Tag: dialogue

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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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A bit of taco from TacoBite

Hanging out in the hood

TacoBite food truck in NYC

The thing about returning from a vacation is that, within a few days, the effects of it are pretty much gone. I’m already back in the thick of work.

We’ve since returned to our healthful eating after our cruise. Not that she ever stopped.

Healthful Meal

Me: Do you think you have enough liquids there?

Still, the weather’s been really nice here in NYC, especially the past few days so we took a walk in the neighborhood to pick up a rug, which we lugged home.

Afterward, the lunch truck TacoBite was in the area so I got a burrito and she got two tacos. Pretty amazing stuff. Wish I had some right now.

Everyone thinks of Times Square or some place downtown as quintessentially Manhattan. For me, my little slice of the Big City is about as close to a small town as one can get in the heart of Manhattan.

Her: It’s nice to be on vacation, but it’s also good to be home.
Me: Yes. Although I miss having someone else find us stuff to eat.

Tacos from TacoBite.com

Location: soon to be in Chinatown
Mood: pensive
Music: I was just a skinny lad, never knew no good from bad
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Father’s day 2014

Communication and having to white it up

Boulder against cloudy blue sky

Him: (proudly) That’s my son.
Me: Hey, little fella.

Got a random call this weekend from an old college buddy. He was in town for just a bit and wanted to stop by with his new son.

Because I married so late in life, I’m one of the few people in that group of friends that have no kids.

It’s weird, even now, realizing that so many of my friends are parents and on that next stage of their lives. If I ever do become a father, wonder what type of one I’ll be?

Speaking of fathers, it’s Father’s Day. For a number of reasons, I wasn’t able to see him, as much as I would want to.

Sadly, something else that’s different with my friends is that many of the them don’t have the luxury of simply picking up the phone and calling them any more.

I do, though, and try to whenever I can.

Me: Hey dad, just checking to see how you’re doing.
Him: I’m good. Getting fatter.
Me: That makes two of us.

For many reasons, wish my Chinese were better. One, so I could talk to him more; another so that, if I ever did have a kid, would be able to talk to him or her in it.

Him: I feel bad, sometimes. English isn’t my native language. Chinese isn’t yours. It’s like me and my dad. We couldn’t communicate.
Me: Yes, but communication isn’t what you say, it’s what the other person hears. So, I think it’s fine.

The wife speaks another language fluently, so I don’t expect her to pick up a third. Although I do try to teach her some important phrases.

Me: Can you order me a 榨菜肉絲麵?
Her: I’ll never be able to say that, I’ll have to white it up.

Location: yesterday, 11AM, the West Side Highway
Mood: excited
Music: say honestly you won’t give up on me And I shall believe
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More danger inviting rescue

This weekend had weapons, beer, and an almost dead body

Riverside Park Bike Path…speaking of danger inviting rescue:

Me: I think I just saw a body.
Her: What, where?
Me: Back there? I swear it was a dead body.

It’s been a pretty busy few days. Last week, had a bunch of meetings and a packed weekend so I earmarked Friday afternoon to play hookey and go on a bike ride with the wife.

We went from our pad on the Upper West Side almost up to the George Washington Bridge but decided to turn back early. On the way back down, swore I saw a leg on the rocks by the Hudson River.

And you can’t un-notice something you’ve noticed.

So we turned back and when we got close, it was a leg. It was very bruised and connected to a very bruised old man. Who had his pants pulled down to his ankles.

We suspect he was either mugged or tried to go to the river to relieve himself while drunk and fell onto the rocks.

Neither the wife nor I brought phones so we flagged down another rider and called the police. While we did this, the “dead” guy began to stir and asked for help. We told him it was on the way.

Kinda.

Actually, after about 20 minutes, I went back out into the city to flag down a cop car. One passed me while an ambulance said he was on break. Not wanting to leave the wife alone for so long, I sped back but by then, the police had arrived and said the guy would be ok.

We went down to a local cafe where we got a beer and discussed what happened.

Her: It’s so lucky you saw that. How did you even see that?
Me: I have no idea.
Her: Remind me to never need help in the park.

Drinking at Pier I
The next day, went around Queens with my buddy Paolo and his (now) wife to help negotiate for a car. Which was exhausting. Afterward, we grabbed some Vietnamese food around my sister’s place.

Spent the night at the rents because Sunday morning, woke up early for a fencing seminar in upstate New York where I spent the day getting stabbed and slashed with an array of weapons.

Me: My knee has a cadaver ACL, I’ve got a bum neck, and my elbow was hyper-extended.
Him: Man, you’re all busted up!

Now it’s Monday morning and I’m looking at my schedule. No critically injured people, no used car dealers, and no seminars scheduled.

At least not now. But it’s early yet.

Wouldn’t mind some more beer and Vietnamese food though.

Drinking at Pier I

Location: yesterday, in Bowdoin Park
Mood: tired
Music: body was warm delicious vinyl to your neck of the woods
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Bowe Bergdahl, Tiananmen Square, and exchanges

Danger invites rescue

Chinese lantern
One of the most eloquent judges ever was a New Yorker named Benjamin Cardozo.

He had a case called Wagner v. International Railway where a fella and his cousin are tossed from a train. The first guy goes to look for his cousin and is injured himself. He then sues the train company, which says, “We didn’t ask you to search for your cousin!”

