July 10th, 2011
I was chatting until 4AM and I’m able to wake up before 12PM. I had a good night of sleep, my body recovered, and I feel awesome. This really reinforced how I want to change everything. I’m not sluggish at all. On a usual Sunday, I would sleep way into the afternoon, eat something, sit at my computer, and just watch videos and do nothing the entire day. My mouth would be dry, my mind would be fuzzy, and my body would never want to be active.
However, this day, I’ve superman. I’m the complete opposite that I was the day before. I’m down to do stuff today and I’m talking about making moves. I jump in the shower and I’m set on going to the MET. I don’t pussyfoot around. I just gather up my plans, stuff my pockets with my wallet, cellphone, keys, and I’m out the door. Boom.
I get to the MET, but then Ela tells me that her and Lena are going to Central Park. I end up joining them, I guess I could leave the MET for another day, though I only had 2-3 hours before it closes because it’s Sunday. I should find a day where I can pay for the audioset and spend the entire day there.
I get something at Bouchon Bakery, I’m so French, and meet them. We walk around and Ela makes fun of me for wearing jeans on a 90 degree day, but I was supposed to be in a cold museum all day, now I was stuck with them.
After walking for a bit, we go to Keste and Vino for pizza. Some of the best NYC pizza, I’ll write it in my review. We then go to Amorino, a new gelato place.
July 11th, 2011
Jenn calls me and reminds me of this thing she wanted the gang to go, she initially told me about it a month ago. She calls and immediately spews off for about 10 minutes about the situation of the people that make the meals for airplanes and their bad situation and how there’s a labor rally for them. I mean, I listened and retained everything, but I’m a bit surprised that was her approach. I’d assume most people would just blank out because she didn’t even start off with how I was involved in this. It was basically like a news article on the hardships of these workers and I wasn’t quite sure how I fit into the plan.
Turns out she wants the gang to go and support the workers. They’re going to be in Hempstead. I ask the gang, and surprisingly, more people are down than I thought. Spamps has work. Kenny says Yes, which is hugely surprisingly, but I think it turns out he wants to bring his resume and it’s related to his major. Miah is down, which sort of makes sense because he likes this activist stuff. Bolanos even seems willing, which makes absolutely no sense to me. We’ll see if he ends up going.
July 14, 2011
Today is the rally thing and I did actually sort of plan on going, except Nikki, a friend from years ago who moved to Thailand, is in America for a short while and wanted to grab a bite. As a fellow foodie, it was my job to show her the East Village an do a little of a food tour. Then again, I did have reservations for Restaurant Week at the Modern- Bar Room at 10PM the same night.
I get a call from Jenn while I’m at work and I tell her that I can’t go, but she’s really pissed off at me, Jeez, that’s heavy shit on me. I do feel bad, but hey, I have plans and I wasn’t even interested in the rally in the first place, I was just going to go to support Jenn and get to see her since she’s in RI these days working.
I meet up with Nikki and we go to Caracas, Otafuku, and then St. Dymphna’s. By then, it’s time for me to split and meet up with the boys for dinner. The meal is quite good, though the portions are a bit light. We play this game where I gather Bolanos’ “issues.” He always seems to have something to complain about. Just from dinner, he had issues with dancing, waiting for people to get there food at a restaurant, and the French Quebecois. This list will continue on.
After that, we meet up Sam in the Upper West Side. We find this bar that has a sweet deal on Thursday, 5 bottles of beer for $12. They even had $1 beer nights. Jeez, I think we should hang out in this area more. It seems a bit less classy and diverse than the East Village, more the douche college kids, but hey, I’d give it a try especially if the drinks are so cheap.
July 15, 2011
I have lots of moves to make this weekend so I decide to go up to Ela’s BBQ on Friday night instead of tomorrow morning. Her family was gone, but she had to stay in to pet sit, so I forced her to invite people and throw something so she wouldn’t be miserable by herself. The drive up isn’t bad except the part where I got lost in the woods and drove around for almost an extra hour.
