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.

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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.)

DF farewell - June 7

And DF was leaving town the week before that.

That was a long long night. I don't think I got home until 4am or so.

The plan was to meet at Alta around 8:30 for tapas and see from there. Of course I got there early didn't see anyone there and stopped off at that bubble tea place on 6th Ave and 11th owned by ZS's friend. After filling up and leaving some origami mementos, I got to Alta and waited at the bar. No one showed until 9:30. JC and her boy go there an hour late. Yeah. then JK showed around 10. and DF around 10:30, only two freaking hours late. Of course, I absolutely love it when ppl are late. I love it so much. Thankfully the food was very good and I stuffed my face. Everybody else seemed to be trashed by the time we left (two were drunk when they got to the restaurant). We drove over to Corner Billiards and shot some games until the place closed for the night. Whatever happened to 24-hr pool halls? I don't know that it was all that much fun that night, but it felt like 10 years ago: the aimless wandering in the middle of the night, ending up at a pool hall, home at some ungodly hour. *sigh* Am I growing up or growing old?

Origami

Been averaging about one person per week at the Friday afternoon origami class. Should I do something to boost attendance?

Already signed up for the convention. Classes on all three days.

Gambling

I've been gambling a lot lately. Well, not a lot of money, just often. Went down to AC for the weekend with the family. Lost $100 at the 1-2 NL tables downstairs at the Borgata. There's no seat charge, just a rake, for those stakes, so everybody was playing super tight. Except me. I knocked out two players within the 1st half hour. But I was done an hour after that. Should have played more like my brother.

Anyway, making a commitment to writing on these verdammte pages more often. Really.

Had lunch with Broomstick today. Brought a Parisi's "ring of death" with me. The cafeteria in the basement of the Met is pretty utilitarian. Met two of her coworkers, one with the boyfriend in Berlin, the other with the pretty eyes that lives downtown. Lovely day all around.

Waiting around now, how to kill time before the poker game at 8pm tonight?