I am bitchy and moody and utterly exhausted today.
I need to be diligent about getting more sleep. I am too old to keep such hours.
Thankfully happy hour is not happening tonight. Lack of interest. Or maybe everyone is bitchy and moody and utterly exhausted. Regardless of the cause, it is a relief. Were I happier or wide awake, I'd have the energy to be slightly annoyed with people for not being motivated, but I can't rally today. There is also a party tonight. And a competing happy hour. I will do none of these things, because I can't quite string together words in sentence form.
Instead, I will pick up my dry cleaning, which has been clean for weeks.
Anyway.
Before lunch I could barely function. Generalized delirium, cloudiness, apathy. I commuted from a new location for the first time this morning, and forgot to pick up a paper to read at lunch.
Normally I read The Metro. I don't know why. I guess its some homage to Boston or something. Can't change everything. The Metro in NY is different than the Metro in Boston - it has a slightly different format in the world/local news areas, and also has a Style section, and a section called The Word, which has celebrity gossip and local celebrity sightings.
There were no Metro's remaining at the stand near work, so I had to get an AM New York, which is actually bigger and better and more buff in the area of local news, which is good because I seriously have no idea what's going on in NYC other than what Kate Hudson was wearing when she was spotted shopping in Soho!
The AM New York box was tricky. Nothing like the Metro one or the Village Voice or apparently any other free paper I've ever picked up. I was too delirious to deal. Like it was heavy and opened from the top and then out, and I was holding things in my hands and was just off balance and confused and bitchy and wanted to cry because why was getting a freaking free paper an ordeal?
This whole episode was about two seconds, but in those two seconds a very nice man intervened and said "Let me help you" and I said "Oh, no, thanks, I got it" and he said "No, I'd like to" and then he opened it up for me and also handed me a paper.
Who does that?
How nice was he?
It made my day.
What did not make my day, however, was the article I read in AM New York about the Metro!!! Apparently the Metro is under attack for racism? Something about racial slurs at meetings? Possibly in Boston? I was delirious when I read it and need to go back and look at it again tonight. Because I can, because I am not going out. Thank god.
Weird, though. Like did they print this in the Metro and did I just miss it? Or did they not print it? Sketchy. Very very sketchy. I think, though, that it is in my best interest, on principle and just for content, to switch to AM New York.
I digress. Random acts of kindness. Why is it so meaningful when a stranger is nice to you? I swear, I could be smothered with affection by people I know and feel like shit, but the second a stranger compliments me or asks me how I am doing, I feel like gold.
I think it restores my faith in humankind, which doesn't really make sense, because what motivates strangers to be nice? You don't know. You can't know. It shouldn't mean anything, but it does.
Bench Buddy was telling me about how he was going up an escalator the other day, and coming down the escalator on the other side was a really attractive woman. The dude behind him on his side of the escalator shouted to her "You're beautiful!" and she was so happy.
Can you imagine? Would you not melt?
I said to him that I'd like to compliment strangers more often, and that I should, but he said that it would freak people out. Would it? Sometimes it does. How can you distinguish?
I don't know. I'm moody and some random dude on the streets of New York made me blissfully happy for a second by handing me a newspaper.
Or maybe I'm just tired.
Thursday, January 13, 2005
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Funny, the Metro was in the news today. The New York times is trying to buy them. Is this maybe what you read? The Boston connecton is that the Herald is trying to block the sale claiming it would create a Boston-Globe media monopoly (28% of newspaper readers in Boston read the Metro so this would mean >70% of all newspaper readers in Boston would be reading a New York times owned publication). Nope, that can't be it... I just googled your racist story. Looks like the Metro is in the news twice today.
Wow, I have a lot of comments to make. First of all, I have a policy to *always* tell strangers if I like their outfit or shoes or whatever. I think I would feel weird telling an attractive person that I found him/her attractive, but telling someone "I like your necklace" is pretty innocent and can totally make someone's day and it is effortless. So.
