I was dashing off to the subway today because $assistant had a last-minute question about $annoying_project. So I'm walking down a busy street in Boston's Chinatown, and this SUV pulls over. A dark-haired man in his early 30s with fashionable stubble, calls to me from his open window in a European accent. He's in the passenger seat, and another, less attractive man is in the driver's seat.

Him: Excuse me. Excuse me. So sorry.
Me: Yes? [I was hoping like hell he wasn't going to ask for directions to something in a different part of Boston, since I have no idea how to give people driving directions to anywhere in Boston, like, say, Jamaica Plain].
Him: Yes. We want to go to New York?
Me, relieved: Oh! So what you want to do is to go down this street you're on now, and follow the directions for the Mass Pike. Highway 90, going west.
Him: Yes, but we have thees? [he holds up his GPS, which, I note, is a much nicer version of the GPS I have]. We need this [he points at the blank, asking for State/Province]. What is the state?
Me: Uh, New York. [I didn't want to seem like a smartass, so I explained]. New York City is in the state of New York.
Him, rolling his eyes at his friend: Oh, New York is the state.
Me: And the city.

They thanked me and drove off. I missed the bus my subway delivers me to by five minutes. They probably didn't cause me to miss the bus (that would be $annoying_project's fault), and they made me smile. I'm not sure I'd know what county or whatever-it's-called London or Paris or Berlin are in, if I needed to use a GPS. At least I know that Toronto is in Ontario, though.

I've had two Dark & Stormies tonight. I am about to make a third. This really is Kellnerin's fault, because she brought ginger beer to the party with blixco.

"I should've brought some Black Seal rum, too," she said. "And you could've made Dark & Stormies." I'd never heard of a Dark & Stormy, but it seemed like a perfectly literary thing to drink, and I was intrigued. With the very recent announcement of the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest "winners," tonight seemed an excellent night to mix the drinks and partake of one too many. And oh, my, they're delicious. Mmmm, Bermuda rum. Mmmm, Bermuda ginger beer.