misshapen adventures and other news

so last night walking from misshapes to the station, i totally got held up. as in, your money or your life held up, not waylaid.

so it's about 4am, i'm walking up bedford, a very handy little road with narrow sidewalks that runs from right opposite luke & leroy's straight up to christopher street. handy, like i say. i've had a few drinks, had a really good evening [it's so much better going out at the last minute, with no expectations], walking up with my earphones on. i think the kaiser chiefs were playing at that exact moment. i have my PATH ticket clenched in my hand so i don't have to rummage around for it at the station.

all of a sudden this guy steps out in front of me and grabs me by the front of my jacket. he steps up, he's right up in my personal space. i take off my earphones.

"i'm dying of aids. i ain't never raped no one before, but i will. i want ten dollars to get home."

my first thought:
"did he really just say that?"

my second thought:
"ten dollars? he must be having a laugh. i don't have ten dollars."

what i actually say:
"er, you want my train ticket?" offering him the PATH ticket.

he shakes me. "no. i need ten dollars. i'm dying of aids."

yeah man, i heard that the first time.

what i say now:
"i don't have ten dollars. why don't you go down there?" gesturing back to seventh ave south.

"no. ten dollars." the guy is bugging. i guess he was probably totally cracked out. his eyes...

a cab driving up bedford slows down next to us.

"there. look, that cab will drive you home."

cracked-out crazy guy stares at me, gets a firmer grip on my jacket. i try and push his arms away.

"i need ten dollars to get home!"

i'm getting a bit annoyed now. change the record mate.

"i don't have ten dollars. why don't you just walk?!"

yes. it was a stupid thing to say. he'd pretty much just threatened to rape me a few moments earlier. who's to say he wasn't carrying a knife or something.

but the crazier thing: he let go.

maybe it was the cab that had stopped [i don't know if it stopped because of this situation, or to let someone out] or maybe he realised that beyond 15-odd rides on the PATH train he wasn't going to get much out of me, or maybe he thought it actually was a pleasant evening for a walk home, find a nice back alley to shoot up in somewhere on the way back, but he let go and walked off.

i turned and carried on walking up bedford, totally bemused until about a second later when the shakes hit badly and i call the ladies who i'd just put in a cab back to brooklyn outside misshapes, just for the human contact, and possibly alarmed them a little as i couldn't get my words out quite straight.

sheesh. quelle adventure. it's the full moon, man. makes people looney (lune-y. of course.)



in other news:
i'm super glad the weather finally cleared, the rain was really depressing me. the sunshine totally lifted my spirits and a bike ride from the 'burg down to brooklyn botanical gardens (where we talked nicely to the guard who then let us in for free, ha ha) lifted them more. my back tire blew out on the way back which was kind of a pain though.

i've been lazy and don't have much food in the house so my diet this weekend has consisted of toast, matzo, ice cream, noodles, cups of tea and OJ. i'm eating well, ma, honest... methinks a trip to the grocery store is in order.

skateboarding round my apartment is my new favourite past-time, and guaranteed to start annoying people sometime soon so i'll have to save it for when no one is around. but we have hardwood floors throughout which is a great surface.

i've been sat in front of my computer alllll day today supposedly finishing up my class assignment. i only left the house to run across the road to duane reade to get one of the disposable cams for the mag project developed. so i just had to go pick another camera up off someone who was in the hood and was shocked by the cold and wind and elated at the same time at the fresh air and freedom. i need to get out for a bit.