NYC Robert: Does who I met today fit the definition of a stranger

This post is for 8/19/11

It's been about four years or more since I've had a conversation with this person, and we've known each other since we were eight years old. Back then we hung out all the time, played basketball, rode bikes, and just kicked it. Today, saying "hello" would seem like I was talking to a stranger. I hadn't really thought of it because when I'd see him I'd wave, but casually. We also never really spoke much in the later years of high school. Honestly, I felt that we grew and turned in different path's. He had his friends, and I had mine. You could also say he was a lot more popular than I was, which meant that he carried with him a group of people I wasn't too fond of. Ironically though a lot of people he was friends with didn't have the same smarts as him. He always wanted to be a business man. I remember when we were kids that's all he would speak of. And although he was a gifted basketball player, making it to the league wasn't his dream.

Today I was driving down the road as I always do, and I guess he said to himself "enough is enough." He runs out into the road and stops me. I was very shocked! He begins going hysterical at my disrespectful behavior because I never say hello. As we began to talk, I noticed that he was very frustrated that I never stopped to have a conversation with him. As I mentioned before we hadn't spoken in long time. Clearly though their was a lot of things we could have discussed. He asked me many question mainly on what I'm doing in life now and what I want to do later.

For those of you who don't know I'm currently pursuing a bachelor's of science in physical education. It wasn't my first choice, and if I discuss my other majors it will take a while. But I chose it because working with kids is a lot of fun and it brings me joy. The second reason is that I could also be a personal trainer. Just killed two birds with one stone. The only sad part is that since I've changed my major so much and none of them were tied together, I still have two years left of school. After that though I want to get a Doctorate in Dietetics. If you ever have a conversation with me on healthy eating and general health you'll discover that to be my true passion, and gift.

Now back to my conversation with this old friend. I then asked him what's going on in his life. He told me he just got a job on Wall St., and it wasn't easy. It took him lots of trips to city, and money he didn't have. From the way he described it it's almost like he would go to various interviews and stand in front of businesses all day until he got his shot, almost like the movie with Chris Gardener played by Will Smith in "The Pursuit of Happiness." Well someone once said getting a job is a job itself. But its good his hard work paid off. Our conversation got interrupted by a family member of his needing a ride somewhere. And I was also heading out. I hope my acts of being a stranger to him, and others will part.

Well my fellow brothers and sisters until next time

One love.

NYC Robert

Im writing for 8/16/11

My friends and I left for the city at 3:00pm. We drove halfway and then took the subway. On the subway I discovered that the battery for my camcorder wasn't working. That ruined a lot because we wanted to take video of me meeting people and communicating. I thought the day couldn't go wrong, but boy was I mistaken.

Our first stop was the Borders Book Store. Our idea of going to the store was that there are clearance books and other things we could get because their going out of business. In the store I met Joshua who is a business man. We talked briefly about his company. How did we meet specifically you may ask? Well it started when I picked up a Parkinson's disease book. He noticed that I had it in my hand and asked me a couple of questions about it. I know about the disease because it runs in my family and I've studied it in college(Queens College). After talking about that he then explained his business and what he does for the company. He wanted to know if I would be interested in talking further, which I was. But due to the fact I have multiple jobs now I wasn't too excited about pursuing another, however we still exchanged contact information. My first talk with a stranger was a bit weird at first, but like I said the hardest part for me is the intro. After that I am rolling.

After the book store my friends and I decided to go to a bar and get some food. So we head to downtown Manhattan. There, we ended up deciding to go to the 13th Step bar, but before that we got some food at Subway. At the Subway my friends and I ordered three five dollar footlongs. Sadly, they were trying to get discounts on those footlongs. I thought to myself "really? its five bucks." Anyway we sat by the window and after eating we had more time to kill so we made a game of waving to every girl that passed our view. We got good, and bad feedback, but neither of us really cared. While sitting in the restaurant this very beautiful older women walked in. She was about 5'11, had a very sexy coke a cola shape figure, hair as red as the devil's satin comforter and wet like she just got out the shower, hips that look so smooth, eyes as light as the sky, a cotton made orange dress, and sandals that showed her orange toe nails. Since I was to talk to a stranger everyday it was up to me to talk to her, and I was closest to her. I went with a generic lame but true line and said, "your very beautiful." She stopped and said, "well thank you." I then noticed she had a wedding ring and said, "your husband’s very lucky." She blushed and said, "Oh, I’m not married", I ask "why?" and she said, "I haven't found the one yet." That is when my friends brings the line, “Your looking at him." As she smiled and left the store, we all thought that was very funny, and a good line by my friend. The other guys at the restaurant had agreed. Although I didn't get her name that was fun.

It was time for us to head back to the bar. There my friends signed up for beer pong and I just lingered around waiting for a booth to open up. They had somehow started talking to some girls, but I wasn't really paying attention. When a booth opened up I sat down and soon enough those ladies my friends were talking to joined me. We talked about this blog, where they're from, my friends. The ladies work in the city, and were just partying with some friends. That was cool at that time was trying to sell my pitch, but friends that I invited join us. That's when the ladies left and I didn't get their names.

After hours of dollar mugs on draft and eight dollar pitchers my friends were highly drunk and talking all kinds of stuff. One of them was trying to talk to every girl, and the other was looking for the right one. Whatever that meant. I talked to my friends about blog, and about my other blog on Vicarious World (http://tbvicariousworld.blogspot.com/). I got a lot of input, which was much needed. Since my friends don't count as a stranger I will no longer discuss that.

We left the bar and headed home at12:40am. After getting on the train we met a girl named Carol who is Scottish. I just added that because her accent was cool. I discuss to Carol about this blog, as my friends bombard her with like a million questions. I had to contained them. We get to talking to Carol about our other blog Vicarious World (http://tbvicariousworld.blogspot.com), she had great input and will hopefully post that on the blog. She also was directing us to 34st where we were going to all catch the E train. However, those morons decided not to get off the train as if they know where they’re going. So I was all alone walking to the E, when I got there it wasn't long b4 the train came. On the train some fat guy wouldn't stop staring at me. Due to the fact it was very late I was not in the mood, so I left that alone. When my friends and I reunited about 2 hours later, we headed home and discussed the night we had, which in our opinion was very good.

So day one is done and now onto day two.