Right before I leave, I somehow end up sick right before I leave though. I basically get a full on cold, stuffiness, running noise, everything. I try to man up and I feel like I heal up during the drive.
I get there by 10:30 and the gals are just chilling watching some TV. I awkwardly say Hi, grab a seat, have one beer, and then we head to sleep for the next day.
July 16, 2011
I wake up at 10AM because everyone else is up. I brought a waffle iron to make breakfast for everyone. It’s actually a lot of work to make proper Belgian waffles from scratch, especially since you only can make two waffles at once and I overmade.
After that, I’m super tired so I pass out for an hour while the girls go get lunch (sushi), booze, and some movies. I sit around after an hour while they’re still out a chat a bit with one of the Germans. There’s a French girl and two other Germans than Ela.
The nap doesn’t end up helping and I start feeling super sick. I’m hungry, but I can’t have much more waffles, I had two with Nutella. I have a glass of wine and that’s about all I’ve eaten and drank since the night before. For some reason, I feel quezzy, my head is hurting, and I’m really sluggish. Ela tries to get me to jump in the pool and hang out more, but I’m being a bit of a Debbie Downer, then again, people are mostly just chilling out by the pool not doing much.
A girl from Hungary joins in. I guess the thing isn’t really a BBQ since I’m not cooking up anything. By 5PM, I decide to get going and drive back. There’s a club thing that Nikki is going to and also the rest of the online gang. It’s basically about diversifying myself. I could take it easy and chill out at Ela’s, but I also haven’t seen these people in forever and keeping those connections could be useful.
I get lost in the woods again because they closed a road. However, I’m a genius and use the sun as a sense of direction. Along with asking for some directions, I’m able to find my way back and the drive is actually really easy. Just a highway, a bridge, and that’s it.
I get home and pass the fuck out for 2 hours, but not people gorging on some dollar menu Wendy’s. After that, I’m feeling way way better, so I guess sleep would’ve helped me earlier as well. I was thinking about taking the LIRR and then subway to Long Island City, but decide that since I was feeling shitty earlier, drinking tonight might not be a good idea so why not drive.
I drive there with Bolanos and we meet up with Nikki and go there by 11:30. When we get there, the line is hella long. The cover for guys is $15. At the front of the line is a guy checking people. I’ve never seen a more serious man. The sad thing is, airline security in a post 9/11 world is less intense than this guy.
He first finds a hat in a guy’s pocket. He tells him No hats, the guy says he didn’t know, but he smartly replies, “Then why is it in your pocket?” The guy says he won’t wear it, but the bouncer can’t even trust him with that so he takes it from him and leaves it in the front. With the next guy, he does a serious pat down and then finds a hat in the guy’s pants, “And for a second there, I thought you were really well endowed.” The guy isn’t happy that he tried to sneak a hat in, but lets the guy in. I joke with Bolanos what if someone was hiding a ten gallon hat in their hands.
When he checks Nikki’s bag out, he’s super intense again. He even checks inside her glasses case, and pulls her glasses out to make sure there’s nothing possibly in there. He is 100% checking for drugs because he really made sure every crevice was checked, even the insides of a cigarette pack and looking to the bottom.
With Bolanos and I, he checks inside of my belt and boxers, which is way awkward in public. He’s basically inches away from giving me a handjob. I mean, he’s serious and good at his job, but why is this club in the middle of nowhere really care that much. I doubt they are at fault if someone brings drugs in. Secondly, these are just a bunch of douchey dudes really, no one is bring knives or guns into this place. No offense, these guys are probably the biggest pussies around, they have no use for that shit. I don’t want to be racist, but this ain’t no bounce show in New Orleans. With those shows, I’ve seen metal detectors in the actual menu, classy shit.
