HARDLY ANY GIRLS!

It may have been bad drugs. The purple-haired wheelchair dude was on the ground, talking furiously to himself, his neighbor was in a sleeping bag gesticulating, and the dog had his head outside the bag, barking at a man down the alley. Only the bunny rabbit seemed content. And also sane and sober. When another man joined them, he got handed the bunny, the ratty sleeping bag was rolled up, and the now bunny-less dogman departed.

Painfully, the wheelchair dude vomited all over his knees.

After fiftfully trying to sleep, the holder of the bunny got up to pace back and forth, in and out of traffic on the main street. The bunny wandered down the alley to a calmer encampment, which welcomed it with warmth and hugs.
The wheelchair dude fell asleep next to his puddle and his wheels.

The bookseller and myself were out having a late drink in North Beach, and from our mezzanine perch had a good view. But his line of sight included a shapely gammed short woman, whereas I saw the lower depths.

Sometime this evening he'll be listening to a reading of belles lettres next to knee-puke alley. It's all about the arts.



Later, at the karaoke joint, I hummed along to the selection of songs by Zhou Xuan (周璇) in order to avoid conversation with the drunken Spaniard nearby. In all honesty, I find intoxicated Iberians hard to deal with.
The people of Mexico have had the same problem.

Zhou Xuan, it turns out, is also perfect for persuading Johnny's drippazoid younger brother to stop singing Cantopop. Which is an unalloyed blessing; he's an idiot, and he sings horribly.



不拈花惹草者

Earlier yesterday my barber had told me that sheer tonnes of nice young ladies loved handsome older men, and I should go out and kau neui (媾女), why, many girls would just fall over for me! And a female customer in the other chair agreed; it's never too late to get hitched!

From the moment I left the barber shop in early afternoon, till several hours later, late at night, those sheer tonnes of women were quite invisible.
In all honesty, I wasn't expecting them either.

A karaoke joint on the edge of Chinatown is not a place where one would find a nice young lady in any case. Same goes in buckets for an alleyway where bad drug bums toss their cookies.


Let us be realistic about this.



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