The Saturday Six... live from New York!

1. I saw Benjamin Mackenzie. Yes, Ryan Atwood, walking towards me in Soho. He was so very Ryan Atwood, too, with a plain white T-shirt, jeans, boots and a jacket. Maybe they were filming another scene. Extras for the DVD? (And a coincidence that I just saw Adam Brody on Regis & Kelly the day before?) Probably not. I smiled at him. He looked at me, then yawned. I'm going to pretend the two are not at all related, or that that was his way of flirting.

2. I went to Hell's Kitchen. Not at all on purpose. It turns out that if you get off the subway at 34th you're in the heart of tourists (I mean, you've got Macy's and miracles and all that), which as a result makes you feel very safe, if not completely claustrophobic and annoyed at the swaying sidewalkers. Which is where I got off the train and walked west to 11th for a convention at -- where else -- the convention centre. When I came out, I decided I wanted to go up to 52nd to get a pair of pants I'd put on hold, it turns out that if you walk north on 11th, you end up in Hell's Kitchen. I didn't know that, but all of a sudden, everything sort of changed. First, there were empty lots, unmarked auto body shops and a police chase (with 7 cars and two undercover cars!). Which is when I decided to stop walking on 11th and turn down the next available east-west street to head east. That's when I saw horses in an alley, a rottweiler behind a fence, and well, a lot of shadows (which was probably in my head). It was only 2:30 in the afternoon, but I felt like maybe I should just walk quicker and stop looking around. I felt sort of unsafe, even though I'm sure I was perfectly safe. There are, apparently cute boutiques and great restaurants in Hell's Kitchen, but well, maybe they were on a different street from the one I was walking on. I just kept saying to myself, look straight ahead, act like you know exactly where you're going. Which of course I try very hard to do even though, as I said in my last post, I often don't know where I'm going, or I think I know where I'm going, but I'm actually headed in the wrong direction. Thankfully, it all worked out. Also, here's a fact: below W 34th and 11th is called "Bel-Hell" (as in Below Hell's Kitchen). I think, back in Toronto, I'm going to start calling the area I live in "Belle York" as in Below Yorkville. Or "No-Co" as in North of College.

3. Everyone's talking about the Pirate Queen on Broadway. Actually, correction: no one's talking about it in real life but I'm seeing a lot of commercials and subway posters for it. All I have to say is how much ungirlier does it get than a girl who's a pirate? I don't think I'll be seeing this one. Another fact: Legally Blonde is on Broadway. Now, I love this movie, but isn't part of the charm actually seeing Reese in this role? And once you've seen the movie, isn't it sort of done? I mean, it's not like it's a musical (like The Producers or The Lion King) to start with, right? I don't think I'll be seeing that either.

4. It's tax time. Thankfully, I finished my taxes before I came. Correction: I "tried" to do my taxes TWICE. First, on the rough draft copy (my financial advisor, aka The Hubs picks up two copies, just in case I make a mistake) I made up some random number on one of the lines. But as you know, if you make one mistake, it affects all the other pages. Strangely, the amount I'd have to pay was pretty close to being accurate. Still, I wanted to correct the misteake myself. So then I tried to redo it, but the amount I ended up having to pay was crazy. Crazy as in I did not set aside that much money and my NY shopping budget would be seriously affected. Thankfully the expert stepped in and fixed things and now I'm back to paying a reasonable amount. Still paying, but less than I'd budgeted. As a reward I bought a new pair of shoes. If you have your own business, then doing your taxes is always trickier because no one took the tax off for you. It's good because you can write off certain expenses, but it's a lot more work. And if you're like me, that means that you're always going to have to pay when it's tax time. Which I think can be tricky for some people because what if you didn't set aside enough money to pay? Well then, no new shoes, right? On a related note, thanks to Myspace and Facebook, I just re-connected with one of my childhood friends (who always had the best birthday parties and more Cabbage Patch Kids than you can even imagine). She has an amazing business that helps you improve or start your own at-home business. She has a bunch of websites, but my favourites are Financialbreakthrough101.com AND Financialbreakthrough102.com (and you don't have to take 101 to take 102 so you can feel super smart right from the start). Both tell you everything you need to know to make sure your business is a success. Or, help you decide whether your idea is a good one before you start your business. Like whether to open your boutique in Hell's Kitchen, Bel-Hell or in the Meatpacking District.

5. Turns out, when someone asks you what time it is in New York, they don't want to hear "about 4". They want you to look at your watch, even if you just looked at it a minute ago, which is how you know it's "about 4", again, and tell them, to the second, what time it is. And preferably that it's four minutes to four and not four minutes after four. Maybe people are like this everywhere, on a work day, and maybe because I was shopping that I wasn't concerned with the to-the-minute time. Who knows. I guess I'll know on Monday when I'm back at work how I feel.

6. It's sunny and warm and Saturday! What more could anyone ask for?