Meditations: Reflecting On A Night Out In New York City

I will be using Marcus Aurelius, author of Meditations, as my guide for reflecting on my first night out in New York City.

I am writing this from Elsewhere Espresso, which is a coffee shop on 6th St and 1st Ave in the East Village of Manhattan, NY. I am drinking a Cold Brew. 6.5/10.

Last night I went to three (3) separate bars. My reflections are none too different from what literally millions of others have experienced. But did those millions of other people sit down and try to relate their experience of drinking 1 old fashioned, 2 Guinesses (Guinessi?) and 1 Coors Light to the experience of an ancient Roman emperor? (Editor’s Note: was Marcus Aurelius an emperor? I’m not looking it up but if this guy was not an emperor I’d be a little shocked. Like who gave this guy the right to write all these meditations and give it out to the public like it was the Bible) No. They did not. Let’s proceed.

“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

Really well said, Marcus. I wonder if anyone called him Mark. I’m going to refer to him as Mark from now on.

Ok, so I like what Mark says here. Because listen, the “going out” scene in New York can be pretty overwhelming, so you need to control your thoughts and take it one play at a time. What I am learning is that there is a real issue with the amount of choices for bars/restaurants in this city. I believe they call that the illusion of choice, or something. So if you think you are set on going to a certain bar, just get that out of your mind. Odds are, that bar either has a crazy line, someone has a way sicker bar they want to go to, or you will walk past a more fun bar on the way to the bar you were set on going to. As an outsider looking in, I have legitimately no say in what bar we go to because I know nothing. And it’s so freeing. My thoughts last night were as follows:

”hey if they have beer I’m good, haha”
”ooo, that sounds like fun.”
”Oh, good point, maybe we shouldn’t go there.”
”Yeah I would go there. Sure.”

Believe it or not, these recurring thoughts were as high quality as it gets, especially in my brain. I can’t imagine the anxiety inducing behaviors that would be the product of me being dead set on a certain bar. I’d have to perform a masterclass of manipulation to get us where we wanted to go. And probably make a few enemies in the process.

“Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now, take what's left and live it properly. What doesn't transmit light creates its own darkness.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

This was my exact thought as I entered the third bar of the evening, “Juke Bar”. Word for word. What a coincidence. Now, if you know what juking is, congratulations. If you do NOT know what “juking” is, I will provide an excerpt from Urban Dictionary below:

“A frequently used word by the Chicago urban scene meaning to dance, party, get crunk, get buck, get loose, and just simply have fun.”

After 1 Old Fashioned and 2 Guinnessesiesisesesess, you could say I was properly loosened up for “Juking”. I was essentially in a flow state walking in there. In my mind, I was already dead, and now it was a matter of enjoying what I had. And what I had was an underground bar that had a FOG MACHINE. If you know me, you know I absolutely LOSE it for a good fog machine. I felt like I was frickin’ Ray Lewis coming out onto the field! Except instead of going to play professional football, I was going to do one of my 3 dance moves to the tune of “Give Me Everything” by Pitbull and Ne-Yo.

It was essentially an out of body experience. I was dead, and I was watching myself try to communicate with other people by screaming at the top of my lungs so they could hear me. Then I would, in turn, not hear them, and I’d just nod.

“Look well into thyself; there is a source of strength which will always spring up if thou wilt always look.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

And this brings us to the next morning. When I woke up this morning, I was legitimately sore. I’m not even hungover, my body just hurts. New York is such a battle in the going out department. Everything is crowded so I feel like I’m constantly boxing someone out. I’m Dennis Rodman and the rest of the bar is collectively Karl Malone.

Yeah this also reminds me that the crowd of people is the same in New York as it is in any major city. The fact is that New York just has more. Each bar we were at had a Chicago-equivalent experience. The difference is that New York has 75 of those bars to Chicago’s 1-2. Illusion of Choice. I think.

Okay back to Mark’s quote. Like I said, I just get tossed around at these bars that are packed. Plus everything is later in New York. People go out and stay out later, the bars are open later, it’s ridiculous. I caught wind of a birthday party PREGAME that started at 10pm!!! I almost spontaneously combusted. Can you imagine if Mark had a shindig start at 10pm! That’s like 3 hours after nightfall. He would be in his sleeping chambers well before that. Preparing for a battle/pillage in the morning.

We as humans were not meant to stay up late and wake up late! I feel like a shmuck writing this at 11:30am at a coffee shop with the rest of the slugs that went out last night. I feel the need to approach each person and remind them that this is a really late morning for me.

But, as Mark says, I must find inner strength. Which is what I will continue to do. I don’t anticipate many nights out in New York City, unfortunately. I have no money, and going out is expensive, apparently. But what a night, what a city, what an environment. It is truly jarring to see so many people out on a given night. I mean every sidewalk is packed, everyone is going somewhere and also everyone is somewhere. Lines everywhere. But it’s pretty cool. I’m diggin’ it.

Stay tuned for a future blog on my reflections on the city more broadly. Or maybe not, I haven’t decided if I want to write about it, so don’t get your hopes up, Mom.

- Jack