a drunk afternoon in manhattan, a sign?

walking through manhattan, i receive a lot of...compliments, i suppose. on wednesday, one guy in particular actually got more than a polite "hello" from me. he said that he liked "my look," which i didn't give any thought at all to until he said "i'm a student, philosopher, and poet" when i asked what he did.

we decided to get a bottle of wine and talk. already buzzed from a $3 glass of wine i drank at a japanese restaurant on 30something street, i didn't drink very much more. he drank a lot.

what began as a civil and intellectual discussion gradually progressed into a hellish violation of personal space and my dignity. a hand on my shoulder moved downward slightly with each respective caress until it was basically planted on my ass.

clearly, by this point i am annoyed. grudgingly, i allow him to walk me to port authority. outside of port authority, he wouldn't let me try to catch the third bus i was already late for. he begged me to stay, embraced me, wouldn't let me go, and started grabbing my ass. if you know me at all, it is very rare for me to yell. i screamed at him "GET YOUR HANDS. OFF MY ASS." people began staring. i told him that i didn't want him to come with me, and that i was leaving.

i wrenched myself away from his grip and sped into port authority, looking behind me as i walked in fear of being followed. confident that i was in fact not being followed, i relaxed enough to get my ticket from the ticketing window. i turned away from the window with my ticket, about to walk to my gate, and i saw him.

he walked over, still belligerent, asking to escort me to my gate. i say fine, but am at this point rather afraid. the woman at the ticketing window had told me to get on a bus at 3:55. we walked to the gate, and he would not leave. finally, i get on the bus, only to hear to my dismay that the bus i needed would not be arriving until 4:15.

when i got off the "wrong" bus, he was finally gone. and he didn't come back!

so stressed from the previous events and hungover from all the wine i drank, i fell asleep on the right bus almost as soon as it arrived. i woke up slightly late, meaning that i missed my stop by a few blocks. i got off the bus only to encounter my neighbor struggling with grocery bags while she walked. i helped her with her groceries, and ended up safe and sound at home.

interpretations:
1) i have been wondering lately about the place of philosophy in my life. i think philosophy in excess can be detrimental, particularly to the spiritual part of me. this affirms my concerns about philosophy and my resolve to keep philosophy and spirituality in their right places.
2) the world is full of scammers. i need to stop being such an innocent little sheep in a world full of big bad wolves, or i'm going to get myself in real trouble one day.
3) that "wrong" bus, quite possibly, saved my livelihood. "wrong" is in quotation marks because the ticketing lady giving me an incorrect bus time and me getting on that bus were karmically determined. i am so thankful for that.
4) my falling asleep on the bus and needing to go out of my way because of it was also karmically determined. i am thankful to have had the opportunity to help a neighbor.