This year was the same as previous years but also a bit different.
In the past, we used to go out and wander all over the UWS. But something felt different this year.
My kid’s dressed up as French soccer player Kylian Mbappé.
I’d been reading about shootings in the area on the upswing and I just didn’t feel comfortable with Nate running around outside; especially since, in the past, there were times I felt penned in in some streets and the last thing I wanted at that time was some violence.
It turns out that I was right, because my sister wrote me to tell me that a McDonalds – which my kid and I’ve been to easily 2-3 dozen times – had a shootout just an hour after when we were supposed to start trick or treating.
So, while the Firecracker and her kid went trick-or-treating out and about, I only let the kid do it in the large apartment complex next door.
On the positive side, though, it’s nice that he and I have so many friends in the neighborhood that we have the opportunity to do things like that.
It stinks that kids can’t just be kids these days.
Like all parents, I try to shield him from what I can but it’s a losing battle.
Still, he’s such a resilient little kid, I’m hoping it’ll be ok, somehow.
Speaking of the law, I don’t often talk about the law (or martial arts) in this blog because it’s always supposed to be a personal blog, about my personal life.
But I’m always surprised how much my professional life/lives bleed into my personal one.
Case in point, the kid was punished for something he said he didn’t do.
So, I took time outta my day, gathered evidence, witnesses, etc, and appeared before the person accusing the kid of wrongdoing.
The issue happened at his school, not the gym, but I liked this shot of him doing his thing.
Was able to prove that he didn’t do what they accused him of, and he got an apology from an adult.
Him: But, Mr. Lo, I want to talk about your behaviour. Me: (laughing) Wait, my behaviour? Him: Yes. We had people there that said you were belligerent and abusive to my staff. Me: Oh my! Well, good thing I have a recording of the entire episode – which I brought with me today. Here you go (hand him my phone). Him: (takes my phone and then watches it) You recorded it?! Me: (nodding) As you can see, I neither raised my voice a single time, nor did I attack your staff personally in any way with ad hominem attacks. I just told them they made a bad call, which we both agree is the truth. Him: (after watching half) OK, I’ve seen enough. I’m glad you recorded it. Me: Me too. I’ll send a copy to your email for your records.
And I did.
It always pays to be prepared, IMHO.
Unfortunately, you can’t prepare for everything.
OK, so one thing I read about my garbage disposal was to not put in very fibrous things – like woody stems and the like.
The other day, I had this HUUUUGE grapefruit and, without thinking, stuffed all the rinds and the interior skins down the disposal.
Ten minutes later, water came pouring outta my dishwasher.
Four days, one $80 brass elbow, one tube of plumber’s putty, two snakes, two bottles of drano, two general contractors, a professional plumber, and $1,100 later, I have a working sink again.
That was the most expensive goddamn grapefruit I’ve ever had in my life.
I will say, though, that one good thing came out of this whole adventure, which is that the above is the pipe that leads into my wall.
You can see that it was so old – at least 40 years old – that the threads completely rusted off.
The plumber said it was wholly unrelated to the reason why he was there but that it was gonna snap off in the next year, what with alla the vibrations from the garbage disposal.
So, it was good he was there to catch it.
Oh, I bought a dashboard cam to record things as well.
Like I said, it pays to be prepared.
The people that shot the above video would agree with me, I think.
Since we were only in Bermuda for a total of six hours, we had a lot more time to tour the ship some more.
I got to check out alla the places I didn’t get to go to the first few days because I was so sick.
A lotta of the things I probably woulda done had I not gotten sick but after that, I really just wanted to lounge around and rest.
Afterwards, the Firecracker enrolled us all in a contest where we go against the officers in trivia – it was called, “Are you smarter than a ship’s officer?”
Turns out, we were.
Won a bottle of champagne to boot!
Later on, we caught a comedy show, which was pretty impressive because (a) it was clean enough to bring the kids and (b) he spent the whole time – hilariously – riffing on the audience.
It was quite impressive.
Most modern cruises have waterslides, if not mini waterparks; well, the MSC Meraviglia had a waterpark that the kids just loved.
I’d been feeling better so I ended up joining them for some of it.
Later on that night was their “white night,” so we dressed in white to support.
