All Roads Lead to Corner Bistro (& 94th Street)

Just home. This was an unexpectedly long night.

I thought we'd be spending time in and around Union Square capped off by another night of gustatory confabulation, but affairs of the heart trump food cravings so we stayed in the UWS and had sushi. (I know, me and sushi, what world is this?) CS joined us at the end of dinner and we wandered around the neighborhood. I was enjoying the music which seemed not unlike the sets heard at my old high school dances, when I innocently suggested an alternative venue. CS became very determined and we trudged all the way down for a dancing good time. But there would be no dancing. I really wanted to dance, I was also completely exhausted. I could barely stand at the next no-name bar in hell, but we somehow managed to score a ride on a jet plane or something. Getting out into the stale night air with the clicky-clak of ill-shod women (on cobblestones) all around, I felt pangs of hunger and steered our group to the Corner Bistro. It ended up being a mini-high school reunion of sorts when I recognized little brother David ('93), Erica ('93), Jeff ('97) & late arrival MaryAnn ('95). We also shared our booth with K-van and L-sey. She was really cute, it's too bad she didn't speak more German, I could've asked her out right in front of her boyfriend.

Evil Dead

I got a text message in the afternoon. Would I like to see Evil Dead (the musical) tonight? Yes ma'am!

Champagne & Ragu Redux

Went to another performance of Rigoletto last night, this time at the Met. But it was chilly just like the last time I heard Rigoletto. Sometimes hearing those beautiful songs of love and betrayal are almost too much to bear, but any feelings of melancholy were allayed by all the champagne before and during the performance.

The best part of the evening, or at least the part that generated a fist-pumping celebration, was during the beginning of Act III. I'd wagered that the audience might break out into smatterings of applause when the Duke began his famous La donna è mobile (A woman is fickle) aria, V thought otherwise. A tasty morsel from Dom's was at stake!

I lost the bet, but my friend's wide, easy smile and look of joy were my consolation prize.

I'm Killing

Went to Carnegie Hall tonight, to see Josh Bell. He would be performing the Brahms Violin Concerto, but we'd have to wait until after the intermission to hear it. I knew it was the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra tonight, but I wasn't sure about the conductor. Looked inside the Playbill and noted that tonight's conductor was Sir Andrew Davis. I turned to V and said something like, "Is he Sir Colin Davis's brother?" She replied, "I was just about to say that." (I win, this one time, I actually win!) So far that was the highlight of my night. (Though the free booze and MarieBelle chocolates at our pre-concert stop weren't bad either.) But there's more, because tonight I was killing. After the Coriolan Overture was finished, there was a brief pause while additional musicians piled onto the stage for the next piece, Sofia Gubaidulina's Feast During a Plague. There were at least four percussionists on stage, not including the pianist or the two harpists. I cracked, "What is this Mahler?" and the woman to my left thought it was pretty funny. I would've walked out right there (to leave on a high note), but the music was about to start again and I still had to stick around to retrieve my new baby.

Sunset

I realize now that the main reason I enjoy playing Civ4, actually all the Civ games, is the music. I'm not the only one that loves the Civ4 soundtrack.

from the review on ActionTrip

In light of that, I should also mention that the soundtrack in Civilization IV is one of the most soothing, fulfilling and fitting I have heard in a video game yet. This was clearly a labor of love for Firaxis Games, and this is reflected in so many different facets of game design.

I'll always associate Frederick the Great with Goldberg Variation #4.

Day Break

I think it's already past sunrise, but I can't see the sun. Too cloudy overhead, in my head. Blasting Ma's take on the Bach Cello Suites in my cube, #s 2 & 5 are my favorite (D minor & C minor, no surprise there). I'll listen to the Bylsma recording next.

One (Dame's) Furtive Tear

The Elixir of Love was wonderful last night. But now I'm off to North Carolina...

(Edited to add the following)

It certainly was one hell of an elixir! It's the most fun I've ever had at an opera. The '50s era costumes, sets, and most specifically the tongue-in-cheek "translation" of the libretto made it much less of an ordeal than one sometimes encounters at THE OPERA. The "Una furtiva lagrima" (one furtive tear) aria sung by Nemorino is one of my favorite and the tenor did a fantastic job. The heartache and longing behind the song is almost too much to bear. And it was the only time during the performance that I did not glance at the supertitles.

Waiting on the subway platform I was treated to a busking flutist's rendition of "Caro nome" (dearest name). There must have been a performance of Rigoletto at the Met that night. I whistled that song of love all the way home.

Halloween Parade #33

When else can a penis be reunited with his sperm amid a gaggle of picture snapping onlookers?

Bowling For Cheese Fries

My night started at Cafetasia. It was my 2nd visit there in as many weeks. What is the name of that drink I keep getting there? Later rendezvoused with the rest of our crew and headed into Bowlmor. I remember taking high school gym classes there with Ms. Miley when it was still a hole, but now it's all swanked up. As their website says, "Everyone from Richard Nixon to the Rolling Stones to Cameron Diaz has enjoyed Bowlmor — shouldn't you?"

Our fearless foursome was joined at the last minute by a ringer. He cleaned our clocks and vipnyc even broke a nail. Wounded, but not defeated we all headed over to Saigon Grill for some tasty tasty.

...And Back Again

CP and MC's wedding that night.

There...

M's mom's funeral and burial this morning.

The Ends Justify The Means

Had tickets to Machiavelli this Friday night (at the ArcLight Theatre). Popped into Alice's Tea Cup a few blocks away for some scones and tea before the curtain rose. I do like their chai teas! Anyway the play was enjoyable and I noted how much the daughter character resembled one of my co-workers. Also formulated the beginnings of a plan for a big holiday bash.

Vipnyc's account of the goings-on.

All Thai All The Time

Another night of books, drink and food. Though I do think it would have been fun to lug those two monstrous books around all night.

Andras Schiff (again)

RV got us the hookup and we went to yet another Andras Schiff performance this year (It was my 2nd and my brother's 4th time). It was a fantastic performance; others agree.

October 27, 2006

By BERNARD HOLLAND

Metropolitan Museum

Pity the critic faced with music that arrives in a natural state and then is allowed to speak with complete naturalness. Writing about the pianist Andras Schiff playing Mozart at the Metropolitan Museum on Wednesday, you looked for traction -- a fissure or crack, or some extraordinary anomaly to hold onto, but here the critic's fingers just kept slipping off.

Mr. Schiff played the two most popular of the major-key sonatas: The A Major and the C Major. He manufactured a sonata of his own from the smaller of the D minor Fantasies (he played the bigger one as an encore), the B minor Adagio and the Rondo in D. There was also the heaven-sent A-minor Rondo, the powerful A minor Sonata and, at the end, the Variations in G, prime Mozart that needs more exposure than it gets.

Sober thinking after the fact tells the critic that there were too many intelligent decisions about all kinds of details for these performances just to have happened. First of all, Mr. Schiff reads what Mozart says. The familiar ''Alla turca'' of the Sonata in A is marked ''allegretto'' -- somewhere between a brisk stroll and a slow trot. It is not the racecourse for eager, nimble fingers it usually becomes; Mr. Schiff replaced the breathless with the casual. Similarly, the Andante movement of the A minor Sonata, sad though its message, specifically asks that its tempo walk as it did here, not trudge.

There were also the lovely shadings of scale and graceful hesitations joining one section to another. This is a reasonably small hall, and Mr. Schiff never tried to overpower listeners. He has the technique for Mozart, which is difficult not in the way of Rachmaninoff or Balakirev, but for being mercilessly transparent, susceptible to the smallest vulgarity or malfunction. If this concert had been less good, this review would be longer. But so successful was the evening that the critic can only throw up his hands, wish you had been there, and quote Ira Gershwin's endearing tombstone inscription: ''Words Fail Me.''

Take the A train to STC,STW

I didn't expect things to turn out the way they did. There were several meetings and partings, but my favorite part of the day was utilizing vipnyc's online online reference to illustrate the verbal traffic jam that is a New York conversation. :)

Stairs, Sporks, & Ice Cream Axes

Had yet another lunch at Loreley for a departing co-worker. It sucks.

As always vipnyc does a good job detailing the splendor that is the Cooper-Hewitt.

I like going up to the Design Museum, because it brings back fond memories of more halcyon days in and around Carnegie Hill. I feel like I've been spending a lot of time looking back on past glory, past joys. Maybe it's just all too much for me to handle.

