Yesterday morning's commute was mostly uneventful. I was running late, and a couple blocks from home, I realized I had forgotten my wallet. I considered leaving it, as I might not have needed it, but I like to play things safe, so I went back to get it. When I got back home, I saw my phone had alerted me that I left my wallet behind. That's nice, but I'm glad I noticed with my organic brain before my electronic brain notified me. I keep an airtag-compatible card in my wallet for these occasions (made by ugreen). Even with the looping back and heading out late, I got to work only 3 minutes late, so I wasn't late as I had thought. Punctuality is super important in the teaching field. As my professor says, if you're on time, you're late, and if you're early, your on time. You could say I was doubly late but 3 minutes is still not bad, and the professor didn't mention it this time so I'm good.

After work, I made a quick stop at home and then headed to the upper west side for a voice lesson. I'm a singer, and I'm having some new difficulties so it's time to get back into the studio to relearn old skills and add some new ones.

I had hoped to meet a couple of friends for dinner but they ended up being unavailable. I grew up on the upper west side so I decided to find a place to eat alone. I chose an Indian place on Columbus Avenue with outdoor tables. It was so nice to be in my old neighborhood and see the mix of faces walking by. When I was growing up, the neighborhood was very mixed income. It started to gentrify in the 1980s, and now much of it is very wealthy. But New York, being the city it is, still has a lot of mixture of ethnic groups and incomes, even in the wealthy neighborhoods. The mix is different from the one in my neighborhood (the west village) so it was a good change of scenery for me.

Columbus Avenue changes name to 9th Avenue at 59th St but it's the same street. The whole length now has more deliveristas than I have ever seen. The bike lane is packed. They've begun to widen the bike lane, and that is done in certain segments. It's as wide as a regular travel lane. If you ask me, I say give us TWO such lanes and another for fast-moving two-wheelers, and leave only one lane for four-wheel vehicles. That's how much demand we have for two-wheel travel. Enforcement for traffic laws has increased, and now you can be charged with a crime for running a red light. This is too severe, especially for the deliveristas who are immigrants, some without work visas. So at the red lights which most cyclists use as "Idaho stops," the deliveristas wait for the light to change. There is an example of white privilege. Smaug1 asked about the new law, so there you go. I'm able to run the light (but only when it's safe AND it will not startle or annoy anyone) and people of other ethnic backgrounds can't. I guess the new law is having the desired effect, at least for now, but it is too severe and could really wreck some people's lives.

I recorded all of my travels from work to home to uptown and back home. (GPS tracks) It was 12.6 miles, and I think that's the longest I've ever ridden my fixie in one go. Fixed gear is a good way to get exercise when you don't have much time. I use my legs to slow me down but only a little, and I use my front brake for most of the braking. I'm not crazy.