X-Men

Tonight I went with someone to see X-Men: First Class. The movie was really cool, and it's always fun to see a movie like that with a girl who really appreciates those types of movies (because it seems rare to find one who does). Movies in NYC are more expensive than back home, but other than that I didn't really notice anything that seems too over the top in comparison. The snackage was not necessarily any more high-dollar than the standard movie prices I've dealt with back home. More on that whole sitch in a minute....

New York City is really something to marvel at. At any given time, there seems to be so much going on. I rode the train home tonight, and at 1 AM, it was full of all kinds of different people. Unfortunately tonight, it contained someone who smelled as awful as a person could possibly smell. It's one of the perks of NYC: you may ride the late trains with a transient or two. Other than that, the myriad of people interests me greatly. There was black, white, Hispanic; gay, straight, and somewhere in between; late-night revelers, late-night workers, and late-night romances either winding down or preparing to heat up even further at some point in the very near future. The whole vibrancy of the city permeates in the cars of the late night trains, an array of lives waiting to scatter out of the stations to the night's final stop.

As we left the theater, I looked at the sky as it turned my favorite color blue during that time that is just after dusk but right before full-on darkness. The buildings look so sharp-edged against it, which in turn made them even more striking. The Upper West Side residences, many of them pre-war buildings, exude a certain charm that a southerner like me is unaccustomed to. They seem to lock in a time and speak quietly about it as people walk by. I love to stroll, to take in the sights and sounds. I believe native New Yorkers typically focus only on their busy lives, the destinations they must get to, and the numerous ways they plan to occupy their time day after day. I, the outsider, on the other hand, lock in on detail after detail: the stone work in the buildings, the smell of the particular trees and vegetation here, and the clink of glassware and silverware mixed with voices at the various restaurants along our route.

As for the girl, I can only say that at this very moment in time, I feel blessed. I don't sit around trying to figure out at what point we will get to which milestone in some sort of dating life. I simply focus on her the way I do the city: the sweep of her hair, a smile that literally gleams, and the sharp wit and amazing humor that makes me double over laughing. I admit, walking away from her apartment to return home seems to cast a shadow over my whole world. But those details stay locked in my mind, and I smile thinking about the perfect flow of all of this. No rush, no worries, just the real time, live-in-the-moment joy of spending time talking and learning about each other's journeys to this point. I told her I am working on not looking over my shoulder for the bad thing that always seems bound to happen when my life starts to go well. For once, I know I deserve this. I know it's perfectly fine to soak in the joy that I'm experiencing and to be able to unabashedly revel in it with no apologies. Everything in my life has happened for a reason; this, too, is upon me for a reason. Whatever the outcome, I will feel blessed either way. Any time an amazing woman graces your life, all you can do is strive to savor every single moment you get with her.