Saturday I got an early rise and decided to practice being domestic with Diann and do all those mundane weekend things normal people do like going to the Laundromat, going grocery shopping, cleaning up the apartment...stuff like that. Eventually we made out way to this great little coffee shop named Phoebe’s on Graham where I had this enormous latte and a tasty NYC bagel. It didn't hurt at all that the staff was pretty durn cute although Diann teased me about looking at the younger girls. Then I pouted. Then I decided to let it slide. I mean what’re you gonna do? I can never understand why that sort of thing bothers girls you are not dating. I mean, sure, it’s one thing if you’re just drooling over some girl and completely ignoring your companion but I’m more of the furtive glance, ”Ooh, that’s nice” kind of guy. Whatever.
We ran back to her apartment to bundle up for the train ride to Manhattan and I pointed out where her car was parked so she could find it when she needed it. She approved of the space since it was so close to her house and yes you should still be paying attention to anything I say about her car!
Anyway, Diann just got this great new apartment in Manhattan through her boss at 65th Street and 2nd Avenue and she wanted me to grab a look at the place. First of all, her new neighborhood is waaay different than Williamsburg. It's just a few block from Central Park and everyone in the area seems to be really fond of wearing $200 warm-up suits everywhere they go. All the guys are tan and greasy looking while all the women are either impossibly attractive or the skin on their faces is stretched so thinly over their skulls they look like someone is curing leather on their head. Creepy. Diann herself has some misgivings about moving into the area but the rent is so cheap she just couldn't turn it down. On top of that, once we got to her place I was stunned at how big it was. It was a little smaller than average by Chicago standards but huge compared to the other apartments I had seen back when Diann was hunting last November.
That's one of the things that blows my mind about New York. The apartments are so frickin' expensive while being so frickin' small. Lots of them actually have a shower in what would be the family room and the bathroom is often a closet off the kitchen. I love my Chicago apartment that I could fit a roller rink into if I so chose. Lotsa room!
Well, we went from the Upper East Side all the way across the island to the Convention Center where they were having some huge art show. At first I thought I was going to be sick since a) the place was huge and b) it looked like every two bit artist from every summer fair or festival had their Holiday Inn approved wares up for sale. It was the visual equivalent of forcing me to go to some prepubescent boy band concert and forcing me to get jiggy with it. However, it was Diann's birthday weekend and she made the call. Some of the stuff wasn't terrible actually and things looked way up when we went to a second portion of the exhibition that was located upstairs and away from the general hubbub. In this room was where they his all the actual art galleries exhibiting work of actual up-and-coming artists and it was here that I really did enjoy myself. Unfortunately hours of walking had taken their toll and the two of us were exhausted so we decided to take a bus back across town and search out some sushi. We found a hole in the wall place and grabbed a quick bite (if I remember the name of the place I'll insert it here later) and I dug the kitchen food but the sushi portions left a bit to be desired. The big roll little fish rule applied pretty heavily to this place.
We decided to stop by The Bowery Poetry Club to see our friend Greg and check up on my buddy from Chicago Shappy. I used to back up Shappy on the drums as a sort of house band for a late-night talk show he used to do in Chicago. My main purpose was to make noise, fluster poets and comics and try not to get punched. My drums got kicked or knocked over an awful lot. It's not always easy being the "bad cop" but it did get laughs. Unfortunately Shappy had the night off but after a few Yuenglings we made plans to meet up with Greg later that night. By now I really needed a nap so we caught the L train to Brooklyn.
Apparently the L train is undergoing some massive construction so we were already getting used to waiting forever for a train and then having to transfer once again after crossing the river. Grrr...as the weekend progressed I got more and more annoyed at all the delays but what're you gonna do, eh?
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