Memorial Day Weekend
Had a great fucking weekend. Third long weekend in a row, but this one was free! By free, I mean that it was an actual holiday weekend, not just us taking extra days off from work to extend the weekend three or four days.
My friends Amy & Jill were supposed to come down from the Albany area on Saturday, but Jilly got sick and they had to cancel. Hopefully the end of June back-up date will work out for them to come down.
Friday Kit and I both left work early - about 3 o'clock - and lounged by the newly re-opened fountain in Washington Square Park. The fountain was recently moved about 23 feet to the east (costing millions!) to have it align with the arch. Who the fuck paid for this? The taxpayers? The fountain is now called the Tisch fountain or something, so maybe NYU paid for it. Whatever. It was a gorgeous day and the occasional light spray of the fountain sprinkled on us in the changing wind while a ragtime band played nearby and children squealed in delight.
After that we went uptown to meet up with Kit's friend Caitlin and her husband Ryan for happy hour drinks and then dinner. The streets were full of Phillies fans, and I realized the Yankees and Phillies were playing an interleague game - talk about being conflicted! The best part was that on our way back downtown the subway car was full of Yankee fans and as we pulled into 34th street/Penn Station I leaned over to Kit and said, "Watch. They'll all get off to head out to Long Island and New Jersey where they come from. . . " And a moment later? The train car was mostly empty!
It was while we were having drinks that Amy called with the bad news about the cancelled trip. I was so bummed, and hearing her voice made me realize how much I really miss her.
So far I have gotten along really well with all of Kit's friends, and Caitlin's husband Ryan is a big deadhead, so we totally bonded over the Grateful Dead, our favorite songs and particular bootlegs and shows. We even went back to their apartment after dinner and he played me a video of Ryan Adams at the Jammies performing "Wharf Rat" with Phil Lesh and others, and then I grabbed his acoustic and he got on the bongos and we jammed out on three songs, the first being "Bertha," the only Dead song I remember how to play these days.
Saturday I watched an encore of the Mets/Red Sox game from the night before even though I knew the outcome. I love Johan Santana and will watch him pitch any time. I then watched the Yankees play the Phillies, knowing that I needed the Yankees to beat them, but unable to keep myself from applauding whenever the Yanks gave up a run. Some hatred is too deeply ingrained, I guess. When I left home to head to the Slope to meet up with Kit and Diane, the Phillies were winning, but when I got to 200-5th they had lost! The Yankees came back in the 9th to clinch it. At least I got to enjoy the outcome without the painful experience of actually seeing them accomplish it. At the bar we watched the Mets game and the Penguins game. They have dozens of flatscreens each booth having up to four dedicated ones. Diane drank fancy cocktails while Kit and I polished two pitchers of beer. Yep, that's a pitcher of beer each. Needless to say, that was more beer than I have had since I gave up on quitting drinking.
Both the Penguins and Mets won. The Penguins handily, while the Mets had to wait for a contested homerun by Omir Santos at the top of the 9th to pull it off. Alcohol and rooting for the same sports team makes everyone best friends and suddenly this dude in a David Wright jersey was all up in my space shouting and commiserating about how angry we'll be if the umpires didn't call it a homerun. So funny!
Drunk, Kit and I bid goodnight to Diane and went back to Kit's place to sleep it off.
Sunday was brunch at Bogota and then we headed out to Queens to check out the art at P.S. 1, some of which was great and some it was disturbing and some it was just too weird for me. Across the street is 5pointz, so we wandered over there and I took a ton of pictures of the grafitti you are required to get a permit to do (and thus, not quite graf at all, in my book). There was some awesome work. You can see my pics here.
Checked the score of the last interleague game between the Red Sox and Mets in a local bar and was dismayed to see the Sox were up 12 to 5. Oh well, can't win them all.
Afterwards I headed home and Kit went to have dinner with friends and then came out to my place afer that as the next day we planned to go to Coney Island.
Monday: The weather was great! The lines at Nathan's were typical for this time of year and weather, but Coney Island is a great place to just people watch, plus there is nothing in the world like a Nathan's hot dog from the original. Sure, there are Nathan's in other places - heck, there is one on the border of Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights that includes an Arthur Treacher's Fish n' Chips - but the dogs just don't taste the same. You could tell me that the ones at Coney Island are made from a mixture of ground rat, cat and the leftover parts of the sideshow freaks and I would still eat them. Plus, they have damn good super sweet lemonade - we ordered a large and shared it - barely finished it. I felt like if I had another sip I would simultaenously pouring it down my throat as I was pissing it out the other end.
We rode the Wonder Wheel, which is always great - but Kit was against the Cyclone and I am against rides that spin at high speeds, especially if they include going upside down or backwards unless the people around me aren't particularly squeamish about partially digested Nathan's splattering on them - so that's all we did by way of rides. Beautiful day, nonetheless. Walked along the broadwalk, happily took in the sideshow signs and sat on a bench and just looked out at the water and enjoyed the breeze.