To which Cardozo said, “Danger invites rescue. The cry of distress is the summons to relief […] The emergency begets the man. The wrongdoer may not have foreseen the coming of a deliverer. He is accountable as if he had.”

Essentially, Cardozo said, “You made the situation happen where a normal guy did the normal thing: tried to help. You can’t create a situation that causes danger and then say, Well, we didn’t ask you to help!”

Danger invites rescue. Because, while human beings – by and large – are animals, there are those that aren’t. There are those that point at burning buildings to laugh and those that run in to help. We are in need of all you dormant warriors for justice, the people need you.

That was very first thought three years ago when I first heard about Bowe Bergdahl. It remains my thought now.

While we’re on a rare political bent I note that today is also the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protest massacre.

Him: But don’t they have freedom now?
Me: When it happened, the government said, “Holy crap, we’re in trouble – give them everything they ask for, except the one thing we really want.”

Property ownership? Done. Capitalism? Done. Private industry? Done.

Everything but what really mattered to the government, which was power. Political freedom was the one thing that mattered to the government and the one thing that should have mattered to the people.

Whenever you trade X for Y – $499 for a toy called iSomething, freedom for basic rights, one man for five, etc – you’re making a conscious choice of what you really want.

Only afterward do you ever find out if it was really worth it.

It’s the lawyer in me that always wonder what’s really for sale.

Location: in a new laundry room
Mood: injured
Music: you’re taking these pills for to fill up your soul
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Stuff I say during movies and television

More particular with the time I have left

Two beers and my buddy with a wedding ring
After a pretty busy week last week, the weekend was a little quieter.

Met up with my friend Kate at the local bar around the way along with my buddy that got married last week – you can spy his wedding ring in the pic above.

Me: How’s married life?
Him: About the same.

Couldn’t stay long because I was meeting up with my fencing instructor for dinner before we had a class.

The next day, the wife and I took a walk around the hood where we picked up a key holder for the house. Afterward, met up with my friend Jarred for our weekly improv class.

Most of my weekends this month are scheduled with activities, for better or worse.

As I’m getting older, I’m getting more particular with how to spend what days I’ve left from my 26,280 days – which I reckon is about 11,300 days.

My wrassling buddy is my age and we talked about it:

Him: And you’ve gotta figure only 5,000 of them are really good.
Me: If that!

What time I do have to myself, I spend with the wife, which is always time well spent.

Almost always.

Movie: “You have 212 more supplicants to see you.”
Me: (to wife) That’s why we have judges – they act on the king’s behalf because the king couldn’t possib…
Her: I have to write down everything you tell me while watching movies and television and call it, Stuff my husband tells me during movies and television.

Location: Off to meet another friend
Mood: rested
Music: the hell are you waitin for After me, there shall be no more
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A wedding and a ferry

Champagne: Breakfast of Champions

Logan Lo and a buddy on the Staten Island ferry

Him: Hey, could you do me a big favor and order me some sandwiches? Like 10?
Me: Yup.

Woke up the next morning to an email asking if someone could pick up food for the bridesmaids that had been there since 9AM – the fellas didn’t have to be there until noon.

Women get the short end of the stick in weddings.

So I dashed out and ran around to a few different places.

Me: Do you have any sandwiches right now?
Him: Sandwiches? None fresh, we’ll have to make them. How many you need?
Me: A dozen?
Him: A dozen?! Now?! We’re still serving breakfast!

Eventually, ended up finding a place that could do it, grabbed them, and met up with the groom. We had to catch a ferry so we had to run to make it. And with me hauling alla those grinders.

Me: (breathlessly) I didn’t know there would be an athletic component to your wedding.
Him: Me neither.

The reason why we had to get there so early was because there were hours of  pictures that needed to be taken, none of which I have here.

Once we got there, my predecessor served the breakfast of champions: champagne.

Champagne, the breakfast of champions

After that, it was just hours of picture taking. As an odd coincidence, one of the bridesmaids was the daughter of my dentist, whom I’d known since she was a baby.

Her: Let me show you a picture of my baby!
Me: You’re a mom? Get outta here!

The world is so small and I am so old.

Another Bridesmaid: You’re not really 41, are you?
Me: I’m as surprised as you are.

Wrong card for a wedding

We all got around to prepping our gifts for the couple; the best man accidentally bought an anniversary card for them.

Him: (laughing) I’m just going to cross it out and write, Congratulations.

After the ceremony, it was finally time for the wedding. Because of rain, the wedding had to move inside.

A shame but still very nice.

Don't take my bourbon!

My friend Katie was at the table and fixated on one thing: drinks. Unfortunately, her first glass of bourbon was taken away so she resorted to leaving notes for the waitstaff.

My other friends were more fixated on the cake and dessert tray.

Dessert Plate

There was even a candy station where we could get our fill of candy. Too bad there wasn’t a gyro station. That woulda been sweet.

Candy Station

Speaking of sweet, after the cake finally came out, dashed out with my brother and our friend Tina – caught the ferry home with two minutes to spare.

Wedding cake

The next day, woke up bright and early to see the wife in New Jersey. where I wrote this on the train ride over.

That’s a whole different story and one only of interest to me I suppose.

But I’ll tell you all about it someday.

Wife: How was it?
Me: Good. Tiring. Glad it’s done. I’m sure they are too.
Her: Did you get any sleep?
Me: Some. Not enough. What’s new?

Location: The rents. I’m all over the damn place
Mood: awake
Music: Round and around and around and around we go
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