Tag: dialogue

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personal

First thing you do, buy yourself a whoopee cushion…

The Lighthouse and the Whaler

Bryant Park, NYC in Summertime
Met up with my boss and my buddy Johnny at The William the other night. We had some business to discuss.

Me: We’ve known each other 20 years. This may be the first time we’re working together.
Johnny: You’re the only person left I trust. I couldn’t let money come between us.
Me: That’s the thing. Money’s not my primary purpose. I’m interested in things money can’t buy.
Him: Wait two years. I gotta settle a few things.
Me: I know. It’s been 20 years. I can wait two more.


The weekend was hot so my computer kept crashing.

So I put on some tunes – like Venice by The Lighthouse and the Whaler – pulled it apart, and isolated the problem to a faulty fan.

While I was in there, attempted to swap out the CPU but that didn’t work because I didn’t have the right parts.

Still, was pretty proud that I still knew how to troubleshoot technology; I used to build networks and computer professionally before I became a lawyer.

Me: (to wife) I figure if everything goes to hell, I could always go back and be a computer guy. The only question would be how to start getting rid of my most annoying clients.
Her: First thing you do, buy yourself a whoopee cushion…

Location: Fall in NYC, I think
Mood: ambitious
Music: I have seen all the feeling and the rains
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Mussels at Bistro Citron

Taking off our comfortable selves for a night

Bistro Citron in the UWS

Her: We should go on a date.
Me: OK.

It’s funny, when two people are actually dating, there’s some excitement as we prep that version of ourselves. But after you get married, you both see less and less of that version of the other person. That’s just how it goes.

So every once in a while, you have to make plans to dust off that version of yourself.

Me: (looking at wife) Whoa, hello there pretty lady…
Her: It feels nice to get dressed up once in a while.

Burger at Bistro Citron in the UWS

We went to a place called Bistro Citron around the way that got great Yelp reviews. We ordered the mussels, a medium rare burger for me, and a Frisée Salad with Lardons and Poached Eggs for her.

We got the mussels first and, I’m no slouch when it comes to eating, but the mussels did me in. The serving size was ginormous.

Me: I don’t know if I can finish that.
Her: Really?!

We tend to eat early to have the joint to ourselves. It was like we were dating again.

A few drinks later and we were on our way home and back in our comfortable faces and our comfortable clothes within the hour.

Her: We need to do this more often.
Me: I would go back tomorrow.

Mussels at Bistro Citron in the UWS

Location: off to wrassle
Mood: nostalgic
Music: These old wings just gotta be good for something
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It’s not just a piece of paper

Marriage is not just a piece of paper

Couple on boat on lake with balloons

Wife: Do you know what I want?
Me: World peace?
Her: No, nachos!

Some time ago, a buddy told me that he was (finally) getting married after living with his girlfriend for almost a decade.

When I asked him why, he reminded me that he had just come back from a vacation in Europe. Turns out he was involved in an argument with a local peddler.

Somehow, things spiraled from there and he ended up getting arrested.

But while locked up, his girlfriend wasn’t allowed to even visit him as she wasn’t a relative. She also wasn’t able to go back to the hotel to get his passport that day because she couldn’t prove she had a right to be in the room as he booked it with his hotel miles.

Only after the a day of waiting was she finally able to get in, get their passports, and clear up the matter.

Whenever someone says that “Marriage is just a piece of paper” I shake my head with disbelief. They’re only focusing on the emotional part of it – which I also don’t believe is true – and not on any of the legal and societal aspects.

Recently, just heard about another friend going through something similar here.

Marriage is a lot more than just a piece of paper. Even if you don’t think so, the rest of the world does.

Me: Look at it this way, now you two need a court order to break up.
Him: Is that a good thing?
Me: (laughing) It is in my case.

Location: start of a new work week
Mood: relaxed
Music: All on my own I don’t think that I’d have fared so well
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But that’s the actual nomenclature

Cold Ass Beer – Chug it

Cold Ass Beer - NYC Sign

Student: Did you just curse in class?
Me: I don’t consider “damn” and “ass” cursing. It’s more the hard K sounds I think…

In both the wrasslin gym I go to and my own fencing class, cursing is verboten. However, what constitutes cursing is different for different people.

There’s this move that is called by the creator of it S____y Rubber Guard. I mentioned that to someone in my class the other day and ended up doing pushups.

Coach: 40 pushups
Me: But that’s the actual nomenclature!
Coach: Do you want 50 pushups?
Me: I didn’t even want the first 40.

Still, I try not to curse casually, as you know.

Which reminds me that I’ve had a number of people read The Men Made of Stone recently that are surprised at just how much cursing there is in it.

