Dumb Ass Moment #4

This past weekend I had another one of my adventures in NYC. An old friend of mine from junior high and high school works for Norwegian Cruise Lines and her port of call was NYC this past weekend. We've been trying to get together for almost a year everytime she was in the city, however due to scheduling conflicts, things never worked out. Until this past weekend. I had to give two different trainings at work on Saturday and so afterwork I took the train up the the Big Apple and met up with Cruisegurl somewhere in midtown. It was great hanging out with her, catching up, and talking about old times, but to be honest, our "reunion" wasn't as wonderful as I thought it would be. Over the years, we have become two different people with different priorities in life. As much as I love Cruisegurl, I felt so sad to see her put so much value on superficial "things" and to see her measure her worth and value over all the "attention" she was receiving from all the "hot" 20something males who worked on the cruise ships with her. Not once did she ask me about my life in Camden/Philly nor did she make an effort to ask about my job. I'm not angry or bitter about her disinterest with my life. There's more of a deep seated sadness that I have for my friend. I could go on and on, analyzing my friend until the cows come home, but I won't. Why? Because I could totally be way off base.

Cruisegurl was staying at a hotel in Jamaica Queens and so I ended up spending Saturday night with her. She had to leave for the cruise ship on Sunday morning and therefore I planned it so I could spend Sunday with Therapyboy and Columbiagirl. Hence, the start of one of my NYC adventures!

I took the subway back to Manhattan and made a stop at Penn Station so that I could store my overnight bag in the luggage hold. I was supposed to meet TB and CG at their church, Redeemer Presbyterian for the 10:30 AM service. And of course, I was running late. So I took the 6 train up to Hunter College (where Redeemer meets) and rushed up the stairs to the street. Now, to give you some background information on what NY pedestrians are like, well, they don't exactly follow street signals, signs, or what have you. And they looooove to jay walk. Like I mentioned before, I was running late. And since I was running late, I decided to take a short-cut by jay walking across the street to the auditorium where services were being held, instead of going across the cross walk. Since the light was red and the cars were all stopped, I figured that it was safe for me to do a little bit of jay-walking. I mean, everyone else was doing it and it would have made it for a shorter walk to the auditorium. As soon as I stepped onto the uneven pavement on 68th street, it was like watching TV in slow-motion. My clumsy self somehow managed to trip and fly across the street, with arms and purse flailing, falling flat on my face.

I FELL FLAT ON MY FACE IN FRONT OF ABOUT 10 CARS AND WHAT SEEMED LIKE A MILLION PEOPLE AROUND ME IN THE MIDDLE OF 68TH STREET!!!

When it happened all these guys somehow materialized from almost nowhere, helped me up, and supported me as I pathetically hobbled to a nearby bench.

I

WAS

MORTIFIED.

One of the guys graciously decided to stay behind, running into the building to grab a first aid kit, so he could to help me nurse my right knee, which was messed up and bleeding from the fall. Although my knee hurt like hell, I think more damage was done to my pride than anything else. And my thoughts the entire time this guy was tending to my knee???

Thank God I shaved my legs the day before.