Why I Love New York

My publicist says that I should sign my books with a gold pen, because it will look nice and be in keeping with the brand (the books have gold print on them). So I went out into the wilds of Brooklyn this morning to locate a gold pen.

After wandering around my neighborhood aimlessly looking for an art supply store, I stopped in at a Starbuck's for a tall skim chai. On a whim I asked the cashier if he knew where an art supply store was. He was wearing two huge earrings in both ears, so I thought it might be the kind of thing he might know about, give that everyone who works in Starbucks in New York is a struggling artist/writer/furniture maker.

"Maybe just wander around 7th Avenue?" he suggested.

"Yeah," I said. "I've been doing that but I haven't found one."

"What's she looking for?" the barrista yelled from behind her espresso machine.

"Art supply store," replied the cashier.

"There's one on 7th and 10th," said a woman behind me in line.

"Don't go to that one," said a guy standing in line behind her. "There's one on 7th and Flatbush that's closer."

"Well," said the woman. "I was just thinking, if she was walking south, the one at 10th is closer."

"Nah," said the man. "Definitely 7th and Flatbush."

Now you tell me - in what other city in the world can you spontaneously provoke an argument between two strangers about art supplies? What a town.

[On a completely unrelated note, my spell-checker wanted to replace Flatbush with platypus.]