Whereas before, I ate essentially what one might consider “normally” – which is I would eat three meals, with an appetizer, main dish, and maybe a dessert.
However, because I was (finally) feeling back to my old self…
…I ate a lot more than that.
A LOT more.
Her: It looks like you’re back. Me: So, it would seem. (reaching over) Are you gonna eat that?
Later on that night, a MASSIVE flock of sparrows crowded on our balcony.
I turned on the lights in my cabin to get a better view and two immediately slammed into the glass wall and hurt themselves (they later flew off) so I shut off the lights.
Was too beat to take a pic so you’ll have to trust me on that.
Didn’t open my door, though, even though I wanted to.
Finally emerged on day three still feeling pretty off but less like death warmed over so I ventured out with everyone to brekkie.
Him: Wow. Me: What? Him: I’ve never seen you eat so little before. And you never eat this much bread. Me: Mommy told me that, when your stomach hurts, you have to eat BRATTY foods, which are Bread, Rice, Applesauce, Tea, Toast, and Yoghurt.
And that, my non-nauseated friends, is a list of alla the foods I’d been eating up to that point.
It’s good that I was feeling better because the Firecracker booked us all a table at teppanyaki for dinner, so we went to that.
The chef we got was a nice guy, and the food was delicious, but he was obviously still in training because he messed up the egg tricks three times.
Still, it was good, and the kids were entertained.
And I, for one, was certainly happy to have something other than bread and carbs.
Afterward, the Firecracker and I separated to do our own things.
Now, a guy was supposed to play the Rolling Stones at a bar that the Firecracker and I hit up earlier.
I didn’t have any tequila, mezcal, or anything beyond soda water so my bar experience was pretty different than it usually is.
The kid was super excited to have a small, private concert.
But there was another band that was playing the Beatles, so we went to that.
The Firecracker was able to join us, so that part was pretty nice.
We also got to dress up all snazzy, like.
The next day, we arrived in Bermuda, but – like I said – there was that new hurricane developing so we were told that we only had from 9AM to 4:45PM to be in Bermuda.
So, we made the most of it and headed to Horseshoe Beach for the pink beaches.
Because the Firecracker and I had been to Bermuda (many times) before, we just hopped the bus to get there.
The last time I was in Bermuda, I was so irritated because I just wanted to remember her, but the idiot driving wouldn’t stop prattling on about nonsense.
It still makes me mad thinking about it.
This time, though, I sat with Alison’s son in the back while the Firecracker sat in another row with her son. So, I finally had my time with my thoughts and our son.
Me: Mommy and I once walked this exact route. Him: Really?! This far!? Me: It wasn’t my smartest idea, but mommy was nice enough to support me.
I won’t bring up Alison again in this because it fucks with my head.
In any case, after a spell, we finally arrived at the beach. The boy was underwhelmed but enjoyed being in the water.
Me? I was in and out of my head a lot for a bit.
But I did get to show the kids where I liked to go on the beach – years ago, I saw a tree growing outta rock there and found it again.
It was doing well and, somehow, that made me feel better.
We didn’t get too much time there but that’s fine.
I was just happy to be able to sit and read for a few minutes. And be in my head for a bit.
We made it back to the ship with hours to spare and stopped by the dockyard for a bit before the kid and chilled out on our balcony and had lunch together.
Her: The artichokes were good. But they’re just too much work. Me: They’re the crayfish of the vegetable world.
It’s been quiet around here for a change. Most exciting thing was that I made the Firecracker artichokes for the first time.
Did get stuck in the rain the other day though.
It wasn’t that bad.
After all, there’s no such thing as inclement weather, only poor clothing choices.
Location: bed, waiting for the sandman
Mood: sleepy
Music: no music, just the rain Subscribe! Like this post? Tell someone about it by clicking a button below.
The kids were away and, like I said, I’ve been hankering for Chinese, Japanese, and Greek food lately.
Me: We may end up going to Big Wong. I’ll figure it out once I get there. Her: Soup dumplings are always a good idea Me: (in Chinatown) There’s zero line at Nom Wah!
For those of you not from NYC, Nom Wah Tea Parlor is one of the very first Chinese dim sum restaurants in America, opened in 1920.
