New York, Again

It's pouring down rain today, so of course I picked this afternoon to go to the grocery store for the first time in almost two months. I had to stock up on everything. After the sixth trip from my car to the apartment laden down with grocery bags, I was completely soaked and really cursing myself. Why couldn't I have just waited until tomorrow? I don't know. Because once I have a plan I tend to stick to it, interfering factors be damned. And in my defense, it wasn't pouring down rain when I headed out to the store. Sure, the sky was leaden and it was clearly about to rain at any moment, but I did think that maybe I'd be able to avoid the worst of it. Oh well. By the way, I bought Crest Whitestrips at the store today, because I've never had a problem with the color of my teeth before but suddenly for the past two weeks they've been really bugging me and I feel like I'd like them better if they were whiter. So do the strips work? I hope so, considering they cost thirty bucks and they feel gross in my mouth so this better not be a total waste.

Now, back to New York. First, a brief rundown of how I ended up in Brooklyn:
Mandi and I had been on one of those double decker bus tours, and we realized as we started to head back uptown an hour into the tour that we probably weren't going to make it back to Times Square in time for the show we were supposed to see at 2:00. So since we'd already seen all the sights on the tour and would have just been stuck on the bus in traffic going uptown, I decided it would be faster for us to just get off the bus and catch the subway. And it would have been. Except that when we got down into the station, Mandi made it through the turnstile, but I didn't. I swiped my ticket and pushed the turnstile but it clicked and didn't let me through. And I couldn't swipe my card again because it was one of those unlimited use cards and the machine knew that it had just been swiped at that station so it wouldn't let me do it again. So there I was on one side of the cage and Mandi was on the other, so I told her I'd be right back and I ran upstairs to get a subway worker to fix my card. Except that there wasn't a person upstairs, and I had to go across the street to the other station entrance to speak to a human being, which wasn't exactly right across the street but across the street and a few blocks up. So I ran over there, explained to the station atttendant what had happened, and she let me into the station. Except that once I was in I realized that finding Mandi wasn't going to be all that easy. I thought I could just walk over to the train line where I thought I'd left her, but I got hopelessly lost and confused underground, and then when I finally went above-ground to see if I could buy a single-use ticket and re-enter the station a few blocks back where I'd left Mandi, I realized that I no longer had any idea what street I was on or how to get back to the station where Mandi was, since I'd gotten so hopelessly turned around running around underground for ten minutes. So basically, I ran around underground and then aboveground in far downtown Manhattan (which is NOT a simple grid like the rest of Manhattan, unfortunately) and finally I managed to reach Mandi on her cell phone for exactly long enough to say, "Go by yourself and I'll meet you there!" before losing the signal (since she was still underground and her phone wasn't working, either). I was worried about leaving Mandi by herself since it was only our second day in the city and she has never had to navigate public transportation and so she didn't know what she was doing, but I didn't know what to do since at that point there were only twenty minutes until our show was supposed to start. So then I tried to get on a train myself, only to find a sign saying that there were currently no uptown trains from the particular station I was at. So I ran back upstairs (for like the nintieth time at this point) and asked a guy where I could catch an uptown A train, and he said "Right there, where you just came from," and I told him about the signs and he said, "No, no, you're right, those signs are wrong." And so I went back downstairs, and sure enough, a voice came over the intercom and said, "Uptown A train now approaching." So I got on the supposed uptown A train and hoped that Mandi had done the same thing and that we'd both make it to the theatre in time. And then I sat there. And sat there. And sat there. And thought, "Wow, this train is going a long time without making a stop." And then when the train finally stopped I saw that the station sign said, "High Street" and that's when I realized that the reason the train had gone so long without a stop was that we had been traveling underwater to get to Brooklyn. And by that time the show was supposed to start in ten minutes so I knew I'd never make it in time. So yeah. It was just a series of one mishap after the other. Thankfully it all worked out in the end, and it makes for a good story (since this story is slightly more entertaining when I tell it in person...slightly.)

