Only in New York

Saturday night Amy, Julie, and I decided it was time for a Chipotle run (a ridiculously common occurrence for me), and walked our way down to the nearest one on 85th. Being dinner time, it was crowded and the only seats left were at the bar facing the large window that looked onto the street. We finished our food, and idled in our seats. There was music playing overhead, and a particularly beat-tastic song came on, and, naturally, the three of us began to dance in rhythm together. The response from passersby on the street was overwhelming- every person that walked by began to laugh or cheer or join in the dancing- I couldn't keep a straight face myself. This all culminated in a group of teenage boys walking by who became especially enthralled in our dancing... They walked on, but one of them returned moments later and mooned us for all to see. I don't know about the rest of you, but I consider this ultimate praise! I also appropriately recently discovered a new favorite quote: "We are all fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well just dance."

The night before that was one of the most fun I've had in the city, having a grand old time with all the people from school. Let's just say it involved a rooftop (with a view of the Empire State Building!), music, dancing, and lasted (for me at least) until nearly 5 in the morning. It was fantastic.

A few weeks ago, a clearly deranged and drugged out man got on the train with me, talking quite loudly to someone who was not there. I think he may have been finishing a conversation from earlier- You know how we all think of the things we should have said after we've talked to someone? Well this guy was saying those things out loud as if the guy could still hear him. Little gems like, "Got a fine woman on your arm, can't take care of her. I take care of my women!!" and  "I fear no man! I walk with the LAWD!!!" At first he was just annoying the crap out of me- how many crazies can there BE in this city??!- and I was quite tempted to speak up and force him to stop. While I was trying to figure out the best way to run quickly after saying something, I began to want more than to make him shut it. I genuinely started considering asking him, "Excuse me, who are you talking to?" The answer could have been fascinating. Unfortunately, an old man got on the train and the crazy dude started addressing the general assembly asking, "What has happened to this country?! Tell me! What has happened?!" The old man asked him what he thought had happened, prompting crazy dude to stand and say he asked first. Old man began to explain exactly what had happened to this country- successive bad administrations, which caused Crazy to exclaim how he was an idiot and successful administrations weren't the issue. I began dreading the inevitable saving of the Old Man I was going to have to perform, but luckily Crazy got off at the next stop. Old Man turned to all of us and said those always-true words: "Only in New York."

Tonight... I guess I could talk about the stuff that isn't so great. But there's not much point in focusing on that, is there? And though half the time things still don't really make sense to me, I'm beginning to think I might be thinking a bit too much.

So carry on, folks. Keep that head up, even when you would like nothing more than to bang it against the table repeatedly. Song that has pretty much been my anthem for the past few weeks: