Halloween

I love Halloween! Unfortunately, this year we didn't get the full effect of the big Saturday night dress up party before since we were up in Massachusetts the weekend before, but NYC still celebrated, despite it being a chilly Wednesday night.

Paul and I wrestled with all kinds of coordinating "couple-y" costumes but in the end, we just figured to go with fun and cheap- cowboy and cowgirl! There was no reason to go out and spend lots of money on an elaborate superheroes costumes or something for just a couple of hours. And good thing, because we saw sooooo many Supermen & Wonder Women!

Ahmed joined us for the parade watching on 6th Avenue and then we joined the mobs of people in the West Village looking for food and drinks afterwards.

The funniest part of the night was when this black girl ran up to another group of black girls and asked in a loud voice: "Y'ALL GAY?!?!?"

One of the girls was like, "Um, what?!"

"I SAY, Y'ALL GAY?!?!?"

"Um, no."

"DAAAAAAAMMMMMMNNN!!!!" and she ran off to ask another bunch of girls walking down the street.

Overheard (and experienced!) in NYC: #2

Paul and I went to my friend Susan's birthday party at a bar in Brooklyn last Saturday- it also happened to be her wedding day! It was great to see both sides of Susan and Chris' friends and family, relaxed after a whole day of formal festivities.

Now, the crowd was pretty wasted by the time we showed up (about midnight) so we had a lot of catching up to do.

A guy with a shaved head in an impeccable National Guard uniform (a friend of Chris) roped us in for our first shot of the night- after much debate on whether it was going to be vodka or tequila, we ended up deciding that I would pay for the round of vodka shots- 3 for us, plus the bride and groom. Then he was going to buy the next round, where he would show us the "correct" way of taking a tequila shot.


He kept telling me and Susan that we'd be pardoned if we refused to take the shot after watching him do it the "correct" way, because women are "wusses" or something like that, which of course, put us on the defense. But really... after seeing what he did, I'd be fine if he called me a wuss for the rest of my life.

This is what he did:

#1) Took the salt and spread it out on the bar. Took out a credit card and started chopping it up and making lines. SNORTED the salt up his NOSE.

#2) Took the tequila shot.

#3) Took the lemon wedge and squeezed it into his eyes.

This ranks up there with my other crazy bar experience in Kyoto.....

Overheard in NYC: #1

This is actually something that Paul overheard while at the gym the other day...

[Setup] Crowded loud Bally's Gym, midtown Manhattan.

The music playing over the loudspeakers stop abruptly as a voice interrupts with this very firm command:
"Shawna. Please come to the front desk. And I am NOT playing..."