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personal

Accidents, sciatica, herniated discs, and bird poop

Feet not toes

Her: Do you think you’re perfect, Logan?!
Me: Nah – I know I have a ton of flaws.
Her: I’m so glad you can admit when you’re wrong.
Me: Wait, no. I said I was flawed, very flawed, which I am. But I’m also usually right.
Her: (sighs, rolls eyes)

The Firecracker and I have had a pretty annoying string of luck lately.

About two or three months ago, I started doing something called Toes-To-Bar, which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like – you hang by your hands and bring your toes up to touch the bar.

It looks like this:

Except, I was doing it completely straight-legged.

Got up to as much as 15 of them before I ended up herniating a disc and it was either because of jits or, more likely, this exercise that led me to that injury.

Anywho, I let myself rest up over my cruise and came back feeling much better.

So much better that I did some toes-to-bar – just three.

Welp, that was a grave mistake.

Ended up not even being able to get outta bed the next morning.

Went to see the doc just in case it was something like cancer, though, because – with my luck – it’s not an impossibility.

Took 20 mins to get to the doc, who saw me and said, “You’re 51? And you spar and go to the gym five days a week with a herniated disc? Doesn’t sound like cancer, sounds like you have sciatica.”

The total exam took less than seven minutes.

In any case, never knew what that was and looked it up; sounded exactly like what I had.

Yay.

The Firecracker hasn’t been faring much better.

Her main mode of transportation around Manhattan is her trusty scooter – which died the other day.

So, she borrowed mine and promptly wiped out on it and had a whole bevy of minor and a-bit-more-than-minor-but-still-not-major, injuries.

To add insult to injury – pun intended – another pigeon promptly pooped on her injured arm.

Her: Cm’on!

I shouldn’t have laughed but I did.

And then a week later, a pigeon pooped on my head.

Me: This isn’t our best month.

Still, all things considered, it’s not all bad.

We’ll both probably be on our feet again – literally and figuratively – in the next few months.

The aftermath of the bird and her arm/wrist.

To be clear: Feet, not toes.

Me: What do you think about my doing toes-to-bar like this [with bent knees]?
Her: I think that’s a terrible idea, Logan.
Me: Thank you for your contribution.

Location: at home, doing my really boring PT and missing jits and kali
Mood: seven outta 10 pain so…grumpy
Music: where you go, that’s where I wanna be (Spotify)
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The most expensive grapefruit ever

It always pays to be prepared

Speaking of the law, I don’t often talk about the law (or martial arts) in this blog because it’s always supposed to be a personal blog, about my personal life.

But I’m always surprised how much my professional life/lives bleed into my personal one.

Case in point, the kid was punished for something he said he didn’t do.

So, I took time outta my day, gathered evidence, witnesses, etc, and appeared before the person accusing the kid of wrongdoing.

The issue happened at his school, not the gym, but I liked this shot of him doing his thing.

Was able to prove that he didn’t do what they accused him of, and he got an apology from an adult.

Him: But, Mr. Lo, I want to talk about your behaviour.
Me: (laughing) Wait, my behaviour?
Him: Yes. We had people there that said you were belligerent and abusive to my staff.
Me: Oh my! Well, good thing I have a recording of the entire episode – which I brought with me today. Here you go (hand him my phone).
Him: (takes my phone and then watches it) You recorded it?!
Me: (nodding) As you can see, I neither raised my voice a single time, nor did I attack your staff personally in any way with ad hominem attacks. I just told them they made a bad call, which we both agree is the truth.
Him: (after watching half) OK, I’ve seen enough. I’m glad you recorded it.
Me: Me too. I’ll send a copy to your email for your records.

And I did.

It always pays to be prepared, IMHO.

Unfortunately, you can’t prepare for everything.

OK, so one thing I read about my garbage disposal was to not put in very fibrous things – like woody stems and the like.

The other day, I had this HUUUUGE grapefruit and, without thinking, stuffed all the rinds and the interior skins down the disposal.

Ten minutes later, water came pouring outta my dishwasher.

Four days, one $80 brass elbow, one tube of plumber’s putty, two snakes, two bottles of drano, two general contractors, a professional plumber, and $1,100 later, I have a working sink again.

That was the most expensive goddamn grapefruit I’ve ever had in my life.

FTS.

I will say, though, that one good thing came out of this whole adventure, which is that the above is the pipe that leads into my wall.