As for whether or not I was a lip slut in Manhattan (correct answer: NOT, because kissing two people does not a lip slut make) I'm realizing that to summarize every strange thing that happened while we were hanging out in New York bars would be impossible. So, the highlights:
-On Tuesday night, we went to a bar near Kymberli's apartment and got to watch an angry Scottish (Irish?) guy go storming out of the bar announcing that he was going to kill someone, I think for stealing his coat.
-On Thursday night Mandi and I put in a request for a bar that was a) not just a bar but not a club, either, more like a lounge with good music, b) a place where we could potentially find hot guys, and c) somewhat pretentious but not too hard to get into. Kymberli added the request that it be somewhere near Times Square, since we were there already after seeing Spring Awakening, and so her friend that works in the nightclub business directed us to The Living Room at the W Hotel, which fit our criteria quite nicely. We started out the night there, where we met our friend from The Color Purple and a bunch of firefighters from Los Angeles and some other random guys and then we eventually moved downstairs to the Whiskey where we intended to dance, except by that point I was too busy making out with a guy named Ted. I know, I know, who is actually named Ted? But I swear that was his name. What do I remember about Ted? Um...he's from Maryland originally, he lives in Hell's Kitchen, he's a banker, he was cute, and, well, that's enough I think. Actually, we talked for quite a long time before all the kissing and I legitimately enjoyed talking to him, although later in the night he got all girly on me and accused me of just wanting a face to make out with, which I suppose was sort of true even though I told him that was supposed to be my line, not his. There was also a very Bridget Jones's Diary-ish moment when he went to feel up my leg and I had to explain that I don't always make a habit of wearing panty hose under my pants, I was just doing it because it was freezing outside and I didn't have any boots with me so I needed some way to keep my feet warm in my dressy shoes. Ha. He seemed pretty taken with me, despite the panty hose and the fact that he assumed I was just using him, and he tried pretty hard to get me to go home with him. In the end I didn't, mostly because Kymberli really needed me at that point (she ended up having kind of a lousy night) and because deep down I knew going home with someone I had just met four hours ago wouldn't have been the brightest idea.
-I did, however, let Mandi go home with the guy she had met, the bouncer from the bar upstairs. Why I did that is beyond me, especially since she was pretty far from sober. I guess I just figured she needed to do it since she and her boyfriend broke up the week before we left on our trip and I know exactly how she's feeling these days and she can use some good distractions right now. I had the sense to at least get the guy to write down his full name, telephone number, and address for me before they left (not that he couldn't have lied about those things, but I was getting a pretty good vibe from him, and ultimately I was right, he ended up being a good guy). It was only later on the cab ride home with Kymberli that I actually looked at the address closely and realized I'd let my best friend go to the Bronx. The Bronx! At four in the moring! With a guy she had just met! Luckily she made it back to the island happy and in one piece, and the whole night made for some great stories throughout the rest of the trip.
-That same night I also decided to kiss an Irish guy named Barry. This happened after the club had already closed and Ted had given up on me and gotten a cab home. I honestly can't remember exactly how the whole thing came about. One minute I was standing outside the bar while Kymberli had a cigarette and Mandi prepared to disappear to the Bronx for eight hours, the next minute I was kissing a tall, dark-haired guy with an Irish accent. I actually thought he was faking it at first since it was just a couple of days before St. Patrick's Day and all, but he finally showed me his passport. I don't know why I kissed him. Maybe I was just taken with the accent? Actually, I think he just leaned down and started kissing me totally out of the blue and I let him. I was really amused when we stopped kissing and he shouted, "I love American girls!" I wanted to tell him that not every American girl will kiss a guy she has known for two minutes in the middle of Times Square at four in the morning, but I thought better of it. Let him go home with a story.
-I kept it tame the rest of the week. Friday night Mandi and I found this really weird bar in the East Village that was...I don't even know how to explain it, but nobody seemed like they belonged there. It had the feel of sort of an urban club, but it was full of nerdy white college kids and Asians dancing to disco music. Mandi and I stayed for a while, mostly just because we couldn't stop going, "What the...what IS this place?" I still don't know what it was all about.