The children of the last generation of owners decided to update the marketing to include social media but not update much else and it’s worked; there are tons of videos about it like this one from Bon Appetit:
Or this one from Munchies:
Or this one from PBS:
Alla this attention means that there’s always a line going around the block.
I’ve been in this little town for 45 years and I’ve never gone in, actually.
But the other day we lucked out and there was zero line and we got superstar seating.
Her: This is what happens when you eat like an old man at 5:30PM. Me: But…no line!
We were both starving so we ordered a ton of food…
…really, so much food.
We managed to eat almost everything – so good.
Afterward, we had some wine and beer that we slowly enjoyed while chatting when a waiter came up to us and said that there were lots of people waiting; sure enough, there was a long line that went to the neighboring street.
So, we left and, because the kids were away, we headed to a speakeasy that was hidden behind a coke machine called The Basement.
Since it was still early, we easily got a seat…
…and ordered some drinks, which were excellent but…
…she was mainly interested in the kettle corn they gave us.
Her: Ask for more. Me: Me? Why don’t you ask for more? Her: Oh, I will.
She’s wasn’t lying.
Her: Do you wanna play some beer pong? Me: I’m beat, I just wanna sit. Her: You’re no fun. Me: Accurate.
Her: We’ll be home and in bed by 10PM. Me: I know. It’s glorious.
This entry is out of order; back to the regular nuthin in the next entry.
The Firecracker’s dad came into town this weekend and we met up with him on Saturday for a kid’s birthday party.
It was fine for the most part but then a parent snapped at my kid when he tried to break a piñata with his foot when it fell down – like an 8 year old kid understands why whacking a piece of cardboard with a stick is ok but kicking it isn’t – and destroyed him in front of all the other kids.
It pretty much set the mood for the rest of the weekend for us.
He’d never cried at a birthday party before and, of course, it had to happen during the weekend of Mother’s Day and his mom’s birthday.
Obviously, there’s no way for the other parent to have known that.
If it wasn’t for the fact that she couldn’t have known and that she was a mom, I woulda been arrested.
Still, he was fine after a spell because I raised him to be resilient, but – man – I was steamed.
Him: She said I did it on purpose, but I didn’t. I was trying to help. (sadly) I’m the worst kid. Me: Don’t ever say that. She doesn’t know you at all. You’re the best kid mom or I could ever ask for. Him: Really? Me: Honest and for true.
We then went to have dinner with the Firecracker’s family at a local taco joint that I’d been to before and then called it a night.
The next morning, despite it being Mother’s Day, the Firecracker got up bright and early to make her family and us a killer brekkie with a baked blueberry and apple oatmeal dish and a baked fritatta with feta and bacon.
The oatmeal bar
My kid liked it so much, he asked for seconds of everything and also asked for more the next day.
God, I love that kid – he’s just like me where we eat our feelings.
We all chatted at my place for hours until we had to meet up with the ABFF for dinner and to remember Alison.
This was probably the worst birthday/Mother’s Day yet for the kid because he feels the loss now.
Being humiliated and yelled at a birthday party probably didn’t help matters.
It was the hardest one for me for a while because it hit the kid so hard.
Him: (looking up at the ballon) How do we know she’ll get it? Me: We hope. Him: (nodding) I hope she knows I miss her. Me: She knows. I’m sure she knows
Getting outta the city’s always a bear but the visiting presidents and alla the rain made everything worse.
My son didn’t come with us down south as he wanted to stay at his grandparents, so we drove him out to NJ first to drop him off.
MIL: You want some coffee before you go? Firecracker: Oh, I already have some in the car, thank you. Me: I’d love some, but I go to the bathroom enough when I travel.
This turned out to be pretty true when I asked her a few hours later if she wanted to pull over to get a quick break.
Her: Nope – I’m gonna be a taskmaster here. Me: Can I at least borrow your sunglasses to try and sleep a bit? Her: (laughing) You’re gonna look great in my sunglasses.
She was wrong.
Tried to get some sleep in the car but that was pretty much impossible.
Somewhere in West Viginia, her kid got hungry so she finally pulled over and we searched around for a place to eat.
