Nicole Saves Shep: The Movie

Nicole and I went to go see 2012, the Roland Emmerich disaster movie on Saturday night, where the whole world ends in a bunch of earthquakes and megatsunamis. There's a great scene in the movie where John Cusack hurriedly rescues his family from a disintegrating Los Angeles. Hopping on a plane, they narrowly dodge falling buildings, subways and freeways as they fly above the collapsing city.

After the movie ended, Nicole and I took the PATH train back to Hoboken, and we had our own little action movie play out. For those readers who are not familiar with the PATH train, it runs from 33rd Street in Manhattan to Hoboken (among other places), but does not run that frequently on weekend nights. When we got the PATH station the train was signaling that it was closing doors and departing for Hoboken.

Nicole dodged around some slow-moving tourists, slapped her card on the turnstile reader, got a green ENTER signal, rushed through them, and ran for the nearest train car doors. I ran right behind her...and got a red "CARD INVALID" nearly blowing out my kidneys running full on into the turnstile bar that did not turn. I tried my card again. INVALID. Nicole was sprinting ahead, trying to catch the doors. I cursed and said "COME ON! YOU PIECE OF @%$@%" But the PATH Gods mocked me with another INVALID. Nicole made it on the train and now I was really starting to sweat--If I missed that train, I would be sitting there for another 26 minutes-- by myself.

Finally, I hit the card as hard as I could, and got the green "ENTER" sign. I was in, sprinting for the train, but the doors were rapidly shutting! Time seemed to slow down. Nicole, already standing on the train, threw her body in between the doors, and blocked them from fully closing (note to the untrained: kids, do not try this at home). Passengers looked on in amazement, slaw-jacked as I reached the doors, and we both forced them open from both sides. Finally, after what seemed like 2 hours (but was really about 2 seconds) the doors popped open and I fell into the train cab, almost knocking Nicole over in the process. The doors rapidly shut again and the train was off to Hoboken. One fellow passenger said "now that's dedication" and another clapped. Nicole informed the passengers "We're newlyweds." Most were still too stunned to speak.

Not exactly fleeing from collapsing continents, but it was excitement enough for us, and a movie-perfect ending!