"I predict a 20% chance that New York City will experience a storm surge in excess of 8 feet that will over-top the flood walls in Manhattan and flood the subway system." —EVERYONE PANIC. Or you know, go buy a flashlight and stop worrying.
Hey, America, howyoudoin'?
Hahaha, I kid! I know that's the sort of greeting so many of you associate with me, New York City, but I assure you I am much more classy and sophisticated than the impression given by the many television sitcoms and Hollywood exaggerations you have seen over the years. I exude elegance. I am, of course, the Greatest City in the World. You should come see for yourself!
Should you panic? The experts say no, but the experts don't understand just how close you've been cutting it lately, how you've been keeping so many balls in the air without even considering how you're going to get away with it should any of them drop, how you spend your evenings drinking yourself into a stupor because it's the only thing that will silence that insistent, nagging voice in your head that tells you it's all going to come crashing down and in spite of the promise you once showed and the seemingly bright future ahead of you and the way you've always managed to pull through in the [...]
What should we call the swine flu? The Mexicans don't want to claim it, the Jews don't want to say the word "swine," the Asians are hoping everyone remains focused on Mexico and doesn't start looking east, and Ag Sec Tom Vilsack is concerned that the "swine" aspect of the moniker might keep Americans from consuming pork. Instead, the government's going with the "2009 H1N1 virus outbreak," which doesn't exactly trip off the tongue.
So I saw my first bed bug in New York City this weekend and, thank god, it was not in my apartment. It was in a pretty bad place, though. On a bus, the M9, on the sleeve of the windbreaker of a man sitting right next to me and my kid and my kid's friend. We were with my kid's friend's mom, too, heading to their house to have lunch after karate class. (The kids are in the class, not us adults. Still, though, I've been watching. So don't fuck with me.)
There is no doubt that it was a bed bug.
AVOID MEXICO, says the front page of the New York Times now. (Due to swine flu, dontcha know.) Oh, panic everyone, panic! It's a flu!) Says the NY Times commenters in return…