We get inside and find Mae. I’ve known her for a bit, but she’s from Virginia and I finally get to meet her. It’s this guy’s record release show and he’s playing on stage, but he ends up not happy about it because there’s no one there. The place is pretty nice, but there are seriously about 30 people there about 5 are women. It’s really a sad sight to see.
Seeing as how long the line was, people must’ve got inside and simply left, even though all the guys had to have paid the $15 cover. So with the intense bouncer, if I was him, I would let the girls with drugs in because you really need drugs to make sure that girls stay at that place. Also, what’s the point of being so strict when you have no one in your place. Just let fucking people in, you’re probably going to close next week because no one is at your club.
I actually bring up an interesting conversation with Nikki, Bolanos, and I are walking to the club. I’ve read on Wiki about how this club stuff makes for economic incentives. They charge guys $15 because they want less guys and the club is doing “A group of 5 girls get a free bottle” service because they want more girls. And it makes sense because you don’t want a place infested with all dudes (even though this place made this incentives and it still ended up being filled with girls, wow, nice job).
However, the true question is, if this is the issue, where are the girls? Seriously, if all the guys are out and girls never show up to places and even if they do, men outnumber women by a huge ratio, then where are the women? There are even more women than men in the population. I really don’t know the answer, but the only thing I can think of is that girls must just stay home by themselves or something. Maybe they are more prone to hanging out with other girls indoors. I really want to pinpoint where all these women are because there’s no reason why on a Saturday night, establishments all over the world have issues filling up places with women while they are overcrowded with men.
Anyway, we plan on staying for a free bottle because they guy played his show, but Nikki says she’s getting a ride home and I don’t want to stay. The club is empty and nothing is happening. The group actually didn’t show up, just Mae and the guy doing the show, who are hooking up. This guy Don from the group, who’s a really nice guy, but that’s it. An awkward small group of us.
Don actually gives me props and I wonder why, he then says that it’s because I know awesome people like Bolanos. He spoke to Bolanos for a bit and apparently they got along. I laugh and joke how Bolanos is going to use this against me weeks later saying, “Hey, remember that guy that said you were awesome because you know ME!” Not that I care, I just thought it was funny to think of Bolanos as an great attribute of me personally and that he even mentioned it.
We end up splitting after 30 minutes or an hour of just sitting around. I’m super disappointed in myself for making such a dead night and wasting a Saturday night, and also how I dragged Bolanos along.
I could’ve had such a better time at Ela’s. I guess I like the minutia of a house party, but I feel like there’s something different about drinking and hanging out a bit earlier than usual and at your own pace during the day/night instead having to go out. There’s no trek, trains, walking around and all that business. I don’t know, there’s a lot of regret running in my head that I should’ve just stayed at a pool party, I could’ve bought some food and BBQed for dinner for them, chilled out, drank a bunch with them later because they did buy liquor and I guess were waiting until night to let loose. Meh, silly me.
Bolanos and I hang out at my place for a bit, we have a beer, end of night. Real Saturday night.
July 17, 2011
I get woken up at 10AM by Miah’s sister looking for him. I don’t know where he is nor how she has my number. I go back to sleep and thought I set an alarm for 12PM, but I didn’t. I end up waking up by myself at 2:30PM, which alerts me that I probably really needed sleep. It’s good that I catch up on sleep on weekends because sleep is super important to me. I can tell some people can operate lacking sleep, but I always make sure I nap and stuff, but I just feel partially no human without sleep. My mind isn’t sharp, I can’t remember certain things and things get stuck at the tip of my tongue, I’m slow and unproductive.
Either way, I’m feeling awesome because it’s a no hangover weekend. I try to see if I want to go into the city, but I don’t see anything specifically attractive that I want to do, so I just give up on that. I end up going at 6PM with Bolanos to do some nerdy Magic stuff in Mineola and that’s my chill day.
