for a visit to Chinatown to celebrate the New Year. The streets were packed, one of our favorite restaurants was closed for the holiday, suburban families were walking slowly down the streets two or three abreast (about the width of the sidewalk). In short, not the best idea. But today, a year later, I suggested a Chinatown visit during for the New Year's festivities and John, again, agreed. And it was just packed, the crowds were unrelenting. What was I thinking? But the streets were also filled with families and kids and lots of noise and banners and dragons. It was really nice. I know that I will promise myself not to visit Chinatown next New Year, but I'm guessing that, once again, I will break my promise.
Before going to Chinatown, John and I went to the Imax theater to see "Aliens of the Deep", James Cameron's movie adventure to the ocean's floor some 2 1/2 miles down. There is no sun at that depth to allow for photosynthesis and there are these chimneys that spout out super-heated water (over 750 degrees), yet the place is teeming with life. It was fascinating to watch, but the dialogue sounded like he used the fool who wrote the script to "Titanic" (i.e., this project of ours was "off the hook", says Cameron, one comely female scientist sees a deep cavern and declares "it's da bomb"....whatever). Note: If you go to see the movie, check out the fish with flippers that look like feet. Creationism my ass.
After the movie, we went over to Central Park for three seconds to see Christo's gates. I don't know a lot about art and I don't have a position as to whether it was good art, but it is an excellent public experience. Lots of different folks were there--the park was jammed. Sadly, all the slow moving people were in front of us, people who felt free to stop suddenly to take a photo or for no fucking reason whatsoever. If you want to see the gates, try to go on a weekday.
Now I will briefly describe the start of my day's adventure--it wasn't a good start, but, ultimately, I'm glad I went through it. I took the 1/9 subway up to the Imax theater (around 66th street) this morning to meet John. As the train pulled into the 18th street station, there suddenly was a loud explosion and a flash of light. No one panicked, but we collectively said "on my god." The doors opened and I got the hell off the train. Some people were milling about trying to figure out what was going on. Then the acrid/sulfuric smell rolled in, followed by white smoke. A young man was in front of me, looking around, not knowing what he should do. He was (unintentionally) blocking the exit. I went up to him, put my hand on his back and told him that he had to move and should leave the station. He moved so that people could exit but he remained, presumably to wait for the next train. I went through the exit and ran up two flights of stairs quicker than I thought possible (and I run up stairs as a rule). So did most of the other riders, but more than a few people just stayed on the platform. When I got to the street, I stayed by the stairwell (it is both an exit and entrance) with the intention of stopping anyone who tried to go down but no one entered for the next few minutes.
Why did I ultimately feel good about what had happened? 1) The thing, whatever it was, was not an attack; 2) people did not panic, some just stood around doing nothing (at worst, they slowed down those who wanted to get out), but those who wanted to leave the station did it in an orderly manner--no pushing, no shoving, no screaming; 3) I got off the train as soon as the doors opened (no lingering at all) and I quickly exited the station. That is, I did not panic, I wasn't afraid, I thought clearly, found the exit and, after reaching the street, I was prepared to do the appropriate thing (i.e., warn others not to go down to the platform).
After catching my breath, I flagged a cab and went to the theater, met John in the lobby and filled him in. He said that genetic selection (thank you evolution) probably provided me with the skills/quick reaction time that I needed to react to a potentially bad situation. I hope I don't have to truly test my survival skills, but I learned that I'm pretty well-prepared. It's no guarantee, but it's not a bad thing to know.
Have a healthy and happy New Year.
