Archive for September, 2008
The Way I See It #280
You can learn a lot more from listening than you can from talking. Find someone with whom you don’t agree in the slightest and ask them to explain themselves at length. Then take a seat, shut your mouth, and don’t argue back. It’s physically impossible to listen with your mouth open.
~John Moe; Radio Host
Via my SECOND Starbucks Chai of the day
The Way I See It #281
I’ve never bought the “lowest common denominator” image of popular art. Too many artists worry that populatiry is the same as being “Middle of the road.” I’m much more into the idea that the middle is the highest point. On a map, the center of a mountain is its peak. You need to climb very high to get there.
~Dan Wilson – musician.
Via my Starbucks Cup
Kezza’s Birthday
After Lakeside, KF and I went toward Bar Standard – the bar where Kezza decided to have her weekend b’day party. We arrived early and decided to walk around, grab some food, and try to pass the time. After some good wings at Luciano’s, KF decided she wasn’t ready to go to the bar because it was too trendy. So we walked a few blocks and found this divebar. As we walked into the dive bar, we noticed something that made this bar stand out. But that’s probably a story for another time…
After the dive bar, we met up with Kezza and friends at Bar Standard. Someone brought pirate eye patches to celebrate National Talk Like a Pirate Day. It was pretty funny.
We didn’t stay at Bar Standard long – there were no people there. We tried to gather the troops and rendezvous at another bar. That didn’t quite work out as well. We went to a few bars downtown but ultimately called it a night from there. All in all, it was a fun evening…
Lakeside Amusement Park
On Friday, I headed out with KF to go to Lakeside Amusement Park. We had talked for a while about doing this – we both wanted to go and take pictures. So, after work, we headed down to Denver and got our cameras out and started to take pictures.
Unfortunately, KF’s pictures didn’t come out for a myriad of reasons (camera, lighting, etc). I guess it just gives us more reason to go back next year! After Lakeside, we headed down to Denver to meet up with Kerry and company for her birthday.
NYC Day 5 – 9/15/08
There are lots of things that can be said about New York. Most are too cliche for me to really write down. However, while sitting in Bryant Park eating lunch before our flight took off, I picked up my camera again and asked Mira what she thought of NY. It was a nice turnaround compared to those initial impressions.
NYC Day 4 – 9/14/08
When I woke up at Josh’s place, it was again around 8am. Slightly confused and not knowing where I was, I started to panic. Josh’s roommate came out and went to the bathroom. At that point, I still had no clue to where I was and decided it was best to leave this strange place. Only after seeing the immense movie collection did it register to where I was. Not wanting to wake Josh up, I told his roommate to tell Josh to call me and that I’d catch up with him later.
I walked backed to Connie’s place where all my stuff was. I showered, packed my stuff, said goodbye to Connie and co, and went into the Manhattan. I get out at Rockerfeller Center when I realize something: I have no place to go. Here I am in the city, with all my luggage and some of Mira’s, and I don’t have a place to crash for a few hours. Greg, our hospitable host for the first night, won’t be returning from a wedding in Hartford until the mid-afternoon. Max and his girlfriend were leaving for a vacation. John and Ashley, whom I wanted to meet up with, weren’t going to have a place for me to stash my stuff. I was officially the stranded person in the middle of the city, luggage in hand. I felt like such a cliche and remembered back to my first attempt to live in the city. I had a car back then, and I stashed it in free side street parking and used that as home base. I thought about going to the movies – just wasting time until I heard back from someone. Instead, I parked my ass down near Times Square and used the free CBS Internet connection and surfed the web and wrote.
Writing in NYC is something that hurts. It’s my muse but there are so many emotional connections that it brings up. There’s a sour taste in the words I write, and those demons that I haven’t quite conquered completely. As I sat in the city, writing new chapters to the same old stories, I decided that maybe soon it would be the time to share everything with someone. Just one person – so that these demons can finally be conquered.
Finally, my blackberry buzzed and I got a text from Greg. He was home and I could come crash at any moment. The intense NY heat finally started to get to me, and by the time I got to Greg’s I crashed in front of the television watching football. A normal Sunday, no matter where your longitude is.
Mira arrives from her Brooklyn rendezvous and we start to get ready for Chris’s party. Mira bought this dress in SoHo and she looked great. I was excited because I haven’t really had a chance to catch up with Chris for a long time. We arrive at Chris’s house – a small penthouse apartment on W 72nd and Broadway. We enter, drenched in a thin layer of sweat from the humid New York night, and start to party.
