New York Irony

"Look, it's New York: you can do whatever the bleep you please. Ride your bike in a bikini with a snake as a necklace (it was hot that day, she was en route to the pet sitter, and he really likes to go for rides). The closer one is to the absurd, the more irony—a cultivated, intentional thing—looks kind of earnest. All that time put in to make an impression, all that care taken to seem not to care!"
Lia Purpura, Brief Encounters