New York day 3

by Ralph

So I'm still getting my head around the tipping thing. Obviously you should do it because its what people live on, but there's something very foreign to me about awarding someone else money based to some degree part on how nice they've been to you. In New Zealand money is a more personal, sort of invisible thing which we like to ignore as much as we can. At the donut place on the corner I confused the server with my weirdo accent- she gave me a coffee donut  and coffee rather than a donut and coffee- and we had an apologizing competition, in which I'm ashamed to say she kicked my ass. She was very very sorry and she made a mistake (I talk like a drunk toddler though a pillow, so that's my argument). I dropped my tip into the jar and I left with the impression that the apology is definitely part of the rules of winning the service thing- the customer is right, whether they want to be or not! Dammit, I'm a New Zealander, I want to be lowly and passive and wrong. I guess my background is that I'm more at ease with genuine disinterestedness than competitive cheerfulness. Or am I reading too much into this? Maybe the tipping thing makes it easier to be in the service industry since since you have to act cheerful to get a living and that makes you cheerful and friendly, like an muscle memory thing? Anyway, good donut. Lousy coffee but I was warned. By everyone.

Joel and I met up with Fiona in midtown and walked from central station down to the UN and around back up to the library. I don't know if I'm the first to say this, but this is an impossibly big place. At the library we saw an 1450 edition of the Gutenburg bible, just sort of chilling in the corner of an upstairs room, like no big deal. Joel tried to make a gross snowman with the gross snow but just got gross stuff on his hands. 

Today we're heading into the theater to do a publicity stunt thing with Nag on the street, and then next week its action stations gearing up for the shows. 

Exciting news- we now have a jug (the gas oven doesn't work here). So its cups of tea and ramen noodles for all, come on over.