I Can Never Remember

The first time someone asks me on Monday how my weekend was I draw a total blank, and my initial silence and puzzled look on my face makes whatever I finally remember and describe sound like I actually did nothing all weekend, and am thinking up some lies to tell on the spot to make me seem not a loser. I should rehearse my weekend speech on the train Monday mornings.
Friday night I went to get a little food & drink at Olea which is about a block from my house. SO glad it's so close in proximity to my spot since they have a beer selection that I love (they always have Moretti and Tapetto Volante), and a delicious Mediterranean menu, from which I always order the apps and the small plates, and I ALWAYS WITHOUT FAIL order the falafel-crusted artichoke hearts with eggplant salad. I had that, of course, and perfect boqerones, along with one each of the abovementioned beers.
Then I watched a very very depressing documentary called "Children Underground". It is about homeless children in Romania in the aftermath of Ceaucescu's determination to expand the country's workforce by outlawing contraception and creating lots more future workers. There were so many "extra" children born this way, to dysfunctional and broken homes, that thousands of them wound up runaways from orphanages, or directly homeless without having passed thru an orphanage along the way. Two of the street children, who sleep in the subway and huff Aurolac (paint) are siblings and they are ten and eight years old!!! It was very hard to watch these little kids being wild in the streets, hungry and high and dirty, and to see how they organized into gangs with leaders, which actually seemed to provide little or no security as the members were always fighting, beating each other (which is what the parents of many of these kids did that caused them to take to the streets in the first place), stealing from each other, and getting yelled at and beaten by the leader. I didn't really see the benefit of banding together like that. Anyway, if you can stand to see it, the film was a very vivid depiction of ruined lives with small chance of rehabilitation for more than a few reasons. If you feel like you haven't cared about anything in a while, this will make you feel compassion for others not as well off as you are. Perspective, people.
Saturday I took my cat to the oncologist and learned that her chemotherapy treatment is working well! Good for us! Her lumps and enlarged lymph node have reduced to normal and barely palpable sizes. Afterward I took the 24 inch BMX Cruiser out to Prospect Heights to have a tour of the apartment my friend Andy just bought. Nice place, Andy! It was wiltingly hot but we set out to get some lunch and then to pick out paint samples for the apartment at Pintchik. We ate at Burrito Bar on Flatbush and watched the Little League World Series on ESPN. It was funny to see all these 11-14 year old kids. Today's kids all have names like Brock, Tyler, Taylor and Payton, and Andy and I amused ourselves by determining which of these kids were going to grow up to be the biggest jock douches and get all the girls.
What then? Oh, I saw Superbad. This is not a movie review blog so I am not going to get all into it, but this movie gets 5 stars, 4 golden mics, and 3 thumbs up. I had heard very good things but I didn't really believe it, until I saw the show with mine own eyes and loved every character and joke in the movie. It was pretty perfect. Rush right out!
Sunday I went to brunch at 5 Ninth in their small and lovely garden and ate polenta with sunny side up eggs and chorizo. 2 good 2 be 4 gotten! Then I went to a community garden, Lotus Garden, on top of a parking garage on the upper west side and saw 2 koi (really goldfish, I'd say) ponds and some beautiful flowers and a peach tree and sat there for a while chewing gum.
Afterward my dear Sunday companion and I went to some men's stores so he could purchase a new leather manbag, and he got a great looking one at Kenneth Cole and also tried on a smokin hot leather coat there that was a perfect fit and look but wasn't warm enough for his tastes.
Then I went to pick up my friend Meg at the hair salon where she works, Salon V, and her co-workers and I went to Yuca for Sangria and the like. One girl was drinking this nuts hybrid margarita/sangria drink, that when you sipped thru the straw you could taste the two cocktails separately in the glass one after another! One of her co-workers, a rare straight male stylist, had just moved back to NYC after a 7-year stint doing hair in North Caroliney on "Dawson's Creek" and "One Tree Hill," and he of course had some good- ass insider gossip that he was happy to share. IF you send me a weekend report I will pass it on to you. After catching a buzz, I was still not prepared to go sing "Jesse's Girl" backed by a live band at my friend Alanna's karaoke bday party at the Baggot Inn (co-hosted with Noah from the Big Quiz Thing), which I went ahead and did anyway and sang way too high on the advice of some girl in the bathroom who felt that since it was a man's voice originally I'd better start high and work my way down the octaves. (Meg laughed really hard when she heard I had had a karaoke conference in the ladies room.) Error! I heard myself sing terribly so I made up for it with both rock and hip hop stage moves and high energy. I was congratulated afterward so I guess it wasn't totally hateful. Then I peaced out and went home to bed.

Nicole