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In a red leather recliner in the UWS

The one where I saw the movie Gravity

I used to live in a two-bedroom, but then this happened:

Me: So the mouse seems to have disappeared.
Her: Ok, well, we’ll have to seal off the back room with concrete block and never go back there again.

After a month of living in a de facto one-bedroom, we caught it so our apartment became a two-bedroom again, which is good because that was around the time that my brother came.

Her: I’m still not going back there.

For the most part, avoid the theaters like the plague because I can’t stand people. But the one in my hood (didn’t realize this until my friend PB told me) has assigned seating and – get this – red leather recliners.

Red. Leather. Recliners.

This also meant plenty of arms rests and leg room. May have to find a reason to see movies every day.

The film itself was pretty astounding. Really good story-telling and amazing use of 3D. It reminded me of watching Forrest Gump where the CGI wasn’t so annoyingly in your face.

Because we didn’t get enough sugar from the gallon-sized drinks there, we strolled to a local candy shop called Sugar and Plumm where we, quite literally, were kids in a candy shop.

And now to go to the gym for the rest of the week. But it was worth it. Totally worth it.

On a different note entirely, got a comment the other day from the gals from the Panasonic party. Honestly have no idea how anyone finds this blog.

In any case, turns out the woman I took a picture with is named Jamie Rae Livingston and she’s a semi-finalist for Maxim’s Hometown Hotties.

I myself was in contention for Hometown Hotties 1978 but lost out on the talent portion. And the looks, poise, height, weight, and math portions. But it was close.

Seems like a nice enough gal so, if you have 10 seconds, you can vote for her here – no registration, just click a button.

Location: getting ready for gym for real
Mood: even more fatty-fat-fat
Music: I know I’m not the only one standing here
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Pizza vs. Chili

Having endless pizza in NYC

Me: Can I ask you a question?
Her: (continuing to stare at computer screen) Sure.
Me: What does the fox say?
Her: (turning to me) Ring-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding!

My brother was in town last week and it was a (relatively) light work load so I managed to spend some time with him.

He lives out in LA now so each and every time he comes out here, he has the same thing for almost every meal: Pizza.

Although we did try and balance it out with a salad. But still, it was mostly pizza.

Her: Are you ok?
Me: (coughing) I just had a *huge* piece of anchovy in my salad.

It’s a bit like when I go out there and have chili. We are very different but very alike at the same time. It’s a sibling thing, I suppose.

We did break up the pizza-fest with the occasional – equally nutritionally-bad – fro-yo. This one was from when we visited his friend out in Queens.

Him: (sitting at table) OK, I’m done.
Me: (pointing to his cup on the far right) Are you sure? I still see some space in your cup where you could still put in more stuff.

After he left, tried to eat a little more healthfully. The wife had made some homemade granola – pumpkin for her, regular for me.

Me: Which one’s mine?
Her: (calling out from other room) I wrote it on the label. The one that’s not my name.

Location: waiting for the phone to ring
Mood: fatty-fat-fat
Music: Wa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pow! Wa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pow!
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The time I went to Bowlmor Lanes in Times Square Pt. 2

Gradually, then suddenly

To continue from last time, after we stuffed our faces and drank our fill (for the time being), a singer came out and belted a few tunes – I thought she was pretty good.

We ended up getting most of the bowling lanes to ourselves and played next to this blond couple that were hyper competitive.

Met a photographer with the same camera family as mine so we traded lens for a bit and I walked about looking for things to photograph.

Every so often, these incredibly tall models would float in and wait for the make-shift photo-studio near the lanes. Ended up chatting with one named Jamie-rae from exotic New Jersey.

Me: Dammit, knew I should have brought a step ladder. Try not to make me look too short, ok?
Her: (laughing) I’ll try.

I made my way to my buddies and had some more drinks – the rum situation had not improved so vodka was the word of the day.

Then it was time to go.

