Saturday Night Live
Yesterday, I ventured into Queens for the first PS1 Warm Up Party in Long Island City. The 45 minute wait and $15 entry fee was worth it. Except for ex-boyfriends (thank god), I ran into people from every area of my past - a former college classmate, former MAS classmate, former coworker - you get the idea. And of course met some new, interesting people. But as is usually the case with a night out in New York City, my adventure did not end at the first stop, nor the second, or the third.Fast forward a few hours and one delicious burger later - I found myself sitting at a LIC bar with friends, talking to a very tall Kiwi and Cypriot (I had to look that one up). Naturally, the conversation very quickly evolved from "what do you do" to "where did you go to summer camp." Or something like that. To which my friend and the Cypriot discovered that they went to the same summer camp in Serbia the same year. And then all our heads exploded.
It never ceases to amaze me how everyday in New York, I experience a moment or two where people of very different backgrounds connect in the most unexpected ways.
A few beers later, I found myself waiting for the 7 train into Manhattan to take the long journey home to Brooklyn. No sooner had I sat down than 3 young, non-fratty guys, one holding a guitar, asked me "What song would you actually pay us to play?" I quickly saw an opportunity to knock off a line item from my bucket list and accepted their invitation to sing with them in Times Square. Oh, there's something I should add. The guys were taking turns holding a sign that read "I slept with Snooki last week. Please help." I knew this would be interesting.
We sat in the street, pulling up lyrics from our iPhones, surrounded by laughing, picture taking tourists as we attempted to do Katy Perry justice. One guy told me that in Chinese-American culture, when parents want to say something very important, they will say it in English. He described his mother very painstakingly, and carefully telling him in English that "He needs to go to college so he doesn't end up busking on the streets." Listen up kids, you can go to Yale and still end up busking in Times Square. These are hard times. Ten minutes in, a game of planking ensued, the tourists energetically arranging their friends' bodies into the letters NYC.
This is a story about how the internet has brought us closer together IRL.
The boundary between strangers and new friends has significantly diminished as social networks like Twitter, Facebook, FourSquare and Instagram have allowed us to peek into people's lives. Viral internet and pop culture phenomenons like planking, Snooki and the widely accepted meaning of PBR has given us a common language so that we can relate to one another. The knowledge that everyone is easily Googleable with a first name and a few key details allows us to more intimately connect with someone we've just met. We've taken the play mentality of the internet and brought it into our daily lives. Why go straight home after an already fantastic night when you can take a short detour sitting in Times Square, trying to sing, surrounded by tourists and a guy holding up a crazy sign?
