I can't believe I stumbled on to this site, I actually have a picture from that night. There were about ten of us, and we'd just left the beer garden when it first flashed. Not actually... "flashed" is the wrong word, it was just a shift, and it was impossible to tell where it was coming from, just a shift in the way the street around us looked. Obviously, we thought it was ConEd screwing something up and I remember one of my room-mates said that Astoria couldn't handle the electrical surge associated with "Halloween decorations" which was just stupid. I mean, if ConEd can't handle Halloween, what the hell do they do at Christmas?
The thing is, that first flash, that was early in the evening. It was probably not much later than about ten o'clock, and it was one of those pretty long nights. There were a bunch of us, I actually, I hate to admit this, but there were a lot of people and I can't remember everyone who was there. I have a group of regulars, just like five or six guys, but tonight there were a bunch of people I didn't know, these two couples who knew each other and a couple of girls, including this girl that I actually ended up dating, and we're still kinda dating now, actually.
So, it ended up being, like, maybe 3:30 or so and we had managed to get over back to 30th street and I don't think we were even on the train or anything, but we had been to about eleven bars and Reyia, the girl I ended up dating, and I were getting pretty wiped out. Everyone wanted to go to the Neptune, one guy kept talking about pancakes and it was one of those nights were he said "extra crispy bacon" and for some reason we kept saying it, over and over and laughing. So they all went to the diner, except for the two couples who I think went home pretty early, and Reyia and I went to this little divey Cuban place that had a "garden", but it was actually just this whole in the roof with plants.
The thing is, I was really not doing well with Reyia. She says now that that isn't true, but it was totally true that night, right up to just before the light. I was just suggesting the Cuban place because it was by my apartment on 34th and I was just trying to increase my odds or something, but... I mean, that's just dumb, there aren't really "odds" or whatever, I was just completely amazed that this girl was now alone with me, and I didn't know how to say, "We should go to my place" because I just don't know how to do that, which is funny to think about now.
So, I had my phone out because I was trying to call this guy who was with us before (the "extra crispy bacon" guy) to find out how to get Reyia to come back to my apartment, and I realized the phone camera was on, and that it had taken, like ten pictures of the inside of my pants pockets. I showed Reyia, and she actually went through all the pictures, that were all totally black, and adjudicated the artistry of each, which was really awesome.
Then, the room changed again. I mean, that's the thing, the light didn't seem to do anything, it's like the room changed more than the light changed. So, actually, Reyia took the picture with my phone. I sent it to my computer, and then I flix-messaged it to her. What's weird is that the busboy wasn't even visible, really, until she took the picture. Man, did he want us to go home.
Anyway, the picture is my desktop now and Reyia says it's her desktop on her work computer (she doesn't have a computer at home, which is totally adorable). I can't believe anyone else saw it, my friends who where with us that night think we're making it up. I just feel like we saw something that they weren't looking for.
