Random Encounters In NYC

May 4, 2008 on 9:18 pm | In Worldview/Life, New York |

I’ve written about strange encounters around New York before and figured I’d update everyone on some of the more recent interesting meetings in my life. The above image from The Dark Knight (the sequel to Batman Begins) has no relevance to anything in this entry– I just thought it looked cool.

1. My buddy Mike and I went to the Yankees game on Friday night, which turned out to be quite a fun time, since the Yanks finally snapped a three game losing streak. The weather was a bit miserable and I wore a long sleeve Yankees shirt to keep warm, which I was still wearing when I went to my favorite local bar. As soon as I entered the bar, I noticed a woman staring at me and ignored it—I figured I was just imagining things. The bartender came up to me, smiled and said the woman had asked if I was a player for the Yankees. Later, once a few other guys there learned I recently became an American citizen, they started asking me to flex and saying, “America’s got some more muscle now!” while squeezing my arms. Just an odd night overall.
2. On Saturday, I was in Central Park and ran into one of the many cartoonists who hang around, offering to do caricatures for the many tourists passing by. He tried stopping my by getting very close to me and saying “You like your picture? You very good looking. I draw you.” Maybe it’s just me, but even if I were inclined to sit and be drawn, I’d be creeped out a bit.
3. No matter where I go in New York, as long as I’m wearing a Montreal Canadiens hat, someone stops to talk to me about hockey. Some friends at work have joked that the logo looks a bit like the logo of the Chicago Cubs, but I’ve always dismissed it as them joking with me. This weekend, I was stopped by numerous people who said, “Oh, you’re a Chicago fan?” to me and really meant it.