It used to be that fortune tellers or "psychics" would give me a come-hither look through the glass window of their shop while curling their finger in a motion communicating that I should enter. I was but a young teenager when it first happened to me, and I shook my head so vigorously I nearly saw stars. Subsequent times, I just ignored their efforts.
But for the second time in as many weeks, a psychic outside of her (I've never seen males) domain accosted me on the street. My first experience was in Brooklyn and a woman lazily pushing a covered baby stroller on the sidewalk stopped my friend and I and offered us "ladies" a psychic reading. (Together? Apart? Who knows.) Safe to say, she was promptly denied.
Yesterday, I was walking north in the tourist trap SoHo Broadway has become, when suddenly, a woman lugging a large empty container bin singled me out and asked if I would like a reading, adding, "I'm a psychic," as if those were the best credentials ever. I stared blankly at her for half a second without stopping. I wasn't trying to be rude, but it's Manhattan. You keep moving and you don't stop till you reach your destination, unless you're a tourist. That's just how it is; if you slow down, you'll get in someone's way, guaranteed. It's probability! (BTW, go to the side if you must stop, kthx.) Anyway, I don't know if she took offense, but she remarked, "Excuse me!" as if I'd invaded her personal space and got all up in her business. I simply said, "No thanks," as I was still within earshot and I didn't even slow down, with a perfect dismount to boot.
Are high rent prices pushing "psychics" to the streets, or is the raging inflation forcing people to just take up any business to make whatever money they can? However, the most bizarre thing to me in all of this is that both women were toting large, unwieldy items. Okay, the baby carriage, I understand (though I'm not totally sure there was actually a baby inside), but the empty, lidless bin, on a crowded Manhattan street, was just so... huh?
19:08 Comment! (4) | Recommend! | Categories: new york city [t], huh? [t]
