New York moments

Life in New York can sometimes seem a little unreal, you can easily get carried away and find yourself feeling like you're a character in a movie.I have had some friends in town from Hungary this weekend, fencers, of course, and as they were walking on 34th St last night - without me - they saw a guy who looked like Mel Gibson. So they stopped and took a closer look. He must ahve noticed, and he went up to them, said "Hey, how are you?" and walked off. Apparently, it was Mel Gibson. And the girls were too shocked to even say Hi back.

I also found myself hanging out with the fencing crowd once again this weekend. A bunch of people from the Fencers Club - past and present members - gathered for some drinks at a nearby bar. There were a couple of guys there I vaguely remembered from the old days at fencing camp in Hungary. They had quit fencing a long time ago, but stayed in touch with some of the Hungarians from camp. We were kids, teenagers, when we met, there was a language barrier, I was incredibly shy, and so we never really talked. It was really interesting to see them after so many years.

Reminded me of this"New York moment".

This was a couple years back, I was waiting for a performance of Shakespeare in the Park, in Central Park, waiting for a friend - one of the visitors from this weekend, actually - who, at the time, still lived in New York. I was just standing around the park, when a man came up to me and asked me to sign some sort of political petition (this was pre-Obama elections). I told him I wasn't a citizen and there was no point to me signing since I couldn't vote anyway. He then asked me where I was from, and I told him Hungary. He said "Oh, what a conincidence, I used to go to Hungary all the time to fencing camp." I was sure I heard something wrong. I asked him what he had said. He repeated that he used to go to fencing camp in Hungary, with his children. I said, that's really a coincidence, because I used to go to fencing camp too. He asked, "Was it in Szombathely?" Yes, it was. I asked him who his children were: Katie and James Cavan. Holy shit, of course, I know Katie, we used to fence a lot, she was at Columbia when I was in college, we fenced at national tournaments too, and I had known her since were 12 or so from camp. And James, her younger brother, whom I had never spoken to before, was at the bar this weekend, telling stories about being in the army in Afghanistan. I told him this story. What a small world!! Only 8 million people in this village called New York.

Speaking of strange things happening in New York. This is something that could have been in an episode of Sex and the City, easily.

On the downtown 4 train, I am stadning above one of the most gorgeous men I have ever seen. I try not to stare too obviously, but our eyes meet a few times, and finally, we smile, and he says Hi. I take my headphones off and we start chatting. He seems very nice, well dressed, and have I said gorgeous? I am going to Fulton St. At that stop, a seat opens up next to him. I decide to go with the flow and sit. He introduces himself, we chat for a few minutes, he asks me where I am going. I look up at the display and chose the last stop in Manhattan: Bowling Green - 2 stops from Fulton. I figure, if he's gonna ask for my number, it's got to happen in 2 stops. It does. Right before I get off, we exchange numbers. He promises to call that evening. I walk straight to the opposite platform, heart pumping, so excited, I am about jump out of my skin. He calls within the hour. Seems nice, we set a date for a couple of days later. I realize I don't know anything about him, but that makes it pretty exciting. Nothing to worry about, we meet at Union Sq, very public place, I am not stupid. The weather is nice, we walk around for a bit. It's a little strange that he tells me he wants to be absolutely honest and upfront about stuff with me. It reminds me of an ex-boyfriend breaking up with me and saying that he was never really attracted to me and then adding that he thought I would appreciate his honesty and upfrontness. Not always the case.

Anyway, back to the story. Even though I have a bad feeling the whole time, he is so cute and he keeps telling me how beautiful I am - which, by the way, makes me very uncomfortable. We finally sit down at a restaurant and it begins. The first shocking confession goes as follows: "I used to lead a gay lifestyle, but then, I realized that it wasn't right, and reevaluated things and God had shown me the right path." I think I asked him about 4 times to repeat that. I just couldn't believe it. He explains that he grew up in an environment in which being gay meant that he fit it. Makes little sense. I get the feeling he was brainwashed in some conservative church and now thinks it's a sin to be gay. He keeps swearing that he is actually attracted to women. OK. Whatever. This is not all though. Next up: "I was diagnosed with a mental disorder, bipolar disease, and ended up losing my job and living in a shelter for 2 years." OK, that's a little too much now. I mean people lose their way sometimes, I understand, and it's very admireable when someone manages to overcome adversity to become successful or overcome some sort of diability or disease. But the whole mental disease/shelter thing combined with being previously gay or perhaps still, and with brainwashing religisoty - did I mention he prayed before he ate?

At this point, I was thinking "How do I get out of here???" And he kept asking "What are you thinking about, julie?" Really?? What do you think I am thinking about? Running as fast as I could perhaps. Finally, we finish eating, awkward silence, we ask for the check, he wants to go see a movie. I am thinking of a nice way to get out of this, but there really isn't a nice way to tell him no, I don't want to go see a movie, and I don't want to talk to you again, and I am really sorry that you're life is difficult, but I have my own issues and things to deal with and I just can't deal with this much stuff. And besides, I was pretty freaked out. I lied and said I was taking the bus to avoid walking to the subway together, gave him a hug and walked a block before dearing to turn around and I couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry, so I just stood there, frozen in place for a few minutes.

If you've seen Playing by Heart, a great movie from the 90's with Angelina Jolie and Ryan Phillippe, among others, you might remember Dennis Quaid's character, who is taking an improvisation class, which has assignments where he goes to bars/restaurants and comes up with outrageous stories to strangers. Maybe this guy from my date was taking a class like that, or he was rehearsing for a role in a movie. Or he was just himself. Who knows which is worse?