You can see that it was so old – at least 40 years old – that the threads completely rusted off.

The plumber said it was wholly unrelated to the reason why he was there but that it was gonna snap off in the next year, what with alla the vibrations from the garbage disposal.

So, it was good he was there to catch it.

Oh, I bought a dashboard cam to record things as well.

Like I said, it pays to be prepared.

The people that shot the above video would agree with me, I think.

Location: in front of my disaster of a kitchen post plumber
Mood: poor
Music: I say hey, hey, hey, hey, F__ That S___ (Spotify)
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It looks like me

But it’s not me

Just did my last shoot for Scenic Fights for 2024.

I’m not slated to do any more shoots until 2025, which is great, because I’m pretty beat.

Ever since we started doing these shoots, I’ve got a newfound respect for content creators; it’s pretty draining to shoot these scenes over and over again until they’re perfect.

I just checked – I did my first shoot in the summer of 2019 and we’re now closing in on 2025. Close to six years.

Man, time is just sprinting by these days.

On that note, check out the above video – it looks like me but it’s actually not me at all!

It’s an AI generated video from my Scenic Fights producer.

Wild, right?

(The picture above *IS* of me, though).

On that note, I met up with my boss at the law firm for lunch the other day at the Bryant Park Grill.

I’ve been with the firm, in one form or another, since 2008 or so, so some 16 years.

That too reminds me that life is sprinting by.

Now that I’ve been a lawyer for close to a quarter-of-a-century, I’ve been lucky in that I can be very picky with the new cases I take on.

Him: Well, what in particular?
Me: It’s gotta be something interesting OR with a huge payout. Otherwise, my patience for dealing with other people’s nonsense is pretty thin these days.
Him: (laughing) I get that. OK, interesting cases or big check.
Me: Essentially.

Location: in front of my sink, wondering if it’s time to call in a plumber
Mood: So. Annoyed.
Music: crazy how we live our lives, we spent it all on borrowed time (Spotify)
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Harold is the worst Tan Hua plant ever

Crazy Average Asians

My mom gave me a cutting from her Tan Hua plant waaaaay back in 1993 – it’s the plant that was featured in Crazy Rich Asians,,

Here’s a super grainy part of that scene from the film.

Anywho, I named him Harold for no particular reason and he’s been with me all over New York City from my first apartment off Times Square to my son’s bedroom as of right this moment.

Like Leon in The Professional, Harold’s been with me everywhere I go.


Yes, I realize this is Natalie Portman’s character here, but I thought it was a better video.

Anywho, in Crazy Rich Asians, two things that they mentioned in the film is true: (a) it only blooms at night, and (b) it rarely ever blooms.

Harold? In 31 years, he’s never bloomed.

However, I’ve given cuttings of him to a few friends like Lviv, but – AFAIK – none of them have ever bloomed either.

This is Lviv’s plant from a while ago.

My mom, who’s got a phenomenal green thumb, has had her original plant bloom dozens of times and the fragrance is both amazing and indescribable.

Now, years ago, my buddy Brandon – the owner of Evolution Muay Thai, which is a great gym if you’re visiting or looking – is not only an amazing fighter and instructor, he’s also ridiculously good at cultivating plants.

He gave me a single leaf of his pothos plant and this is what it looks like now.

It’s been growing so aggressively that it grew through my lamp!

In any case, Brandon wrote me outtta the blue the other day to (a) show me a picture of his cutting, which looks spectacular:

…but also, (b) to tell me that it blooms so much that he finds rando blooms littering his floor.

I am sick with jealousy and a little irritated with Harold.

Here’s a timelapse of someone else’s plant blooming:

Me: I don’t get it; essentially, Brandon’s plant is you since it’s a cutting from you. He blooms, why can’t you?
Harold:
Me: You’re 31 years old and what have you done what do you have to say for yourself?
Him:
Me: Fine. Whatever.

Location: the kid’s room, looking at Harold and wondering what went wrong.
Mood: annoyed
Music: I’m holding on tight – someday we’ll get it right (Spotify)
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Rando Wrapup for 2024.10

Playing dressup

I need to start doing these types of entries more often as I take pics of things that don’t necessarily merit their own entry but are kinda worth a mention.

For example, I gave away alla my teapots the other day – just stopped drinking hot tea.

