If I can make it there, I'll make it... anywhere?

NYC Poo with 'tude

Last weekend I experienced an ultimate New York moment. I am proud to add the experience to my list of quintessential New York City happenings, even though it is disgusting and something only a New Yorker could boast about... Last weekend I encountered a giant poop on the subway.

Yup. A poop. On the floor. Of a public subway car.

Are you laughing or painfully cringing (or maybe a little bit of both?!)

Most experienced NYC subway riders know that if a train pulls into the station and you notice 1 car significantly emptier than the others, there is something going awry in said car. The A/C isn't working, a person is behaving or smelling strangely, the possibilities are endless, but the result is the same - people avoid the car. Well on Sunday, I stepped quickly onto a subway car and immediately realized that the car was only half full and that half was pretty much all on one side. uh-oh. Directly across from me was a man, sitting casually on a bench all to himself, with a bandana across his nose and mouth. Double uh-oh. I notice a strange smell, not overwhelmingly unpleasant, but not great. I look right, a bunch of people... I look left, no people except bandana man. I look left and down... GIANT SH*T ON THE FLOOR. AHHHHH!!!! It is too late to exit the car, the doors have closed. I can't go right bc this is the last car of the train. To evacuate the premises I will need to go around the doodie and through to the next car. I do not pass go (but I do pass the poo!) as I scurry quickly (noticing that it looks like it came from a freakin horse and has clearly been sitting there for some time) to the door and into the next car. I briefly look back. I kind of regret not snapping a picture. I cringe and then smile, then go back to my day getting just a little bit excited to retell this story as soon as I get home. Welcome to New York.

Josie Gross-y

Milk cartons were MADE for drinking!

Recently, I had a serious debate with a friend about what could appropriately be considered "gross". The conversation arose after she noticed a co-worker quietly attempting to clip his toenails at work. Gross. But while we universally decreed desk toenail clipping to be (WAY) over the line, we were willing to permit the occasional cuticle snip or nail filing without hesitation. The conversation spiraled from there. In the interest of full disclosure, I confessed to:

- using my finger to get that last bit of hummus out of the tupperware (every time)

- dumping the crumbled contents from the corner of a chip bag into my hand (or, who am I kidding here, tilting the bag and dumping them directly into my mouth)

- drinking directly from the container in my fridge that I make and store crystal light in (note: you cannot drink directly from a Brita pitcher... I've tried)

- rolling down the car window and projectile spitting old gum out (learned that gem from my Dad:)

My friend was only marginally convinced that the last 2 weren't "gross". But the way I see it, we all have our secret gross/not really so gross habits that we sneak in here and there. I know you've all done the "I'm just rubbing the side of my face on my shoulder" (but really I'm smelling my armpit) move and is drinking out of the container in my own home really that bad!? The issue, I suppose, is knowing what's just over the line and making sure never to be that gross guy, caught clipping his toenails at work. Good luck!