Have you ever lost something and thought how lucky you were that you did? I am going to think twice about complaining of my mistakes and misfortunes from now, especially my self-inflicted missteps, because of a completely unexpected outcome. I have no explanation for how I lost my pink, wired earbuds, but on this day I did.
I was galivanting about in Astoria, Queens for a sushi lunch with a gal pal and my main squeeze, Cohabituer. He was off and she lives in the area that I work so we got together so I could show them my favorite street in Queens, 30th Avenue. It has my favorite sushi, frappateano, and bakery within a stretch of a half mile. Instead of lugging my backpack around I grabbed my card holder wallet, my office keys, and my phone with my music listening device still plugged in on the off chance we ride the subway back and I want to opt out of “Showtime” – if you know, you know.
Losing things is quite unlike me, even though if you ask why I still haven’t bought air pods I will tell you I would lose them. When in reality I enjoy untangling them as something to do waiting on the train. I am also confident no one is going to try to rob me of those – like ever. The real lack of appeal comes from learning that I have a weird ear hole shape and Apple earbuds hurt, so air pods are too pricy for my cheap ass to bother trying out. So I am going to stick with my soft, marshmallow “headphones” that are pink and inexpensive. Somewhere between the restaurant, bakery, and the Lyft I managed to ditch the annoying strand of wire I was over holding. I called the restaurant, I checked my pocket aka side of my bra repeatedly hoping they would turn up. How am I going to watch Tik Toks or listen to music to keep my mind busy on the way home now?
At least I was off work the next day so I could replace them then. It was the eve of the release of Red (Taylor’s Version) and as any proper fanatic Swiftie I was pumped and ready to celebrate. By celebrate I mean cry and feel my feelings. Emotion takes a lot out of you so I did the responsible thing knowing I was planning to stay up until midnight to listen to all thirty – count them , thirty – songs. That is two hours and eleven minutes of continuous heartache laced with joy. In light of that I made my request to take the day off.
Me: Can I be off tomorrow?
Boss: No
*Silence*
Boss: Why?
Me: What do you mean why? It’s the drop of Red (Taylor’s Version)
Boss: “You would want to use one of your days for that?”, she asked with absolute disgust.
Me: Sure, why wouldn’t I want to celebrate that? Besides I have days I need to use that I won’t be able to roll over.
Boss: We could question your mental stablity for asking such a thing.
Me: Great, that can come out of the sick pool then. Mental health is health.
Boss: Fine. If that is what you really want to do then just be off. But it makes me sick to know that you are going to be off for that when we have so much to do.
*The so much to do is her constant way of trying to stonewall you from using time off always. I am in between projects right now and always get my work done.*
So it is settled, I will be off! I am feeling utterly burned out and I cannot think of a better way to observe a no bones day with my version of self-care. It will be magical, after my first listen at midnight I can sleep in and then it’s Taylor, Starbucks, lights off in my dark, basement room, candles, cozy blankets, and cuddles with my cat.
Except I was exhausted and for the first time broke my own plan to stay up to midnight, a time that I am normally awake, even on a work night. Sometimes we just need to give ourselves a state of grace.
I woke up in nesting mode, rushing around the room picking up out of place items, dusting, and spontaneously started and finished a craft project I had been meaning to do, which was covering my stained bedside table with adhesive paper. Only a pristine lair would do for this transformative journey I was ready to be taken on by my girl, TS. Lately I have been obsessed with getting a ‘pink drink’ from Starbies in the mornings. I never thought I would be that person but it is a great reason to get up and get out and see what the neightborhood is doing that day. This morning my Starbucks run was made all the more special by a teased and now confirmed collaboration between the one and only, Taylor Swift, the queen Starbucks lover herself. Right on the home screen of the app was the Taylor Latte with a promise of a red cup and her music playing in the store. I needed to be there five minutes ago!
Heading one block to pick up my order I was grinning brighter than the Empire State Building lit up and glittering at night. It was raining and the few passersby were clad in rain jackets, goulashes, and umbrellas. Not me. Just my 1989 tour shirt, leggings, and flip flops living for the moment and allowing the droplets to cleanse and renew me. I do not like coffee but you know I ordered the Taylor latte in addition to my usual Mango Dragonfruit Lemonade and croissant.
Tucked in to my bed, Red blasting on my speaker, Cohabituer comes down the spiral stairs without me realizing. He plops beside me and tells me, “I have bad news.” Hmm. What could be bad that he needs to tell me at this moment instead of just being here to snuggle me and check in? “I have a meeting” he continues carefully, waiting for me to follow his thought. Ah, this party is going to need to take a pause. I suppose I do not have to listen from my speaker, I could throw in my earbuds. Wait. No I cannot. I lost those yesterday. Ugh. Fine. I got to track 17 out of 30 by noon and it was meeting time. I was only one new “from the vault” song in, but I suppose I could take a break. Ten minutes go by and then another five and Cohabituer yells down that the meeting was pushed to 12:30 so I will need to wait longer. This is really cramping my vibe I had going I thought with annoyance.