Me: Hey man, I better jet. (pause) You gonna be ok?
Him: Yeah. It comes and go.
Me: Life’s crazy, isn’t it? Everything’s gradually then suddenly.
Him: That’s exactly right.


Making my way home, kept thinking about Hemingway’s  gradually, then suddenly line that my wife told me about.

When I was in my late 20s and early 30s, there was a parade of friends getting married, then from early 30s to now, a parade of friends having kids. And now, all of these funerals.

This all happens gradually and then suddenly. Gotta admit that I dread the next suddenly.

Wife: How was it?
Me: Good. Some other things we can chat about later but it was good seeing the guys. (brightening) Wanna see some pics?
Her: Sure.

Location: wishing my brother a safe trip at the door
Mood: concerned
Music: We count our dollars on the train to the party
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The time I went to Bowlmor Lanes in Times Square Pt. 1

A weekday night out with old friends

RE Mike dropped me a line. Panasonic was having a party at Bowlmor Lanes in Times Square to launch their new Lumix DMC-GM1 camera and he and another buddy of ours were going.

We met up for a quick drink beforehand and were soon there. After settling in, lots of photographers showed up.

Me: Who are they? (pointing to the group above)
Him: The cast of American’s Next Top Model.
Me: Cool. Be right back.

As I said, I have a camera and little to no shame.

Me: This is like old times.
Him: It’s been a while.

Me: Hey, there’re cheerleaders over there.
Him: Those are the Jets Flight Crew.
Me: Cool. Be right back.

It wasn’t all fun and games, though.

Me: So how have you been?
Him: (pause) My father just passed away.
Me: Why didn’t you call me?
Him: I don’t know. I just...
Me: (later) Well, there’s not much for us to do but get seriously lit. Shall we?

It was an open bar with food as our old days so a lot of it was hazy.

He’s an old friend so when old friends want to drink to help overcome the blows, then we drink.

Because we have friends and readily available alcohol for just such an occasion.

Me: (raising glass) Here’s to your dad, man.

 

Location: home, getting ready for an important appointment at 3PM
Mood: concerned
Music: of course it’s gonna get better. Gonna get better
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A Fall Walk with Banksy

Banksy’s Better Out (in the Upper West Side) Than In – Hammer Boy

Joe Fox: Don’t you love New York in the fall? It makes me wanna buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address. On the other hand, this not knowing has its charms. — You’ve Got Mail

There’s something about the crisp air, and that general lack of summer douchebaggery that makes me love New York.

Dunno what fall is like where you are, but here, when the air is clear and cold, and there are slightly less people, there’s the sense that we’re getting ready for school, family, and the holidays.

It’s comforting in the cyclic regularity.

It was nice enough that the wife and I met up with some friends at Banksy’s new artwork around my neighborhood over the weekend.

And then wake up early on a Monday morning to have coffee and pancakes at the local diner.

Me: If we moved to San Francisco, it’d be like this all the time.
Her: It’s not the same.

She’s right. Think of moving elsewhere all the time. But it’s hard to be beat the city on a quiet fall morning.

Me: It’s mornings like this that make me love being a New Yorker.
Her: Me too. (Sirens from a fire engine whiz by)
Me: Ah, the dulcet sounds of our fine city.

Location: -50 mins, a Broadway diner in front of a short stack
Mood: pleased
Music: trees whose shadows fall along sheep’s meadow
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Travelogue: Comic Con New York City 2013 Pt. 2

More pictures of cosplayers – now with beer

My Twitter post from last night at 3AM:

“Are you sure it’s decaf?” I asked the waitress.
“Yes,” she replied.
#liars #insomniastinks #hate #rage #chili

Continuing from my Comic Con post yesterday, after walking around for a few hours, we decided to try to get some food.

Him: Check out the Korean food stand over there. Ever since I came back from teaching in Korea, I have been craving so much Korean food, I love Korean food.
Me: Me too. (thinking) Actually, I love food in general.

