Strangers Part Deux

While pretending to watch the Superbowl at Bench Buddy's loft last night, my mood snapped. Because my skin is not thick enough yet, I had to leave the party early, miss the Pats win, and spend an hour commuting home listening to extremely sad music while plotting my return to Boston.

When I got back to my apartment, some dude held the door open for me. Very nice. People in my building are prone to slamming the door in your face. Ah, New York. Anyway, he took the elevator up and I took the stairs, as I fear the elevator and wanted to walk off my mood as much as possible. When I got to the top of the stairs, he was waiting for me! He'd opened the door (you have to unlock it) for me.

The kindness of strangers, again, has profound effects on your mood. Just as I was thinking that everyone is mean and manipulative and out to get me, somebody did something nice and unnecessary and improved my mood ten-fold without even trying to do so.

He said "I won," and I said "But you risked your life getting in that elevator." He said "Did you watch the game?" and I said "Well, I was at a function where the game was being watched but then realized that I wasn't watching it and that my time would be better spent reading a book." He said "Yeah, I work at a restaurant and everyone was watching the game and I left as soon as I could. Drinking a beer by myself is better than watching some stupid game I don't care about."

I should have said "Well, if you want company for that beer, let me know," but instead I just smiled and walked away and felt better about the world.