Month: October 2017

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personal

Comic Con NYC 2017

Good and irritating things

Been dealing with a lotta admin stuff for myself and the kid. None of it fun or interesting. So I’ve been lax with my updates.

But Halloween’s coming up, which reminds me that I went to Comic Con this past month.

It was just like the last time I went, all those years ago: I got a message one Sunday morning; my cousin and a mutual friend of ours had an extra tix to Comic Con.

So off I went.

Alison was alive the last time I was there. Everything reminds me of her, of course.

When I got there, the place was a madhouse; it took a while to find everyone in our group.

We immediately stopped by a booth where I promptly got flanked and choked.

Couldn’t stay long because I had to pick up the kid.

But it was nice to be outta house and at something fun, if only for a short while.

Back to the irritation.

Me: Ma’am, you’re telling me that my infant son and I are both losing our insurance this month?
Her: (long pause) Yes. Unless I could speak to your wife.
Me: Ma’am, if anyone could speak to my wife again, it’d be me and I’d never let her stop talking. (sighing) Get comfortable. This’ll take a bit to explain…

Location: in front of mountains – mountains – of paper
Mood: irritated
Music: I don’t wanna be me anymore

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The Boss and Me

We’re in luck

I ordered Netflix for Alison, years ago. It was a concession because I didn’t have cable.

On like our second date over a decade ago
Alison: You’re not one of those weird guys with no cable, are you?
Me: I’m totally one of those weird guys with no cable.

Finally got around to cancelling it last night. After my dad passed, I cancelled cable for my mom as well.

It’s amazing what little things knock the wind outta you. Then again, it’s amazing what little things you treasure forever.

Years ago, I came home to find this.

After that, I used to label everything around the house: The Boss and The Other One.

Don’t think I’ll ever stop missing her sharp wit.

Her sister took the kid for a bit. When she brought him back I asked her:

Me: What would you think if I maybe went on a date with someone?
Her: I thought you were dating.
Me: Hmmm, it’s hard to characterize what I’m doing. But anyway, what do you think?
Her: No one’s judging you on anything, Logan. Even if they do, who cares? I don’t. No one close to you does. If it was reversed, I’d want Alison to get back out there.
Me: (getting upset) Oh man, if only it was that wa…
Her: (interrupting) Pull yourself together, Logan! No woman wants to see that.
Me: (laughing, wiping eyes) Noted.

Which is also interesting because I went out to lunch with some friends a while back and a girl from my gym was there. Ended up walking her back to her ride.

Me: Do you read my blog?
Her: (grinning) Occasionally.
Me: I feel I should tell you that I’m not dating anyone in the traditional sense.
Her: Oh, I only date people in the traditional sense.
Me: As well you should. (laughing) I’m just working through a few things right now.
Her: How’s that going?
Me: It’s a work in progress. You’re single, right?
Her: Yes.
Me: Well, if you meet someone between now and, say, the end of November or so, he’s a lucky fella.
Her: And if not?
Me: Hmmm, I make a mean bowl of chili.
Her: (laughing) OK.

Anywho, got a call from her Saturday night after a sleepless week.

Her: Hey, I’m in your neighborhood walking to the subway from 83rd Street. I was thinking you should join me.
Me: (thinking) I might be free.
Her: If you are, I’ll walk slower.
Me: Well then, we’re in luck – turns out, I’m free. Gimme 15 mins?

 

Location: not on the other side yet
Mood: hard to say
Music: I’m not stopping for ya, I’m a f_____g warrior

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Got a nickel and dinner at Bistango

Seeing yet more friends


Since I’m talking about self-medicating with food and friends, there was a group of my buddies that all got together to donate to Alison that I had been meaning to see for a while. So I invited them all over for dinner last week.

Spent a full day making pulled pork tacos three ways: Mexican, Japanese, and Chinese.

Him: Churros? Do we want churros?
Me: Why do you bother asking questions you already know the answer for?
Him: I need validation.

They’re a private bunch so no pics. But the food and the company were killer.

In a similar vein, a college buddy had a birthday at Rice and Gold downtown, so I dashed off to see him for just an hour or so. I arrived a sweaty mess but got a hug from everyone anyway. Poor bastards.

Broke down when walked in I saw my friend’s wife. The last time I saw her was with Alison.

Her: How are you doing these days?
Me: About what you’d expect. Drinking less. Womanizing more. My usual song-and-dance.
Her: You look good – you’ve lost weight.
Me: I’ve been doing intermittent fasting. (thinking) And abject depression. I don’t recommend the latter.

