After stopping in to check out their place, I walked over to G&C’s a few streets over and settled in for an evening of Uncle Jon-ness. G&C have two little girls, aged five and three, and last time the three year old barely spoke to me. This time she was hyper hyper hyper and was whirling around all over the place. It should be no surprise that I get along with little girls remarkably well and they took me on a tour of their dollhouses, Frozen paraphernalia, and various plush things they took turns hitting me with. All was going well until bed time was announced, at which point semi-chaos broke out.Ostensibly I was at G&C’s house to watch the MNF game but most of it was a learning experience in putting kids to sleep. The whole process, no joke, took three hours. One of G or C had to be in the room to comfort the little one to bed, and even when I left at eleven-is, she was still sort of awake. Parents, I don’t know how you do it. I sure hope I never find out…
G was kind enough to drive me back into the city and I had him drop me off in midtown so I could cruise down 2nd Ave again, this time pounding out to Tribe and De La Soul. At the end of my ride, J popped up after going to Sleep No More and he took me to Punjabi Grocery & Deli on 1st and Houston for some late night Indian. Freaking delicious. It’s a tiny spot that stays open twenty-four hours and lots of cabbies stop there.
Afterwards, we hung out for a couple of hours, walking around and near his stoop, chatting about Taiwan and the U.S., and girls, of course. Any time two guys get to talking, girls will come up. I mean, any time any guys get together I guess. But in our situations, it was a very relevant conversation since we were both single and facing the canyon of almost forties. Okay, it doesn’t sound that bad, but turning thirty-seven a few weeks ago was freaking me out a bit.
Completing my baby greeting merit badge, I got up early once again and went down to Park Slope to see a YA author friend and his new baby. He and his wife do this podcast about publishing, parenting, and I listen to it religiously of course, but it was nice to say hello in person and meet his daughter. They are now the Park Slope parents that you hear about, and to be honest, Park Slope was a very lovely area I’d like to visit again.
After a cat nap, I got up with my ex-roommate, M, and we trekked to K-Town for some sundubu. Unfortunately, we were dressed exactly the same. Denim jacket, white tee, black pants, and even matching black Chucks. I took my jacket off just so we wouldn’t look so ridiculous. Y met us at dinner, in anticipation of karaoke, and after some song selection indecisiveness, my karaoke pal M burst into the room and we were off, screaming into our mics and and drinking everything in sight. Songs hit list: Starship, “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now.” Meatloaf, "I Would Do Anything." And of course Eric Carmen, "Make Me Lose Control," the real reason we're friends. I love singing with M because she throws in everything I want to hear and then we sing with abandon.
A little light headed, I thought my night was done but J was with his friend at Attaboy, the old Milk and Honey speakeasy. His friend C was returning to Taipei the next day and so we just sat around chatting. At 4AM, once we spilled back out, they were hungry so we took a taxi to K-Town — back up for me — and threw down another full meal. With the sunrise out, we stumbled home at dawn.
Predictably, I was dead the next day and stumbled out of bed in time to clean up and then hustle over to my friend’s book signing. Overall I rode across the WB Bridge probably five or six times this trip, getting used to the landmarks each time. On a heavy Citibike, it’s not a super easy ride, and I arrived late and all sweaty. S’s book is a printed version of her one woman play I saw back in S.F. a few years ago, and it’s her first release so I was glad to be able to be there for support. Afterwards we gathered at Pencil Factory for a bit before I had to jet back across to Manhattan, to meet some friends for dinner and dessert.
On Thursday SW and I met up with K for dinner, but beforehand we were at an art gallery in Tribeca. The piece was sort of Game of Thrones meets White Queen, and mostly we stood around chatting. K’s been traveling like crazy, either for work, bicycling, or vacation, and this was the one time we could catch each other. She took us to this Vietnamese place in Chinatown, Pho Vietnam 87, that was quite good, a rarity for New York.
Looking for something to do, I biked over the bridge again to catch C at a concert she was attending in Williamsburg. Even though it was late, the headliners were just starting to go on so I ponied up for a discounted ticket and slipped in. The crowd was older, smelly, and very dense so I opted to head upstairs to the balcony where I could stare down in peace. The band, Severed Heads, was described to me as “German industrial EDM” and I still have no idea what that means. It wasn’t exactly my type of music but I stuck it out though both encores, and then I took C and her friend S around the corner to Kinfolk for an hour or so of dancing.On Friday morning, I popped right up before noon to get some bagels with SW at Sadelle’s in Soho, apparently the hot new thing on the scene. If you love to wait for two dollar bagels and twelve dollar lox and cream cheese, this could be your spot. Final verdict: undecided, because we only got a bagel or two, and a subpar cheese danish. Fancy place though.
I had made a lunch date with N, who was coming off of teaching his creative writing class. Wanting to hang out with M, I just conflated the two together because I figured we could talk books and writing and stuff. Getting writers together is always a good thing, because writers gotta stick together! I even had a second to go see S, who just had a baby two months ago but is walking around and like totally still working and researching. Some people just make motherhood look easy I guess!
After a much needed afternoon nap, I got up for 9PM dinner with JMZ and Michael. We ate at a curious place, Jack’s Sliders and Sushi, and it had been awhile since we all got up together. There was a pit stop at Veloce for a drink before we headed down to LES for some dancing at The Late Late (great name!). On this trip, I haven’t been to any of the old LES standards at all, which has been great. It reminds me that New York’s going out scene is just so much better. Even the dull spots have better music, and there’s usually a workable crowd anywhere you end up. We shut down The Late Late and then went up to finish our night at Veselka, behind breakfast foods and chicken soup. I took a little clear the head walk up with M, and then bounced on home. Dawn again.The next morning/afternoon, I was groggy as heck but M called about basketball and I biked over to a court on 16th and 2nd Ave. There was nobody there but we amused ourselves by taking lots of slo-mo video and photos of us mid-flight, basket or no basket. Eventually two young guys showed up and we engaged in a couple games of two-on-two. Us old men got the better of them, since we were bigger and bully-er, and it was super fun. When I returned I was hoping to grab a nap but that didn’t happen so instead I started packing up as I was headed out of SW’s place that night. J happened to be heading to Super Taste for hand cut noodles and so I met him and a bunch of his friends there. Again, super interesting people and one of them I had literally just read about a few weeks ago, but didn’t know it till afterwards.
With New York winding down, I took one last bike ride and then called it a night. Sunday ended up being lazy, with brunch, a Brazilian movie, and then a finale meal at Saravanaa Bhavan (you should read the article about its founder, if you haven't).
- Podcast: Writing in Real Life
- Punjabi Grocery and Deli
- Pho Vietnam 87: A Cut Above Chinatown's Vietnamese Restaurants (2014)
- 7 Important Facts Gleaned From the Opening Day of Sadelle's
- Why The Fashion Industry Is (Finally) Talking About China
- Masala Dosa to Die For (2014)
Then again, three weeks ago I was starting to convince that maybe being in San Diego wouldn't be too bad, what with its convenience, easy lifestyle, and the beach. I guess I won't know till I know right? There's a lot of compelling reasons to be in New York right now, so really the winter should be used to make moves.
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