Tag: friends

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It was glorious

Just glorious

With alla the changes around here, the Firecracker noted that my curtains were looking a bit worn.

Alison had put them in, so they held some sentimental value for me. But I also realized that Alison was a pretty unsentimental person when it came to home economics.

Like, she definitely woulda tossed these a while ago if she were here so I relented and we took them down and the Firecracker hemmed some new ones in navy blue.

I like that she’s leaving her mark here in my world.

Afterward, we went off to see ABFF.

Her: Hey how are you guys? Let me know if a dinner could work for you guys this coming Sat?
Me: Yup! Gyros? Fried Chix? Sushi? We just did pizza so maybe not that unless they’re dying for that?
Her: They are telling me anything.
Me: Halal guys?!
Her: Looks good.

So, I packed everyone up and we went to see them.

On the way there to Halal Guys, I passed by a Popeyes.

Me: Man, I also want a chicken sammie.
Her: I can get that while you get gyros so you can have both.
Me: You’re the best, thanks!

We did just that.

It was nice seeing all the kids together again – they’d not seen each other since May or so I think.

The ABFF’s kids are super artistic; below is a balloon that one of them (or one of their friends, I’m not sure) drew of an elderly politician.

Son: Can I stay over a sleepover?
Me: I dunno, you don’t have any clothes and…
ABFF: He can if you’re ok with it.
Him: CAN I?!
Me: (laughing) As long as she’s ok with it, you can.

So, the kid stayed over (her kid was with his dad) and the Firecracker and I went home, bellies full, and did what all parents secretly wanna do when the kids are away…we crashed.

We crashed hard and fast, and it was glorious.

Glorious.

Location: earlier tonight, my kid’s classroom, appreciating the air conditioning
Mood: hungry
Music: The crib looking Victorian (Oh, yes, it is) You know that we been going in (Spotify)
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It all worked out

Managing the world

Like I said, the kid started school the other day.

Him: (the morning of) I’m a little scared.
Me: Makes sense. But you’re always a little concerned about your first day of school and it’s always worked out ok, hasn’t it?
Him: I guess so?
Me: (6.5 hours later) How was it?
Him: Great! My teacher is the nicest teacher, ever!
Me: Ever?! Well, high praise. See, it all worked out.

The rest of it is his story to tell and he’s getting older so I’ll stop here.

But, because he was in school, I was able to dash down to midtown to grab lunch with the NFL Player and my buddy Thor.

Waitress: What would you like to drink?
Me: Seeing it’s the middle of the day, how about a White Russian?
Him: Sensible.

It was nice seeing the fellas, whom I see a lot less these days, now that I’ve switched gyms.

Thor: I got this one.
Me: Dammit, I shoulda ordered more alcohol.

Hopped the train back to the UWS with the NFL player and we caught up – he’s been doing really well at his gym and I, mine.

Also spoke to Thor a few days later as he had an issue that was troubling him but turned out to be just fine.

Him: Thanks good news on [that] front; [its] too long to put in text but main thing is that I’m ok!
Me: YES! Here’s to good news whereever we find it.
Him: Thanks for checking in Logan it means a lot man.
Me: After all we’ve been through now? Of course!

The world’s a lot more manageable with good friends that are also good souls.

Location: earlier today, with the kid pushing a safe down Broadway
Mood: busy, busy, busy
Music: I’m up all night, howlin’ at you – tables have turned (Spotify)
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A train adventure

The end of Summer 2024

The kid started school the other day so, as a last hurrah – and because both my kid and the Firecracker’s kid love trains – we went on a train adventure the other day.

NJ Transit has been having alla these issues lately so, as a mea culpa, they offered free train rides all week last week.

Now, my kid was already at my in-laws so, bright and early one day, I went to get him.

But not before fueling up with some empty carbs.

Carbed-up, we hopped the train…

…transferred to another train, and then got off at Journal Square.

It was super cute, when he saw the Firecracker, he like RAN to give her a hug.

They both played at the playground for a bit…

…before we went in search of food.