Second of all, yes, strangers doing nice things for you is the best thing ever. I remember one time in Philly I was walking back from the garage with about 10 grocery bags because I was too lazy to park in front of my building and to bring stuff up to my room and then make a special trip to park the car, so I was "saving time" by just parking and carrying everything at once. So it was obviously too much to carry, and I had to take rests and stuff, and a guy saw me struggling, walked back to me, and offered to help me carry stuff! How awesome was he? It happened seven years ago, but I will remember that forever, I think.
And just recently I had a 2:00 appointment with the eye doctor, and they told me to come early because it was my first visit and to plan to be there for 2 hours because he was going to dilate my eyes. So my plan was to do an experiment in the morning, buy lunch, and go, but I misjudged how long the experiment would take. So even though I had arrived early to work, I was working on the experiment right up until 1:30, which was when I had to leave. So I hadn't eaten since 7 or something, and I was SO HUNGRY, but I didn't have any food with me at all. I showed up at the doctor's office about ready to cry because I knew that I couldn't eat anything for 2-3 more hours. I asked the receptionist if there was a vending machine or anything, and she said no, but then she said, "I have an apple. Do you want that?" And she washed it for me and gave it to me! I honestly think I would have cried if I hadn't gotten something to eat, so she saved me. I'll remember that forever too.
Finally, you indicate in your post that you are afraid that people have hidden motives for doing nice things for strangers, but that's not true. Most people are just nice and are trying to help you out because it's easy and they can. You make a big deal because the guy *handed you a paper*, but really, how hard was it for him to do? It took him 2 seconds. He saw you struggling and struggling, and thought to himself, "I can help her out and it will take me 2 seconds and it will make her life infinitely easier," so he did. No secret agenda, just a nice guy. Remember when we kept opening doors for that woman in your building with all the laundry? We had no agenda. Have a little faith in humanity, Leah! We're not all bad.
And finally finally, yeah, there's some scandal going on with _The Metro_ up here, but I don't know what it is. I saw a headline about racism in passing, and I think also that _The Herald_ has filed an anti-trust suit against _The Globe_ to prevent them from buying _The Metro_? Or something.
M
Just a brief comment about the Metro. I remember when the Metro appeared in Boston for the first time and I thought, "What is this? Where did this come from? This is brilliant!". My friend, Pete, told me that he knew the guy (or guys) who were putting out the Metro in Boston because they were in an MBA program together. Apparently the Metro is a big corporation that puts out the logo and the information and has several "franchises" in several cities across the US and maybe in Canada? So, the Boston Metro and NY Metro are owned by the same parent company I guess. Sadly, the Boston Metro was not the original or the parent company. I like to think that all good things originate in Boston, but that is not necessarily true. Oh well.
A comment about the kindness of strangers: sometimes they have hidden motives. For example, what if that man had helped you with your groceries and when you got to your door, he followed you and there was nothing you could do? I remember LBF telling a story about this, where some dude helped a woman with her groceries and then followed her into her apartment and raped her. Now, this could be an urban legend or a cautionary tale, but you have to doubt the integrity of the person on the street.
More relevantly, sometimes someone says "I like your shirt" and then you get to talking and the next thing you know they've asked for your number. Hidden motives.
I guess you just shouldn't get to talking.
But mostly people are just nice. I'm with you. I'm not paranoid. I was just thinking about it, that's all.
But you have to admit, most people (well, at least people in Boston and New York) are suspicious of the kindness of strangers, which is why people look at you like you have 14 heads if you even say "hello," and why its impossible to meet people.
That is all.
Re: Hidden motives.
Yes, agreed. There is a balance somewhere between naively allowing strangers into your home to rape you and paranoidically assuming every person who says "I like your shoes" has some hidden agenda. I choose to live slightly on the dangerous naive side, but not to the point where I'm all like, "Hey, I've never met you before, but here's my home phone number and address and I'll be alone tomorrow night." And it sounds like you're slightly on the paranoid side, but not to the point where you're all like, "WHY ARE YOU GETTING THE PAPER FOR ME? WHAT IS IT YOU WANT?" So we're cool.
And Beth: I remember when Leah started talking about the Metro in Boston and I was all, "Hey, we have a paper in Philly called the Metro!" Philly was ahead of Boston on this one.
Post a Comment