A Self(i.e. Alone)

Today, I decided to come back to my blogging world!

“Wow, congratulations!”
-Nobody

Let’s celebrate this with an old memoir that goes back 9 years. I was so young, and I went to the USA to attend the American Physical Society’s March Meeting and present our research. This was my first “crossing ocean” and “jetlag” experience! I was excited to put my feet on land after a 12-hour flight. I was waiting for my luggage at the John Kennedy Airport in New York City. All the pieces of luggage were in harmony and a lot of people took their luggage and left. My brand new, orange backpack was not there. After 30 minutes, I succeeded in accepting my misfortune. It was clear that it was lost in Sabiha Gökçen Airport. Anyway, after filling a “what the hell is my luggage form”, I took my way. After an underground trip, I was in my hostel. I decided to sleep an hour after talking with the people in the room however when I woke up, it was 1 am! A Japanese guy entered our room quietly. He said “Hi!”. His accent was quite strange. The words coming from his mouth were also slanted like his eyes. He was looking like a harmless, simple-hearted guy. I asked a couple of questions to him and convinced him to go Times Square together.

We were staying in uptown. Our hostel was very near to the Central Park. We jumped into the metro which follows the green line and we were in Grand Central at 42St. After walking for 10 minutes, oh the lights, you are amazing. All the screens, I love you. All this crowd at 2 am, and look at these yellow taxis.

He was looking like very excited and of course really happy. I wanted to take a selfie in such a fabulous place.

My first selfie was with him.

My second selfie was with him.

My third selfie was with him. He is behind!

And so on. He did not give me permission to take a selfie. I realized that when pigs have wings, I have a self(i.e. alone). Fortunately, I asked him to take my picture from afar. While he was smiling in the crowd, the Darth Vader appeared with his soldiers. My slant-eye friend did not realize the danger. Therefore, my sweaty friend did not resist. He gave me his smartphone and I took several pictures of him with a group of people who wear Darth Vader costumes. He was laughing inside his slanted eyes. However, he realized the dark side after saying thank you to Darth Vader. They were soldiers, they wanted money, and it was impossible to resist. His pure face was looking like desperate. He was sad as much as a chemical bomb flying to explode. He pulled out his wallet and each of the soldiers pulled out his money like a chance game. I tried to make him happy again. “Wow, the pictures are awesome man! You were with Star Wars Characters in New York City! It is very cool!”

Next day, we hugged and separated in Central Park after enjoying to watch squirrels and I went to the Bus Station to go to Baltimore for attending the conference. He never told me “no” while spending time together. I love the way we communicate.