We found this cool little joint called White Star and ordered a ton of food and drink.

We continued our train adventures by hopping the light rail to see my SIL.

Her: Can you help me bring a rug to my basement?
Me: Sure!

It was a HUGE rug so I should really ask details before I agree to stuff.

Afterwards, she gave us a lift to the local pier…

…where the kids had more fun.

And then we walked through Hoboken…

…to get to Benny Tudino’s for one of their obnoxiously huge slices of pizza.

It was actually his second time there – I told you about the first time we went back in 2021.

Bellies full, and fully exhausted, we headed back home.

All-in-all, it was a good way to end out the summer.

Him: I’m a little worried about school.
Me: You’re always a little worried about school. That’s normal. But, every year, it turns out ok, right?
Him: I guess so.
Me: You’ll be fine. You gotta trust me here.

Location: under my kitchen sink, looking at a huge puddle of water
Mood: @#$@#$@ exhausted
Music: I’ll tell you all about it when I see you again (Spotify)
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A BBQ on Governors Island

Nice people

Him: [Even though I eat meat], sometimes, I order a black bean burger just to have it.
Me: Have you considered therapy?

My friends Ricky and Kathy put together a BBQ on Governors Island this past weekend.

I’ve enjoyed it since the first time we went with the Firecracker and her kid, so I was looking forward to going there again, especially that my college friends were going.

So, early last Sunday, we piled into the subway and then hopped on a ferry there.

We met everyone at the docks and were on the island before we knew it.

After we disembarked, the Firecracker, the kid, and I went the wrong way and ended up at the wrong place.

The kid was less than enthused.

But we managed to get to the right place in time for food.

Him: They’re not ready yet.
Me: I like my burgers rare to medium rare. I’m sure they’re good already.
Him: Fine, here…

There was so much food.

Afterward, we went for a walk where I saw a building discussing the Billion Oyster Project here in NYC – something that I’m super interested in.

Unfortunately, I got a call from the kid on one of my friends’ phone – he’d gone bike riding with some of the other kids…

…but got separated yet still managed to find his way back.

Him: (upset) I’ve never been by myself for so long before. And on a bike!
Me: Well, I hope you learned a lesson to stay with everyone and pay attention.
Him: Are you mad at me?
Me: I’m just glad you’re back safe. And I’m actually super impressed you found your back by yourself.

He seemed just fine after a spell.

The other kids definitely helped.

As did the fact that Cappy brought pie (again)…

…and the Firecracker brought homemade keto chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.

Of course, I drowned my own fears into some grilled beef.

The truth is, while I am alarmed he was lost for a bit, I am impressed that he kept his wits about him and managed to find his way back.

Him: But I got lost.
Me: Yes, but you made it back to someplace safe. For that, I’m very proud of you.
Him: I was so scared.
Me: (nodding) But you’re safe now.

After a bit, we packed up and headed home.

We all said our goodbyes at the pier…

…and the Firecracker, the kid, and I took our scooters up the Hudson River Greenway home.

Him: I was super scared. (thinking) But everyone was really nice.
Me: Life is scary. It helps to have nice people around, yeah?
Him: (nodding) Yeah.

Location: a dog kennel, lifting up the kid to get a better look
Mood: heated
Music: I shout out and I didn’t miss one friend (Spotify)
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I’m a somewhat trustworthy person

Key Lime Pies rock

Him: You seem like a somewhat trustworthy person. Would you mind if I drop off a set of house keys for you to mind while we’re in Australia? Not for any specific purpose, just a precaution.
Me: Sure. Completely unrelated, but where do you keep your valuables and large bills?
Him: [The wife] would say the cats.
Me: What are their resale value? Again, just making conversation here.
Him: I am having second thoughts.
Me: Fair. I can’t fault you there.

My buddy and his family went off to a place called “Australia” – which is a real place, evidently – for the summer and asked me to hold onto a set of keys for him JIC.

The below is what he tossed over my gate.