NLCS Game 7 tonight

I'll be at Shea tonight in the upper deck, left field (Section 36, Row P).
I'm so excited.

Let's go Mets!!!

UPDATED

The Mets lost 3-1.
They had plenty of chances, even loading the bases in the bottom of the 9th.
But Endy Chavez made the defensive play of the year, maybe even the best defensive play in all of Met history in the top of the 6th inning. Scott Rolen hit a line drive to left field with a runner on 1st, 1 out. The ball was going over the wall for a home-run when Chavez made a backwards leap, reached above the wall, barely caught the ball (snow-cone), and threw the ball back into the infield to double up the runner at 1st base.

Here's one of the greatest comebacks in sports, the bottom of the 10th inning, Game 6, 1986 World Series.

Thai (again) & Russian

I just really want to say, "Sbasiba!" to vipnyc for all the blogorific linkage. I also need to mention that I now have a West Coast blog comment rival. :)

NLCS (2-2) on hold again

Game 5 was rained out (the 2nd rain-out in the series). It means that both Tom Glavine and Jeff Weaver will be pitching on normal rest tomorrow night. The team that wins tomorrow will have a huge psychological advantage in Game 6, since both teams will likely board 2am flights and get back to NYC around 4am for a Game 6 start (on Wednesday night) will little or no rest. I have 4 tickets to NLCS Game 7, but I'd much rather have the Mets win out before it even gets to that point.

UPDATE

Got a haircut.

Hot chocolate snafu

I'm too lazy to come up with anything better than this synopsis of the morning's adventure (including the hot chocolate/horchata incident).

Though I don't remember trying to eat the baby in the Maclaren. How can hipsters afford to have babies? and afford Maclarens? Maclaren by Starck, Kate Spade, Burberry...why am I writing about baby carriages!

Anwyay I did end up at the CultureFest 2006 in Battery Park that afternoon - "A free outdoor festival spotlighting museums, gardens, zoos, historic sites, performing and visual arts from all five boroughs." Picked up a bagful of brochures and other freebies and even ran into one of my fellow origamists at the AMNH booth. Future good times await.

(Edited to add the following)

I won the raffle for tickets at the Young Concert Artists booth, by correctly identifying a 1975 photo of Emanuel Ax!

Sausage Party (the good kind)

LC was having a housewarming/Oktoberfest gathering at her place in Bay Ridge. She usually attends all the events at our place, so even though Bay Ridge is a good two hours away on a weekend, I made the trek out there. I was on time and one of the first there. Picked up some fresh bread from Parisi Bakery on the way. Parisi Bakery has been there forever, and their neighbors keep changing.

LC's place was bigger than I expected. I helped with the cooking, since none of the guests there seemed comfortable in the kitchen. The spices were all in a shoebox! We got some flavor on those brats and wieners!

Vanessa, Atoosa, & Manny

I had $10 tickets to Carnegie Hall tonight.

Stopped in at Burger Joint while I waited for vipnyc. I ordered my burgers and fries and waited off to the side. One of the burger dudes exclaimed, "I am done with black women." He looked at me and said, "You can have 'em. I like your kind." I said something non-commital about how I love the ladies, in all their pulchritude. This goes on for a bit until I finally get my order and grab a coveted booth. Joined a few minutes later by Vanessa, a lawyer from West London. She'd just tried to cram into the booth next to me, but Atoosa was holding her booth for three people and could not accommodate her. I doubt the EIC of Seventeen magazine is used to sharing. Vipnyc got there soon enough and we were soon off for Carnegie Hall.

Manny Ax was playing some Mozart tonight along with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Of course our seats were second row center again. :)

Manny was alright.

Some lovely pics and fine details from that night.

Bye Bye Libby

Another departure. This time we went to the Vig Bar. I didn't stay long, but I left a nugget, a little bomb for my co-worker buddies. They were enraged by this latest bit of news. Ah yes, job well done.

André Watts and friends

Attended a concert at Carnegie Hall with bro, JS and RV. But first things first, we ate burgers at the Burger Joint inside the Parker Meridien.

Description of the concert on their website.

The Philadelphia Orchestra
Christoph Eschenbach, Music Director and Conductor
André Watts, Piano

BRAHMS Piano Concerto No. 2
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 6, "Pathétique"

Both the Brahms Concerto and Tchaikovsky Symphony on tonight’s program initially challenged the expectations of listeners in the late 19th century. Brahms’s Second Piano Concerto was the longest concerto written to that point, a work of symphonic proportions that boasts an added scherzo movement.

Tchaikovsky’s final symphony, known as the “Pathétique,” had the expected four movements, but seemingly in the wrong order—the work ends with a despairing slow movement that became a model for Mahler and later symphonists. As the composer died just nine days after conducting its premiere, the unusual format of the Symphony inevitably sparked considerable speculation about possible autobiographical implications.

ALCS - A's vs Tigers

The American League Championship Series begins tonight. The Yankees are not playing. Because they lost to the Detroit Tigers, an inexperienced team with good young pitching and impatient hitters. The Oakland A's should now be the favorite to win the AL and face the NL champion (hopefully the Mets) in the World Series next week.

23 Skidoo

Here's something I learned in the middle of a cornfield today (confirmed by the interweb when I got home).

From the Wikipedia entry on the Flatiron Building,

"The building also helped coin the phrase "23 skidoo" or scram, from what cops would shout at men who tried to get glimpses of women's dresses being blown up by the winds created by the triangular building."

Steak and greet

Threw together a steak dinner for some (old & new) friends this Sunday night. Leeky potatoes and a cheesy baked squash dish were a part of the mix. Could have done a better job with the logistics and actually served the dinner on time, but I think everyone was happy enough at the end. So happy that we hatched a plan to reconvene for a somewhat larger dinner party two weeks hence. Cassoulet anyone?

OHNY

Open House New York this weekend. I'd volunteered to be at one of the sites for a few hours this Saturday, and was assigned to the Hindu Temple Society of North America out in Flushing. GP, the PR point man for the temple showed me around before the onslaught of visitors, at least I hoped it would be an onslaught anyway. A grand total of four (4) people came to visit the temple. A building collapse on 108th Street earlier in the day (which shut down the 7 train) may have been a factor in the lack of OHNY folks. I took some pics of the temple which I'll post later.

Subway Series 2006?

The Yankees and Mets are both up 1-0 in their respective Division Series. I think a series between these teams would be much better than the 2000 World Series.

Everyone in New York wants a Subway Series, but FOX Sports execs (and the rest of the country) probably want the St. Louis Cardinals to advance to face the Yankees. The Cardinals are the most storied franchise in baseball outside of New York (9-time World Series winners) and they were the westernmost baseball team for a good part of the 20th Century (before the Dodgers & Giants left New York for California in the 50s). The radio broadcasts of their games on KMOX 1120AM made them the #1 team of every baseball fan west of the Mississippi. (In 2006 KMOX lost the broadcast rights to Cardinals games to a radio station (KTRS) owned by the Cardinals.) Though their fan base is smaller nowadays with several other teams moving west and multiple expansions of MLB, I imagine most people would still root for the Cards over the Evil Empire.

Somebody

Give me a reason to believe.

(EDIT)

Been feeling so ridiculously sad (again).

(EDIT)

But it's Tuesday.
And the Mets and Yankees are both in the playoffs.
Maybe life isn't that bad after all.

My Longest Post So Far

I'm so totally cheating at this blog thing.

Morning Fun & PB&B?

Spent the early morning at an OHNY volunteer orientation inside Grace Church. We were all going to be ready for OHNY Weekend! Afterwards I stopped in at the new location of Broadway Panhandler and also picked up some new LEGO Star Wars goodness.

Something in the middle. Then the peanut butter and burger adventure.

The Dirty Jerz

M lives right near Matt/Mark!

Soap Opera

There's no crying in the opera!

Meine Zunge, Mein Herz

Spent the early evening teaching origami at the Middle Village branch of the Queens Public Library. The kids were a fun bunch, but I had to hurry back to Woodside for Sriphaphai part deux. My tongue indeed!

I thought that burning sensation would be the worst the night had to offer, but I was wrong as usual.

