June Gloom

June 4, 2011
Jenn and I grab some coffee in town. She needs to go into the city and I was planning to go in anyway, so I drive in with her. We grab a beer at Slainte and then go to Uniqlo. I return some stuff and we split. I go to the Flatiron Building to take some pics and then have a great Shake Shack burger. I then meet up with Atron and we shit around and drink some Old Fashioneds.
I then go to Baoguette with Bolanos and we then meet up with Atron to go to Idle Hands Bar. We then make fun of Continental, yet still go there because Murray and his friends are there. I then get a call from Stefan who is supposed to meet us. I hear Elena in the background complaining about her heels.
Outside of Continental, we run into Elyse and Nate, which is ridiculous because now it’s a freaking family reunion when Elena and Stefan show up. We go to Fish Bar, which has become a chill bar that I really do like. We then go to Sophies. We then go to South Brooklyn Pizza and I drive back with Bolanos.

June 8, 2011
It’s scorching hot as shit, but it’s a good day to catch up on stuff. I have plans to go to museums this weekend. At home, I check out this documentary I downloaded on Italian Renaissance painting. It’s not really my style, but it’s nice to learn about the Renaissance, Michaelangelo, and da Vinci. I then continue watching the series of Italian gardens. The guy does Rome, which is gorgeous. I then move onto a documentary on the women of Rockabilly. It’s really cool to see the genre grow and how that music was fought against my the religious crazies.

June 9, 2011
Miah and Spamps came over last night to hang and I don’t get to sleep late. I’m on and off about being diligent and working 5 days a week, but I decide that I’m taking off and going back down to 4 days. I gotta chillax, get a good sleep schedule going, and have some me time.
I sleep in like a real motherfucker even though I emailed my boss late night that I wanted to change plans. I have ot wake up at 8-9:00 to confirm that I’m not actually going in, done. After fighting waking up and going back to sleep, I sleep all the way until 3:00PM. That’s serious. I guess I needed the sleep real bad. I then make some breakfast as in a kimchi, chicken, vegetable, etc. stir fry and pick myself off my ass to go to Panera.
It’s chill as hell here and I can get stuff done. While I’m trying to figure out my plans for the weekend, write some Yelp reviews, and read up, I’m watching this great documentary on Impressionism. When the guy starts off and says it’s 2 hours long, I’m hesistant and not sure if I want to sit through it all, but I’m 15 mintues through and it’s great, so I’ll keep going.

June 10, 2011
I meet up at Hop Devil and loads of people are there that I haven’t seen in a while, Josh, Jonah, Kerri, and Tork. We hang there for a while and then we split and go to Tom’s friend’s bday at Von with Atron and Stefan. Stefan has a new faux hawk haircut, which makes him look supah fly. It takes a bit adjusting to. After that, we meet up with Lydia and go up to Sidebar and stand around there for a bit until we stop for one last beer at Blind Pig and head back.

June 11, 2011
I should take it easier again. I’ve been doing well, but I guess nobody is perfect yet. It’s not that I was a mess the next day, but I did want to sleep in and didn’t end up going to a Yelp event at 2PM. I end up meeting Ela at the Guggenheim, though my phone didn’t have service so I go in for a bit and finally find her waiting at the lobby.
We wait around for a bit until we grab dinner and then go downtown to meet up for Murary’s bday. We go to a few bars, Brandon stops by, and we go to Off the Wagon. I end up dropping Ela by the subway and end up driving back myself, but not before getting some awesome Indian food. Greenwich these days seems pretty cool. There’s a bunch of awesome food places, some of which are new, and I could definitely get into trying them out.

June 17, 2011
Today is the Beirut concert and Spamps drives out there with Bowen. We walk over to the concert as it starts and it’s in a park. There are people outside the fence listening to the concert, so it makes me think… Why did I pay $30 for this concert?
We get there and after a few songs, I grab a Heineken for $6. We end up meeting Jonah and the show ends before 9:45. It’s not a bad show, but I was expecting better. I guess the outdoor acoustics and it not being so intimate hurt it. Jonah and Spamps are dilly dallying around waiting for Caroline without plans on where to eat, so Bowen and I split up to get our drank on. I’ve never been out with him so it’s cool hanging out with him finally.
We walk all the way down Bedford in Williamsburg and finally go into a place that I’ve been to. It serves Bud in a 32 oz. Styrofoam cup for $4. What a sick deal. I get one for bro because it was his 21st a few days ago. We then go to another place to hang with a beer and shot. Then we meet up with Spamps, Caroline, and Jonah and go to the Ale House and have a few drinks until we drive back.

June 18, 2011
It turns out that I’m still pretty sick and don’t end up gong to the city. I’ve been getting sick once a week for the past four weeks, I guess it’s the adjusting to the temperature and also the temperature swings between the outdoors and cold indoors sometimes. This one has been lasting forever though and I pretty much sleep all day. Tom and Bolanos come over at night to hang for a bit. We Smokesmash a bit, watch an episode of Undercover Boss (Hooters), and that’s about it.