In a bigger picture, I’m enjoying this new sober style. Then again, I did have three beers on Thursday when I was out after dinner and felt “it” a bit the next day, but I wasn’t bad. I also had a beer with Nikki when we were grabbing some bites before my dinner with the guys, but that was far out of my system by dinner and afterwards. I then only had a beer at Ela’s on Friday night. I had a glass of wine next to the pool the next day, which maybe didn’t end up being the best idea and probably didn’t help how I was so headached and queezy. I then had a beer with Bolanos when we came back to my place from our dead plans.
So boom, there we go, a week where I can count that I had six drinks and I spread them out really periodically so they were basically chill out drinks other than the few out at the bar on Thursday. I’m really proud of that considering how I’ve had nights where I’ve had double that in one night. Hell, it would be the norm for being to have six on a weekend night, and do it both Friday and Saturday. I’m feeling mentally a lot clearer and physically more active on weekends. My mood is up. And I get the bonus of being healthier and being able to lose weight instead of being at a constant struggle of dieting, but being stable because of the drinking calories. Lets see where we go with this new plan.
Monday 18 July 2011
Thursday 14 July 2011
An Era is Gone: New Man
July 9th, 2011
After a work week and long night of drinking, I try to sleep a lot, which helps me stay human. I sleep before 8:00, I get up by 4:00, so that’s pretty good actually. I’m feeling pretty good and wonder if I’ll be doing stuff tonight.
I falter a bit and end up trying to rest for a bit. Boom, it’s time to catch the 8:50 and I’m all showered up and ready to walk to the station. However, something just quite isn’t right. I’m not feeling proper. I tried to drink loads of water, eat, do some pushups (gets blood flowing), etc. to get rid of my hangover. I guess it must be the adrenaline in me pushing me, but I end up calling it a night and chilling at home. I just didn’t feel proper to be able to make it into the city.
By 9:00PM, I’m trying to pass out. Even after eating, drinking loads of water, and trying to treat myself, I go into the gutter. I constantly have that vomit taste in my mouth, the one where you know you’re going to throw up. I try to, but I can’t.
I lay down in bed trying to sleep and I’m just in the worst possible sick state ever. My hands can’t keep completely steady, my head hurts, my mouth is constantly dry, and my stomach is just not sitting down food. It’s the worst. My mom even stops by the hosue to pick up some stuff and I don’t even bother saying Hi. I actually hopes she doesn’t walk into my room that has the lights turned off because I’m in such a messed up state that I couldn’t have a conversation with her without her being able to tell something was wrong.
However, by about 12:00-1:00AM, I get proper. I’m starting to get a clear head, things aren’t hurting, and I’m feeling like myself. I keep drinking water, chat with Tracy and people online and call it a night. Nice and easy. I’m glad to be able to sleep without feeling sick like I was all day.
Aaron gets Bolanos’ phone and tries to creep on the Germans and get them out. Ela was texting me and bored, but Lena was asleep and Ela definitely was not going out and was probably asleep by them.
It turns out that I’m no longer the hero that I used to be. Aaron and I have had this conversation and the hangovers have gotten exponentially worse. I used to never understand the word hangover. In Prague, I seriously never got them. Then I started having to drink liters of water before I went to sleep when I was at NYU, but that was still fine. Now, even on a regular tipsy or drunk night, the effects come and they come hard.
Lets take a recap of the night. Kenka double beer (2.5) + McSoreley’s 5 of the mugs (2.5) + Shot and beer at Sophie’s (2) + Lovers drink, stiff cocktail (1.5) + Screwdrivers at Aaron’s (1.5) = 10 drinks
That is a lot, but nothing that I couldn’t do before. And also, I started at 9:30PM, didn’t get home until 7AM, so that’s almost 10 hours for my body to deal with those drinks. If anything, I would expect my old self to be completely fine. I even absolutely gorged myself during dinner to make sure that I wouldn’t be on an empty stomach. I also felt fine the night of. At no point did I feel sloppy drunk or that I needed someone to tell me to stop.