Odeon, a million years later

Spent the morning down at Pier 40 looking for and finally finding “The Good Life: New Public Spaces For Recreation” exhibit. I didn't know Hudson River Park was so spiffy. But some things haven't changed. Wandered around downtown and passed some pretty, offensive advertising before we finally ended up at the Odeon. Steak and eggs this afternoon. :)

Two Parties, One Night

LC was having a party at Black Betty in Williamsburg. My bro and I went out there. Of course we were on time and the first ones there. I guess no one minds being a tardy jackass (even to a dinner party!) since we all have cell phones now. We could only stay for a bit since CP was also having a birthday party at Kabin. We'd met vipnyc at Chickpea in between the soirees, but she can tell you what happened next at Kabin.

Everybody Needs a Little R&R

A wonderful journey into spicy.

Busiest Day Ever

I remember a huge smoothie from Whole Foods. Of course there was this and then this. I was just along for the ride.

County Fair & Birthday Cake!

I spent the morning at the Queens County Farm Museum demonstrating origami during the 24th Annual Queens County Fair, "A traditional county fair with blue ribbon competitions in livestock, produce, home crafts, arts and crafts, and more. Enjoy the Amazing Maize Maze, pie-eating and corn-husking contests, pig racing, make-your-own-scarecrow, hayrides, petting zoo, carnival rides, and midway. Visit our Bavarian Garden , Irish and German bands, craft and food vendors. Fun for the entire family!"

I spent the latter part of my day doing this.

Botanica redux part 2

Botanica again.

Wow, that was a long time ago. Anyway, it was one of JS's mass happy hour gatherings. I saw some old friends, and new friends. Two women kissed me at the bar that night, but neither was the one I wanted it to be. You know, it never is.

Another trip to Lovely Day. Yummy fried chicken. I love fried chicken.

Apples

Apple themed potluck dinner tonight. Lots of tasty treats. I think I might have made a few new friends this night. Here's hoping I don't mess things up again.

Shark Bar & Lombardi's

After work at Spring Lounge.
People came in, drank, lost their bags, I found their bags, they drank some more.

After the obligatory saucing AB, CM and I decamped (I like that word) for Lombardi's down the street.

The conversation was spirited, sometimes demoralizing, but ultimately galvanizing (I hope). Looking forward to some Rock Action in the future.

The First Part (not the Second)

Another CSA pickup.

Concert downtown

And more VIP NYC history for your brain.

Cafecito & Nublu

It was Cara's last night in town before she left for Tanzania. A bunch of us met for dinner at Cafecito in the LES then we decamped for Nublu (even farther down in the LES). (All those newbies who think that the LES means South of East Houston can go to hell.)

I didn't stay out long, but the farewells continued on Monday during one last night of MJ. I need to gamble more.

Whym & Crap

Mmmmjoyed my breakfast of corned beef hash with sweet potatoes! at Whym (part of the Eatery empire). I just love to eat.

We'd been in the area (sort of) after attempting to see the goings on Broadway on Broadway.

Whole Foods was exciting as always. Picked up some lemons to make some lemonade.

And there was a crap (I mean crafts) fair at Lincoln Center.

Tenacious Ticket Taker part 3

Opera for All at the New York City Opera.

As Vip in the City says "we were in store for a series of stellar performances." Yelled out a "Bravo!" after "Una furtive lagrima" (from Donizetti's Elixir of Love). :)

EVOC's performance at the after party was an unexpected treat and I got to meet the performer (friend of V's) who played Kim when I saw Miss Saigon on 2000. I love NY.

Can't wait to see La Gionconda at the Met on the 26th!

Tag Along

No joy at NYU's continuing education open house and I hung out with V.

The Conran Shop under the Queensboro for some nightlife ideas, Baker Street Pub for dinner, and a nightcap at Peter's

All the gory details.

Yum-o!

Wireless & Ssäm

Went to Momofuku Ssäm Bar again after helping out KK with a balky interweb/iPod thing. Brought up my week's load of veggies to share with V after she survived her journey back from NE.

Labor Day: Vice City

Played poker twice this weekend. Lost a ton of money (for me). And saw Miami Vice. Spent a bit of time walking around (from the foot of the Queensboro Bridge to the Deuce to the 80s on the UWS). It was a beautiful summer weekend.

Folders & GTA:The Movie

Had 4 visitors at origami class today, Julia, Jane, Cara & Jeff. I tried to show them some pretty things. Not sure how it all went down. Should post some more pics soon.

Saw Crank with bro. Grand Theft Auto: The Movie would be an apt description of the film. GTA3 actually had a much better plot.

Miranda & Ferdinand

[I weep] at mine unworthiness, that dare not offer
What I desire to give, and much less take
What I shall die to want.

Tempest at the Public Theatre and Momofuku Ssäm Bar.

Vip provides insight on the evenings festivites.

Frittata

I'd been thinking about making a frittata for a while. So I invited MC over after work and jammed some veggies from this week into my Le Creuset skillet. It was pretty tasty, even though I forgot to put in the prosciutto. The key is to cook it both on the stovetop and in the broiler. Yay!

Mama & Amy

It was a lost Sunday. Recovering from the all-nighter during the weekend. I still can't sleep.

Went to Empanada Mama on Monday. Had beef, chicken, & cuban; all were tasty. Split an Elvis, Peter Meehan says the Elvis is, "a deep-fried belly bomb made with peanut butter and mashed banana that is troublingly tasty for something that is such an obvious threat to one's physical well-being." Wandered down to Amy's Bread so I could smash a red velvet cupcake into my face. Headed down to the Deuce and lingered there.

No Poker, Yes Momofuku

The poker game never got off the ground on Saturday. We played Monopoly, which KR won. There was a vague desire to see a movie (Miami Vice?, Beerfest?), but I wanted some noodles at Momofuku Noodle Bar again. A new restaurant Momofuku Ssäm Bar is opening up this week. EH didn't want to wait, but KR stuck it out till VI arrived. The noodles and bun were as tasty as last time. They apparently poach the eggs in the shell and crack them open just before delivering the dish. And it rained.

Stellated icosahedron (pointy 20-sided polygon, each of the 20 pyramid points has an equilateral triangle as its base, so if you lopped all the points off, you'd just have an icosahedron aka 20-sided die)

Staten Island Yankees

We were going to Staten Island to see the SI Yanks play! They're the NY-Penn League class A team of the New York Yankees. We (AB & I) walked down to the Staten Island Ferry Terminal, but stopped to pick up some potent potables and some Banh Mi ($3) at Sáu Voi Corp. Met bro and VI down at the Terminal and the four of us were on our way. The ferry ride was great; I'd forgotten, but I did remember how absolutely horrible the ferry terminals used to be on both sides. The Ballpark at St. George Station is connected to the terminal and it only took us 5 minutes to get to our seats. The stadium was designed by HOK Sport. They started the retro baseball park building boom with their design of Oriole Park at Camden Yards (completed in 1992). HOK Sport was also behind the just completed Emirates Stadium (new home of Arsenal), and is also designing the new ballparks for both the Mets and Yankees. Anyway, we got hot dogs and beer and lemonade and settled in for some baseball goodness. Unfortunately for us, we were sitting in front of couple on a (first?) date. We were subjected to possibly the worst date conversation in the history of mankind. The boy wouldn't stop talking about himself, which could have been fine if he wasn't also the most boring person in the world. We left the game early, so we could get back in time for some poker and to spare ourselves anymore inane banter.

The Ragu Song

Rigoletto on the Great Lawn. Managed to score a huge chunk of space thanks to RV and LL. We had way too much food. It was another beautiful clear night. Of course that meant my allergies were killing me. The singers were fantastic, especially the tenor, who was a late sub. The crowd seemed quieter and more attentive than last night. My favorite part of the night was when the crowd broke out into spontaneous applause at the beginning of La Donna E Mobile.

WXYZ

La Traviata tonight in Central Park. It was a great night to be out for opera.

Anyway, here are some more pics of origami. Learned this at the convention in June. It's 4 intersecting equilateral triangles along 4 different planes, hence WXYZ. Enjoy!

Chip Shop, Cafe Gitane, BBQ, Red Sky

The rest of the week was busy. Stopped in at Botanica two more times this week. Met EB there on Tuesday after the veggie pickup before we went back to Park Slope for some dog walking and a stop at the Chip Shop. Bangers and Mash! More drinking at Botanica later in the week.
JN is gone now for the Bay Area, so grabbed his poker table and chips, before another Friday at Botanica. Popped into Cafe Gitane for a late night bite with V, AB & LB. I think it was tasty, but three of us were pretty boozy by the time we got there. And another BBQ, this one in Nyack. I'm still craving hot dogs and burgers now. It was a fun, but busy week.

