City Livin'

I got two steaks in the oven, and like an idiot I already filled up on mortadela that I just bought for $3 pesos. But I was hungry, and the steaks take an hour to cook. All you do is put some salt on them and put the oven on low heat. A half hour in and they're already giving my apartment a buttery smell. I'm making lomo a la pobre tonight, which means I'll have a steak and a fried egg to top it off. It's a traditional Chilean dish which I'm a big fan of.

I'm waiting for these steaks to cook and scratching the bug bites all over my legs and arms. Summer is ending but these bugs are making one final push, sucking as much blood as they can before it gets too cold. The maintenance guy finally came up after about two weeks of having only one light working in my living room. Of course when he came in and gave it a whirl the light immediately went on and I looked like an idiot. But I swear it wasn't working. I can almost guarantee it won't work again in 20 minutes.

Where I live can be pretty noisy, off a main street such as Avenida Santa Fe. Even though I'm at the back of the building I still hear sirens all the time. When I first moved in here I noticed it all the time, and every night for at least the first month I woke up once or twice from the noise. Finally now I'm seeing that I don't even pay attention to the noise. It's just background, just like the soft swoosh of air through trees that never disturbs a country boy. I can even sleep through it mostly.

As a kid, spending a night or two at my grandparents apartment in Brooklyn was always a hassle, partly because of the noise of Brooklyn. It was a known fact that you wouldn't sleep well that night. I might be able to take it on now. Firstly, I want my steaks...