Symbiotic Relationships with Manhattan (part three)

They say that comedy comes in threes. They say bad luck comes in threes.

I don't know who decided that things should come in threes, but I really would have preferred they chose a lower number!

It was a long week, as I'm sure you could tell, and I was exhausted. The subway is known for putting people to sleep (Check out this hilarious blog!) and I was barely keeping my eyes open. I was reading a book, but this was my normal commute. The commute I make every single day, sometimes multiple times.
When I got on the train, I had my iPhone. When I got off, it was gone.

Now, I'm not saying that my phone is always in my hand, but it's never too far from me. Ask any of my friends, if I don't respond to you right away I'm either sleeping, on the train, or dead.

I went up to the last stop hoping to catch my train and see if my phone was still on it, no luck. No one had dropped it off at any of the following stations either. Someone pick pocketed my iPhone!

It truly isn't until something like this happens that we realize how connected we are to our devices. My cell phone is my email, book, calendar, camera, alarm clock- the list goes on and on.

Unfortunately, my phone hasn't turned up. Fortunately, I backed it up recently so I still have all of my things!

Back up your phones and be grateful Mercury is out of retrograde!
Meghan

Symbiotic Relationships with Manhattan (part two)

Just when I thought I was out of the woods, New York knocked me off my feet, literally and figuratively.

After a full day of seeing my students around Manhattan, my heart was full. It was a little after midnight, and I was hopping on the 1 train to head home. As I waited for the train, I put my headphones in to listen to the last episode of the podcast Serial. Anyone who has listened to Sarah Koenig tell this story knows how truly gripping it is. After starting the podcast, I began to instagram a photo from my day. This may sound like a lot of things to be doing this late at night on the subway platform, but let me make this clear: I was completely aware of my surroundings.

The 1 came and people shuffled off before I got on. As I entered, I watched a big man in a trench coat and a top hat get on before me and thought:

"I love New York."

Although it was late, the train was decently crowded. I looked around quickly hoping to find a seat. A man to my right shifted over a bit, so I walked toward him and settled in, all with my phone in my hand.

I tapped the screen to work on my instagram photo so I could post it before I lost service. I was choosing a filter when, seemingly out of nowhere, an older homeless man walks by me and punches me in the face.

I was punched in the face by a homeless man on the 1 train.

Now, let's clear some things up. My head was down, focused on my photo, and the train was moving, so he never got much leverage. The incident itself did very little to hurt me physically, however, my fellow passengers on the 1 train jumped to my rescue. Before I could put together what just happened, the same man in the trench coat and top hat ran across the train and yanked this guy away from me. 

After a couple sentences, I found out why he had chosen to single me out and punch me:
He thought I had taken a picture of him.

We've all seen it. People taking pleasure in someone else's plight. This was not the case with me, however, logical Meghan completely understands where he is coming from. No one should have to endure the parasitic relationship this man has dealt with. Although I was unfairly accused and wrongfully attacked, I completely understand where he is coming from.

I made it all the way home without a black eye and was greeted by my awesome roommates, Kevin and Connor, who had Trader Joe's Frozen Mixed Berries on my eye before I could even sit on the couch! Despite the crazy night it became, I'm so glad to have this to tell as part of my crazy New York story.

Stay safe!
Meghan

Symbiotic Relationships with Manhattan (part one)

Sometimes, things just don't go your way.

I've always believed that New York City is a living organism. Remember when you learned about symbiotic relationships in Science class? (If you don't remember, symbiotic relationships are the interaction between two species.) There are multiple forms of these interactions, mutualism (both parties benefit), commensalism (one party benefits, the other is unaffected), and parasitism (one party benefits, but the other is harmed.)

At any time, I believe anyone in New York is having one of these three relationships with the city. This past week, New York City was my parasite, and I was it's prey.

It all began in one of my favorite places in New York: The Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. I love libraries, but this one is special. What an absolute wealth of knowledge for people who love the arts! So many of the things in this library (books, music, plays) are out of print, but here, pretty much anything is at your fingertips.

Kevin and I were going through sheet music looking for audition material when we found out we won the TodayTix lottery for On The Town. I went down the aisle to grab my purse and... Vanished! Someone had taken my purse in one of my favorite places in Manhattan. After a desperate scramble looking all over the library for my navy longchamp (I know!), I was in tears. Luckily for me, I had the most amazing group of people being good Samaritans and looking everywhere for me as I cried on the phone (which I still had, thank goodness) to my mom.

Then, out of nowhere, Kevin comes running at me with my purse. My cash had been taken, as had my cards, external phone charger, and metro card, but that was easily taken care of. New York had given me my first test as the host of a parasite, but not without a swift change in relationship.

Kevin and I missed our chance at our lottery tickets for On The Town. We were devastated. But after a few tweets, (Follow me! Follow Kevin!) the incredible team at TodayTix called me and offered me lottery tickets for the evening. So, after a dreadful day, New York still came through with a mutualistic relationship I can only describe as love.

Keep your belongings in sight at all times, and stay tuned for part two!
Meghan