Lovely Day

Currently listening to Don't Pay the Ferryman by Chris De Burgh.

Don't pay the ferryman!
Don't even fix a price!
Don't pay the ferryman!
Until he gets you to the other side!

Took advantage of the Diner's Deck on Monday and visited Lovely Day on Elizabeth Street. It's a cute little Thai-themed place with lots of GOGA (that's girl-on-girl-action; the bartender planted a big wet one on the lips of our waitress after she brought us our Thai iced teas). If that isn't enough to make you want to eat there, the food was tasty too.

More pictures of origami, this hyperbolic paraboloid started as a square of paper. Calavatra-esque?

Upper West Sunday

It was a day of firsts.
I had a breakfast sandwich from Gray's Papaya (1st time). I used to always make a stop at Gray's whenever I found myself on the UWS. I loved getting two 50 cent hot dogs w/onions and walking over to browse at the HMV on the Northwest corner of 72nd and Broadway. Then walking up to the temporary Tower Records location on 73rd in the now-empty Gristede's supermarket. I don't even remember what used to be at the site of the current Barnes & Noble megastore on 66th.

So I had breakfast on the benches near the North entrance to the 72nd St subway (how old is that now, two years?) Up to the AMNH for the volunteer gig of the day, teaching museum visitors some origami. Stuck with simple models like the swan and butterfly. As is usually the case, most of the kids were cool, while the parents were overbearing and horrid.

After my two hours were up, met CS for brunch. Sunday brunch on the UWS is about the closest thing to mortal combat I'll ever see in my life (either that or dodging all the Maclaren carriages on a weekend). Good Enough to Eat was celebrating its 25th anniversary, so it was definitely a no go that morning. We ended up at Cafe La Fortuna, self-proclaimed oldest cafe in the neighborhood. It's CS's new spot and was a haunt of John Lennon's. The layout of the cafe reminds me of Yaffa Cafe down in the East Village.

The best part of the day was spent with CS's King Charles Spaniels, Emma & Hugo, in the park. Such a relaxing day and it was the 1st time I'd ever held a dog on a leash!

When life gives you...

I wore pants for the first time in two months this past Saturday. Also tried on my dancing shoes again. I need more music and dancing in my life. Alas, the fates conspired against us and there would be no dancing that night. But there was one bit of lemonade to be squeezed from this lemon-ific turn of events. It gave me a chance to make some progress on that modular origami piece I've been working on for the past three weeks. I finally finished it tonight. Tell me what you think. Thanks to V for providing the photos.

Botanica (twice this week)

Ended up at Botanica again. More Gay & Peachy for me. Some Belgian beer as well. More inappropriate phone calls and text messages into the ether. AB invited me back to her place for dinner then uninvited me when we were on the subway. Hungry and drunk is not a way to be on the subway. It was generally an unhappy night. Did it bode ill for my upcoming weekend?

Absinthe

I was still a bit tired, but I was looking forward to some naughty fun down by the South Street Seaport. Lounged in the biergarten before the show, while the skies overhead filled with angry looking storm clouds. We thankfully got into the Spiegeltent before the skies opened up. Central Park recorded over 2.5 inches of rain during the hour-long downpour. There was a bit of a mad rush to get into the seats since it was general admission. We sat in the 2nd row (I wanted to avoid the splashing water) and waited for the show to start. The dude sitting to our right kept giving vip in the city the cow-eye. I think he not-so-secretly liked her more than the girl he brought into the Spiegeltent.

I'll skip the details of the show because vip in the city does a much better job, but I will mention that I liked the bubble magic guy the best of all, though most would probably think I liked Ursula Martinez the best. It's not everyday that you see a woman pull one of those out of her V. :)

Mother Courage (the streak is alive!)

Mother Courage and Her Children started its run on Tuesday. I couldn't make it that night because of the Half-Birthday festivities, but I was determined to see it before the teeming throngs realized Meryl Streep was back in town doing her thing. Oh, and what a thing it was. (That sounded much better when I said that to myself in my head). She was fantastic, amazing. But the rest of the performance was just okay. Vip in the city has some photos from the night.

Not sure the performance itself was worth the 11.5 hour wait on line down at the Public Theatre, but I couldn't let my TWELVE year streak of seeing every SITP performance end because of some overzealous Meryl fans. Did meet some interesting folks during the wait. Met Antolin, a painter from Spain, and his lovely friend, Natalie, who gave me a tasty cupcake. There was Will(iam?), the dude from Charlotte who kept leaving the line and coming back with coffee. He seemed like a lost, lonely puppy. He was talking to the three Barnard girls on line behind me, Lori, Mackenzie, and sleepy Masha when I came back from my first bathroom break around 3am. I'm not sure if he was flirting with them or what. He left around 4am and I didn't fall asleep till after 6am. I taught the girls how to play Spanish bullshit before I fell asleep and added them to the ever expanding (but also sometimes contracting) roster of potluck invitees.

Half Birthday

Hit Café El Portal for some “home made Mexican” after work with some friends before the HALF-birthday festivities at Pioneer Bar. I ordered the chiles rellenos and also ate HALF (there's a theme here) the food of two of my fellow diners. We started dinner a little late so we got to Pioneer Bar a HALF hour late, except there was no Pioneer Bar. It's scheduled to be replaced by R Bar in September. Two of the party posse were already there waiting. Got a call from AB and she told me she was in Nolita House. I thought to myself that she probably went to Botanica and didn't realize that Nolita House is actually the restaurant that sits above. So our 6-man gang rolled up to Mulberry & Houston. No one was in Nolita House, yeah, they must be downstairs. I tried to contact all the other invitees before heading down. In the end we got about 20+ into the back room at Botanica, about HALF the number I was expecting out on a Tuesday night. This is for all those out there that hate my use of initials: Romy, Liz, Vanessa, Weikai, David, Ash, Libby, Jeremy, Megan, Michael, Rault, Lise, Sarah, Jesse, Jane, Joon, James, Matt, Alice, Gianny, Sang. I had my fair share of Gay & Peachy drinks. It was a start to a good night, but we had to get back uptown to drop off the weekly CSA haul before I got on line at the Public Theatre for Mother Courage tickets.

Dyckman House

The Dyckman Farmhouse Museum was our adventure for the day. I don't think I've ever been that far north on Manhattan. The Cloisters in Fort Tryon Park is about half a click to the Southwest, but the last time I spent any quality time with my unicorn tapestries was a good fifteen years ago. Anyway, the house pretty much stands alone atop a schist outcropping, the acres of farmland replaced by the present day urban mix. We got there a few hours before the scheduled tour, so we asked one the interns for some local food spots. Ended up at a local joint on Vermilyea and gorged ourselves on rice and beans and chicken and plantains. Back to house for the tour. The coolest part of the house (both literally, "I literally jumped out of my skin" and figuratively, "my blood was boiling") was the Nine Mens Morris game carved into the schist near the stairs to the basement.

I often wonder what New York looked like pre-grid, pre-urbanization, with lakes and streams crisscrossing the island; what weaknesses in the rock caused the Hudson to separate Manhattan from the Bronx (and the mainland of North America). Did the tidal channel we now call the East River exist before or after Manhattan was isolated? So many questions...

All This Intimacy

This weekend was all about love - past, present, and pluperfect.

Friday, we went to the The Rubin Museum of Art which is, in the museum's own words, the first museum in the Western World dedicated to the art of the Himalayas and surrounding regions. I still don't know whether it's Hi-ma-LAY-as or Hi-MA-la-yas. One of the curators told us some sex-changing bodhisattva stories and later on gave us a mini-tour of some pieces as well.

After the museum visit we stopped off at the Dirty Bird for some tasty, organic fried chicken. I'd been wary of the crowds after the opening in May, but it was a relatively quiet night and we enjoyed our meal while watching the streetscape on west 14th.

Another perspective on our summer night of fun.