I tell them that it’s the characters and not so me but I can see why they might be surprised.

Speaking of the book, I’ve gotten some more positive feedback that I’ll tell you about in the next few weeks or so.

On another note entirely, it’s getting hot as hell here. I could go for some cold ass beer.

Or rum. Either/or. Damn, it’s hot.

Location: behind a gate with a busted handle
Mood: hot
Music: Big kosher pickle and a cold draught beer
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Slooooowly walking all over the city

Neir’s Tavern from Goodfellas

Neir's Tavern from Goodfellas
End up having to go to Harlem, the Bronx, and then immediately out to Brooklyn for work last week. That’s bad enough on a regular day and worse with a bum knee.

Everything took twice as long.

Actually ended up crossing the border between Brooklyn and Queens – which means I hit every borough except Staten Island that day – and found myself in front of Neil’s Tavern, which is where some pivotal scenes of Goodfellas were shot.

It was in the middle of the work day and I had another client meeting so I couldn’t stop by for a drink. But I told myself I’d come back.

Over the weekend, my cousin crashed on my couch to prepare for the Triathlon, which is in the UWS so she got to see my insomnia on display at 4AM.

Her: You’re awake?
Me: I’m always awake.

After she finished up, we went out for some Cuban-Chinese food in the hood and then I got back to work.

I’ve got some other interesting news to tell you about but I’ll tell you after it’s settled down some.

Him: Remind me, what’s Neir’s? Did we use to sell crack rock out of that place?
Me: First of all, you *know* we sold crack rock out of Neir’s because you said, “Logan, let’s sell crack rock out of Neir’s.” And I said, “You just need the word ‘crack,’ as the word ‘rock’ is superfluous in that sentence.” Secondly, it’s also where Henry finds out Nicky is gonna be made. Although that didn’t turn out how they expected.

John Venn on Google today - 2014.08.04

Just realized that today’s John Venn‘s birthday, the guy that made Venn Diagrams and large influence on how I see the world.

Location: hobbling to the gym
Mood: still hobble-y
Music: you, you can be mean And I, I’ll drink all the time
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Really living the life

Probably a bit too ambitious these days

Canes at the NY Historical Society

Me: Have you seen my cane?
Her: It’s in the closet, next to the iron.

Turns out I was overly ambitious a week ago with my wrestling, fencing, rehabilitation and my knee just said, “No” and refused to work with me.

Been walking about with an ice pack firmly attached to my knee for the past two weeks. After it didn’t improve, went to the doc’s again yesterday.

Me: It appears neither of us got our wish to never see each other again.
Him: Well, is it at least the same leg?!
Me: Yes – is that a good thing?

He says I’m supposed to not do anything for another two weeks but I had to teach my class last night. And I’m probably going to try and hit wrasslin at least once a week but really lightly.

I’m sure it’ll be fine.

Her: Logan…Logan…I swear, every time you get internet access, it’s like I disappear from the room.
Me: Did you say something?

The wife’s away for business so I wanted to catch up with some work of my own. But the doc gave me a list of exercises to do in addition to an oddly busy summer workwise.

If nothing else, the injury forces me to work and catch up on some reading.

Him: What are you doing today?
Me: The usual, reading papers on my tablet with an ice pack on my knee.
Him: You’re really living the life.
Me: Don’t be jelly, dude.

Location: hobbling to the gym
Mood: hobble-y
Music: A ring and a car, now you’re the prettiest by far
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Stuff around the hood

There’s a lot going on this summer in the UWS

Filming TV Show Gotham in UWS

It appears that I may have injured myself a lot more than I thought. A week after I first got hurt, my injury hasn’t gotten better. So I – reluctantly – called up the doc today.

Receptionist: Have you been here before.
Me: Oh yeah. I know the doc as a betting man.

Punch Card for Parties

Prior to getting injured though, stopped by this gathering near my home of some friends where I had a really bad, cloyingly-sweet pina colada.

Her: How is it?
Me: Terrible. Do you want to try some?

The fun thing about this group of friends is that they’re incredibly organized with their gatherings, complete with save-the-date announcements, back-up plans, directions, AND a punch card.

I’ve only been invited once. I may not be invited again.

Me: …and that’s what I think about that.
Him: (silence)
Me: I like to meet new people by discussing religion and politics.
Him: You should add calculus to that.
Me: I’ll consider it.

Japanese Food at TenZan

It’s been too hot to cook so the wife and I went over to the local sushi joint. There are two other shows being shot around us right now in addition to Gotham so we’re constantly trying to get past crowds of people. A picture I took made it into the local blog, West Side Rag.