Perfect timing as always, I get a text from my Pisces Soulmate and fellow Swiftie asking if I watched Fallon the night before? I didn’t on account of my early bedtime, but I planned to catch up with all of the press and fun stuff after my first listen, whenever I can finish that. The next text is the interview and she tells me to watch the last twenty seconds. I am waiting anyway so I drop my phone off the bluetooth connection to my speaker and watch the whole thing, totally mesmerized by Taylor’s gorgeous white silk dress dripping in shiny accents on the neck and cuff of the sleeves. Apparently the All Too Well short film that was dropping today at 7 PM was having two showings that day at the AMC 13 Lincoln Square. That is one of my two neighborhood theaters, oh my god! I rush to the AMC app to see if I can score tickets to the twelve minute short film but sadly both the 6:30 and 7:45 are sold out already. This is what happens when you sleep on New York City. Literally.
Fresh with my irritation of pausing my listening party and now not being able to go to an event within walking distance I roll over for a nap knowing I am not sleepy. Cohabituer had planned to go out for laundry quarters, but it was drizzling all morning and I wondered if we were going to push that errand off, but he calls down that he is ready if I still wanted to accompany on this journey. Not really, but fine. We also agreed we might as well walk to the Upper West Side Apple store for the connector I need to be able to use my newly delivered still pink earbuds with my iPhone. The Apple store is at West 67th and Broadway, so we walk down Broadway, though usually I am more of a Columbus Avenue person and stay away from “Bway” because it has gotten dodgey since the pandemic.
The theater that has is having the premier is on Broadway and we can see a crowd already amassing in front. Cohabituer wonders if that is for Taylor’s movie later in the day and I assuredly answer yes. To be certain I call out is this for Taylor and the crowd shouts with glee that it is. Distracted by the frenzy, we forget that the Apple store is directly across the street. After I get what I need I cross back to the theater side to take some pictures of the crowd and see if I can get the crowd to cheer for Taylor so I can take a video. We are a half block past when I hear cheers that sound alerting something is happening. It could be a false alarm but I whip around and sprint off toward the theater, my FOMO raging. It was good foresight to wear sneakers today and feel the heel connected with the ground stronger each step. Adrenaline coursing through my body, I never run this well, but I am fully alive and my stamina does not fail me.
I reach the crowd and inquire what happened? Sadie Sink, one of the stars of the short film just got out of a car and entered the theater. Oh my gosh, I thought, it is so early in the day. The premier isn’t for hours. Cohabituer catches up and I fill him in and then also jogged his memory of who that was. He watches Stranger Things, he should know. He needs to get back home to do some work, but he doesn’t really have any restrictions on the amount of time he can be away, though he acts like he does because he is flawlessly responsible, but tells me we can stay a few more minutes and then he will have to leave me there if I want to see if anything else happens. I glance up and see another black SUV approaching, and although those are common in the city, it feels like this could be someone. Maybe Dylan O’Brien, one of the other stars?
Just in case I stand on tiptoe and stretch myself as long as possible holding my phone into the air to peer over the crowd to see if I can get anything on video, because I am far too short to be able to see with my eyes since I was not part of the waiting group and am not quite as close to the front. Where is Cohabituer? I do not see him anywhere as I do circles standing in place trying to locate him. And then there are some cheers and I am back to filming. Someone got out, who is it? Cohabituer ended up on the street in the bike lane, which is technically not allowed, but when things start happening crowd control cannot stop people from coloring outside the lines. “It’s Taylor,” he tells me. What!?!?!?!?!?! I shriek out all of my energy and feelings trying to process what is happening. I am noticeably louder than the other screaming Swifties. I still got it. I scramble to watch the video to take screenshots and see if it was really Taylor. It was! I was near Taylor. And she was near me!
I texted my boss with pictures with the caption: I regret nothing. Taylor and I are both petty queens and I love that about us.
We didn’t stick around to try to get a glimpse through the windows. There was no chance with the mob already there. Walking home I was in a daze. I was experiencing an adrenaline dump and the comedown was intense. The timing was lucky for not trying to plan it. You would think I was staking it out, but I had only found out about the event not long before. My emotions were like a slot machine. I pulled and got a cherry, a crying face, and a party emoji and none of that matches up. Gobsmacked is the best descriptor because how lucky am I that losing my headphones led me to a one in three year chance of being in the presence of my red queen. I promise I will never forget this. I will always remember it all too well.
New York Nobody 