Saturday, was DK's big day.
I'd been worrying the better part of a week about my clothes, but since I was only able to fit into about 10% of my wardrobe, the decision kind of made itself. Got to checkpoint one and hung around until my date got into her dress. Wow, she looked fantastic, and those gold strappy sandals sealed it. We got down to the Lighthouse in plenty of time for the ceremony and ran into some old friends and new friends and lots and lots of complete strangers. Damn, I didn't know any of these people. The ceremony was mercifully short and went off without a hitch (the flower girls wandered off-course at one point).

Cocktails, followed by dinner, followed by almost no dancing at all. Well, WE tried to dance. And I managed to snag the maid of honor for one dance, but she was pretty stiff throughout (whether or not the abject terror she exhibited was due to the 4 undone buttons on my shirt is a question for the ages).

Some pretty pictures from Saturday.

We somehow managed to get back in one piece, with TWO centerpieces in hand and passed out for several hours. We reconvened the day-long funfest when the best man, HH returned and ended the festivities by taking in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. Will Ferrell is back my friends, he's back. Funny bit of trivia via IMDB,

When they were at an actual racetrack to get audio clips, director Adam McKay apparently didn't need to prompt the audience for one scene. When Sacha Baron Cohen's character Jean Girard was introduced as a driver from France driving the Perrier car, the entire crowd started booing on their own.

America is so awesome!

Postcard Canada

I'm falling behind so I won't bother updating except to mention that I lost money at poker twice this week. Hit some eats in LIC and PS1 Summer Celebration on Sunday. And some more tasty good fun on Tuesday night. Also hit the Shake Shack twice in one week. Botanica is the bane of my sobriety during the summer. That must have been a fun night since at one point I remember yelling out across the back room, "I said, 'I promise to NOT put my penis in your ass!'"

But the best part of my week was when I got home yesterday and saw a postcard from a friend I haven't seen in two years. It's weird because I had just mentioned her in one of those 50 question spam emails you get from your friends. I'd filled it out and returned it on a lark and question 19 was WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? I answered, Karen.

Beach Party - July 28

We actually had a pretty large group at the origami class on Friday. I think everyone was a bit confounded by my attempt at teaching the WXYZ. EH finished hers from the last week. She's really good.

EH helped me setup for the Beach Party.

Scallop Ceviche
Fiesta Slaw (5 kinds of peppers!)
Cucumber Salad
Fruit Salad (mango, honeydew, blueberries w/lime ginger reduction)

KR actually had her swimsuit on, RV brought hers with, but no one else was in a festive mood. I think the most fun part of the night was the Rubik's Cube solving/foot massage episode on the bed. (Ignoring the liquid latex & dirty dice episodes in the living room.)

WTC - July 26

Saw a preview screening of World Trade Center tonight in downtown Brooklyn. It was a bit nerve-wracking watching scenes from that horrible day five years ago. I remember screaming into the telephone at my brother, telling him to get out of the city as fast as he could, as I saw the 2nd tower collapse from the windows at work. Felt a wave of nausea when the movie showed a jumper and wanted to get out of my seat every time there was a *smack* while the cops were in the concourse, because you knew that was supposed to be the sound of flesh on pavement. People in the theatre were crying. I still think that it's all too near, too close, at least for anyone that was in New York that day.

Today is the greatest - July 24

I was thinking of going to the Mets game, but was feeling too shitty at the end of work to bother. I stuck around for a while, cuz I thought AB wanted to go to Home Depot, but that didn't happen either. So that means I didn't meet with SH or anybody else for that matter. Went to Loreley for a drink. Miri was nice enough bring me a liter of my favorite. (God, I've been drinking so much lately.) I was sitting alone on a bench in the beer garden (surrounded by strangers) when two men and a girl of about 7 years were placed at my table. German dude and girl's dad were talking business while the kid fidgeted in the corner. I started making some origami, since I was just drinking and staring off into space. The dad was such a pompous ass, talking about all the "stupid models" he was dating, and German dude was lapping it up. I finished making the Kawasaki star and gave it to the kid, Zoey. She seemed happy. The dad started talking to me, but I just wanted him to shut up. I left. Wandered around aimlessly until I came across a photo op. Pulled out my giant analog (as in real film) camera and snapped a pic. It was such a ridic end to the day.

Pelfrey pitches - July 23

Went to Shea (with bro, MC & his dad) to watch Mike Pelfrey pitch against the Astros. Chris Burke was the #3 hitter for the Astros, so you'd figure it would be a cake-walk for the Mets. Pelfrey was dealing until the 4th inning that is, the bullpen didn't do much better. And there was that awful, awful defensive play by Heilman in the 8th inning. The Mets lost 8-4.

We left early, I wanted to go to Pollo Campero after the game, but bro thought it better to just visit the folks for dinner. Next time.

Got in touch with LT in Austin, comfirmed receipt of party photos and also got Beth's contact info. We'll see if she actually comes by on Friday.

RV is back from the OBX today. Yay!

DF will be back from Shanghai on Wednesday too. Yay!

Full Power - July 23

We just got full power back in my apartment. So that was 2 days of no power at all and 4 days of low power (no hot water, no fridge, no internet, dimmed lights, spotty AC). Can we sue ConEd? Here's a claim form where one can recoup some of the losses from this week.

UPDATE

We actually don't have full power yet. Still no hot water or fridge. This is such bullshit.

I'm not a rockstar - July 21

I totally bailed on Betsy's party, but there was no way I could head out to Cobble Hill and make all the other parties on the schedule. I also completely forgot to get in touch with NT that night, she might be pissed at me. VI has the lowdown on the night's festivities. She's always so informative. And yes, I am in fact 50% cooler than her. (I know, it's supposed to be "she" instead of "her").

But we did have to drag JM's drunken ass all the way back to his home (and wife) at 5am in the morning. She looked remarkably unfurious (is that a word?) to see us. That and the earlier (potential) cock-blocking was kind of awesome.

Hermit - July 20

I was planning on going home early and sleeping after the previous night of debauchery, so I canceled my volunteer sessions and softball game, but got a reminder just before I got off work that we had to go out for JL's (delayed) birthday celebration. This is similar to the delayed birthday celebration of the other JL (at Red Bamboo). Well not all that similar, I just spent so much time traveling on both those nights. PF & TS were already at the spot, JK arrived shortly thereafter. I'd been wandering around K-town for a good 30 minutes before I saw them. JL showed up with Isabelle, my favorite Québécoise. She punched me in the arm and asked me if I was still a "player". I was kind of dumbfounded by the question since I'd only met her that one time at the potluck JL hosted last summer. I can't remember the last time I was anybody's loverboy. The soju was flowing freely throughout dinner, but we still ended up at O'Reilly's afterwards. I really needed to get out of there. Somehow managed to get home a few hours later.

More Random Encounters - July 20

Walking up from Wall Street this morning, I ran into Dogood (Dewgood?) from July 4th party #2. I guess she works down there. I happened to have pictures from that night in my bag, so she took a couple of the photos.

And I'm still in blackout mode. I should order some more photon lights.

Blackout! - July 19

It's the 2nd day of the blackout in Sunnyside. What a nightmare. Crashing at a friend's place tonight, bro is doing the same (different friend). Was planning on staying at work but WGY came back to town, and saw him instead. Met up with DAY at Puck Fair. Moved onto Loreley where we met XS. Said hello to Gunter and ordered the usual. He asked if I'd gone to the Met with Nadia & Anya last week. I told him no. Had food and way too much to drink. Saw Andre from ICNY there. He was there with his girl, Eloise, E's sister Katherine, Annie, Meredith & Phoebe. So I made at least three new friends tonight. :) Oh yeah, we stopped off at Babeland before parting ways at DAY's sport bike. Also bumped into Steve and Sandy from MC's last BBQ on the roof. Busy night.

Bastilllle Day & MoMA Summergarden - July 16

I met up with VI for brunch and headed over to the Bastille Day Festival. Walked along all three blocks, and had some freshly squeeeezed lemonade. We ended up "paying for quality", the same way one pays for quality in the meatpacking district - we got ripped off.

Wandered into Central Park and sat on a schist outcropping for a while. Discussed impending doom or something.

Wandered out of the park over to Columbus Circle. Walked thru through the circle to get to the TimeWarner Center and AC relief when we saw some (naked) kids splashing around in the fountains. Ha!

Cooled our heels and our butts inside Whole Foods. Popped into Williams & Sonoma to look at some butcher blocks and islands where we ran into Bob & Lee (also bought some kitchen towels and the Le Creuset cookbook). Paid for some lemonade quality again at Bouchon Bakery.

