Back in May of 2012, about 8 months after I started working at the pharmacy, I injured my back. I had been stacking cases of water for a display near the store entrance.

Initially I tried to walk it off, so I kept soldiering on for a couple of days, but by the end of the week I was having trouble staying mobile and I was in a great deal of pain.

I visited my doctor and during the talk she asked if the visit was for a workers comp claim. I said no. In hindsight I should have gone through the official channels and placed a claim.

What stopped me from following the standard practices I had learned about at Job Corps, was Reddit.

Radicalization

Around this time I had only been working for 2 years and I had gotten a little miffed about my pay and the hours worked. This led me to looking up my company online looking for other people experiences. I found a Reddit community that was full of disgruntled current employees and former employees.

Leading up to the injury I had read several horror stories of mistreatment, conflicts with bosses, sudden unwarranted firings, and union busting. It all got to me and put me in a very defensive and agitated mindset while at work.

So, when I got injured, I didn’t report it and I came up with an excuse to resign. I was convinced that if they knew I had been hurt on the job, they wouldn’t consider re-hiring me later. I told my boss I was going to look for seasonal employment with my trade skills (landscaping and facility maintenance.)

It took a little over a year to recover. I had been bedridden for awhile. Eventually, I was able to use take short walks around my neighborhood, supported by a cane. I had a noticeable limp and my body was twisted, so that I looked to be bent at the waist, leaning to the right.

An Invitation

About four months into my recovery, my father invited me to visit him in Brooklyn, he hoped a change of environment would speed my recovery.

This was my second trip to New York. I don’t recall which form of transit I took. It may have been a Greyhound bus; I know my 2016 trip had been on Amtrak (I still have the ticket).

Tomorrow we are going to check out an electronics shop near Wall Street and then head to Koreatown which has got to be my number stop here in NY. Ever since I started riding the “wave” back in 2010 I have looked forward to a bigger role for Korean culture here in the States. Signing onto KORUS FTA way back then and finally seeing it passed was great.

Excerpt from Stone Soup Travels Blog 2012-09-18

My Camera

For my second visit to NY, I had with me the Fujifilm Finepix S700 camera I got in NYC before going on the European trip back in 2007.

My phone at the time was a Microsoft KIN TWOm, one of the many failed “windows phones,” the company tried to release. They had actually cancelled the project prior to me getting the phone from Verizon. Both I and my Aunt got one of these phones in 2011.

But I had no idea, the marketing materials all raved about it being a Microsoft phone. In fact the ads were referring to the original phone, not what I was sold. The second version had been nerfed on many fronts. But not knowing this, I was very pleased with my slide out keyboard semi-smartphone, having graduated from a “clamshell” flip phone.

I say semi-smart because the phone only came with preinstalled apps and didn’t have any way to add new ones, but it did have a touch screen and a web browser, WiFi, and Zune Media.

I flipped it on eBay earlier last year (2025), as a collectors item for $55.

I had wanted to include several galleries from my trip, but I cannot seem to find the folder that included the pictures. I fear I may have deleted it somehow. I have a very clear image in my mind of the folders and their names, but I can’t find anything on the computer, cloud storage, or memory cards. I’m just completely befuddled.

Manhattan

We visited the Occupy Wall Street anniversary event. Wow there was a lot of people and TONS of cops, also saw some scooter cops which seemed funny since I ride around on a scooter and always envisioned cops on the more beefier motorcycles.

Brooklyn

After I got used to riding on the subway and wasn’t too fearful of getting lost or off on the wrong platform, I began exploring the nearby parks. In particular I enjoyed Prospect Park. There were many couples getting wedding photos taken during my stay in NY.

Korea Town

Sometime in 2008-9, I had been introduced to Korean shows and music. I was quite happy to visit Korea Town in New York City. We ate dinner at a BBQ restaurant.

Wow. I am way full. I Just got back from New Wonjo down in Korea-town (NYC); and had me some bomb ass BBQ an rice wine. Great experience also stopped by a grocery store and picked up some cans of kimchee and big ol’ jar of red pepper and other ingredients so I can make some of my own when I get back to North Carolina.

Excerpt from Stone Soup Travels Blog 2012-09-18

Sailing

We went sailing down to the Sandy-hook state park which I think was in Jersey, and then we sailed by the Statue of Liberty.

J&R

Text taken from Stone Soup Travels Blog 2012-09-19

So yeah I went through the store (1), I started off on the 3rd floor checking out hardware then went up to the Apple store.

After that I headed down to the first floor and it was a fucking wonder land for a computer aficionado like myself.  But something seemed off when I went downstairs looking through the laptops and then in amongst the desktops.

Intel, everywhere. All the laptops, desktops, CPU’s everything. I asked a clerk and he checked the inventory and yeah holy cow the whole store was devoid of AMD chips, I was totally blown away.

It was like going to a drugstore and all they have is Pepsi or Coke but not both. WTF.

Anyways the good window shopping came after heading over to housewares (7.) We looked at the coffee machines and I saw the Keurig model that my dentist office has which was a nice coincidence.

Then we headed over to Cameras (10) oh right the numbers: The whole store is like a giant building and it extends down like a whole block with multiple store fronts each focusing on a different subject’s which is way awesome.

Yeah so there I saw the new camera I want. It’s a Fujifilm so I will be sticking to the brand (Loyalty is life,) It has a nice telescoping lens but without being a full on SLR which I would feel silly carrying around to take pictures of ducks ‘n’ stuff.

I feel like a SLR should be used for cool shit like racing and basically any sport where you could easily break or ruin this high priced toy you’ve just bought.