Innermost Thought

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September 09, 2002

The Buzz in Times Square

Over two weeks and no posts! That's pretty damn deplorable if you ask me. I always seem to lose it at the end of the month. The good news is so much has been happening; the bad news is I haven't had time to write. Ah me....I will try to pace myself so Stepan doesn't have a book to read the next time he checks out my blog. Here's a little tidbit of the last two weeks.(Stepan, check out my use of headings. Hopefully that will help delineate one topic from another)

Shortly after moving to NYC, I developed this sort of love/hate relationship with Times Square. I love that it's here, but I hate having to walk through it. All the gawking, gangly and slow-moving tourists are too dense in the area for this New York Girl who, to paraphrase those three Gibb Brothers, "you can tell by the way she moves her walk, she's a woman, man...no time to talk". Speaking of which, I have a guilty pleasure. Sometimes when I'm walking down a really cool street in New York, I hear that music in my head. Ah, Ah, Ah, Ah Staying Alive. Staying Alive. On one such occasion, I was running to catch the last night of "Kiss Me Kate" on Broadway. I was in my NY Black and pretty damned pleased with myself. Walking with a purpose. A New Yorker with somewhere cool to go and Kappploooooeeee!! Down on my knees. These damn NY sidewalks are treacherous when you are in sneakers much less girl-shoes. What can I say? I was born to be Bridget Jones not Sidney Ellen Wade.

Back to Times Square. So I have taken this attitude that Times Square is my least favorite part of NY. It looks like a theme park and, once you get to know New York, it's the most un-New York part of New York....if you ask me. I am currently working a job in a company on 51st and Broadway and usually I make my way on 8th street from Port Authority. The last coupla days I have had to go up Times Square for little errands and such.

The first day I walk up to Times Square, a pidgeon flapping it's wings runs into my head. I gingerly touched my scalp, knowing I could have gotten a little more than an "air-kiss" from this feathered creature. Fortunately, all I got was a little surprise and a "did you see that?" look from the tourists walking opposite me. I sort of got a kick out of the experience after I put to rest my Hitchcockian fears. The next night I was walking home from work at about 10pm. (I'm a night owl and I have flexibility in my hours.) As I am walking under scaffolding between 47th and 48th I see a bat. A BAT! He was just flying around looking for a quiet dark place to rest his weary head...upside down. The bemusing thing about this experience is that there were alot of people walking under this scaffolding and they all seemed unphased. Even the tourists. I thought perhaps they thought it was just another unruly pigeon. So I keep walking and watching this bat flying under the scaffolding, hoping it doesn't "vant to suck my blood" and muttering under my breath. "That's a bat. That's a bat! I didn't realize they could hang this far north. So I am discovering that each walk through Times Square is different walk through Times Square.

Saturday, as if to prove this theory, I have another experience. I am dashing through Times Square on my way to the park for some fresh air and business plan work. I am walking with a NY purpose. Translation: I am hauling ass! Weaving my way between cars and tourists like a pro. Somewhere on 47th Street I get a light tap on my shoulder. My first thought is that it wasn't a tap at all meant to stop me, but rather an accidental contact from someone else on their way. I stop and turn around anyway. It was a classmate from Texas Tech, David Gaschen, who is currently in Phantom of the Opera! He had been tracking me for the last coupla blocks because he thought it might be me. I haven't seen him for at least 12 years! What a joy it was to see him. I knew him during one of the most idyllic times of my life; both for living and for art. Seeing him was like seeing someone with which I was once innocent. It was as if he knew me when I believed in the tooth fairy, puff the magic dragon, and fairy tales- well at least the unjaded real-life equivalent. He knew me when I didn't know that you could lose even though you were on the side that was fighting the "good" fight.

He is the standby for the Phantom and he promised to let me know when he is performing it again. His wife had a baby recently, I told him about my baby (Tex in the City). He remembered a scene we did in college in which we each had one line. I didn't even remember it until he brought it up. He looks a little older and wiser but still largely the same. I got such a kick out of seeing him after all these years. The experience made my day.

And I realized two things: 1) A walk through Times Square is always a different trip. 2) Sometimes when you think you are just trying to get somewhere with a purpose (like a good NY-er should) you are actually running away from something pretty damn cool. Ferdinand the Bull and my Southern brothers and sisters have got it right. When you are in a hurry, you are very likely missing something you need to see. There's nothing wrong with smelling the roses. I hope I never forget that no matter how "new york" I become.

Posted by mermu at September 9, 2002 10:23 AM

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