However, the next day was gone, even 24 hours after having my first drink, I was sicker than a dog. The result was I absolutely lost an entire Saturday. A weekend day completely gone. A day that I could’ve used getting stuff done in the house or going out chilling, or even better, having a day in the city.
I’ve already known that it’s gotten worse and worse, but now it’s just ridiculous. Nothing’s changed with the circumstances surrounding it. If anything, I have been drinking a lot less for a while, even though my tolerance is the same. I have been trying really hard to avoid these super hangovers. However, this day really annoyed me. I can no longer mess with having days like these. Life is too short. This could mean that I should just have my fun, but I care too much about my sober consciousness.
Maybe I can have 2-3 on a night out, but now, I don’t think I can put myself through that horrible feeling again. I really hope I will change for the better.
After a work week and long night of drinking, I try to sleep a lot, which helps me stay human. I sleep before 8:00, I get up by 4:00, so that’s pretty good actually. I’m feeling pretty good and wonder if I’ll be doing stuff tonight.
I falter a bit and end up trying to rest for a bit. Boom, it’s time to catch the 8:50 and I’m all showered up and ready to walk to the station. However, something just quite isn’t right. I’m not feeling proper. I tried to drink loads of water, eat, do some pushups (gets blood flowing), etc. to get rid of my hangover. I guess it must be the adrenaline in me pushing me, but I end up calling it a night and chilling at home. I just didn’t feel proper to be able to make it into the city.
By 9:00PM, I’m trying to pass out. Even after eating, drinking loads of water, and trying to treat myself, I go into the gutter. I constantly have that vomit taste in my mouth, the one where you know you’re going to throw up. I try to, but I can’t.
I lay down in bed trying to sleep and I’m just in the worst possible sick state ever. My hands can’t keep completely steady, my head hurts, my mouth is constantly dry, and my stomach is just not sitting down food. It’s the worst. My mom even stops by the hosue to pick up some stuff and I don’t even bother saying Hi. I actually hopes she doesn’t walk into my room that has the lights turned off because I’m in such a messed up state that I couldn’t have a conversation with her without her being able to tell something was wrong.
However, by about 12:00-1:00AM, I get proper. I’m starting to get a clear head, things aren’t hurting, and I’m feeling like myself. I keep drinking water, chat with Tracy and people online and call it a night. Nice and easy. I’m glad to be able to sleep without feeling sick like I was all day.
Aaron gets Bolanos’ phone and tries to creep on the Germans and get them out. Ela was texting me and bored, but Lena was asleep and Ela definitely was not going out and was probably asleep by them.
It turns out that I’m no longer the hero that I used to be. Aaron and I have had this conversation and the hangovers have gotten exponentially worse. I used to never understand the word hangover. In Prague, I seriously never got them. Then I started having to drink liters of water before I went to sleep when I was at NYU, but that was still fine. Now, even on a regular tipsy or drunk night, the effects come and they come hard.
Lets take a recap of the night. Kenka double beer (2.5) + McSoreley’s 5 of the mugs (2.5) + Shot and beer at Sophie’s (2) + Lovers drink, stiff cocktail (1.5) + Screwdrivers at Aaron’s (1.5) = 10 drinks
That is a lot, but nothing that I couldn’t do before. And also, I started at 9:30PM, didn’t get home until 7AM, so that’s almost 10 hours for my body to deal with those drinks. If anything, I would expect my old self to be completely fine. I even absolutely gorged myself during dinner to make sure that I wouldn’t be on an empty stomach. I also felt fine the night of. At no point did I feel sloppy drunk or that I needed someone to tell me to stop.
However, the next day was gone, even 24 hours after having my first drink, I was sicker than a dog. The result was I absolutely lost an entire Saturday. A weekend day completely gone. A day that I could’ve used getting stuff done in the house or going out chilling, or even better, having a day in the city.