Overall, everything was great. I got to see Chris and Pete. Mira enjoyed hanging out there and disappeared for a few hours with Chris’s brother Jay. The view from the penthouse was amazing – seeing the NY skyline from inside of it. I had an amazing discussion with Chris’s drummer which will probably come up in some form or another in this blog. Overall, it was a typical party with Chris – but a little tamer. As we ate Gray’s Papaya at 5am in the morning, I couldn’t help but miss living in the city.
NYC Day 3 – 9/13/08
I ventured into the shower sometime around 8am. I’m not quite sure if I actually got any sleep. I was actually wide awake. After the shower, I got dressed and felt completely refreshed and ready for action. It wasn’t until around 11am, when we were sitting at Balu for brunch, that I realized I was probably still drunk. Bulu had the most amazing Eggs Bennie that I’ve had in a long time, and while it may be the drunk talking, I felt ready to tackle another day in the city. Mira and I said bye to Connie and Dave and ventured into the city.
We met up with Max and John, who were eating a BBQ lunch on the Upper West Side. Mira, constantly alerting us to her craving for New York City Cheesecake, ushered us on to our new mission. John and I spent the day choreographing meet ups with various friends in the city. Chris Morris, one of my good friends from college, got a hold of me while we were in the Museum of Natural History, and we made plans to meet up later in the weekend. We made it up to Artie’s Deli, where John met up with Ashley and I had my brief encounter with Justine. Mira finally got her cheesecake, and then I realized that I had to bring her to Brooklyn AND catch the 4 up to Yankee Stadium. At 4pm, I realized the rest of my day would be spent underground. Getting Mira to Brooklyn was simple, but the 4 train up to the stadium for the make up game due to the rain delay was hell. My train didn’t even have AC. I’m trying not to remember those details for now…
I arrive at the game sometime around the third inning. Josh Roberts, another friend from Syracuse, was there along with Max, John and Ashley. We watched the game and it was nice to see John really enjoy it. He cheered the loudest when Jeter hit a “classic Jeter” hit over the head of the second baseman. Jeter had a few hits in the game – and would eventually become the career hit leader at Yankee Stadium a few days later. As the close game progressed, we got to see Joba Chamberlain pitch and Mariano Rivera came out for the save. As this was the last game I’ll ever see – after countless ones before it – it was nice to see classic moments from Jeter, and a save by Mariano.
After the game, we headed down to the East Village where we bar hopped. I got in touch with Chris Morris where we met up with him for a bit. Chris and I made plans for Sunday night, and then our group ultimately went our separate ways. We bar hopped for a while, I got some Pizza, and we just spent the time having the normal idle chatter that John, Max, and I are famous for. All in all, it was a great night – that ended with me crashing at Josh’s house and staying up all night telling him about the various things going on in my life: the start up, girls, etc etc. Again, the sun was rising as I slowly laid my head down on the pillow for what I hoped would be some sleep…
NYC Day 2 – 9/12/08
Yankee Stadium, for me and many others, has a special place in my heart. In many ways, it’s what I assume love is like. In my travels, I’ve encountered other stadiums with a better form, with better function, but at the end of the day – I always come back to Yankee Stadium. It’s everything I ever wanted it to be.
Mother Nature was not our friend on Friday – as rain showered polluted the sky and kept us from watching the game. I feel for my contingent of friends from Syracuse, who made the trek down (some to see the Stadium for the first time), and were only able to sit in the bleachers for a few moments before the game was officially postponed. Still, sitting in the friendly confines of Ball Park Lanes, we were able to enjoy a few brews and catch up. Mother Nature can’t put a damper on good friendships – and this was a great night for that.
After the Syracuse contingent bid adieu, the rest of us decided to power down to Queens. Anthony, coming up clutch as always, was able to drive and thus allowed us to avoid annoying public transportation. In Astoria, we got some food at the Blackbird and stumbled our way to the Irish Rover. At the Rover, I ran into some friends from my days in Syracuse and caught up and toasted the night. Sometime around 4am, we went back to Connie’s. Connie and I opened a bottle of wine and finished it as the sun was starting to rise over the city that never sleeps. My second day back in the city was over and the next one was starting.
NYC Day 1 – 9/11/08
After arriving in NYC for the first time in over a year, I felt strangely at peace. In juxtaposition, my travel companion Mira was completely overwhelmed. Still, after squeezing into the Q33 and heading toward the subway – I was very excited for the weekend.
The weekend was a blur of memories. The first night was a simple night of catching up with some old friends, checking out Manhattan with some newbs, and attempting to synchronize your pulse to the heartbeat of the city. We walked around Times Square and The Rock, we went to the bar Social and Wags and Heather had Cosmo chugging contests. Overall, it was a fun night. Here are some pictures:
The night ended relatively early – as our host had to work the next day and most of us were tired from our travels. No one really cared, the weekend just started and we were excited for what was in store…