June 19, 2011
I’m finally over my cold and Ela gives me a call that she’s going into the city today. Sweet. I wanted to go to the Met and Central Park, but I guess other plans. I convince her to do Highline instead of Central Park because I want to see the opening of the second part of the park. I drive in and meet her and two other au pairs at Chelsea Market. Ela tells me that our backstory is that we met when she visited New York four years ago and asked for directions because the Stickam backstory is sketchy.
At Chelsea, I get a small, but entire miche (sourdough bread loaf). I then go to the grocery and get some salami and cheese. For $10, that’s a sick deal considering a sandwich at that place might come out to that much. We walk around the Highline for a bit until we sit down to eat. I just pick at pieces of bread and throw on some meat and cheese, they refused to cut it up for me. It works out though, that’s how you’re supposed to picnic.
We walk the entire park, which isn’t big and then drive down to Washington Square Park. We hang out there for a few hours. There are these black dudes that do a couple jumping stunts, but it’s more like 30 minutes of a stand up routine and shtick of race jokes. They’re actually pretty clever, but it really is way too long. Then there’s a guy that does some contortionist stuff. Then there’s a random guy playing saxophone. There’s also a group of older people who play classic rock/folk songs. Cool eclectic group they have going.
After, we grab some dinner. They grab Artichoke and I get banh mi, which ended up sucking. While we’re sitting down at the park, there’s a guy who takes down his pants right in front of us, sits down on the chain link blocking off the grass, and decides to take a shit. At 9:20PM, when people are still filled up in the park. There were even people closer than us, we immediately just got up and walked away because hell, that is fucking disgusting, but especially surprising. They split, I split. It definitely was a day to go out into the city because I had just gotten rid of my cold and it really is a sobering feeling to have that lifted off of your shoulders and finally feel energized to do stuff and enjoy things. Being sick is horrifically miserable. You just want to sit around, doing nothing, and eat shitty because you don’t feel satisfied eating super healthy like I usually do.

June 24, 2011
So I recently got into St. John’s and I get back early at night from Mineola and get people to come over. People are taking forever to come over and chill out so I start early and crack a liter sized Asahi. I’m chillin’ in the chat for a bit with my friend Mae. Tom and Bolanos come over. I wake up Stefan who was supposed to show up an hour ago and he heads over. So does Spamps.
We hang out for a bit and Ela’s on Skype. Stefan eventually passes out on the couch until people leave and he gets kicked out.

June 25, 2011
Ela says she’s going into the city. I plan some stuff out and then take the train in. I meet up with Aaron and Murray at Washington Square Park, but not before getting croissant and macaron near NYU. I then get a pretzel truck and meet up with Julia and Ela. Us boys get Joe Art of Coffee and then go back to the park. It’s the Dyke March and there are loads of lesbo. We see them topless and shit dancing in the park’s fountain.
Aaron and Murray split up. Ela, Julia, and I go to International Bar, which has a back area until 10PM. I then go to This Little Piggy for a sandwich then meet up with them stopping by at Coyote Ugly. There’s a bachelorette party going on and the girls are dancing on the bar. There’s a classy guy at the end of the bar saying that if they want to get off of the bar, they should get off at his side because “That’s where the party is.” What a class act. I also joke that some guy’s neck is really going to hurt tomorrow because they’re sitting at the bar with their necks arched in a crazy angle.
We walk over to the McSoreley’s, which is crowded worse than it is usually is. We don’t stay there for long and then head out and go to Jimmy’s No. 43, which is nice, but the menu is just really expensive beers so we leave. We then go to Double Down and meet up with Kenny and Bolanos. Stefan wandered off. The three were busy watching soccer on a Saturday night, what a great use of time. Speaking about sports, Aaron makes one of the most brilliant comments about sports. In baseball, if there are 162 games, how could people care when we wouldn’t care as much as getting laid that many times a year?
Bolanos has to be a smartass and BF (bomb facts) like usual because that’s all he does. He goes off complaining about how boring Double Down in and I pull off an act. I tell him that if he wants to go somewhere, then leave. Try convincing people to go somewhere else better, but only if you could even find a place in the area that you’ve been hanging out for for years. Yeah, someone who thought Sophie’s was on 10th and 1st Ave., which I then proceeded to walk with him to until he realized that he wasn’t even close to Sophie’s, a bar we go to weekly, for years. Just to show him who’s right and also why he needs to learn some directions.
I get called out for being mad, but that’s just my good acting. In all seriousness though, it’s just childish to complain to other people about my choice of a bar to head to because I’m leading the way and making people make moves. Instead, be a man, see if people really don’t like the place that much, then suggest a better place and do it. I’m no Nazi and don’t need people to go anywhere without their liking. If people want to go somewhere, then so be it, but don’t try to tarnish my credibility beacause you have nothing else to do.
We go to Sophie’s and meet up with Elena and her new b/f. People are surprised that I know Shauna, because I’m awesome and the bartender remembers me there. Stefan’s a funny guy and always walking around talking to random people. He actually hangs out with strangers more than he hangs out with us when we’re out.
Julia and Ela have to catch their train so I walk them over. We hang out at Sophie’s for a bit until we split. Bolanos has a ride and Stefan and I take the train back home. On the train, Stefan sits next a girl in a three seater even though there was an over three seater. I resist, but then join him. We end up chatting up this girl named Morgan, who actually was quite an awesome gal. Stefan ends up asking for her number and tries to make plans with her as I was a wing for him.
She jokes that, “Oh, I should give you my number then,” at one point, which I end up telling Stefan is a IOI (indicator of interest). She’s also smart enough to say that we’re not “jerks,” like most dudes. Either way interesting time and nice to see that there are decent, funny, intelligent girls out there.