dear people of new york

One of my favorite things to do since I've moved to New York is people watch. I've always enjoyed this pastime and nowhere is there better sport than in NYC. On my first weekend in the city, I took a book (just as a pretense) to Central Park and got some solid gawking in. The most entertaining thing was a girl about 50 feet away from me. She was sitting in the grass, screaming into her cell phone. Evidently, she had a particularly bad day that past week and called her boyfriend, who didn't pick up. He did not call her back in an acceptable amount of time and so received one of the worst verbal assaults I've ever heard. She was screaming expletives into the phone. And saying that it was excessive, coming from me, a person who has a mouth like a sailor, means she had to be saying a LOT. The whole thing made me giggle.

It also made me think about New Yorkers. Here's what I like about the people of this city right off. People act however they want, say whatever and wear whatever they want, and they do it with confidence. I love looking at what people are wearing when person staring. I'm no Carrie Bradshaw, but I like fashion. However, there are things I just wouldn't wear. While walking to the subway this past week, I saw a 20-something woman in high-waisted, pleated, acid-wash jeans. The kind of things I -- though I hate to admit it -- probably owned in the 3rd grade. She paired these with a cropped tank, and high heels. It was very Saved by the Bell with a modern twist. I don't know. Even though it's something I wouldn't wear, she owned it, and made it look fashionable. And I see people like her every day. So you go woman in the canary yellow cat suit, and man with the suit jacket and shorts. You go New York. Rock on with your bad self.

-- but wait ---

Lest you think this post is just a big love fest, I do have one serious pet peeve already. What's with the people jockeying for position at a cross walk? Here's an example. I'm walking to work. I'm on the sidewalk. The traffic signal says "no, not a good time to walk" and cars are buzzing past. So I, rule follower that I am, stop on the sidewalk and wait patiently for the light to change. As I'm standing there waiting, Mr. I'm-in-a-super-hurry walks up and also sees the "crossing now would be a really stupid idea" sign. Instead of standing next to me on the sidewalk, Mr. IIASH, steps out into the street as far as he can possibly go without getting hit by a passing vehicle to wait for the light to change. No, he can't wait on the sidewalk like a normal person, he needs to be mere inches from the cabs whizzing by. That way, he can get a whole 3 feet head start on me when the light actually does change. What's up with that? It happens to me all the time, and while I understand it on side streets and less busy thoroughfares, I don't get why people need to get as far into the street as possible on a street that clearly has 4 lanes of traffic all moving at a steady clip. WTF.