I’ve had that blue fish teapot since Cornell, some 33 years ago so I’m a little bummed but it’s a constant battle, trying to keep this tiny apartment clutter-free.

Although, if my Amazon orders keep going as they’ve been going, that won’t be a problem.

For example, here’s some underwear I bought the other day from them.

I opened up a sealed cardboard box to find an empty bag.

How does that even happen?

The kid went off to see Alison’s parents for the long weekend recently.

When I picked him up, I stayed for dinner, which was (delicious) carb city with baked ziti and some homemade garlic bread.

After the kid got back, brought him to a place on the UWS I’d never been to for a birthday party for one of his friends that he’s known since he was like two.

Told the Firecracker we’d hit it up ourselves when the weather got warmer.

Her: That’s great, we need more places in the outside for summer.
Me: Yup, they can play, we can eat and drink.
Her: Perfect!

Finally, I had our Scenic Fights Halloween shoot the other day.

For one of our videos, we needed a newspaper.

Do you know how hard it is to find a newspaper in NYC these days?

Speaking of that shoot, we banged out seven videos in day with no lunch break so I went to the bar near my pad and ordered two entrees and a beer for dinner since I was absolutely starving.

Looking forward to these Halloween videos – they’re usually pretty funny and I get to dress up in all sortsa interesting things.

Hopefully, you’ll check em out?

Location: home, making dumplings for the kid and the Firecracker’s kid
Mood: chilly
Music: We come to life when it turns dark (Spotify)
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Travelogue: Bermuda 2024 Pt 4 – Home again

All good things

The last few days, we just lounged around, and I caught up on alla the eating I missed out on in the first few days.

And then some.

Even ended up having some peanut butter, which I’d not had for five days, probably the longest I’d gone without peanut butter in over a decade.

Waiter: Just peanut butter?
Me: Yup.
Waiter: (brings over a small tablespoon) Here you go.
Me: Thanks! Oh…we’re gonna need a lot more than that.

There was some unpleasantness with the kid, who was probably cranky from lack of sleep – he loved everything about the trip and just refused to nap and also got argumentative at night.

But he still had a grand time and ended up making a buncha friends there.

And I kept catching up on eating.

Although I did also get to see more and more of the ship, since I wasn’t able to see it the first three days or so.

Here’s a cool video I shot from the exterior elevator.

Plus, Firecracker and I also got to sneak in (a tiny bit of) time to ourselves.

Then the next day we were home.

Him: I don’t wanna go.
Me: All good things – and bad things – have to come to an end, kiddo. And here we are.

Saw my brother, who was in town, later on that day but that’s a completely different story.

Me: Whoa, I lost close to six pounds on the trip! That’s shocking because of alla the carbs I had the first few days and that I didn’t work out at all.
Her: (laughing) It’s not that shocking considering how many times you went the first few days.
Me: Yes but…six pounds!

Oh, and it turns out I did shoot the birds on our balcony after all.

Location: my old gym, shooting some more Scenic Fights videos
Mood: un-rested
Music: Once bitten, twice shy, don’t leave me high and dry (Spotify)
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Travelogue: Bermuda 2024 Pt 3 – Looks like I’m back

So, it would seem

Since we were only in Bermuda for a total of six hours, we had a lot more time to tour the ship some more.

I got to check out alla the places I didn’t get to go to the first few days because I was so sick.

A lotta of the things I probably woulda done had I not gotten sick but after that, I really just wanted to lounge around and rest.

Afterwards, the Firecracker enrolled us all in a contest where we go against the officers in trivia – it was called, “Are you smarter than a ship’s officer?”

Turns out, we were.

Won a bottle of champagne to boot!

Later on, we caught a comedy show, which was pretty impressive because (a) it was clean enough to bring the kids and (b) he spent the whole time – hilariously – riffing on the audience.

It was quite impressive.

Most modern cruises have waterslides, if not mini waterparks; well, the MSC Meraviglia had a waterpark that the kids just loved.

I’d been feeling better so I ended up joining them for some of it.

Later on that night was their “white night,” so we dressed in white to support.

Whereas before, I ate essentially what one might consider “normally” – which is I would eat three meals, with an appetizer, main dish, and maybe a dessert.

However, because I was (finally) feeling back to my old self…

…I ate a lot more than that.

A LOT more.

