We have to be honest. We were PSYCHED when we found out that New Kids on the Block was having a reunion tour. This was partly because we welcomed an evening of sixth grade nostalgia (craftily-acquired beers, Donnie frenzy, side ponytails, etc.) and partly because we’re always game for a random reunion and/or train wreck. We could NOT WAIT to get our hot little hands on some tickets. Or maybe we could.

Apparently, we greatly underestimated the appeal of a NKOTB reunion tour. What made us realize the magnitude of our hubris? It was when we almost tripped over NKOTB votaries camping on 48^th Street as we were en route to a lunch date at Saks. It is understood that NKOTB were quite the rage back in the day, but … camping out? For NKOTB tickets? Almost twenty years later? We don’t like to judge, but let’s just say that if Jimi Hendrix were resurrected for a 2008 tour, we would consider camping out. And we LOVE Jimi Hendrix.

Regardless, we were shocked and dismayed at the sight of it, our dreams of a NKOTB-filled night of debauchery fading as we walked the line of lawn chairs, inflatable rafts and suitcases. Lucky for all of us, that line only spanned one-half of an avenue. Whew! For a second we thought it would just be us and our closest friends watching the HBO special. And as a side note, it is posts like this one that make a person thankful – oh, so very thankful – for a pseudonym.

[The 90s Are The New 80s]