Most-fun fun day ever
When's the last time you had a fun day that just wouldn't end? Where everything goes perfect, everyone you meet is happy, and you laugh and smile all day?
Mine was March 27, the day after the SWAN Day stuff. We ended up taking an impromptu trip to New York after I heard about Mike Birbiglia's latest one-man show, My Girlfriend's Boyfriend, and snapped up some tickets since Rosemary really likes him. She bought his book, Sleepwalk With Me, that was his previous one-man show. And I knew him since I'm a big comedy nerd when it comes to nerd comedy, and Birbiglia definitely fits.
But why drive all that way just to see a show and come home? This is New York, right? So Rosemary and I went down a few hours earlier to do some stuff around downtown since our show was in the West Village. As usual when it comes to NYC, I created one big map with several stops along the way that would draw us closer and closer to the theater.
Stop 1: We went to Brooklyn first to hit up plus-size resale shop Re/Dress NYC, where Rosemary picked up some clothes and successfully tried on some "teggings" (part tights, part leggings). Finally, she can join the latest hip trend and dress like Beth Ditto :P
Stop 2: We took the Brooklyn Bridge into downtown Manhattan, stopping first at Midtown Comics' location there. I'd wanted to see the one in Times Square, but there wasn't enough time to run up to 40th Street, and I wondered what this other spot looked like. It was much, much smaller than the main store, just one big room on a one-floor walkup, but it was packed with stuff. Rosemary got another Jane Austen comic book from Marvel, and I got a Green Lantern action figure. Stopped at Ruben's Empanadas for a quick dinner, and was pleasantly surprised.
Stop 3: Another mile or so north and east to visit Forbidden Planet, my first time back since Tish took me there in 2009. I didn't come out with anything, the place is so cramped and it stops me from looking too hard. But Rosemary got a Doctor Who sonic screwdriver that also is a projector.
Stop 4: A few blocks west, and we were at the Barrow Street Theater for the show. Birbiglia was by turns sad, funny, bellowing with comic rage, heartbroken, and resilient. He appears to be turning into the comic monologue sort such as Robert Klein (less schticky) or Spalding Gray (less depressed). But what an enlightening series of romantic mishaps and bad shit happening that he shared with us, and in the Louis CK school, Birbiglia is the unhappy but moral non-believer who labors on because, hey, what else is there to do? We even got a tasty of celebrity, since John Mayer showed up alongside CollegeHumor.com honcho Randy Van Veen. Funny. But seriously, go see this show. It's lovely.
Stop 6: We got some postshow food at Two Boots Pizza's tiny to-go spot for the most delicious, offbeat pizza! Definitely will have to visit the Bridgeport spot and catch a show.
Stops 5 and 7: We went to The Pleasure Chest as well, picking up the kind of items you get at a sex shop. We made nice with the clerks, and I did get The Big Butt Book from Taschen (one clerk called it her favorite book right now), and The Sexy Book of Sexy Sex by my new celebri-crush Kristen Schaal and her man, Rich Blomquist.
Mine was March 27, the day after the SWAN Day stuff. We ended up taking an impromptu trip to New York after I heard about Mike Birbiglia's latest one-man show, My Girlfriend's Boyfriend, and snapped up some tickets since Rosemary really likes him. She bought his book, Sleepwalk With Me, that was his previous one-man show. And I knew him since I'm a big comedy nerd when it comes to nerd comedy, and Birbiglia definitely fits.
But why drive all that way just to see a show and come home? This is New York, right? So Rosemary and I went down a few hours earlier to do some stuff around downtown since our show was in the West Village. As usual when it comes to NYC, I created one big map with several stops along the way that would draw us closer and closer to the theater.
Stop 1: We went to Brooklyn first to hit up plus-size resale shop Re/Dress NYC, where Rosemary picked up some clothes and successfully tried on some "teggings" (part tights, part leggings). Finally, she can join the latest hip trend and dress like Beth Ditto :P
Stop 2: We took the Brooklyn Bridge into downtown Manhattan, stopping first at Midtown Comics' location there. I'd wanted to see the one in Times Square, but there wasn't enough time to run up to 40th Street, and I wondered what this other spot looked like. It was much, much smaller than the main store, just one big room on a one-floor walkup, but it was packed with stuff. Rosemary got another Jane Austen comic book from Marvel, and I got a Green Lantern action figure. Stopped at Ruben's Empanadas for a quick dinner, and was pleasantly surprised.
Stop 3: Another mile or so north and east to visit Forbidden Planet, my first time back since Tish took me there in 2009. I didn't come out with anything, the place is so cramped and it stops me from looking too hard. But Rosemary got a Doctor Who sonic screwdriver that also is a projector.
Stop 4: A few blocks west, and we were at the Barrow Street Theater for the show. Birbiglia was by turns sad, funny, bellowing with comic rage, heartbroken, and resilient. He appears to be turning into the comic monologue sort such as Robert Klein (less schticky) or Spalding Gray (less depressed). But what an enlightening series of romantic mishaps and bad shit happening that he shared with us, and in the Louis CK school, Birbiglia is the unhappy but moral non-believer who labors on because, hey, what else is there to do? We even got a tasty of celebrity, since John Mayer showed up alongside CollegeHumor.com honcho Randy Van Veen. Funny. But seriously, go see this show. It's lovely.
Stop 6: We got some postshow food at Two Boots Pizza's tiny to-go spot for the most delicious, offbeat pizza! Definitely will have to visit the Bridgeport spot and catch a show.
Stops 5 and 7: We went to The Pleasure Chest as well, picking up the kind of items you get at a sex shop. We made nice with the clerks, and I did get The Big Butt Book from Taschen (one clerk called it her favorite book right now), and The Sexy Book of Sexy Sex by my new celebri-crush Kristen Schaal and her man, Rich Blomquist.