Back out into the heat and Summergarden performance at MoMA. Saw JK on line, EH showed up later and we ended up sitting with AC right near the big green metal sculpture. The performance was quite good. But why is NYC full of all these foreign savages? There was a French couple behind us that wouldn't shut up and there were the two Euro girls in front of us showing way too much whale-tail and then having the gall to lie down in the middle of the walkway. I could barely contain VI's rage. I thought she would get up and throttle them at some point.

We (me, VI & AC) were pretty famished (ravished?) after the music (at least a 90 minute set) and shuffled over to Burger Joint. Thankfully it was not crowded at 10:30 on a Sunday night. It was AC's first time!

God, what time is it?

DH's finale, Nadia, Anya & more poker - July 14

Another person leaving for greener pastures. I'm going to miss DH.

The morning was pretty uneventful, and EH was the only one at the origami class. Went back to drop off my stuff, so I could be free to drink at Loreley. Gunter saw me walk in, so he started pulling me a liter of Hefeweisse. It's good to be a regular. :) Anyway, grabbed my stein and walked back into the garden to join the rest of the work masses. Passed by this cute girl on the way back. She looked a bit confused, so I guessed she was looking for the restrooms and pointed her in the right direction (I'm good at giving directions, just ask Ash). Two tables were already full, so I sat at a semi-occupied table with EH across from me. She was still working on the WXYZ modular I'd taught her earlier. There was a pretty girl sitting at the other end of my bench and then the girl I'd passed on the way in sat down next to me, no doubt to join her friend. I wasn't really involved in any of the other conversations, so I broke out the 2" paper in my pocket and started folding. My neighbor seemed interested, so I offered (in German) to teach her (Nadia) the Kawasaki Star and got her friend at the end (Anya) to join the folding party. Their English was better than my German, so we switched to that while we were chatting and folding.

Nadia (the half-Chinese/half-German girl) and Anya (the basketball player) are both here on holiday after finishing Gymnasium and in the 3rd week of their 6-week jaunt through the USA. Nadia was a bit more shy, while Anya (quite the statuesque beauty at well over 6'2") had a funny little Southern drawl when she spoke English. Turns out she spent an exchange year in Kentucky a few years back, so I brought out my best North Carolina twang. Ignored the rest of the work posse for the next hour, took photos (on their digital camera, I'd left my analog at work) and made tentative plans to hang out again when they came back from Kentucky in 2 weeks. :)

The most interesting part of this whole thing for me was the array of reactions from my co-workers. I guess most hadn't ever seen me in full-effect and they seemed amazed/awed/appalled that I had these two pretty young girls fully engaged in under 5 minutes.

Walked the girls back to Spring St. and suggested they swing by the Neue Galerie since they were planning a Met/Guggenheim run.

Later in the day...

Met with bro and got to JN's place for the game that night. The plan was to play HORSE, but we just ended up playing HORE. I'd actually prefer HOR. It was another bad night of poker for me, down $50. But I was still a happy man at the end of the day.

Boing boing - July 13

I think I used my MetroCard 7 times on Thursday.

Sunnyside - Upper East Side - SoHo - Financial District - SoHo - DUMBO - Walk over Brooklyn Bridge - Financial District - Sunnyside.

I love this history of Sunnyside on Forgotten NY.

Sexy Little Knits!!!

I was very tired at the end of the day.

Pirates, argh! - July 11

Saw Pirates OTC:DMC on Tuesday with MC. It was fun, especially the three-way swordfight thru the jungle. One thing of note happened. I totally wrenched my legs (and back) climbing over the seats. Which is probably why I was laid up the next day. Some other thing happened, maybe. Damn, I really can't remember now.

World Cup Final (Woe is Zidane) - July 9

What was Zizou thinking?
Maybe if Lizerazu was still around the profusion of Z's on the French team would have prevented ZZ from attacking the idiot defender.

I was so upset by the whole thing that I went and saw the Lake House with VI and MB. There were some idiot kids in the theatre, but AMC did give us movie passes to make up for the "inconvenience".

Okay, all I have left is the Origami Convention, July 4th, and Lily's last day.

SITP (aborted), Cyclones & Sushi - July 8

UPDATED

I stayed up later than I should have after the Met game, but I still woke up at 6AM and managed to get on the line for Macbeth. I got to the Public Theatre by 7:20, but there were at least 100 crazies ahead of me. I was standing/waiting near some garbage, when I looked back towards the end of the line and saw V, EH's friend from Argentina! Stepped out of the line and went back about 10 places to hang out with her, while the rest of the line-waiting crew showed up over the next hour. First CW and J, then JL, NE, and finally AH. The waiters eventually numbered between a baker's dozen and a score. Since everyone didn't get there at the same time, our plans to play MJ and Scrabble while we waited kind of floated off into the aether. So I was chatting with V, playing Spanish bullshit when the line overlords make an announcement around 10AM. At this point there are hundreds upon hundreds of persons on line behind me. "There are no more tickets. The line will be cut off here," at about the same spot (near the garbage) where I started that morning. Ha. Three, maybe four, hours of my life gone.

There was some grumbling and milling around, but we, the waiters minus V, eventually settled on a plan for brunch in the neighborhood. Yaffa Cafe was our final destination. Nostalgia to the max. I used to go there all the time. It was the default middle-of-the-night spot back in the day, when St. Marks was still a little scary and not completely overrun by 14 year-old girls from the suburbs. I miss Save the Robots and The Wetlands too.

Anyway, ZS met us at Yaffa and we waddled over to Tompkins Square Park after brunch. I had to hurry my ass home to catch the rest of the Germany v Portugal third-place match, so I only stayed a few minutes. It somehow took me much longer than expected because of the walk down to Parisi's (instead of the subway) and the attempt to get in touch with WS (since I was in her neighborhood). Meats and cheeses in hand, I trekked back to only catch the end of the match. No one cares about the third-place game, I rationalized.

==========================

This was already a long day for me and I still had another 10 hours to go, but I'm too tired to finish now.

==========================

Okay, so bro, JL and I leave for Keyspan Park. It took us about 80 minutes door to door. The Cyclones are playing some team from State College? and we're meeting the other J there along with HH and the man of the hour, DK. Everyone's late except for HH. There's one other thing about the game that night. It's followed by Dave Kerpen's wedding (brick prison alum), which got tons of coverage in the press. Steve Evangelista was apparently there as part of the wedding party. It would have been funny running into him. I think the last time I saw him was in Cosmos Diner about 10 years ago. Anyway I took off early, with bro, to head back into the city. HH only had room for 4 in his ride and bro was going home early. My aim was to rustle up some fun, because this bachelor party was boring me to tears. I tracked down WS and RV at some bar on St. Marks and we chatted about underwear and baseball. Finally convinced RV to join the party at Ebisu. We got there late, but I caught up pretty quickly (on the sake). We trotted out the same old stories of debauchery in days past, of course the problem is that I'm the only one still trying to make some new stories. But for one brief flicker of a moment, there was a wisp of a chance. We passed by a gaggle of girls wearing slip tops, "She's getting married!!!", a bachelorette party. Here was our chance. But no joy. Everyone kept walking. God, that sucked. It wasn't even midnight. The boys wanted to go home, so I escorted RV to Penn, and later had an encounter with some Korean models (5'10" & 6'2") in Times Square, but who cares, the party was already over.

CC's last day (again), Origami (again) & Mets (again again) - July 7

It's getting harder to remember things from last week.

It was CC's last day, so there was yet another farewell lunch gathering at Loreley. But I had to be at the origami class right before things got under way. It's been a few weeks since I've taught class and actually had students. CC's uncle, German, came by and I showed him the latest modular I learned at the convention (Not the WXYZ [4 intersecting equilateral triangles on 4 different planes], but the stellated icosahedron action model that the Italian dudes were teaching to everybody). German had not been to class in months, so it was good to see him. I showed him how to start the 30 unit construction, and I was off to meet everyone at Loreley (which they always spell wrong in their emails).

Gunter was there (instead of Miri) and he kept us plied with food and drink. I'm always happy to be there. I love the Hefeweizen they have on tap. More pictures...I'm trying to document more...there was another huge gap these past few years.

