My sedentary life.

After seeing a movie the other day, I found myself in the city with nothing to do with my friend Ariana.

Now, if you're like me, you already take issue with that statement. I was in the city, and I had nothing to do. And this is New York City, a place filled with more people, activities, restaurants, tourist spots, museums, parks, and theaters than anywhere I have ever been. There is no END of things to do.

HOWEVER. The thing about me is that number one I'm not good at finding that stuff out, and number two, even if I do hear about something or look something up online that looks awesome, I'm really bad at following through with it. I'm much more comfortable staying in my little rut and doing..."my own thing"...which usually entails me hanging out by myself wasting time reading or on Facebook or watching TV or a movie.

And I've always been that way. A lot of people I know, if they get a day off, they go and DO something. Like my friend Ross, for example. He had a day off the other day and went and took a hip hop class. By himself. With no experience. And he had an awesome time! But I would never do that -- either because I'm afraid to look stupid, or I'm lazy, or I just wouldn't have enough follow-through. Bottom line -- as much as I theoretically like doing new things, I typically don't like the feeling of doing new things, especially by myself, and especially especially in big groups of strangers. And what is New York City if not a HUGE group of strangers? Thus my usual paralysis.

But back to the story -- Ariana happens to be the exact opposite of me in regards to all this. She's done a lot of traveling, and knows what she likes, and, even better, knows a lot about the city. She's one of those people who goes on vacation and gets. her. money's worth. Our friend Louis was her roommate in London over January and he tells these stories of going to like, Kensington Gardens, and Ariana just being on a mission. She's a woman with a plan.

So anyway, we get out of the movie, and we're both feeling a little weird, and my inclination is to just go home and be with my dear friend Harry Potter and his Order of the Phoenix. But Ariana suggests that we go check out the High Line, which is an elevated freight line from the 1930s that the city has made into a park. So it's this elevated walking path, basically, and the plants they've chosen are all the flowers and grasses that would grow naturally in an abandoned area. It's right up next to the river, looking out over everything, with these beautiful flowers and grasses waving, and it was the perfect day for it -- a little bit cool and breezy, late in the day. It goes from Gansevoort Street all the way to 20th (and they're building more of it so one day it'll go all the way to 40th) and the views out over the river and back toward the city and even the Statue of Liberty were amazing. It was so nice to be up over the city and just walking for the experience of it, instead of to get somewhere. I do stuff like that so rarely.

And afterward we got sandwiches from Cosi and sat out on the waterfront watching people jog and bike and walk by. At sunset. With boats.

So I guess what I'm saying is I went on a date with Ariana. And I liked it.