Gawker.com's 123 to Love New York Right Now
001. Because we scorn the fat.
002. Because we can drink until 4 AM.
003. Because we have our drugs delivered to our doors.
004. Because all we have to do is walk down the street in order to be propositioned for sex.
005. Because we get to push tourists if were late for work.
006. Because we only pretend to recycle.
007. Because Tompkins Square park is still friendly to junkies.
008. Because whether you make $50k or $200k, youre still middle class.
009. Because fuck is intrinsic to our local dialect.
010. Because there's a Starbucks on every block.
011. Because you can get anything you want on Craigslist.
012. Because Anderson Cooper.
013. Because our restaurants are so cramped, we can hear if our neighbor is being an asshole.
014. Because you can live in the same place for 10 years and never have to see or meet your neighbors.
015. Because a pink paper like the New York Observer can survive.
016. Because assistants.
017. Because everyone's Gay.
018. Because we can make someone like Blackface Jesus into a celebrity.
019. Because sometimes it smells like maple syrup.
020. Because theres always a secret room behind the VIP room.
021. Because we can get fake TiVo for $9.95/mo.
022. Because our tabloids are considered newspapers.
023. Because the transit strike keeps us from really working.
024. Because Jocelyn Wildenstein exists.
025. Because you can go to the East Village Baths and not get raped.
026. Because David Cross imposters live here.
027. Because Brooklyn is for domesticating.
028. Because i-bankers and hipsters can peacefully coexist.
029. Because theres always a free drink available somewhere.
030. Because we know Sex and the City is a crock of shit.
031. Because we know Friends is a crock of shit.
032. Because it only takes $30 million to launch and burn a magazine.
033. Because we think Vitamin Water is a real beverage.
034. Because we never have to shovel snow (unless its coke).
035. Because we all know were actually better than Tinsley Mortimer.
036. Because road trip just means Ikea.
037. Because even Lenny Kravitz's toilet gets clogged.
038. Because smoking is banned.
039. Because we only have one mall, and its not any good anyhow.
040. Because people read.
041. Because we invented PNP.
042. Because words like Otto Tootsie Plohound make sense to us.
043. Because we eat McDonalds ironically.
044. Because ANYONE can lie to Page Six.
045. Because Jews.
046. Because you can take a dump at the Apple Store.
047. Because you can buy anything, even a stolen baby.
048. Because mani/pedis are affordable.
049. Because George Whipple.
050. Because our public opinion can turn on a dime.
051. Because real estate is a professional sport.
052. Because only black is the new black.
053. Because its acceptable to Shoot the Freak.
054. Because our pigeons have rabies.
055. Because Conde Nasties dont threaten our food supply.
056. Because anyone can get into Soho House and see that its nothing.
057. Because everyones got a blog.
058. Because Paris Hilton moved to Los Angeles.
059. Because Bloomberg has that adorable bald spot.
060. Because its easy to stalk famous people.
061. Because everyone you know has slept with one another.
062. Because Woody Allen is allowed.
063. Because Fresh Direct has every single products nutritional info on its website.
064. Because Peter Braunstein stabbed himself in the neck.
065. Because we have a looser definition of substance abuse.
066. Because everyone has a cat or a book deal.
067. Because you only need a Village Voice to get a chick with a dick.
068. Because anybody can be a DJ.
069. Because even if you can only play Wish You Were Here on the guitar, you can make a few bucks at a subway station.
070. Because Robin Byrd.
071. Because everybody knows the 1-800-Mattress song.
072. Because sometimes its just fun to give tourists wrong directions.
073. Because you can buy live jellyfish from a wooden box in Chinatown.
074. Because your parents love to come visit and pay for dinner.
075. Because your parents don't love to come visit.
076. Because you can walk down the street and fart and nobody will notice.
077. Because if you want a cat, you can walk into any deli and just steal one.
078. Because you can do your Sunday morning walk of shame undetected.
079. Because Teen Vogue is only $1.99.
080. Because fifth-floor walk-up apartments are great for the glutes.
081. Because nobody uses condoms anymore.
082. Because Dr. Zizmor is a celebrity.
083. Because you can drop a penny in an empty water jug and make some dude's day.
084. Because everyone looks like shit in the morning.
085. Because there's such a thing as $300 sushi.
086. Because you can be a gay man and reasonably keep both a wife and a boyfriend.
087. Because bagels.
088. Because there's just enough Brits around to keep us speaking proper English.
089. Because we worship high fashion in collapsible tents.
090. Because vegetarians keep to themselves.
091. Because our knock-offs are often better than the real thing.
092. Because theres always someone naked in Times Square.
093. Because the New York Press is still trying.
094. Because your cab driver is probably more interesting than you are.
095. Because you can get mustard on everything.
096. Because its perfectly fine to answer your phone mid-sentence.
097. Because H&M: Our Gap is Eurotrash on purpose.
98. Because we dont stand in line, we stand on it.
099. Because we tolerate the New York Sun.
100. Because gift bags.
101. Because you can ride the Staten Island ferry all day at only the cost of your stomach.
102. Because summer really does make sense as a verb.
103. Because we know what new bar smell is, but not new car smell.
104. Because 666-6666 has nothing to do with Satan. Technically.
105. Because even your intern has an intern.
106. Because only old people have land lines.
107. Because parts of Central Park still smell like a poopy country farmyard.
108. Because you can make a career out of being Amanda Lepore.
109. Because everyone drinks at brunch.
110. Because our tap water won't kill you.
111. Because it's easy to steal wi-fi.
112. Because as much as you hate it, Rockefeller Center is still kind of neat.
113. Because city kids have been there and done that before you even got here.
114. Because everyone's painfully human, even the staff of the New York Times.
115. Because used clothes cost more than new ones.
116. Because we'd rather be emaciated than healthy.
117. Because in one morning, you can look like a jackass in the background of four different morning shows.
118. Because its perfectly acceptable to give the finger to anyone at any time.
119. Because the smell is concentrated in Chinatown.
120. Because doing your own laundry is for rich suckers.
121. Because you can buy Vagisil at the bodega at 4 AM.
122. Because we keep Jersey at arms length.
123. Because we gave silly Adam Moss a job.
22:15 Comment! (2) | Recommend! | Categories: new york city [t], list [t]