Mets v Marlins game that night. It was going to be bro, JL, JL, RV & me. JL had six-pack seats with bro, so I was with the other JL & RV. There was some logistical confusion on the way to the Shea, but we all got to our seats in time for the 1st inning. I should note that Jose Lima was pitching on Friday. Yes, it was going to be Lima-time. Too bad Lima-time only lasted until the top of the 3rd when he gave up that grand slam to Dontrelle Willis, the starting pitcher for Florida. I'm just glad I was in the restroom at the time and didn't see it. The game was a lost cause by then, but I tried to keep my mates informed with whatever baseball knowledge/trivia I have stuck in my head. The seemingly massive swap of players between the Mets and Marlins rosters (LoDuca, Delgado, Jacobs to name a few) provided plenty of fodder, I hope. The Mets lost 7-3, but I had a hot dog and 2 beers, so it was a good night out at Shea. :)

Veggies & Word Play - July 6

Our (VI and my) weekly CSA thing got pushed back to Thursday because of July 4th.

I couldn't make the pickup, because of my Thursday ICNY commitments. I hadn't seen either of my conversation partners in two weeks and I couldn't miss three weeks in a row.

My volunteer duties fulfilled, I headed down to the IFC Center to catch the 9 o'clock showing of Word Play. Click for more nerdy details.

I felt a kinship with these folks. It almost felt like I was watching scenes from the Origami USA convention I'd just attended two weeks prior. Looking forward to seeing my folding friends next year.

Since I'm talking about wordplay, an explanation of what the title of this blog means. "Ich will dir mein Herze schenken" is the 1st line to an aria (soprano) sung about a half hour into Bach's St. Matthew Passion (one of my two favorite Bach pieces, the other being the Goldberg Variations). Loosely translated from German it means, "I will give my heart to thee". And the line right after is "Sang für dich". Try putting that into the translator. :)

Farewell CC - July 5

Just finished cleaning up.

So last Thursday, CC asks me if he can host a farewell/fundraising party at my place and that it has to take place before he leaves for Peru on Sunday, the 9th.

Of course I said yes.

It was somehow decided that I would be making ceviche.
Now, I've never made ceviche, I've never even tasted ceviche. So yeah, completely lost. No idea what I'm doing. I finally find a recipe that only requires a 30 minute soak in the acid bath (aka citrus juice/diced pepper mix) before serving.

Recipe in hand I went into the city to pick up the ingredients.
Went to Parisi Bakery to pick up my favorite breads (prosciutto ring!). Back up to Whole Foods for some sea scallops and the rest. Didn't get back home until well into the 1st half of the France v Portugal semi-final (Zidane had already netted his PK by then). Plopped down and watched the rest of the semi-final (Saha is an idiot for getting his 2nd yellow card after he was subbed in with less than 5 minutes to go).

Okay, so after the game I realize that I'm missing a juicer tool, which is vital for all the lemons, limes, oranges... I can't find anything in the stores nearby, so I pop over to Mom's and borrow her juicer. (One of the few times I'm glad the folks live so close)

Now I'm all ready to go. Start the ceviche! Doorbell rings. It's J (the erhu musician/songstress). She's early. We start talking about push-ups in Peoria, but she doesn't remember the ABC Saturday morning cartoon I'm referencing. Anyway EH (the gf) and V (the exotic foreign interloper from Buenos Aires) arrive a few minutes later, followed by bro. He's crashing out from his long day. I set the three ladies to work while I play the role of master chef. They all did a really great job. I barely lifted a finger the rest of the way. KR (2nd baseman/hostess) , CC (guest of honor) , JG (physicist/non-stop talker), JL (happiest man in the world), AC (likes cheese), CB (does not like cheese), CJ (violist) , P (soccer midfielder) , L (Sunnyside represent!), & G (John, John, put your boots on) all filtered in over the next few hours.

The food worked out well and we finally managed to decrease our stockpile of liquor and beer. Not enough photos tonight, but I'll be carrying around the camera all the time now. Also taught the kids how to play Spanish Bullshit, after EH's horrow show of an attempt to teach Chinese Poker.

=====

Oh man, I'm so behind. Origami convention, poker, Superman, Devil Wears Prada, Brooklyn Bridge, Bubba Gump, MoMA and July 4th! I'll try to catch up before the World Cup final on Sunday. I swear.

TC, Brooklyn Bridge, Bubba Gump, Ellen's Stardust and the LES - July 1-5 weekend blowout

TC came down on Saturday for our annual day of fun in the sun. We went over to DUMBO and lounged around in the park before we started across the Brooklyn Bridge. It was the first time for both of us. A bit strange since we both grew up in NYC, a good 50 years (at least) of city-living between us. Then again I love steak and I've never been to Luger's. The pedestrians on the bridge are complete assholes; walking four or more abreast, blocking off both the pedestrian path and the bike lane. The breeze at the apex of the walkway was incredibly refreshing. I would walk to work everyday if I lived in DUMBO.

We got to Manhattan as the sun set, and drifted down into the South Street Seaport. It was an amazing evening to be out, but we ate at this crappy restaurant, Red, that took a bit of luster off the days proceedings. M15 bus back uptown over to the Q32 and we were back home by midnight. TC had arranged a hair appointment on Sunday morning, so we called it an early night.

Bubba Gump the next day. Crayons and shrimp. Huzzah!

Met AB and her bro at MoMA on Monday. We managed to avoid all the interesting bits and were instead cruising for young ladies who might want to become friendly with the younger B.

Now that was a waste of time, so we met up with the bf of AB and had lunch at Ellen's Stardust Diner of singing waitstaff fame. That didn't go over too well either. There was no pleasing the boy. Hershey's Store? That was a little better. We eventually just came back to my place where we played video games and I cooked dinner for the sibs from Cali (tofu stir fry!)

July 4th was an odyssey. Two parties in the LES and it was hot as balls. Met RV at Penn Station and dodged rats to get to WS's place. Stuck around for an hour and rushed over to KR's for some poker and the fireworks. Stole out of there with some of her excess food and back to WS's for a drink-fueled, ice-stuffing good time. But it always ends in heartbreak doesn't it.

Animaniacs & Pinky and the Brain are out on DVD tomorrow!

Devil Wears Prada - June 30

Saw the Devil Wears Prada (with AB) on opening night. The AMC Empire 25 was crawling with Conde Nasties. Surreal. And they were all laughing at the so unfunny insider-y jokes. Anne Hathaway was lovely though. Did anyone ever see Havoc? Aren't Gregg Araki's movies much more fun? I really liked Splendour. But then again Kathleen Robertson is a real beauty, so maybe I just like movies with pretty girls.

We also saw a Dave & Buster's on the way out of the building.

LT & Superman - June 29

LT ended up having her going away party a day earlier than I expected. I'd already made plans to see Superman Returns with bro at 7:30, so I had to squeeze in as much fun as possible in the 45 minutes I had with LT and her crew at Botanica. Some girl (Erin?) was at the bar talking to LT when I walked into the former Knitting Factory. Erin was nervous about her first (brazilian?) waxing appointment later that night. Joined LT in the back and met all her co-workers. Amelia (soft face), Fatima (square rims), Gabrielle (curly hair) & Beth (nice legs) were already in place. Regan (pretty), Jenny (aged), Sarah (red top) & Sara (black top) didn't show up till later. I no doubt scared the hell out of them with my powers of recall and over-the-top conversation points. LT was loving it. Fried chicken everywhere.

I got out in time to meet bro for the movie. It was quite nostalgic. All the old school John Williams music from the 70s Superman. Can anyone still be truly and purely heroic? Or are we in the Marvel universe? I'm just sitting and waiting here.

Origami USA Convention - June 23-26 CONT'D

Lots of folding the rest of the weekend. Made a new friend near the end on Sunday night. This kid, Daniel had taught an open-faced rhombic polyhedron and I wanted to learn how to make it. Can't even remember the steps now. But did meet his neighborhood buddy, Leanna. Daniel seemed distracted by some origami conversation he was having with his boys, so I started trading some designs/lessons with Leanna. We basically made a bunch of tiny pieces with 2" paper. And she was laughing the entire time. She was a much better/faster folder and would finish folds before I even finished explaining the next step. Think she might have been humoring me. So of course we started talking about our love lives, cuz that's what you do when you fold origami. She had some crazy love triangle in her life, and I told her of my recent travails. Of course that's when I find out I'm a good dozen years older. Ha. But it was definitely the most fun 2 hours of the convention.