I’ve already known that it’s gotten worse and worse, but now it’s just ridiculous. Nothing’s changed with the circumstances surrounding it. If anything, I have been drinking a lot less for a while, even though my tolerance is the same. I have been trying really hard to avoid these super hangovers. However, this day really annoyed me. I can no longer mess with having days like these. Life is too short. This could mean that I should just have my fun, but I care too much about my sober consciousness.
Maybe I can have 2-3 on a night out, but now, I don’t think I can put myself through that horrible feeling again. I really hope I will change for the better.
July
July 2, 2011
Ela was supposed to be busy, but turned out to be free today. I’m glad I didn’t really do much the night before and didn’t really drink so I was up and active before 12:00PM. I was running around, showered up, and making plans for what to do in the city. I get into the city early by 2:00. I got into the city at a record speed because I guess people are either vacationing and out of NYC or staying in for the weekend. The traffic was just nonexistent.
I go to Banh Mi Zon, which is the best banh mi I’ve had in my life. I wanted to go to the “best” coffee, Abraco, but it was closed for the long weekend. Ela finally gets in and I meet her at Grand Central and then we walk all the way to Central Park through the street fair. It’s pretty cool. It’s 14 blocks of street food, jewelry, pictures, paintings, all kinds of stuff.
On the way, I stop at a few French bakeries and then we go by Whole Foods. We then walk to the lake in Central Park and see a couple get engaged on a gondola. We then see this Asian couple trying to paddle because they have no clue how to, which is hilarious. The guy then finally figures to row, but forwards, instead of backwards. A pushing action instead of a pulling action, which looks silly because everyone is rowing correctly.
We then walk all over around and see this electic group of people dancing to funk music. There are people on old school roller blades, people hula hooping, shirtless men dancing around (both hugely fat and jacked ones). Ela said that after watching all those characters, that she will never feel weird again. I say that I feel like I’m a depressed person. I’ve never seen people so happy about dancing to funk music, and I bet they’ve been doing that for 4 hours straight with no break.
We then go and sit around at Columbus Circle for a bit until she goes home. I made it seem like she could hang, but I don’t know, she doesn’t ever drink anything because she has to drive back home from the station. It’s a decent code to go by because Germany apparently is a lot rougher on drunk driving than here.
I wait around and have nothing to do for a while. I grab dinner at Xi’An Foods and wait around at International Bar. Scott and Bola show up and then we go to Sophie’s with Stefan. We hang there for a bit until Stefan has to split. The three of us then go to Manitoba, which is pretty low key, but a very cool bar.
I then get into an argument with mostly Bolanos and a bit of Scott. I try to explain to them that we’re only boys and that Howard Kantrowitz giving his speech at the graduation party was one of the most important moments of his life. If he’s going to shed a tear, then so fucking be it. Next to marriage, having children, etc., I can really understand the impact of that moment. Bolanos’ defense is that he cries at other events, which is means nothing to that situation. He then says that he supports not externalizing and that Howard’s feeling should just be “understood” by his family, without saying anything. He also said he just wouldn’t give a speech in the first place. Then obviously, it’s just Bolanos’ psychological issues of not being able to publicly speak around friends and family, and then the bigger issue of not being able to show emotion to loved ones. That’s definitely something that needs therapy, at least if that’s the case when he has children and a family.
A view he did defend was bitching about his graduation party. Apparently some random family friend wanted a bottle opener and Bolanos told him it was a twist off. The guy responded in a joking way that he didn’t just graduate from college. So random dumb comment by nobody. A year and a month away, our hero still is livid about nothing. You mad.
Either way, Aaron comes with these Asian twins and a guy and we go to Sophie’s. On the way, we stop by Sunny and Annie’s where one of the twins drops a bag of chips and steps on it. The Korean owner tries to deal with the ruckus, but Aaron is on top of it. He drunkingly shouts at his pal, telling him that he needs to pay for the chips that he has stepped on. He is very commanding and the owner figures that Aaron has taken care of the situation and backs off.