The joke’s on him when he realizes that I’ve rented his apartment out to a lovely Asian family for half of what he’s currently paying.

(It’s me. I’m the lovely Asian family)

On a different matter entirely, the Firecracker and I’ve been staying local for the most part but since the kids are both away, we’ve been just streaming films and eating at local bars.

The beauty of day-drinking is that we can both kinda work so long as we have an internet connection.

Although the use of the term, “work,” is loose, at best.

Another thing we have in common is that neither of us cook a lot during the summer as it’s so damn hot.

So, we just eat a lotta prepared food or food that we just need to assemble, like sandwiches or this killer caprese I made the other day.

We’re both pretty simple people that like simple things.

Case-in-point:

Me: I don’t think I’ve ever had a key lime pie.
Her: Really!? We have to get you one, then.
Me: Won’t argue with you there.

Oh, and Key Lime Pies rock.

Should get a bigger one next time.

Location: my (own) apartment, wishing I had some pie
Mood: sneezy
Music: Ain’t it such a good life that we live (Spotify)
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A (Food) Tour of Flushing, NY Pt 2

Dessert time

After we ate our fill, it was time for dessert and the Frenchman’s daughter was in the mood for some shave ice.

So, we walked over to a joint called Flower and Dessert and got something there.

I told the ladies that they should probably just order one single one because I knew it was gonna be HUGE but they ended up ordering two because everything looked so good.

Can’t really blame them AND I also got to have some so it was really win-win.

Still, even with the five of us, there was still a ton left from the two dishes we got.

While they were delicious, I gotta say, I was a tad disappointed that it was really just shaved ice cream and not the classic shave ice that I grew up eating while in Asia.

By this point, we were all pretty beat – after all, we’d been eating for close to three hours straight.

But the Frenchman’s wife wanted to stop by Soy Bean Chan for some sweet dessert tofu to take home.

Of course, I had to have some as well.

Shoulda taken a pic of Soy Bean Chan’s place, which is a small tofu stall and then also a florist shop. It’s essentially about 100 feet from that woman holding the tray below.

We went back to the mall where we parked the car and the ladies all went shopping while the Frenchman and I went to Gong Cha and had a lightly sweetened peach green tea.

Me: You want something?
Him: No thanks, I’m totally sugared out.
Me: Even if it’s lightly sweetened?
Him: Nope. Completely sugared out.

I get it.

I don’t usually consume anywhere close the amount of carbs I consumed that day.

After alla that, he and I went to the ridonk huge Skyfoods Asian supermarket at the mall – the ladies took over where we were at the tea shop – and I stocked up on a buncha things like fresh lychee and tofu.

Although I did skip getting any frog legs.

Afterward, we piled into the car and drove past Willets Point to head home.

Me: If you came here 10 years ago, you’d see what it was like in Queens/NYC 100 years ago, because it was the last place in the five boroughs that didn’t have paved roads or a sewer system.
Her: How come?
Me: This was all salt-of-the-earth Queens people that ran automobile shops and junkyards here. The soil was super contaminated so they didn’t bother to develop it for years.

They only started developing it in earnest in 2018.

In any case, the Frenchman was nice enough to drive us alla way back to our pad, which was totally in the opposite direction of where he needed to be.

Me: That was super cool of him – door-to-door service!
Her: Absolutely, they’re great. (pause) It’s barely 5PM but I just wanna go to bed.
Me: But…we still gotta eat dinner, though…

Location: Dive 75 with a pretty lady
Mood: more injured and annoyed
Music: We can make it if we try (Spotify)
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A (Food) Tour of Flushing, NY Pt 1

Eating our way through Flushing, Queens

The Frenchman and I were chatting the other day about maybe heading to Flushing for some food.

Him: Sunday? Interestingly, I will have a car from the previous day’s rental.
Me: What I’m reading is that you’re offering us a ride. We accept. Thank you.
Him: If you come to us first! But sure.
Me: I was mostly joking but…heck yeah.