Monday night dinner.
Stayed home to watch the World Cup matches, so I missed out on the Monday classes. And Robin ended up carrying my empty tube with her all day. She smacked me when she saw me at the tables around 5pm (when I was chatting with Toby, the volunteer coordinator). Hahaha.
Ended up being the table enforcer during the dinner and got to be first in line at dinner. I was sitting at a table full of ladies who were all at least 20 years older than me. And I'd been a good boy and bought 10 drink tickets for dinner. So when I sat down at the table I fanned out my drink tickets and announced that I was planning on getting lucky that night. This was met with some approving nods, laughter and a few cackles. If I'd said the same thing to a bunch of girls my age, it would probably be received by stares of the "he's such a pig" variety. I got engaged in a conversation with Sue and she suggested I get setup with one or several of her friends. Roz was sitting between us and was dying as we kept upping the ante. Older ladies? check. couples? sure why not. bdsm? yes, i have vinyl tape. toys? and the Hitachi Magic Wand. Sue never got in touch with me after the convention though.

Origami USA Convention - June 23-26

This was in the middle of the World Cup vacation.

I woke up early on Friday the 23rd, to help unload some trucks for the convention. I got to the loading dock at FIT and met Jane (from Fargo, ND) there. We were the only ones there. We chatted for a bit (chaplain in a hospice, art therapy work, etc. and it was Jane's 1st convention) and eventually found the rest of the early morning volunteers. Made a few other friends during the move and invited them to MC's party later that night. Rushed home after the manual labor to watch Korea lose in horrific fashion to the Swiss. Depressed I went back to FIT to see if any of my new friends wanted to go out to Williamsburg.

I get a sick feeling in my stomach whenever I board the L train. It feels like some campus quad exploded when everyone spills out at Bedford. Ugh. MC had a full house that night. Didn't actually eat all that much, but had a lot of fun. Taught everyone the Telephone-Pictionary game I learned from Sarah. Some Boggle and charades in the mix before I finally got home around 4am.

That was a bad way to start the convention. Was so tired for most of it. Signed up for classes by Gael, Yami, & Robert Lang. Learned a bunch of new folds at the communal tables between classes. I'm always so happy at convention.

Vacation Day 3 - June 22, USA...

That was such a crappy performance after the Italy match.
But Ghana fully deserves to advance (where they'll be destroyed by Brazil).

It was the first full day at home, doing nothing (besides soccer). Also the most depressing (because of soccer).

I can't really say much else about it. Stupid Team USA.

ps. Origami convention updates to follow (really)

Vacation Day 2 - June 21 (Let's go Mets!)

A little more down time on Wednesday.

Woke up late and watched some more soccer in the morning, even more in the afternoon.

Got up the energy to go into work to meet KK, KL & NT. We were supposed to meet in SoHo and go to Shea where we were all meeting my brother and David X, one of my ICNY conversation partners. Only ended up meeting KK and took the subway out to Shea with her. Gave her the mini tour guide angle while we were riding thru Queens. David was the first one we met and KL, NT & sister were to follow. Bro bagged the game, so it was just the six of us in section 21 of the Mezz. I think everyone had a good time and we left the Mets with a 1-run lead in the top of the 8th (they eventually lost). NT's a real smart ass and KK seems like a real sweet kid. Still can't get a read on KL yet. Something to investigate?

Vacation? Day 1 - June 20

Tuesday was my first day of vacation, so what do I do?

Get up at 6am and out of the house by 7 to wait on line for SITP (Macbeth) tickets down at the Public Theatre.
Got off at Astor Place and was the 5th person to get there. Some crazy homeless dude was 1st, a guy who'd seen it 5? times was 2nd, a woman wearing a Nike shirt was 3rd (she's also seen it at least twice), Josh was 4th (actor dude? who'd seen it on Sunday), me 5th, Cliff 6th (part owner of Verlaine on Rivington), and Jessica 7th (actor friend of Josh).

I didn't really talk to my line neighbors all that much, but they were a friendly bunch, and I almost finished KR's origami star and I did manage to get thru another 100 pages or so in Salt (which I'd just gotten back from TL on Monday; I'd left the book in her bag during MC's party a while back and forgot to retrieve it from her when I was leaving Galapagos).

So after I got the tickets (2nd row center!) texted MB and told her we were still on in spite of all the dire weather forecasts.

Walked down to work, popped in to update the World Cup chart in MW's office, and headed back uptown to meet RV for lunch at the Met. (that whole codename thing isn't going to work. first initial won't work either. I know way too many J's and M's and everybody else would be obvious anyway) She was wearing a pretty white skirt and matching white sandals. We went up to Dean & Deluca for eats and drinks; back to a bench near the museum. Made her blush a couple of times, once when I was screaming over the roar of a bus engine, and the other when I tried to steal one of her rings. I liked watching RV flush like that. Lunch was over too soon. Tentative plans for lunch again next week.

Back home to watch the late matches. Groups A (Germany, Ecuador) and B (England, Sweden) were pretty much settled so there wasn't much to play for. Groups E (USA) and G (Korea) still have everything up in the air, so they should be much better match days. Can't wait.

After slogging thru the 4 games on Tuesday (yay DVR), took a little nap, and back onto the isle to meet Meg at the Delacorte. A fat lady walking her dog was singing Do That To Me One More Time (Captain & Tenille) underneath the arch along the path from E79th to the Great Lawn. MB called me when I was about 20 feet away from her. Her new phone is apparently crap. Anyway, Macbeth.

I love outdoor theatre. I've been to every show at the Delacorte since the Tempest (1995?). I actually took last Tuesday off (June 13th) to see the first show, but it was postponed due to weather. And I just love the moving sets. and Liev was fantastic as Macbeth. I think I'll go see it again.

Oh yeah, Meryl Streep as Mother Courage in the 2nd show this summer. That should be an impossible ticket, just like the Seagull.

Well that was Tuesday. One day behind is fine with me.

World Cup party

That might have been the worst referee on the planet presiding over the USA v Italy match. 3 red cards?!

Anyway, today was a very long day.
A couple of my brother's friends came over @ 9am for Portugal v Iran. More ppl came throughout the day until we had about 15 ppl in house for the 3pm start of USA/Italy.

List of J's in attendance.
Jon
Jane
James
Joon
Jesse
Janelle
Jason

Of course we have way too much beer and food left over.

Stupid thing I did today #1
I was prepping some jalapeno peppers to go with the bratwurst, bockwurst, etc. and I rubbed my forehead and upper lip without getting all the capsaicin (sp?) off my hands first. So I felt a burning sensation on my face for most of the 1st half of USA/Italy.

Stupid thing I did today #2
Not having learned my lesson, I apparently did a half-assed job of washing my hands after the first pepper incident and I go to the bathroom during the halftime break. Yep, same burning sensation, different body part. I was in agony for the first 15 minutes of the 2nd half.

Right, so after successfully burning both my face and my groin, I manage to get through the rest of the soccer gathering and marshal our forces over to CB's housewarming party near CPW. Tried to contact a few UWSiders, but no one seemed willing to come out and play. The place was packed with finance kids (in their early 20s) and their friends and I was just there for poker, which wasn't happening until the place cleared out, so my bro, James and I went to the 84th ST Loews and saw CARS. The movie was cute, but I liked the short (One Man Band) more than the feature (prolly because of the Sarasate).

Back to CB's again and we started a tournament game, but then restarted and played a cash game once we got two of the roommates to play. I lost a little more than $200 (bro came out +$500, so he paid for the cab home), but had a lot of fun playing again. I just hope my losing streak ends at some point.

Tomorrow - Korea v France.
And I'll give updates on my previous World Cup viewing adventures.

MH in town - June 16

I forgot to mention that MH was in town last week.

Saw her and a bunch of her NYC/Scholastic buddies at Waikiki Wally's. Convinced JL to come out for dinner, but he left right after (goddam him). I've been carrying my camera around with me, so I should have some pictures from that night (also from the night out drinking with the Librarians).
It was good seeing MH again, but I got the feeling that I was one of the few ppl that actually was happy to see her/missed her which is weird since all of the other ppl there have known her for much longer.

The crowd wasn't that appealing and I ran out of film so I left relatively early and skipped out on the other three party invites for that Friday night. (by the way, the late night construction on the Queensboro Bridge is making cab rides home a real pain in the ass. I'm not really saving that much time at all.)