Me: There’s a German food joint about 10 blocks up.
Him: 10 blocks? That’s a walk, man.
Me: We can work off the beer we’ll be drinking.
Him: Good point.

When we get to the exits, the escalators are broken.

Cosplayer: You all have to turn back, the escalators are broken.
Me: (irritated) Escalators don’t break! They become stairs! (see video below)


After two sets of broken escalators, we eventually, we make it out and head over to Hallo Berlin.

Him: What’s good?
Me: What are your thoughts on fish?
Him: I like fish.
Me: Maybe an order of sausages and an order of fish?
Him: We’ll need more food than that.

Me: Wanna try a Berliner Weisse flavoured beer? It’s a little girly but who’s gonna know?
Him: Sure.

Me: Hey, that was cool. Thanks a lot, man.
Him: No problem.

Mitch Hedberg: An escalator can never break, it can only become stairs.

 

Location: in front of coffee #6
Mood: so tired
Music: You conform to what society says and I conform to me
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Travelogue: Comic Con New York City 2013 Pt. 1

The one where my buddy and I see a lot of cosplayers

Him: Interested in going to NYC comic con next weekend, I have an extra ticket.
Me: I’m in. (later) Do you mind if I bring my obnoxiously large camera?
Him: No.

After a really long week, a gym buddy of mine and I headed to ComicCon in NYC over the weekend.


Evidently there were 130,000 attendees there. That sounds about right.

Him: I never take pictures. I should.
Me: Luckily for you I do and have little to no shame.

Him: Man, think about how much time they spend on these costumes.
Me: Well, everyone’s got a thing.

Him: Let’s go find Hulk Hogan.
Me: I don’t want my childhood memories to be tarnished.
Him: He’s like 60-something. They’re gonna be.

We didn’t find Hulk Hogan but saw Julie Benz from Dexter, Angel, and No Ordinary Family. She seems very nice.


We probably could have stayed a bit longer but we’re both fatty-fat-fats and our stomachs got the better of us.

Me: I’m ready to go. Food is trumping everything else.
Him: I could eat.

Turns out my cousin was there too – here’s a pic of her from io9 where she had a rating of one of the best costumes there – you’ll have to guess which one she is:

More tomorrow (or Friday).

Location: home, having chili for breakfast
Mood: hungry
Music: I went from zero, to my own hero
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Another rough stretch of insomnia

Who knows what battles we’ll have today?

Her: He looks good.
Me: He does. Goodbye Sal. Say hello to Dino.

Spent Thursday getting to the wake and then went the next day to the funeral. All funerals are the same in the sadness but unique in the details.

And that’s all I’ll say on the subject.

On a different point entirely, had a sleepless stretch from Thursday through last night.

Interestingly, the face of the world changed with a sleepless night. Not my sleepless night, the night of a man named Darius.

Almost exactly 2,344 years ago, at the Battle of Gaugamela – which is an amazing story for a million reasons – Alexander the Great went to sleep the night before the battle and Darius of the Persian Empire did not.

The Battle of Gaugamela, Alexander's Decisive ...
The Battle of Gaugamela, Alexander’s Decisive Movement, 331 B.C. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Moreover, Alexander told his men to get some sleep while Darius told his men to stay awake in case of a nighttime raid.

After that single battle was over, Alexander took over Babylon and gained half of the Persian Empire. Darius escaped with his life only to be murdered and betrayed by his men soon afterward. That lack of sleep the night before cost Darius and his men everything.

I think of that story from time-to-time when I’m up at night. Last night, slept for just under seven hours – the most in a week – so I feel a good deal better but still, not quite myself.

Coincidentally, my sister just wrote me to ask if she could crash at my apartment for a few hours because of her insomnia.

I’d like us all to get some rest.

Because who knows if we have to go to battle today?

Wife: (laughing) I can tell when you haven’t had sleep.
Me: How?
Her: You start talking funny. (imitates my voice)
Me: I’m always worried I start sounding crazy. (sighing) I need to get some sleep.

