Saturday, December 09, 2006

on my way to self-destruction myself

around fall of last year, i was in new york and central park couldn't have been prettier. of course it was the first and only time i'd seen it so i don't really have any point of comparison, but anyway ... you are free to ignore the first sentence. see if i care.

i was walking with a long-time friend (and by 'long-time', i mean we knew each other before either of us was corrupted by the world we are currently bahhumbugging) who flew from canada* to meet me in new york. i did the usual touristy things – gape at the orange-colored leaves, pose strangely in front of the famous fountain (named 'Bethesda fountain' or 'Angel of the Waters', which i know only because i researched for this blog entry), be scared by the running squirrels, and so on. my friend, who wasn't a tourist, did her part by asking complete strangers to take our picture while i silently prayed they wouldn't run away with my camera.

we finally figured out how to get out of the park when we saw them: two men fiddling with a professional-looking video camera.

"oooh. cute," my friend whispered.

"what? him???" i said, being my usual loyal, supportive self.

"yes. cute," my friend whispered again.

"ok, let me get closer so i can take a picture for you." (don't ask. i don't understand girls either.)

so we casually sauntered over to the two guys, who, amazingly enough, looked at us. meanwhile, my friend was taking back her previous assessment: "oh. sorry. he's not cute."

"hey," said guy1 (not the supposed cute one) before we could run in the opposite direction, "would you like to be interviewed?"

"sure," i said, pushing my friend towards the guy (told you i was supportive).

my friend agreed, mostly because (a) she thought it was going to be a WRITTEN interview (um, there was a VIDEO camera, mind you) and (b) she attracts strange situations. but don't let me get started on that.

"WHAT!?!" shouted my then-freaking-out friend. "you're going to film me!?"

"why not," i said, not knowing what was coming next.

by this time, we had a feeling it was going to be for a prank tv show named 'Gullible Girls in the Park' or 'Stupidity is the World's Biggest Killer'. something.

"what's this about anyway?" we ask.

guy1** replied, "the WEATHER CONSPIRACY."

the what???

allegedly, they were working for the Weather Channel and just needed a few video snippets for some show. fine. what wasn't fine was i found out i had to be interviewed as well. if i knew that, i wouldn't have pushed my friend in the first place. there is a moral lesson in there somewhere. i am just choosing to ignore it.

"you can't interview me! i'm not from here! me speaka no eeengleees." (ok, i didn't really say the last bit but i should've.)

"even better!"

arrgghh.

anyway, i ended up making a fool of myself in another country (so what else is new?), spewing out gibberish about how i think the earth is on its way to self-destruction (where did THAT come from?) and that i don't believe aliens have anything to do with global climate.

i had to pick my friend off the ground as she was laughing herself silly, watching my senseless display. needless to say, i can't wait for the next new york visit.

she owes me.


--------------------
*interestingly, she LIVES in new york now. and fyi, unless absolutely necessary, we never talk about the weather.

**i realize i never mentioned guy2, the supposed cute one. just goes to show that cuteness – or even imagined cuteness – does not translate to an interesting personality, or the power of speech, at the very least.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

May I just add (as the *friend in the story) that guy2 was really (really) not as cute up close as I had imagined. He epitomized the "Pretty from far (but far from pretty)" myth we really should all remember to adhere to.

My own personal memory of the interview (aside from Orange's "The world will self-destruct!" comment - bwahahahaha) was:

guy1: "What do you think these mad scientists look like? The one who come up with these weather conspiracies?"

me: "Well. Like. YOU."

BWAHAHAHA

Yours -
Friend-who-thought-interviews-were-only-written

Foto Man said...

i saw that in the weather bureau . ok ka day !