Met a young couple there that threw a fundraiser for Alison at their restaurant. The wife sat down with me and was really sweet.

Me: Thank you for everything you did for Alison.
Her: (waving her hand) It was nothing.
Me: (shaking head) No, it was something. It was definitely something.

On that note, both Bistango and Nickel and Diner went far out of their way for my family so I wanted you to know about them.

If you’re looking for places with great food to eat in the city, consider going to one of those two restaurants and support some great people that supported me.

There are most stories I need to tell you. But I need to start my day.

And, I suppose, restart my life, again.

Me: I think we should talk.
Gradgirl: OK.

Location: back at my desk
Mood: fuzzy
Music: I’ll give you my best side, tell you all my best lies

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Asking them how to do it

Back on the dark side of the moon

Food from the New York Mall in Flushing

It’s funny. When I don’t write for a while, it’s either because I’ve got a lot going on or nuthin at all.

It’s been busy here but hard to explain with what.

After you’ve taken yourself outta society, it takes a while to reintegrate.

Saw some friends a little while back for a lunch out in Queens at the New York Food Court. PB was there as was my brother and several other people I knew and didn’t know.

Alison was alive the last time I saw them all. Just like everyone else I’ve seen. It’s a hard thing to think about.

My brother and I have a somewhat rare quirk in that we have very close female friends who are simply that: Female friends.

His best friend is female and was there for lunch. She was the woman in this entry where I hoped I’d never face the kind of tragedy she did. That didn’t work out the way I’d hoped.

I spoke to her after everything went down. Asked her how she survived the blow.

As an aside, I met another woman this past week who lost both her parents in her teens and asked the same question. But that’s another story for another time.

In any case, no one ever really has an explanation. People just survive, somehow.

I’m surviving somehow, I think. With the help of some good souls.

Her: I hear about you meeting up with all these women, when are you going to ask me for a friend date?
Me: You wouldn’t like the cost of admission.
Her: Ewww, gross, Logan!
Me: (laughing) You know who and what I am. But I’ll see you again soon enough, I’m sure.

In that good souls entry, the horrible event I alluded to was the loss of yet another pregnancy for Alison and me.

I wish everything was different.

Ah, goddammit. I’m back here again.

Location: back on the dark side of the moon
Mood: back on the dark side of the moon
Music: Are you at it again? I think you hold your heart too close to the vest

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Ancient conversations, just ancient

Conversations


For you to get the full effect of this story, you have to know that I’m a germaphobe.

Not a terribly bad one, but enough that I’ll return home to get bottle of hand sanitizer if I leave with it or buy a new one immediately.

At last count, I have 14 bottles of them. That I know of.

I gave the little guy a bath the other day and he did something he’s never done before:

Me: …and that’s why the story of Tyre, the seige of Alexander the Great, and the Elvis Barbershop. Wait, what are you doing?
Him: (concentrating)
Me: Wait, are you…? No, don’t you…don’t…ohmygod…what are you doing?! For the love of god, stop! Stop! Stop! Don’t! Oh, man…
Him: (doesn’t stop until he’s done, inhales, smiles)
Me: (sighs) Well, papa’s gonna go throw up now. Then we’ll clean you up and figure out how to sell this apartment. We can never come back here.

Was on 41st Avenue, between Main Street and College Point Avenue in Queens the other day. Saw this lanky construction worker lead this group of elderly Chinese women around the construction site.

That’s him in the pic above.

He spoke to them in polite but limited Chinese, despite not being Chinese himself. I had to chat with him.

Me: Dude, that’s cool.
Him: What?
Me: That you took the time to learn the words to talk to them.
Him: (laughing) Thanks! I try. I figured I should learn how to say the right thing.
Me: (holding out hand) I like meeting nice people. The world’s fulla douchebags. It needs more nice people.
Him: (smiles and takes my hand)

Striking up conversations is a skill, but not always one that ends up anywhere meaningful. Although they’re all interesting in their own right.

Me: (interrupting) …sorry, I have to ask how old you are before we go on.
Her: 22, why?
Me: Oh, that won’t do at all.
Her: (laughing) Why? How old are you?
Me: Not to ruin this lovely conversation but…ancient. Just ancient.

Speaking of conversations and foreign languages, here’s a video with Oakland Raider, James Cowser discussing dim sum with much (much) better Chinese than I ever have.

Went to dim sum with someone recently but that’s a story for another time. One can only jump around so much in a single blog entry without making the reader’s head spin.

I think I hate James Cowser. Purely out of jealousy.

Location: all over the place
Mood: not good, not terrible. Meh
Music: I’m a funny little thing, I can tell you this for nothing

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