Anyway, it was a great time and you can see pics from the weekend HERE - nothing particularly special (except that any time I spend with Kit is special enough in its own right), but fun nonetheless.
My friends Amy & Jill were supposed to come down from the Albany area on Saturday, but Jilly got sick and they had to cancel. Hopefully the end of June back-up date will work out for them to come down.
Friday Kit and I both left work early - about 3 o'clock - and lounged by the newly re-opened fountain in Washington Square Park. The fountain was recently moved about 23 feet to the east (costing millions!) to have it align with the arch. Who the fuck paid for this? The taxpayers? The fountain is now called the Tisch fountain or something, so maybe NYU paid for it. Whatever. It was a gorgeous day and the occasional light spray of the fountain sprinkled on us in the changing wind while a ragtime band played nearby and children squealed in delight.
After that we went uptown to meet up with Kit's friend Caitlin and her husband Ryan for happy hour drinks and then dinner. The streets were full of Phillies fans, and I realized the Yankees and Phillies were playing an interleague game - talk about being conflicted! The best part was that on our way back downtown the subway car was full of Yankee fans and as we pulled into 34th street/Penn Station I leaned over to Kit and said, "Watch. They'll all get off to head out to Long Island and New Jersey where they come from. . . " And a moment later? The train car was mostly empty!
It was while we were having drinks that Amy called with the bad news about the cancelled trip. I was so bummed, and hearing her voice made me realize how much I really miss her.
So far I have gotten along really well with all of Kit's friends, and Caitlin's husband Ryan is a big deadhead, so we totally bonded over the Grateful Dead, our favorite songs and particular bootlegs and shows. We even went back to their apartment after dinner and he played me a video of Ryan Adams at the Jammies performing "Wharf Rat" with Phil Lesh and others, and then I grabbed his acoustic and he got on the bongos and we jammed out on three songs, the first being "Bertha," the only Dead song I remember how to play these days.
Saturday I watched an encore of the Mets/Red Sox game from the night before even though I knew the outcome. I love Johan Santana and will watch him pitch any time. I then watched the Yankees play the Phillies, knowing that I needed the Yankees to beat them, but unable to keep myself from applauding whenever the Yanks gave up a run. Some hatred is too deeply ingrained, I guess. When I left home to head to the Slope to meet up with Kit and Diane, the Phillies were winning, but when I got to 200-5th they had lost! The Yankees came back in the 9th to clinch it. At least I got to enjoy the outcome without the painful experience of actually seeing them accomplish it. At the bar we watched the Mets game and the Penguins game. They have dozens of flatscreens each booth having up to four dedicated ones. Diane drank fancy cocktails while Kit and I polished two pitchers of beer. Yep, that's a pitcher of beer each. Needless to say, that was more beer than I have had since I gave up on quitting drinking.
Both the Penguins and Mets won. The Penguins handily, while the Mets had to wait for a contested homerun by Omir Santos at the top of the 9th to pull it off. Alcohol and rooting for the same sports team makes everyone best friends and suddenly this dude in a David Wright jersey was all up in my space shouting and commiserating about how angry we'll be if the umpires didn't call it a homerun. So funny!
Drunk, Kit and I bid goodnight to Diane and went back to Kit's place to sleep it off.
Sunday was brunch at Bogota and then we headed out to Queens to check out the art at P.S. 1, some of which was great and some it was disturbing and some it was just too weird for me. Across the street is 5pointz, so we wandered over there and I took a ton of pictures of the grafitti you are required to get a permit to do (and thus, not quite graf at all, in my book). There was some awesome work. You can see my pics here.
Checked the score of the last interleague game between the Red Sox and Mets in a local bar and was dismayed to see the Sox were up 12 to 5. Oh well, can't win them all.
Afterwards I headed home and Kit went to have dinner with friends and then came out to my place afer that as the next day we planned to go to Coney Island.
Monday: The weather was great! The lines at Nathan's were typical for this time of year and weather, but Coney Island is a great place to just people watch, plus there is nothing in the world like a Nathan's hot dog from the original. Sure, there are Nathan's in other places - heck, there is one on the border of Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights that includes an Arthur Treacher's Fish n' Chips - but the dogs just don't taste the same. You could tell me that the ones at Coney Island are made from a mixture of ground rat, cat and the leftover parts of the sideshow freaks and I would still eat them. Plus, they have damn good super sweet lemonade - we ordered a large and shared it - barely finished it. I felt like if I had another sip I would simultaenously pouring it down my throat as I was pissing it out the other end.
We rode the Wonder Wheel, which is always great - but Kit was against the Cyclone and I am against rides that spin at high speeds, especially if they include going upside down or backwards unless the people around me aren't particularly squeamish about partially digested Nathan's splattering on them - so that's all we did by way of rides. Beautiful day, nonetheless. Walked along the broadwalk, happily took in the sideshow signs and sat on a bench and just looked out at the water and enjoyed the breeze.
Anyway, it was a great time and you can see pics from the weekend HERE - nothing particularly special (except that any time I spend with Kit is special enough in its own right), but fun nonetheless.