Outside of Sophie’s, there’s a few thrown out matresses. This guy jumps on then and looks like he breaks his face on the fall, but apparently he’s fine. Aaron tells the guy that he now has bed bugs. The guy’s friend then calls out Aaron that he’s a paranoid hypochondriac or something. Bolanos and I jokingly play out what it would be like if the bugs got onto you if you simply on jumped on a mattress.
At Sophie’s, Aaron’s friends split as well as Scott. Bolanos, Aaron, and I stay for a bit until I drive Bolanos and I back.
July 8, 2011
Corinne finally gives me a call earlier in the week and she’s free this Friday. I haven’t seen her in months and I even had her birthday gift that was from months ago that I never ended up giving her. We make plans to do our usual Kenka. Ela’s bestie from home is visiting, Lena, so I meet them up at 9:30 at Kenka. We chat and stuff, it’s a good time. I bring up going to Boston at some point and Ela hits me and has to remind me that we already made plans to go in the first week of August. She told me a month ago, how am I supposed to remember that. Okay, there we go, I guess her and I are visiting Boston and Corinne soon.
After Kenka, we go to Ela’s favorite place, McSoreleys. The Germans have to go back to the hotel because Lena forgot her ID. Corinne and I have a dual beer combo. Corinne has to get home when the Germans get back. She’s moving back to Boston next week because of family issues.
Aaron joins us and after another round, we go to the usual, Sophies. After a few more drinks, we go to Lovers of Today bar, which is a really awesome speakeasy. On the way there, I need to catch up with them because I left my umbrella at Sophie’s. I end up racing a cab and running top speed in the East Village. Bad idea. I’m lucky I didn’t fall, break my face, or completely tackle someone. Aaron said I almost did.
After that, it’s getting late, but we go to Aaron’s apartment to see the sunrise on the roof. I stupidly decide to get ambitious and could’ve caught the 5:19. Instead, I wait around and the Germans split up and I go to Penn Station waiting almost an hour because I missed the 5:19. Taking the 6:19, real fucking classy. I even have to buy a newspaper to keep my sanity because my iPod is out of power. The walk back isn’t actually that bad because I’m sobered up almost and it’s very nice and sunny.
Ela was supposed to be busy, but turned out to be free today. I’m glad I didn’t really do much the night before and didn’t really drink so I was up and active before 12:00PM. I was running around, showered up, and making plans for what to do in the city. I get into the city early by 2:00. I got into the city at a record speed because I guess people are either vacationing and out of NYC or staying in for the weekend. The traffic was just nonexistent.
I go to Banh Mi Zon, which is the best banh mi I’ve had in my life. I wanted to go to the “best” coffee, Abraco, but it was closed for the long weekend. Ela finally gets in and I meet her at Grand Central and then we walk all the way to Central Park through the street fair. It’s pretty cool. It’s 14 blocks of street food, jewelry, pictures, paintings, all kinds of stuff.
On the way, I stop at a few French bakeries and then we go by Whole Foods. We then walk to the lake in Central Park and see a couple get engaged on a gondola. We then see this Asian couple trying to paddle because they have no clue how to, which is hilarious. The guy then finally figures to row, but forwards, instead of backwards. A pushing action instead of a pulling action, which looks silly because everyone is rowing correctly.
We then walk all over around and see this electic group of people dancing to funk music. There are people on old school roller blades, people hula hooping, shirtless men dancing around (both hugely fat and jacked ones). Ela said that after watching all those characters, that she will never feel weird again. I say that I feel like I’m a depressed person. I’ve never seen people so happy about dancing to funk music, and I bet they’ve been doing that for 4 hours straight with no break.
We then go and sit around at Columbus Circle for a bit until she goes home. I made it seem like she could hang, but I don’t know, she doesn’t ever drink anything because she has to drive back home from the station. It’s a decent code to go by because Germany apparently is a lot rougher on drunk driving than here.