Her: It looks like you’re back.
Me: So, it would seem. (reaching over) Are you gonna eat that?

Later on that night, a MASSIVE flock of sparrows crowded on our balcony.

I turned on the lights in my cabin to get a better view and two immediately slammed into the glass wall and hurt themselves (they later flew off) so I shut off the lights.

Was too beat to take a pic so you’ll have to trust me on that.

Didn’t open my door, though, even though I wanted to.

If I did, I’m sure this woulda happened:

Location: the kid’s jits class, nursing a sore back
Mood: tired
Music: bring back the water, let your ships roll in (Spotify)
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Travelogue: Bermuda 2024 Pt 2 – Dressing up, Teppanyaki, BRATTY, and the Beach

In Bermuda and my head

Finally emerged on day three still feeling pretty off but less like death warmed over so I ventured out with everyone to brekkie.

Him: Wow.
Me: What?
Him: I’ve never seen you eat so little before. And you never eat this much bread.
Me: Mommy told me that, when your stomach hurts, you have to eat BRATTY foods, which are Bread, Rice, Applesauce, Tea, Toast, and Yoghurt.

And that, my non-nauseated friends, is a list of alla the foods I’d been eating up to that point.

It’s good that I was feeling better because the Firecracker booked us all a table at teppanyaki for dinner, so we went to that.

The chef we got was a nice guy, and the food was delicious, but he was obviously still in training because he messed up the egg tricks three times.

Still, it was good, and the kids were entertained.

And I, for one, was certainly happy to have something other than bread and carbs.

Afterward, the Firecracker and I separated to do our own things.

Now, a guy was supposed to play the Rolling Stones at a bar that the Firecracker and I hit up earlier.

I didn’t have any tequila, mezcal, or anything beyond soda water so my bar experience was pretty different than it usually is.

The kid was super excited to have a small, private concert.

Unfortunately, the guy never showed.

Me: It happens. (shrugging) Whaddyagonna do?
Him: (nodding, shrugging) Yeah, whaddyagonna do?

But there was another band that was playing the Beatles, so we went to that.

The Firecracker was able to join us, so that part was pretty nice.

We also got to dress up all snazzy, like.

The next day, we arrived in Bermuda, but – like I said – there was that new hurricane developing so we were told that we only had from 9AM to 4:45PM to be in Bermuda.

So, we made the most of it and headed to Horseshoe Beach for the pink beaches.

Because the Firecracker and I had been to Bermuda (many times) before, we just hopped the bus to get there.

The last time I’d been on the bus was a decade earlier with Alison.

The last time I was in Bermuda, I was so irritated because I just wanted to remember her, but the idiot driving wouldn’t stop prattling on about nonsense.

It still makes me mad thinking about it.

This time, though, I sat with Alison’s son in the back while the Firecracker sat in another row with her son. So, I finally had my time with my thoughts and our son.

Me: Mommy and I once walked this exact route.
Him: Really?! This far!?
Me: It wasn’t my smartest idea, but mommy was nice enough to support me.

I won’t bring up Alison again in this because it fucks with my head.

In any case, after a spell, we finally arrived at the beach. The boy was underwhelmed but enjoyed being in the water.

Me? I was in and out of my head a lot for a bit.

But I did get to show the kids where I liked to go on the beach – years ago, I saw a tree growing outta rock there and found it again.

It was doing well and, somehow, that made me feel better.

We didn’t get too much time there but that’s fine.

I was just happy to be able to sit and read for a few minutes. And be in my head for a bit.

We made it back to the ship with hours to spare and stopped by the dockyard for a bit before the kid and chilled out on our balcony and had lunch together.

It was a good day, all things considered.

Location: back in the hood
Mood: less gross
Music: Suffer in the morning, but that taste is all I wanted, me and tequila (Spotify)
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Travelogue: Bermuda 2024 Pt 1 – The Grossness

Mezcal is not my friend either

Since both the Firecracker and I like cruising, we were keeping our eyes out for any last-minute trips that worked with our schedule since we didn’t get a chance to bring the kids anywhere over the summer.

Well, we came across the MSC Meraviglia, which left just from Brooklyn.

Interestingly, it was the very same ship we saw when we were on Governors Island, last.

Unfortunately, all the mezcal from the previous night hit me HARD the next morning.

It turns out that mezcal affects me even worse than tequila and I woke up feeling like death.

