Tae Yoon: Life from 2006-2021

there's a bodega on the corner down my block and no matter how the weather is or what time of day or evening it is, there's usually always one or two dudes just hanging out in front of it. i don't go down that way that often so i never recognize or remember any of the guys' faces but i definitely notice other little things. it could be snowing or raining like fucking crazy outside but they're consistently there. sometimes they just stand there and the two guys don't even talk to each other but just seem to be waiting for something. in my mind it's pretty obvious that they're drug dealers and i've always wondered what they sold.

so tonight as my roommate and i were home and with the weather being really nice allowing us to open up all our windows, it's easy to hear all these voices coming from the direction of the bodega. the bodega is on the same side of the street as my apartment building and we live on the 7th floor halfway down the block so our view of it is made up mostly of people's heads and bodies. the details of the faces are hard to make but these kids look young. throughout the night i would get up and look out the window to see what all the noise was about, but it just seemed to be kids hanging out on the street. then one time when i looked to see what was happening, i hear this kid yelling "come on, let's go-let's go" as he walked down the block together with this dude who looked like a columbia student or something and then sold him drugs. throughout the night i saw all these other young people who seemed to approach the group of kids reluctantly looking pretty suspect, they all looked so guilty of something. the customers would be lead down the street towards the direction of my building to do the obvious transactions.

i was really interested to see what type of people the customers were. they looked like young kids who were going to go out and party or some shit who probably just wanted to get a little messed up. hey, if they have the guts to buy drugs from these dealers on a nyc corner at night, then i say let them have fun. one transaction that caught my attention was this girl and guy who were friends and they approached the dealers together. the first thing i noticed about them was that the girl seemed pretty stylish and attractive and looked liked she was going somewhere fun right after that. she's actually the one who did all the talking, too---her guy friend just seemed to be there to support her. i would never in my life be able to do buy drugs from a stranger on a corner because i'd probably think the dealers were narcs or that they're being watched by the cops and my transaction was the one that the cops were going to bust-in on or lots of other neurotic stuff like that. i'm really curious to know what the hell they're selling though, it's hard to tell by their client base. i'm thinking it's bolivian marching powder but that's just an ignorant guess.

so about an hour ago i peek out and see what the noise is about and there seems to be a few male customers who are just standing with the dudes. then another guy is walking across the street from them and walks past the point the dealers are at, but then turned around slowly and made a b-line for the kids with the stuff. wow, two transactions at once, i guess this must be the spot or some shit. so all the customers and dealers are there on the street and then a cop car slowly pulls up. then another one slowly does and that one's followed by a third, yeah oh shittt is all i could think. at this point everyone standing in that cluster of people on the street looks to be frozen and just waiting for the cops to make their first move. as the cops slowly got out of their cars and approached some of the guys, i noticed that four guys from the group started to very slowly distance themselves from everyone else and walked east towards central park. haha the funny thing was it was four dudes who were obviously the customers and they cautiously just started to walk away at a snail's pace, i bet they were all shitting bricks. the cops seemed to only want to talk to the dealer guys and just let the other four guys get away without giving them any shit at all. i'm hoping they learned a good lesson and will never risk buying stuff off the street like that again. as for the dealers, i can't figure out why but the cops just sort of left five minutes later and drove away in their cars without making any arrests or taking anyone away. odd.

now all i can wonder is where is that young ballsy girl who purchased drugs from the corner earlier in the evening with her male friend, and what is she doing at this very moment? i'm guessing she's probably fucked up at some club with help from the stuff she bought and is dancing with loud music surrounded by lots of lights and fog. thinking about what happened to her drug dealers or the street where she was just standing at hours earlier is on her mental list of things to ponder about right after thinking about how the plastic ends on shoelaces are made.