Filming TV Show Gotham in NYC

And then we worked our way home.

Her: I can’t get full.
Me: I can’t either. Let me see what’s in the fridge.

Location: home again, with an ice pack again
Mood: old again
Music: see what these old broken things What these old wings can do
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Stephen Colbert and the good ole days

Depth of character goes deeper than an accent

Graffiti covered wall NYC 2013

Stephen Colbert was born in Tennessee had a southern accent growing up. He realized that having it was a detriment to how he wanted to be seen in life and worked to get rid of it.

I realized something similar when I went to college in 1990 and met non-New Yorkers, you see, New-Yorkers like to share Sublets in NYC, this is because of the high prices and population density. It’s probably more of a necessity than preference!

That year, New York City was the murder capital of the United State. Here are the murder and assault rates when I was a teenager.

And the little slice of the world I called home had one of the sharpest increases in murder and violence in 1988, two years before the height. It wasn’t Bed-Stuy, but it sure as heck wasn’t Stamford, Connecticut.

As I’ve said a number of times before, it’s always someone invariably not from NYC that pines for the good ole days of “gritty” New York. I figure they imagine it from reruns of The Cosby Show or Fame.

Waiting room in doctor's office

Lately, though, I’ve been having strangers tell me that I must have lived an easy life growing up. And my roll my eyes as they try to impress me with the the time they were once mugged outside a suburban mall.

I grew up carrying two wallets, just so I could still have some scratch to get home when I did get mugged. Still do when I travel.

Everyone is so quick to judge others based on how they speak or appear, which reminds me of that quote: We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.

Anyway, Stephen Colbert lost most of his family in an airline crash when he was 10, which is more horrific than anything I could ever imagine – or ever want to.

But you’d never know it from how he is or how he speaks because he controls how people see him so well.

Most people assume that, because the depth of their character only goes as far as their accent, the same must be true of everyone else. I don’t talk like the poor son of a fish monger so I must not have been one.

Which is not necessarily a bad thing.

Him: It’s one thing to grow up in a rough area, it’s another thing to stay there.
Me: Why would we stay there if we didn’t have to? No one who was born poor wants to stay poor. It’s not like you see on TV.

Location: start of a new summer workweek
Mood: amused
Music: Wait for the day when I can save face and come to a happy home.
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Log Cabin Waiting Room

Waiting in rooms

Waiting room in doctor's office

Nurse: Take off your shirt and the doctor will be with you shortly.
Me: Ok.
Female Doctor: (enters the room later) Mr. Lo?
Me: Yup. I like to be shirtless when I meet people for the first time in office settings.
Her: And I like to make first meetings as awkward as possible.
Me: So, we both got what we wanted.

Had to visit another doc yesterday, nothing serious like last time – I hope.

The weird thing about this office was the decor. It was styled like a log cabin in the middle of Manhattan.

Just realized now that my doctor is a hipster.

Afterward, walked back as slowly as possible because of the heat.

As a whole, summer is a slower time for me; judges are away, clients are away, etc.

This summer’s very different. Not that I’m really complaining since the eat-what-you-kill lifestyle means you stay busy when you can.

It’s better to be busy than to be waiting around for work, I suppose. Off to another meeting.

Him: Great news, we’re finally ready to move on …
Me: (interrupting) Sorry, I’m completely booked up.

Location: in front of my desk, editing
Mood: heated
Music: Kiss them for me, I may find myself delayed
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Playing Hooky

A cancelled appointment means ducking into a theatre

Under Manhattan Bridge

Was downtown the other day on a nice spring day. Ended up walking under the Manhattan Bridge.

It was pretty deserted where I was so I had some time to my thoughts.

Ended up walking past a model shoot and thought that they must be burning up as the midday sun hit high noon.

66th Street AMC Theatre

A client cancelled a meeting on me the other day so I was trying to figure out what I should put in its place: Another meeting? Catch up on some reading? Organize some files?

But then I thought, I’d not seen a movie as a matinee in ages so I decided to play hooky and catch a flick. Hoofed it over a local theatre and caught X-Men: Days of Future Past.

It was glorious.

AMC Theatre

There were only three other people in the entire theatre, the air conditioning was no joke, and the film was pretty good.

As I thought when I was downtown, there’s something luxurious about solitude in the big city. It’s hard finding room to be left alone.

Afterward, went home feeling like a billionaire. That is, until I got the chime that told me to get back to work.

Him: Where were you?
Me: Important meeting. Couldn’t wait. So, I reviewed your papers…

AMC Theatre

Location: Midtown, shortly
Mood: relaxed
Music: Finding new ways to be awed each minute
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