And that’s when I started my hourly trips to the bathroom.

Imagine your worst trip to the tiniest room times 16.

And then place at least half of those trips took place in very questionable public bathrooms.

Literally, every hour, on the hour, I had to scramble – heavy with luggage and feeling as weak as water in the rain – to find a bathroom and do my (very gross) duty.

Her: Listen, you gotta rally. They’re not gonna let you on the ship if you look like you’re sick and they won’t believe it’s alcohol poisoning.
Me: I’m not unaware. (pause) Annnnnd, I gotta go again.

Somehow, we made it onto the ferry where I tried my level best not to leave my DNA.

I was resolutely unsuccessful, although I did manage to leave it in the proper area within the bathroom.

The boy, however, was completely unfazed and still pretty excited for his second cruise.

Managed to put on a stoic face long enough to make it onto the ship where I entered my room, despite being told it wouldn’t be ready for another three hours.

Attendant: I’m sorry sir, your room isn’t ready yet.
Me: Is it possible for you to just clean around me? I just want to nap on the couch.
Him: OK, sir.

I was hoping he wasn’t gonna narc and he didn’t.

The Firecracker took care of both kids the first two days as I just stayed in the bed and went to the bathroom.

Again, every hour, on the hour for 48 hours.

She did manage to enjoy herself without me, which I found shocking.

I literally ate nuthin but bread and water those first 48 hours.

Boy: I’ve never seen you eat this many carbs.
Me: (eating another roll) This is how papa’s gonna be for a while.

This is pretty much all I ate for the first two days. It was carbtastic!

Well, I did try to have some French onion soup.

That was ill-advised.

Now, I thought that I did a pretty good job hiding how rotten I felt.

Me: (weakly but proudly) I don’t think anyone could tell.
Her: (laughing) Are you kidding me? The waiter immediately asked, once you left, “Is your husband feeling ok?”
Me: And there I thought I was doing some Oscar quality work. (shaking head) I’m a terrible liar.

The next night, I felt ok enough to hit up a show…

…or two…

…but it was a struggle.

I’ll write more tomorrow but not mention the unpleasantness.

Until then, enjoy the Firecracker almost killing the second performer; prior to this, the kid was the star of the show – the emcee selected him to talk about his trip to the ship and, man, did he have a lot to say – but I didn’t record it because I was laughing so much.

Shame really…

I’ll end with a sunny shot of the Firecracker.

Still felt like death while taking it.

Location: back in the hood
Mood: less gross
Music: Sick of rainy weather but I know we’ll be fine (Spotify)
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It started off all so well

Anything from Bibigo is solid

We were supposed to meet up with the Surgeon and his family for some hot pot the other night but that shifted to a party at their pad, which was actually even better since the kids could play.

Wanted to bring something so I asked Pac if he could recommend something to buy at H Mart now that it was in the UWS.

Me: Heading to a dinner party tomorrow and don’t wanna schlepp alla way to Chinatown for Chinese dumplings.
Him: Anything from Bibigo is solid.

So, we went and got a bag of beef dumplings and a bag of pork ones.

While the pork was definitely good, the beef was killer and we chowed through a lotta that before the other guests even came.

The Surgeon was mixing drinks all night and said – at the end of the night – that we kicked an entire bottle of mezcal with the four of us (him, his wife, me, and the Firecracker).

I didn’t think that it would affect me the same way as tequila does, but it turns out, it’s much, much, much worse on me than tequila is, which is saying a lot.

More on that in the next entry.

You may wanna skip that one.

In any case, the Surgeon and I popped out so he could pick up some sushi for everyone as well.

When we got back, more people were there, including a student of the Surgeon’s wife, who’s a professor of music and pretty talented in her own right.

Somehow, we got onto the topic of Scenic Fights and he immediately connected that I was the Logan from it.

After we posted the below pic on IG, his friend wrote him and said, “What?! How!?”

I’m regularly legit shocked at how much I get recognized these days.

Anywho, the party was great but we had to leave early(ish).

We were catching a ship to Bermuda early in the AM.

That’s where the mezcal makes another appearance.

Repeatedly.

I’ll fill you in alla the grossness in the next entry.

It started off all so well but, after all these years, I have to remind myself that tequila/mezcal, is not my friend…

Location: Back in the UWS
Mood: hangry
Music: Now I’m taking sips of your potion (Spotify)
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