So, early on Sunday morning, the Firecracker and I found ourselves on the Upper East Side, where the Frenchman and his family gave us a lift to my childhood stomping grounds.

It was mainly a food tour and, honestly, no Flushing Food Tour worth its salt doesn’t have White Bear as part of it.

So, that’s where we started.

We got the classic Number 6, which looks spicy but isn’t really at all.

Unlike other dumpling spots that pan-fry, these guys use super thin dough and boil them so they’re much more delicate.

After that, the Frenchman’s kid wanted something to drink, as did the Firecracker, so we went to TenRen Tea for that.

Me: When I was a kid, this place was mainly known as a traditional Chinese medicine shop but now it’s known more by the kids for their bubble tea.
Her: Oh, I want a Thai Iced Tea then.

After that, we went to the World Mall Food Court where everyone got something different.

The Firecracker wanted Taiwanese food, while I went with a teriyaki chix dish…

…while the Frenchman and his family got noodles and more dumplings.

Now, I’d been meaning to upgrade my scanner for a while and my brother told me that he gave my mom a high-end Epson FF-640 that she wasn’t using so my mom swung by to drop that off with me.

Wish I took a picture with her, but I forgot.

Her: I put it in this red roller for you. Make sure you don’t forget it!
Me: I promise I won’t!
Her: (later) Did you forget it?
Me: (laughing) I’m 51! I didn’t forget it!

Once a parent, always a parent, I suppose.

I’ll wrap this up in the next entry.

Also, I’m super hungry again.

Location: earlier today, a dive bar with a pineapple cider
Mood: still injured
Music: wish that I could be a kid in the summer (Spotify)
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A Bohemian Dinner Rapsody

Not having an internal monologue

For some 18 months, I’d been trying to get a triple date lined up with Bryson and his wife, The Frenchman and his wife, and me and the Firecracker.

Bryson and the Frenchman were friends first, with the Frenchman being a white belt in BJJ when Bryson was a purple belt.

But, because life gets in the way, Bryson’s now a brown belt (4th level) but the Frenchman’s a black belt (5th level) and I’m still – laughably after over 20 years on-and-off – a blue (2nd level).

Like I said, life gets in the way.

Only found out through social media that they knew each other and, after we got together last time around, we’d been trying to do it again with no luck.

This past week, we’d finally arranged something – or so we thought.

Bryson: Hey guys I did not read the calendar right. We are [away next week after all]. We can do this Thursday or Friday.
Me: I’m putting this on your list.
Frenchman: Argh…that’s July 4th…sorry got a plan already.
Me: Is tomorrow out?
Bryson: We can do tomorrow.
Frenchman: Tomorrow 6:30-7pm would be the earliest.
Me: Wait, that works for us as well. 7PM tomorrow?
Frenchman: Oh, wow it’s happening.

So, after months of trying to plan something, we just randomly decided to meet up around the Frenchman’s pad within 24 hours.

The Firecracker suggested Bohemian Spirit as she knows I like Slavic food and the other fellas were game so off we went.

The Firecracker and I got there first.

Me: Oh man, this place is super cute.
Her: I figured you’d want to be able to take pics.
Me: (later, to waitress) Hey, do the chairs on the wall/ceiling mean something?
Waitress: (laughing) It means my boss was bored during COVID.

After a while, everyone else showed up.

While the Firecracker had met the Frenchman’s wife, Tess, before, and briefly met Bryson’s wife, Nikki, the two wives hadn’t met each other yet.

But, since everyone’s so chill, we all fell into a really easy conversation pretty quickly.

The food was killer to boot.

Me: Did you know that about 30% – or something – of people don’t have an internal monologue?
Frenchman: Wait, what does that mean? You have conversations with yourselves?
Firecracker: What? You don’t?
Me: You don’t talk to yourself?!
Nikki: I don’t talk to myself either.
Me: Whoa, is that 30%?
Firecracker: Your math is off.
Me: Asians are not known for their math skills.

Turns out that the Frenchman – and possibly Nikki but she was sitting farther from me – don’t have internal monologues.