Location: in front of a lotta coffee
Mood: anxious
Music: Sometimes it feels just like I’m falling in the ocean
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Ollie’s, Heisenberg, Mill, and Chock Full o’Nuts

How much change can we take before we’re not us?

Me: You know what our problem is, don’t you?
Bryson: What?
Me: Even though we know we’re 40, inside, we still think we’re 17.
Him: (laughing) That is so true.

Gave my buddy Bryson a ring the other day. Been laid up with my bum leg again; got injured a few weeks back and it’s not getting better. Bit the bullet and called up the doc today. I’m praying it’s not another ACL tear but it looks more and more likely as the days go on.

Disconcerting. Moreover, it’s the main reason behind my insomnia these days.

In one of those hazy nights, remembered when I actually was around 17. Was at Columbia University at the time. There was an Italian diner on the corner of 116th and Broadway called Ollie’s, run by an Italian dude named Ollie, natch. You could go in and get spaghetti and meatballs – which I did often – a burger, and Chinese food. The reason was because it had a Chinese cook.

Down the street was a diner called The Mill. Picture your typical diner with spinning stools and that was The Mill. They had a Mexican cook and a Korean cook so you could go to there and not just get a burger, but also a burrito or a Korean dish.

They’re both still there but The Mill’s been gut renovated and is now a Korean restaurant. And Ollie’s? It’s now a chain of Chinese restaurants in the City.

No one remembers what they used to be. That’s not true; I remember.

Did you know that Chock Full o’Nuts, the coffee brand, is called that because a fella named William Buck used to sell nuts. But then the depression hit so he had to sell coffee for a nickle.

Thought of that Sunday night when the Breaking Bad series finale came on. The Mill, Ollie’s, and Chock Full o’Nuts – they were born one thing but the world changed around them and they became something else entirely.

Like the Ship of Thesus, I wonder how much change we can go through before we’re no longer the person/thing we once were. Sometimes, something changes us so fundamentally the only thing left of us is our name. In Heisenberg’s case, not even that.

Bryson: The wife is telling me I should take up running.
Me: Ha, mine is telling me the same thing. I’d do it if I didn’t find it so boring.
Bryson: It’s hard to explain why we are the way we are, isn’t it?
Me: Don’t really think I understand it myself. (pause) But it wouldn’t be us if we didn’t do what we do.

Location: my pad, with ice on my leg
Mood: concerned and #$@#$ tired
Music: really want to stay inside and sleep the light away
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Friends and Grey’s Papaya on the UWS

This was a weekend in good and bad food choices


A male buddy, who is white, showed up with a female friend, who is Asian, at my home the other day. I introduced them to my wife and noted that my wife and I were a white female/Asian male couple.

Guests: (to wife) Hello!
Me: It’s like we’re the negative images of each other!

The girl was from Taiwan and had never been to America before so I gave the two of them a quick 45 minute nickle tour of my neighborhood before a phone conference I had scheduled.

Her: How long have you lived here?
Me: About 40 years.

She wanted a hot dog so I brought them to the Grey’s Papaya on 72nd.

Me: …and over there is where Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson had the phone scene in Die Hard III. And this is also the Grey’s Papaya from Fools Rush In and You’ve Got Mail.
Him: Cool.

Forget sometimes that I live in the middle of one of the most visited places on the planet; to me, it’s just home.

When people visit, I become a tourist in my own city again. Even if only for a little bit.

Picture from On The Set of New York.

Everywhere I look, the news is troubling and sad. Was going to write something about it, but I don’t think I’m clear in my head right now – my injuries are preventing me from going to the gym, which in turn has led to the return of my insomnia, which in turn is leaving me fuzzy.

Not a good start to the week but the weather’s cooled down enough for me to make some lasagne.

Life is better with lasagne.

Here’s an Instagram pic I took of it – oh, and find me on Instagram and Twitter.

Location: running out to get more coffee
Mood: fuzzy
Music: how could he resist when her dress let in the autumn sun?
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