Her: I love seeing the country. Isn’t it beautiful and peaceful? Me: It’s like when I went to college [in Cornell]. I gotta, say, though, this place is less bucolic and more like the land of strip malls.
I had a chicken sammie animal style at Chick-fil-A.
The next four hours or so were just like this.
We were making good time so for dinner, we ended up stopping by a joint called Holly Jo’s Creekside Grill.
The food was only ok but everyone was super nice and I can’t remember the last time I ate with Darth Vader.
The problem was probably that I ordered a salad. It was not a good salad.
Everything else was good, though.
It was pretty late when we pulled into our hotel in Winston-Salem – some 12 hours after we left that morning.
The hotel itself was pretty nice.
Me: Man, look at the size of this place! Real estate’s gotta be lot cheaper out here if this is just the lobby. Her: Yup, Winston-Salem only has about 250,000 people. Me: That’s not even as big as my family’s neighborhood in Queens.
The hotel room was pretty nice too.
When we got up the next morning, we were pretty amused to find that there were two conventions happening in the convention hall just a block from our hotel room:
Shall we say that the attendees of the respective events wore radically different outfits?
Firecracker: (talking about the Youth Convention ladies) Do you notice that they’re all wearing skirts down to their ankles? Me: I do now. (pointing over at an anime convention girl in hot pants) They’re dressed pretty differently. Her: Very. (shaking head) They should probably wear a little more. Me: Nah, it’s America. People should dress how they want. Her: It’s cold! Me: This is true.
I didn’t take any pics of the latter but did of the former.
There’s gonna be zero rhyme or reason to this entry cause I went through my camera and found a buncha random videos that I meant to post.
Let’s start with a video shot in October of 2023 where I took a bus out to Queens in this entry.
Now, I’d meant to post this video in that entry, but I forgot I even took it.
Essentially, that explains all the rest of these videos.
Nothing special but I just always liked seeing the NYC rivers while on bridges.
Now, this is another video I shot in October of 2023, where this very old and broken dude was screaming out racial epithets at people who were just walking by him.
I believe the cops got involved but I was already gone by the time they started to arrive.
While NYC definitely has moments like that, it also has moments like the next video, which I shot the following month on November 18th, 2023.
It’s just some people playing ping pong on the pedestrian square outside of Koreatown.
I like how totally random it is, just like NYC itself, which is also totally random.
That’s all I got for now.
Well, that is until I find another batch of random videos from my phone.
Lemme close out this entry with someone else’s video; this is Ryan Adams singing his song New York, New York.
It was shot in 2001, right before the World Trade Center was hit and is how I remember the buildings before all the horror.
Despite a whole lotta things, that sounds about right.
Location: a trampoline park all day, surrounded by kids and noise
Mood: headachey
Music: In a church on the upper west side (Spotify) Subscribe! Like this post? Tell someone about it by clicking a button below.
Didn’t have much time to decompress after our trip because I pretty much immediately had to get ready for a two-day Scenic Fights shoot.
The last time I checked, we were closing in on 585,000 subscribers, which itself is pretty nuts.
But getting – and keeping – alla these subscribers means that we gotta keep cranking out good content.
So, the other day, we tried shooting in my buddy’s dot com.
It’s weird, I know alla these serious movers and shakers these days, and I often marvel how I ended up knowing any of them.
Case-in-point, a buddy of mine sold one of his many companies to Facebook a little while back.
I’d never been to his offices before but he mentioned that he had a studio in one of them.
Me: Whoa! Can we shoot at it? We’re always looking for new places to shoot Scenic Fights. Him: Sure – have your producers reach out to me to set it up.
And they did.
Honestly, I don’t have the words to tell you how gorgeous these offices were.
Like, they had two bars/kitchen areas in them.
And we took full advantage of them – I almost made myself sick eating all the snacks there. I did my best to not have too much of the alcohol since we were filming.
There were snacks and drinks everywhere, but I – of course – didn’t have any because that would just be gauche.
It’s been a long time since I’ve worked for a dot-com, but being there reminded me of onea my possible pasts from decades ago.
I often wonder what my life woulda been like if I’d stayed.
Then again, I suppose I like how my life is now, horrors notwithstanding.
Even though it’s nuthin like I’d expected it to be all those years ago.