Evidently, he thinks in images and concepts but doesn’t actually have a conversation with himself.

This was a pretty hot-button topic for us to end out the night but that’s more their story than mine, so I’ll stop here.

The Firecracker and I were stupid full, and she suggested that we walk home from the Upper East Side to the Upper West Side.

Her: It’s just like a mile. We can do that easy.
Me: Fine, but you’ll have to protect me if someone attacks us.

Can’t remember the last time that I walked across the park at night.

It was nice.

Actually, the whole evening was nice.

I’d do it again. Although, hopefully, earlier than 18 months.

Location: at another bar, limiting myself to a single burger
Mood: hot
Music: Will you let me go? بِسْمِ ٱللَّٰهِ! (Spotify)
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Another year done

Summer Vacation Begins

The weekend before his last week of school, I took him to hang out with Steele and the Surgeon at another trampoline park.

Went there mainly for the food.

Evidently, so did he.

Afterward, we ended up having ice cream by my old gym.

Him: Is that chocolate?!
Me: Maybe.
Him: Can I lick it?
Me: I guarantee you, it’ll be super gross.

The Firecracker was also dealing with the start of summer.

But this also meant her summer work party, which was held just two blocks from my pad.

Her: No one ate the wings, so…
Me: I’ll take care of it…them.

Also ordered a pina colada.

No umbrella, though.

Me: When we leave these doors, you won’t be coming back for…THREE…WHOLE…MONTHS!
Him: Here I go…I’m done!
Me: (laughing) Yes. One more year down.

The kid just finished another school year.

There’s something weird in our brains where years 1-20 seem to take forever, but then the same years 21-40 sprint by.

41-51 has been a blur.

The kid is growing up so fast and I can’t keep up.

Wish so much that I could slow things down.

I wish a lotta things.

On the last day of school, picked him up 20 minutes early to take him out to NJ for him to catch a flight and to start his summer.

Me: Man, I’m gonna miss you!
Him: (rolling eyes) It’s just gonna be a few weeks, papa.
Me: I know…but still.
Him: I’ll be back soon.
Me: OK.

Location: home, without the kid. It’s not the same
Mood: sick and a bit melancholy
Music: And it’s a circle, circling around again, it comes around again (Spotify)
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Meeting friends

My brain just glitched

Him: Hey! Any chance we could meet up a little earlier tomorrow? Say 10 vs 11?
Me: Sure!
Him: Perfect, see you then! I’ll be the gray-haired guy with the 6’ tall sixteen-year-old.

My buddy Danny came by with his kid the other day. He moved to Texas ages ago.

Don’t think I’ve seen him since this entry waaaay back in 2007, far before his daughter was born and before he had grey hair.

I gave them a quick tour of the Upper West Side before I had to run back for some zoom meetings.

Gotta say, I think about stopping this blog alla time but then I’m reminded how nice it is to have a place I can just remember things.

Me: His daughter really was six-foot tall.
Her: You know, one of these days, the kid and all his friends are gonna be taller than you.
Me: (…)
Her: (laughing) You ok?
Me: My brain just glitched.

Him: I’m glad we could meet up! And you’re right by my sister.
Me: It is the upper BEST side, after all. (stopping in the middle of the street) Hold on…
Him: Everything ok?
Me: Yeah. (pointing down) That’s a baseball imbedded into the street and thought it was interesting enough to take a pic of. (shrugging) It’s kinda what I do.

I’ve also been having some zoom classes for a physcian that lives in Pittsburg. He’s also a former boxer that’s gotten really into kali and reached out to me to see if we could do private zoom classes.

So, for the past few months, I’ve been teaching him here and there.

He randomly ended up like two blocks from my home the other day so we met up for a cuppa joe.

Whenever possible, I always try to make time for people if they’re willing to head up to where I am.

After all, I never know when – or even if – I’ll ever see them again.

Location: watching Rob and Andy sing in Newark
Mood: entertained
Music: If you would leave it’d be a crying shame (Spotify)
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