The morning started off with a little glitch going off in my phone that caused it to enter into an endless cycle of turning on and off.
Over and over again.
Even after letting the phone sit idle with a dead battery for a while… before restarting it… and then later, attempting a full factory reset, the phone just launched right back into it’s repetitive cycle.
So…no phone for a minute.
Boo and I had plans to head into Manhattan for the night where we booked a hotel room. We were staying the night because of an early morning flight out of JFK.
Also, boo had a meeting with some former colleagues and I was going to go do a little shopping at Forever21. I had a gift card that I wanted to use and the Times Square location has five full floors...five….full…floors.
Basically, you walk in and there’s a really busy main floor, which is actually the top floor. The entire shopping experience starts here and then descends downwards via escalators, or elevator.
We parted ways on the subway and agreed to meet up at a certain time at one of our favorite brasseries in Midtown, 8 and a half.
When I emerged from the -4th floor (do you say negative fourth floor?), back onto the main floor, to a changed landscape.
There was a giant crowd of people huddled just inside of the store, facing the doors and outside, there was a torrential downpour happening. I mean, the sky had opened up an unleashed …
At first, I was going to wait it out. I asked a few employees if they sold umbrellas (no), and thought that I could head back downstairs and maybe grab a pair of rain boots (nope).
Ok.
Well…
Here’s the problem. Not only is the rain coming down in monsoon like proportions, but I have a short window of time to meet boo, before he might start to get worries and since my phone is broken, I have no way to get a hold of him.
In retrospect, I have absolutely no idea why I never thought to ask someone to borrow their phone to call him.
Nope. That very logical thought never even popped into my skull.
Anyhow.
I decided to make a run for it. After all, it’s only about a 15 block run. I got this.
Bwahahahahahahahahaha….jokes on me!!!!
Wow, what was I thinking?
No rain shoes, no umbrella, no raincoat?
I was not prepared for what I got myself into, to say the least.
For starters, the streets of New York City seem to form these channels that not only divert large quantities of water into one direction, but they also have lots of areas where there are obvious drainage issues and so this water builds up and you are often left with three scenarios where this is a very bad thing:
A) You don’t see said pool of water because it sits in a pothole and when walking quickly, the hidden pool of water looks just like the rest of the sidewalk. But, then you step in it and surprise – you’re ankle deep in nasty water!
B) You ankle deep water, or deeper, ahead of you. You must go through this water in order to continue on your path. Taking a detour would mean waiting for traffic and traffic lights and so you make the conscious decision to trek through the small river that is between the curb and the street. You see dozens of people already sucking it up and plowing through, which gives you the courage to just go for it…despite, the weird color, floating pieces of garbage, and the sewer rat who made a sailboat out of a leftover, styrofoam coffee cup.
The last, but not least, worst-case-scenario when walking in the pouring rain in New York City….
C) You tried so hard to make the crosswalk before the walk signal changed to that stupid red hand, but there were too many people in your way – many either selling umbrellas, buying an umbrella (me), holding an umbrella, or hitting you in the head with an umbrella (Walking through a fast paced crowd, filled with hundreds of umbrellas can be tricky).
You tried hard to make the crosswalk, and you almost made it. Almost…you got there in that split second where you contemplate running for it, but the taxi, waiting at the corner is already gunning the pedal and so you decide that today isn’t the day that you feel like playing chicken.
Since you just got to the curb as the light is turning green, you are inevitably in the wrong spot, at the wrong moment.
Splash – what the – oh – M – G – that mother effing taxi just drove through a puddle and splashed the shit out of me!!!
….
Then. Some guy tried to huddle under my umbrella and scared me half to death. When I jumped, he made a rude comment about how stuck up I was for not sharing my umbrella with him – it was quite bizzare! I barely had time to figure out what was happening and before I knew it, this guy that I don’t know, is already mad at me.
By the time I made it to our designated meeting point (on time, might I add), I was soaking wet and quite cold.
Boo was nowhere to be found.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
One drink, two drink. Still, no boo…
I went into the bathroom and sat under the hand dryer for a few minutes to warm up and dry off a little.
Tick. Tock.
WTF.
By the time boo casually made his way in, like at least an hour later, I had steam coming out of my ears and a frown burrowed so deep into my face, that I’m quite certain I will need a botox shot to remove any permanent damage.
He genuinely seems happy to see me and doesn’t notice that I am basically a wet chihuahua, shivering in the AC.