A real New Yorker

While I was walking to work this morning I was stopped not once but twice by people asking me directions. The first girl had a map in her hand, and thought that since she was on 16th street she was in the right direction. She was actually heading west when she needed to go east, so I kindly pointed her in the other direction. Then, not ten steps later, another lady turned around and asked me how to get to 16 E. 12th street. I told her she just needed to walk down four blocks on Fifth Avenue and turn left on 12th as Fifth is the east/west demarcation street.

I must say that I felt pretty cool being able to tell them the correct way to go. I have very clear memories of having job interviews in places that I was not yet familiar with and getting out of the subway and not knowing which way was which. Everything looked the same and I had no idea how to tell which way was uptown and what was east. One time I was at Grand Central station and decided to walk to Times Square instead of taking the shuttle. This seemed pretty simple to me; both were on 42nd street so all I had to do was keep walking and I'd get there. It was a nice night and this seemed preferable to riding the dirty subway. You think I would've noticed that I was walking to a less congested area instead of more that I was walking the wrong way, but I didn't actually notice til I saw the water of the East River.

Even though it was not cool and oh so touristy to walk around with a map, there were times in the beginning when I would walk around with my subway map or google directions, trying to find something. It all seems so funny now when I look back on it. So thanks to those two people who made me feel l like a New Yorker.

Also, today in Union Square I saw them taping an episode of "Throwdown with Bobby Flay". I don't really know much about Bobby Flay, except that he's married to that blond chick who used to be on Law and Order: SVU, and I don't watch his show, but some people were really excited about seeing him and getting their picture taken with him. I was pretty much indifferent. Now that made me feel like a New Yorker.