I tripped going up the 5-flights of stairs today at Grand Central, emerging from the bowels of the subway… After waiting at the first set of stairs for almost 8 minutes due to a backlog of people, I got a little overzealous when I finally reached the 5 flight section that I normally methodically make my way up, in between two jammed escalators.

But I fell.
Not in the slightest bit hurt, other than my ego.

But I was again reminded of how my preconception of New Yorkers as being general rude a-holes was entirely unfounded.

Within seconds three separate commuters all turned ( it was difficult not to notice the loud thud that were my hands smacking down to break my fall on the hideously dirty rubber runners in the steps) and asked ‘you ok?’ ‘ Fine fine, thanks.’ Was my awkward, but appreciative response.

People have talked to me about how you rarely make eye contact on the street here. And whether it’s because I was intentionally ( and again , awkwardly) seeking out eyes, or just a happy Thursday coincidence, I ended up having multiple acknowledging moments on my commute. They weren’t of the ‘oh hi, happy lady!’ interactions, but rather a ‘there’s another human. cool.’ interaction. But it’s more than I expected.

Speaking of eyes and eye contact… We’ve finally started seeing celebrities. And we are very, very subtle in our reactions, which have ranged from frantic and illegible texts between us urging for the sighter to get a damn photo, to selfies with the celebrities photo-bombing ( we’re positioning them as such of course), to full-fledged, intentional arm brushing, to nearly running into one’s ass ( Eli, not us). Eventually we’ll get our city feet. Maybe.
Over the weekend we saw Liev Schreiber, John Krasinski, Jeff Goldbloom, Taran Killam, and Meryll Streep.

Who’s butt did Eli almost touch?