Cheese!

As I was getting out of the subway at Astor Place earlier tonight, I noticed a young guy sprinting to board the same N that I'd just exited. Unfortunately, he was about two seconds too late and shouted, "F--K!" just as the doors closed in his face.

I then caught his eye, pointed both index fingers to my cheeks, and mouthed, "SMILE!" I have absolutely NO IDEA what compelled me to make that split-second decision, and I suppose my own amusement at acting so uncharacteristically made me inwardly giggle, which resulted in the most ridiculously goofy expression on my face as I urged a complete stranger to smile at something that ranks as one of the top vein-throbbing frustrations of urban living.

I think I realized in that exact moment the foolishness of my actions because I nearly got whiplash by getting the hell out of that station before that guy could come find me and give me a beating that any eyewitnesses would undoubtedly insist was not only warranted but surely invited and deserved.