I love New York in... February

It's funny how I can spend less than 24 hours in New York, and it totally lifts my mood for the whole week.

First of all, I found parking on the street. On Saturday night. In midtown Manhattan (I have a friend who was nice enough to let me crash on his couch). And that's the second consecutive time I've been able to that. It's actually been easier for me to park in NYC than DC. Unbelievable. This proves that my eternally whiny complaints about parking in D.C. are fully and completely justified. Yay! Justified!

Just spending a couple hours walking up and down Broadway is incredible, even on a Sunday. Guess what? There are people out walking around. Stuff is actually going on. There are a hundred street vendors. Stores are actually open. The city is dripping with vitality... on a Sunday. I had forgotten what that feels like.

First I saw one of those random impromptu street antique fairs, which always has the best stuff sold by random people. Then, I ran into a couple Stormtroopers. Really. On a Sunday morning. This could only happen in New York. (Apparently there was a toy fair going on.) Later, I passed a guy modeling a NASCAR stock car, probably promoting the Daytona 500. That was attracting attention.

Then, I came upon the Virgin Megastore in Union Square, which is like unto a paradise. Downstairs, they have a separate room filled with music of a James-appropriate number of beats per minute. The best part: in said room, lying in plain view for everyone to see, was the Suicide Girls coffee table book.

Oh man... that is absolutely the best thing ever. Can you imagine if that happened here? I can just see a PTCer walking into a Tower, seeing the Suicide Girls book, and raising an unholy fuss until it got pulled. Whereas in New York, if you complained about that, you'd be laughed out of the store. I think it would go a little like this:

INT.-VIRGIN MEGASTORE

PTCer: "But what if my kid sees the book and..."
VIRGIN EMPLOYEE: "Lady, your kid can suck my balls!"

Aaaand... scene. That's how it should be. If I ever meet a PTCer, that's the first thing I'm saying to them. "Lady, your kid can suck my balls." Even if they're a man.

Anyway, I bought the book. Ummm... just on principle, of course.

After a visit to Forbidden Planet, a proper big-city-sized comic book store, I had to cut my trip short to drive back home because I was expecting snow... but the Post and weather.com totally lied to me, because it didn't snow at all. (I should have checked Capital Weather instead; they were on top of it.) Damn you, Washington, you trapped me again!

Oh well, I'll probably be in a good mood for a few more days. Even though it appears to be snowing sideways right now. Hmm.