I wait around and have nothing to do for a while. I grab dinner at Xi’An Foods and wait around at International Bar. Scott and Bola show up and then we go to Sophie’s with Stefan. We hang there for a bit until Stefan has to split. The three of us then go to Manitoba, which is pretty low key, but a very cool bar.
I then get into an argument with mostly Bolanos and a bit of Scott. I try to explain to them that we’re only boys and that Howard Kantrowitz giving his speech at the graduation party was one of the most important moments of his life. If he’s going to shed a tear, then so fucking be it. Next to marriage, having children, etc., I can really understand the impact of that moment. Bolanos’ defense is that he cries at other events, which is means nothing to that situation. He then says that he supports not externalizing and that Howard’s feeling should just be “understood” by his family, without saying anything. He also said he just wouldn’t give a speech in the first place. Then obviously, it’s just Bolanos’ psychological issues of not being able to publicly speak around friends and family, and then the bigger issue of not being able to show emotion to loved ones. That’s definitely something that needs therapy, at least if that’s the case when he has children and a family.
A view he did defend was bitching about his graduation party. Apparently some random family friend wanted a bottle opener and Bolanos told him it was a twist off. The guy responded in a joking way that he didn’t just graduate from college. So random dumb comment by nobody. A year and a month away, our hero still is livid about nothing. You mad.
Either way, Aaron comes with these Asian twins and a guy and we go to Sophie’s. On the way, we stop by Sunny and Annie’s where one of the twins drops a bag of chips and steps on it. The Korean owner tries to deal with the ruckus, but Aaron is on top of it. He drunkingly shouts at his pal, telling him that he needs to pay for the chips that he has stepped on. He is very commanding and the owner figures that Aaron has taken care of the situation and backs off.
Outside of Sophie’s, there’s a few thrown out matresses. This guy jumps on then and looks like he breaks his face on the fall, but apparently he’s fine. Aaron tells the guy that he now has bed bugs. The guy’s friend then calls out Aaron that he’s a paranoid hypochondriac or something. Bolanos and I jokingly play out what it would be like if the bugs got onto you if you simply on jumped on a mattress.
At Sophie’s, Aaron’s friends split as well as Scott. Bolanos, Aaron, and I stay for a bit until I drive Bolanos and I back.
July 8, 2011
Corinne finally gives me a call earlier in the week and she’s free this Friday. I haven’t seen her in months and I even had her birthday gift that was from months ago that I never ended up giving her. We make plans to do our usual Kenka. Ela’s bestie from home is visiting, Lena, so I meet them up at 9:30 at Kenka. We chat and stuff, it’s a good time. I bring up going to Boston at some point and Ela hits me and has to remind me that we already made plans to go in the first week of August. She told me a month ago, how am I supposed to remember that. Okay, there we go, I guess her and I are visiting Boston and Corinne soon.
After Kenka, we go to Ela’s favorite place, McSoreleys. The Germans have to go back to the hotel because Lena forgot her ID. Corinne and I have a dual beer combo. Corinne has to get home when the Germans get back. She’s moving back to Boston next week because of family issues.
Aaron joins us and after another round, we go to the usual, Sophies. After a few more drinks, we go to Lovers of Today bar, which is a really awesome speakeasy. On the way there, I need to catch up with them because I left my umbrella at Sophie’s. I end up racing a cab and running top speed in the East Village. Bad idea. I’m lucky I didn’t fall, break my face, or completely tackle someone. Aaron said I almost did.
After that, it’s getting late, but we go to Aaron’s apartment to see the sunrise on the roof. I stupidly decide to get ambitious and could’ve caught the 5:19. Instead, I wait around and the Germans split up and I go to Penn Station waiting almost an hour because I missed the 5:19. Taking the 6:19, real fucking classy. I even have to buy a newspaper to keep my sanity because my iPod is out of power. The walk back isn’t actually that bad because I’m sobered up almost and it’s very nice and sunny.
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