And don't cry. I can stand everybody's tears but yours.

So yesterday afternoon, I'm sitting in Union Square Park, waiting to meet up with Grant, minding my own business, when a guy comes and sits down next to me.  I mean like, right all-up-in-my-business next to me.  And proceeds to hit on me/strike up a conversation with me about his ex-girlfriend.  Because it's Union Square on a nice day, the place is packed and there's really nowhere else to go sit, so I arrange myself with my purse in my lap and my cell phone at the ready and humor the guy (hereafter known as Creeper). 

After about ten minutes (and I've gotten Creeper to talk about something other than his ex-girlfriend - I've distracted him by asking him what California is like) one of those obnoxious public proselytizers gets up on his little stand in the middle of the sidewalk and starts shouting about finding God and the Ten Commandments and whatnot.  Creeper rolls his eyes and shouts at the guy, "Hey, can't you just leave us all alone and let us enjoy this nice day?"

Of course the guy turns on him and responds with something like, "I'm trying to get you all to care about your immortal souls!"  But as he's saying this, this little old lady starts yelling at him too.  Notably, she yells, "Shut up asshole!  We're just trying to enjoy a quiet afternoon in the park!"

And then another audience member joins in with some super snarky comments, and a homeless guy too, and people walking and biking past are stopping to watch the anarchy unfold.  The whole time, I'm laughing and tears are welling up in my eyes from laughing so hard.  Eventually Mr. Religious Tract huffs away, and it was pretty much the funniest thing I've seen in awhile. 

Grant arrived shortly thereafter, saving me from Creeper (who was trying to extricate my phone number from me, ugh) and we got some cold drinks and walked from 17th all the way to 50th along 6th.  It was a very nice walk and we talked about all sorts of things.  He and I haven't spoken at length in months, so we had much catching up to do.  Then we picked up the train and went to his place, where we watched television and ate sushi and experienced something he and I never had while we were dating - witty banter and idle conversation.  Why, it was like hanging out with a friend!  And we both kind of laughed at the novelty of it.

Frankly it was nice to hang out with someone and see a familiar face.  I'm putting a lot of stock in familiar faces these days - anything to keep from feeling like I'm going to slip through the cracks of this massive city and be forgotten.