one of those

i had one of those days yesterday where you go "this is my life?" and not in that "i can't believe it's not butter!" voice, but in that "i don't even have the energy to go to my child's soccer game" depression comercial voice. work was crazy yesterday. when i got hired they kept warning me about how busy it could get, and i had that classic-movie newly-enlisted-private attitude of "yeah, well down on the farm got pretty busy, too. how bad could vietnam be?" (please note: i am in no way comparing the work done by an arts non-profit to farmers, vietnam or anything else. i don't mean to offend art, farms or war.) it's just that yesterday, i was doing so many projects for other people that i didn't get my own work done, and the phone was ringing off the hook, and multiple people left after a half day and mk and i stayed late (making it a ten hour day, which is long on your friday night) and i just could not stop the typing and the calling and the answering, and you know how you get a little punchy after nine and a half hours of work and everything is funny, especially when you spill water down yourself (after you spilled salad dressing on your pants at lunch), and your boss leaves before you, asking "are you still here? was it busy today?" and then you get outside and it is slushing and you are wearing little flats that somehow let the water in but not out and you have to wring out your socks before you get on the subway, and i knew my s and my delicious stir-fry ingredients were waiting at home for me, and i had an hour on the trains ahead of me. it was one of those days.

which is why i particularly appreciated the little boy who got on and started talking to a, my other work friend (owf), and i. "i hate this train," he said in that sheepish little boy way. he had to take the a train all the way to 80th street, which is quite a trip from midtown. i would like to note that this kid was small. i am very short, and he maybe hit my chin, and had cute little kid freckles, and his voice was still awfully young, and so when we asked what he was coming home from and he said school and we asked which one and he said nyu, i was pretty shocked. i thought he was joking (i mean, i also thought he was like, twelve) so i asked what he was studying and he smiled into his shoulder again and said education. i was pretty sure this was a joke, so i asked when he would graduate and he said 2011 (which would in fact make him a freshman.) i said that made him much older than i thought he was, and he asked how old i thought he was. i hate that question--it just invites offense, because i am the worst ever judge of age. plus i myself know how it feels to have everyone think you are seventeen when you are in fact twenty-three, thank you. in retrospect, i should have started either much lower or much higher, to show i was joking, but i started at ten. i mean, he was tiny! he kept smiling his sheepish smile at me as i guessed every year until i hit sixteen. he turned sixteen a week ago, making him a fifteen year old college freshman. (which is not so weird; i went to nyu at seventeen.) he graduated early with special classes and credits, just to get out into the real world already. he wants to be an earth science teacher, which is adorable. he was adorable. and it really made my night, this little college student, talking to a and i because he had a long trip and just wanted to make a friend.

so when i got home, i was less cranky than i could have been. and i made a totally delicious stir-fry (i highly recommend the combination of ginger soy and sesame teriyaki sauces) and we had totally delicious drinks. our local bogeda sells lots of crazy drinks i have never seen anywhere else including sporanos--the tv show--soda and dry grape ginger ale, which is a refreshing beverage when mixed with gin and lime juice (a grown up gin rickey, i thought.) and we watched old episode of 30 rock and i was very happy by the time we piled into bed. so it was also one of those days, one of those days that ends with laughter and kisses and the kind of sleep that you know will end in sunshine not an alarm clock, and so when i woke up this morning, i was happy. so thank you, tiny college student. you saved the day. and it is those stories that make me feel like new york, even if it is sometimes just where i live and work and nothing else, new york where you encounter anyone and everyone, is a little bit magical.