the one with all the gunshots

this story actually comes from several months ago but was reminded of it the other night. i was sitting in my room with three college friends who had come to visit for the weekend, when we heard several very loud gunshots outside. we rushed to the window, saw some people in the chinese store across the store looking anxious but other than that there was no evidence of the sounds we had just heard. but as we sat gazing down upon the street i told the girls about the flashbacks that were running through my head.

back in february, philly got hit with several large snow storms. one evening as the snow from one of these storms was just beginning to collect, i heard that familiar sound of gunshots. i was instantly a little freaked out because it was the first time i had really heard this sound (we had only really been living here a little over a month at that point). i tried to reassure myself that it was nothing. just because i lived in the city didn't mean that sound was gunshots. i peeked out the window but didn't see anything unusual. so i went back to whatever i had been doing and forgot about it.

if only it were that simple.

about 30 minutes later i noticed police lights flashing outside. i took up my perch on the edge of my bed at the window once again. this time however i turned out the lights so it wouldn't be quite so obvious that i was spying on the street. i watched as a whole group of cops went around the snow covered intersection with their flashlights. they were definitely looking for something but they seemed unsure of what. the cop cars came and went over the next few hours. some pulled up casually. others flew down the wrong way of the one way street causing me to believe they had found what they were looking for. only to have them come back a few minutes later seemingly empty handed.

the crime scene tape went up blocking off the next block of thompson street. but people kept walking in and out as if there wasn't really anything to be concerned about. eventually i went to bed, feeling like i had just turned off an episode of CSI.

it wasn't until the next day that some diligent internet searching provided some answers. a 13 year old kid had been in a car that was "stopped in traffic" (yeah right... there usually isn't any traffic on thompson) and had been shot in the back of the head. police didn't seem to know if the bullets were truly intended for him or someone else in the car. as of that time he was in the hospital in critical condition.

never really followed up with that one... but i definitely replay that scene in my head whenever that sound appears in the neighborhood. thankfully that isn't too often :)

-sarah-

the one with the purple vodka drinks.

On Wednesday nights during the summer, we have found a new hobby: playing Quizzo.* It is good for our egos, because we are terrible at it. To date, I think I have contributed all of 3 answers to our team's effort.** Pathetic. Luckily, our friend Seth knows everything, and so a couple of weeks ago we won free T-shirts which are the beginnings of our Quizzo shrine.

So why do we keep going? Well, I'll tell you. First, because Urban Saloon has some darn good beer on tap. But second, (and mostly) just because our friends go there. And isn't the whole point of the local pub to be the place where you meet your friends every week after work? I've always wanted to be one of those "regulars" who goes to the same pub/restaurant/coffee house, and smiles knowingly at the bartender/waitress/barista who knows what you like to order. In the spirit of Friends, the Urban Saloon is our summer Central Perk. But, I digress.

The point of this blog entry is to say that last night, we added some pretty spectacular finds to our Quizzo shrine. There is some sort of promotion happening for a new flavored vodka that has involved free samples during the last few weeks of Quizzo. A nice man comes around with funny shaped plastic cups that remind us a little bit of communion glasses, gives us a free sample, and takes our picture. Last night's sample drink was called "Purple Rain," featuring the new grape-flavored vodka which, when mixed with the cranberry and sour and soda tasted a whole lot like children's Dimetap. Needless to say, we did not order a whole drink. But sample man gave us some really large purple plastic glasses, and purple glow bracelets! It was like the fourth of July all over again. When Rach and I rode our bikes home with our glow bracelets on our arms, we felt a whole lot safer that the cars could see us. Which, as we all know, is one of the many benefits of glow bracelets. If you ride your bike in the city, you should probably stand up right now and go to the store to buy yourself a pack. As the old saying goes, it just might be a glow bracelet that saves your life.

Meanwhile, I am pretty excited about the endless possible uses of this pair of glasses. And that, my friends, is tonight's tale from the city of love.

-Rachel H.


*To define this term for the ignorant, Quizzo is a quiz game usually hosted at pubs. The contents of the trivia are quite different in different cultures, or depending on the Quiz Master. The Europeans are known to ask difficult questions about history, geography and culture, while we Americans prefer pop culture (shocker.) Being pop-culturally ignorant, I have a difficult time with this game as it is played at the Urban Saloon.

**I knew the order in which the chicken, baby, tiger and woman-leaving appeared in the opening sequence of "The Hangover," I knew that a "nightjar" is a bird (well, I thought I knew, but I actually wasn't emphatic enough and so our team put down "insect" instead and didn't get the point), and I knew that the band Augustana sang that song about wanting to go to Boston and starting a new life...