of a kubrick flick in there. I wondered for a few moments if it was a costume party. Everyone seemed to be having a really good time. I felt alienated since I was on my own. I concentrated on smoking and vowed never to go to that place again.
After dinner I walked around in the village through soho and down to tribecca. Tribecca is surreal. It�s so horribly affluent. In the window of a pet �salon� I saw a sweater for a dog that cost more than any single piece of clothing I�ve ever owed. In the windows of the clothing stores I looked at shirts that cost more than my rent. People passed me in small groups, casual, but well dressed chatting quietly about their jobs or who would decorate their apartment. A thin woman with white hair and mysteriously wrinkle free skin played with the big beads of her necklace. It was either hand made or an art object-- I recognised the style, I think I saw one like it in american craft . Her and her husband walked slowly their ergonomic moccasins made no sound whatsoever on the slate sidewalks lined with trees and flowers. Then I saw the ultimate decadence. A house with a (small) yard and a big green plastic watering can hanging �accidentally� from the solid brass faucet of the hose. Who has a hose in downtown Manhattan? who has a yard!? It was shocking.
It was ironic, too. Sometimes I wish that I was rich, carefree and vacant. Buying $200 dog sweaters and hiring people to paint my walls every 3 months while I wander around in $300 rubber moccasins. I wish that I didn�t have to sit and do mental math before going out for sushi to see if I could afford it. But it�s ironic that once you have made it the most decadent thing you can do is water and mow the grass. Most people who don�t live in Manhattan have ample opportunity to do that. They might even say it was a chore! It�s absurd. Tribecca is without a doubt the classiest part of the city-- it�s not flashy like the upper east side, or trashy like the upper west. No marble walls or mirror halls are needed: there everyone strives to master the game of understatement. Now they all have on �peasant girl� blouses as if to underscore the central theme if the place we are all equal, but some are more equal than others. The game is played quietly, but it�s still a game.
Did the owner of that little lawn perform anxious mental math to see if he could pay the rent for that place before signing his lease? What good is money if it can�t free you from worry?
trib.html - 2002-07-26
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------