Wednesday, October 25, 2006

'Cause everyone's your friend in New York City

Well, maybe not everyone. The Johns of TMBG might have been exaggerating just a tad with that. But the natives actually were quite amicable, particularly the ones who helped our obviously confused selves make sense of the subway routes when we were clearly feeling underconfident in our map-comprehending abilities. (I maintain that I know how to read a subway map, as I've done so successfully in plenty of other cities without trouble, but either construction has things more messed up there than we realized or New York's underground train tunnels shift around and lock into new positions constantly and without warning, like the pathways in the Labyrinth or some such thing. That could, of course, be my overactive imagination rationalizing for my own poor sense of direction, but I maintain that it is possible... not to mention an entirely more interesting explanation.)

Anyway, my point is, if you ask me, New Yorkers have gotten a bad rap. Friendliness and good will can abound, even in a city of chaos and crowding. I would have come home with this happy assessment even if I hadn't met the famous* Darren and the charming* Miss Peach, though of course, meeting them only served to solidify the opinion. I mean really. Darren mailed me his keys and let me stay in his home without even asking for a credit card or driver's license number first. Even in the supposedly hospitality-minded Midwest you won't find a whole lot of people who'll do that. Darren may be impressed that I Swiffered his floor, but if you had seen the way he carefully laid out a set of neatly folded, soft, white towels for us on his bed, you would have understood the need to reciprocate and leave his place as clean and tidy as he'd left it for us. He didn't go so far as to rest a square of chocolate on each pillow, but he was, all in all, a very helpful and gracious absent host.

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* Is "charming" better than "famous"? Does "famous" make Darren sound more important than Peach? I'm having a hard time coming up with a set of adjectives that will flatter them equally and not offend. Suffice it to say they were both witty conversationalists and excellent hosts, and I shall simply leave it at that.
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I'll recount other details of the rest of our trip later, but for now, I thought I'd follow the photos that Darren posted of our time at Cowgirl with some decidedly less trippy ones of my own.


Me, Peach, and Darren


Clearly, in this one, Peach has captivated Lisa with hypnosis and is using her powers of suggestion to get Lisa to hand her drink over to Darren. You may think none of that is actually going on, but a photo doesn't lie, people.


If you are one of the three remaining bloggers who hasn't yet met Darren, I will give you a little not-so-secret clue about him. Darren seems to think that if he doesn't look at you directly, you will not notice the ginormous camera he is pointing at your face. This trick may work on the subway, but it is a bit less successful when he is sitting right across from you in a bar. Luckily, I have been reading his blog long enough that I fully expected the Snappy McClicksalot** assault. Lisa was decidedly less prepared, but was amused by it nonetheless.

** Did I get that right, Darren, or is it Clicky McSnapsalot?






12 comments:

Guinness_Girl said...

Oh! It looks like you had a great time! I can't wait to hear more NYC stories!

-R- said...

Is Lisa drinking milk with a lime in it?

Anonymous said...

That's so funny you should mention the chocolates, because as Darren was putting the towels on the bed, I said, "You should put mints on them!" and he said he had actually thought of that on his way home, but didn't have time.

I looked for something else in my purse to put on the towels, but I didn't think two sticks of gum would have cut it.

Red said...

Glad you guys had fun! Great pictures.

P.S. The TMBG Johns went to my high school! They were also my favorite band when I was 15 and came to play in the auditorium. I was paralyzed with joy.

Anonymous said...

Looks like so much fun! And very cute glasses!! Not drink glasses, eye glasses! But the drinks look good too!

Stefanie said...

GG--It was fun. I'll try to get to the rest of the recap soon.

R--Ha! It does sort of look like that, doesn't it? It's actually a frozen margarita.

Nabb--That's hilarious. You're right; gum probably wouldn't have had the same effect, but it would have been funny nonetheless. I probably would have thought Darren was concerned we wouldn't have fresh breath while we were in his home.

Red--That is immeasurably cooler than any of my high school memories. Lucky girl.

BMC--Thanks! I do like the new glasses, which is a relief considering how much I went back and forth trying to decide which ones to get. Decisions are not my forte, I've realized. It's pretty damn annoying.

Anonymous said...

The towels were washed with a 1:9 ratio of detergent and bleach. Did you notice that too?

I think it's Clicky McSnapsalot, but I could be wrong.

AND HOLY MOTHER OF GOD, IS MY TONGUE THAT LONG?!

Stefanie said...

1:9 detergent vs. bleach, huh? So what you're saying is my skin should have burned directly off.

I did wonder who on earth (other than hotel and health club managers) purchases WHITE towels, but now that you mention this, I do recall your affinity for bleach and its magical powers.

As for your tongue, I guess I didn't really examine that too closely, but I'll just restate my earlier caption, which was "a photo doesn't lie, people."

Miss Peach said...

Good pictures! It was so good to meet. I was actually hypnotizing Lisa into handing ME the margarita though. My Jedi mind tricks fell a little short, though, sadly. But good times! Come back soon!

Poppy said...

Stef, you are such an adult! I had no idea! I'm 30-mumble and look like a kid.

Stefanie said...

Peach--Hee. You're right; that would make more sense. I guess I just thought it looked like the drink was being mysteriously drawn Darren's way. And I'd love to come back soon! (I don't know when I'll actually swing that, but it's good to know I'm welcome there!) :-)

Poppy--Um, did you just tell me I look old?? Nice.

Poppy said...

Yah, I guess I did. Sorry. :) I just meant you probably don't get carded every two seconds for R-rated movies and...stuff.