-Saturday was St. Patrick's Day, which meant it was impossible to move in any bar without getting jostled and bumped all over the place. The first bar we tried was so crowded I couldn't breathe. The second place was better, but still really packed with some really strange people. Like the big bald guy that tried to hit on me. Now, big and bald may be some people's type, but it's pretty much the antithesis of mine. So when he first came up to me and started chatting, I just did a lot of, "Uhuh...yeah...okay...". I wasn't trying to be rude; part of it was just that I was trying to pay for my drink and then not get killed by all the drunk people leaping around so I couldn't really focus on the guy in the first place, but truth be told I really wasn't intrigued by him at all. So I walked away. Ten minutes later he walked straight up to me and blurted out, "Do you find me attractive?" What?! Who does that?! Talk about putting me on the spot! I didn't want to lie, but I also couldn't bring myself to be a total bitch and just say, "No." So I settled for, "Sorry, but I'm not looking for that tonight." Which served the purpose of not being completely rude but discouraging him enough so that he left me alone the rest of the night.
Then there was the cute but fratty-looking guy who shouted at the top of his lungs, "I asked Chrissy out to this song!" and when he noticed me laughing at him quickly amended the statement, at the same volume, with, "We broke up and now I'm single again!" Later I told him I'd been laughing because I'd been picturing him standing outside a girl's window with a boom box playing the song, even though I knew he really probably meant that it had just been playing in the background when he asked her out, and he got all indignant and told his friend, "This girl thinks I'm John Cusack!" Haha.
Weirdest of all was the guy holding the purse. I was waiting for Mandi to come out of the bathroom (actually ALL of the above happened while I was standing by myself waiting for Mandi to get through the bathroom line and for Kymberli to arrive from work, which just goes to show you that a single girl really shouldn't go to bars alone, ever. It was probably the single weirdest ten minutes of my life) and Purse Guy came up to me and said, "Do you like my purse?" I sarcastically told him, "Yeah, it's a good look for you. Why are you carrying a purse?" and he said, "It's role playing, I guess. She's wearing my shirt," and he gestured to the bar where a girl buying drinks was wearing his fire department shirt (there were firemen EVERYWHERE, all in town for the St. Patrick's Day parade). So I said, "Oh. That's...interesting. That's your girlfriend?" and he said, "She is for tonight. What do you think of her?" Again, what?! Who asks things like that to people they don't know at all whatsoever?! For whatever reason I replied honestly instead of just walking away, and I said, "I don't know, I can't see her face from here." He laughed, and then she came walking back towards us with their drinks. I ended up getting stuck talking with her for a moment, too, as I tried to figure out a semi-polite way to make a break for it (I'm too polite at bars, that's my problem) and when she got distracted by another conversation her boyfriend-for-the-night leaned in and whispered to me, "Well, what do you think?" and so I just said, "Eh," which was true, and he nodded his head somberly and said, "Yeah. I agree," and then he looked at me hopefully and luckily right at that moment Mandi came back and I was able to say, "Oh look, there's my friend, BYE!" What did he think he was going to do, trade up? After he'd just explained to me that he was looking for a girlfriend for the night only? Not that I'm entirely opposed to that idea, but come on, he needs to know that he can't explain that he's looking for a one night stand AND make it clear that he obviously has pretty low standards and then expect that I'm going to go, "Sure, ditch her and hang out with me instead!" Ugh.

So yeah. That's basically my trip to New York in a nutshell. I wasn't really ready to come back to Texas, and I'm already looking forward to heading out again. Next up I think I'm going to D.C. with my family, and I'm also seriously considering going to Chicago this summer to see Cassie. Of course, that all depends on what's going on with Ph.D. programs and if I need to start working somewhere this summer or not until fall. It would REALLY help to know where I'm going to be heading in two months. I wish the other schools would hurry up and let me know if I'm in or out so I could make a definite decision.

And on that note, I'm off to read Richard III for class tomorrow. I've somehow managed to get through six years of intensive theatre study, including a six week class solely on Shakespeare, without ever having read one of Shakespeare's history plays. So I guess it's about time.