Today I walked behind probably the coolest guy I'll ever see. I was walking south on 7th avenue near 14th street, walking along, enjoying the temperate breeze. But the moment i started to pay attention to him was when he suddenly shot out his arm in front of him to grab a floating piece of plastic that fluttered by. Though he was quick to see it, his reflexes weren't as quick to catch it and he missed, but the mere fact he tried to grab it made me smile. Then i examined him. He was old but hip. I'm not sure how old because his face was covered in this super long, shaggy beard. But it was gray. He could have been homeless, I'm not sure. But darned if he's not the most stylin' homeless guy. He was about 6 feet tall and thin. He was wearing black warm-up pants and a blue windbreaker jacket. His step was such that it was as if he were walking to The Bee Gees' Stayin' Alive that only he could hear. As I watched him walk, the song instantly began to play in my mind:

"Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk,
I'm a woman's man: no time to talk."

But he was such an unassuming man, so unfazed by anything that his coolness was authentic, unadulterated by pomp and pretention. He was too cool to give his own coolness a fleeting thought and he walked the Stayin' Alive walk before the song even came out. In fact, he may have been the one to inspire it. I wanted to high five him but I went down into the subway instead.

Rock on, my friend.