Halloween, and the days leading up to it, have got to be some of the most hilarious days in the city. You just never know who, or what, will come around the corner. Although people get away with outrageous outfits every day of the year, the get-ups people wear, so very casually, around Halloween never cease to make you laugh.
Overall, it seems that this year's costumes are not as high on the sexy scale- I'm not holding my breath in hopes to see a Sexy Marshmallow or anything like that this year. So far, I've seen the following wandering the streets as if it was a normal thing to do: Tinker Bell, Mr. Green from Clue, a giant Elf complete with pointy shoes and a long white beard (those three were all in Starbucks), the entire gang from Mad Men (this will be the most popular group costume this year- mark my words), an undercover cop (good one, huh? Easiest costume ever!) and a giggling posse of a Sexy Nurse, Sexy Witch, Sexy Maid, and Sexy Wonder Woman running to catch the bus (I didn't say sexy costumes were GONE this year...)
And this was all yesterday ! Who knows what will be wandering the streets tonight...A follow up report to come- IF we decide to brave the city on one the most ridiculous, drunken nights of the year to witness the debauchery...
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
Recent Sightings, Second Edition
And now for some less ridiculous and much more real sightings.
First, I spent a week hanging with the Swaziland delegation here for the U.N. And by "hanging with" I mean I walked past all of their cars and drivers each day on my way to work. They were all staying at the Mandarin Oriental across the street from my office, and, I'll tell you what, their drivers seemed like a great crowd. So I bet that the actual delegation (those from Swaziland and elsewhere) were pretty great too. And you KNOW how I feel about political scientists.
LOVE them!
In the park, back in September when it was actually fall not winter, we spent an afternoon sitting on a bench next to the Park Bench Philosophers. This is a group of old-ish men who spend their weekends in Central Park brown-bagging it with Coors Lite, discussing all of life's greatest questions, and making fun of people that pass by. Our kind of people.
One such passer-by was a dude with so much hair that he had to carry it around in a garbage bag slung over his shoulder. As he approached, we were like "Awesome. Another guy carrying around a bag of trash." But then he got closer and it was clear that the bag was in fact full of the hair still growing out of his head.
It really doesn't get much better than that.
First, I spent a week hanging with the Swaziland delegation here for the U.N. And by "hanging with" I mean I walked past all of their cars and drivers each day on my way to work. They were all staying at the Mandarin Oriental across the street from my office, and, I'll tell you what, their drivers seemed like a great crowd. So I bet that the actual delegation (those from Swaziland and elsewhere) were pretty great too. And you KNOW how I feel about political scientists.
LOVE them!
In the park, back in September when it was actually fall not winter, we spent an afternoon sitting on a bench next to the Park Bench Philosophers. This is a group of old-ish men who spend their weekends in Central Park brown-bagging it with Coors Lite, discussing all of life's greatest questions, and making fun of people that pass by. Our kind of people.
One such passer-by was a dude with so much hair that he had to carry it around in a garbage bag slung over his shoulder. As he approached, we were like "Awesome. Another guy carrying around a bag of trash." But then he got closer and it was clear that the bag was in fact full of the hair still growing out of his head.
It really doesn't get much better than that.
Monday, October 19, 2009
A Raw Deal
Brace yourselves- this is another All You Can Eat Sushi tale. If the last horrifying recounts of absurd amounts of uncooked fish, seaweed, and sake left you feeling squeamish, you are not alone. I, too, required many months of recovery time before I dared to allow another piece of spicy tuna to pass through my lips. And don't even SAY the word sake or I can pretty much guarantee I will throw up on you.
Fear not- this sushi adventure was much less overwhelming and, basically, was just much... less. But (isn't there always a but?) I am ashamed to say that it wasn't smooth sailing. I made what every All You Can Eat Sushi afficionado would call "The Rookie Mistake."
Everything started just great- we were bopping right along, Eric munching politely on his teeny cucumber rolls and me stuffing my face with Fancy, Fancy Rolls. And it was all just extremely tasty! So OF COURSE after round 1 I HAD to order a round 2. I mean, hello, it was ALL YOU CAN EAT. Why can I never just leave well enough alone? I mean really, it's not like I was competing against Paul this time. I already had Avocado Boy beat at this meal.
But, alas, I decided to order 2 more rolls. And I picked the innocent enough sounding Y2K and Spider rolls.
And then the horror show began.
What arrived in front of me was 16 pieces of the largest sushi I had ever seen. Both were approximately the diameter of my fist and both were enclosed in mountains of rice. And one of them was wrapped in HOT PINK SEAWEED. Not joking. My sushi was neon. I took one bite, and suddenly, I was so very, very full. And these rolls were not so very good. And yet, I had 15 pieces to go.
Here's where we get to "The Rookie Mistake"- you see, before my Spiders and neon Y2K's arrived, I was feeling so confident and smug. Like, now I know the secret, just order a couple at a time and get hand rolls because it's the rice that kills you and I'm so smart and so good at eating contests and this is so great and blah blah blah. Stupid, stupid girl. Your sushi was COVERED IN RICE. Oh, and it was NEON.
15 pieces to go, and gag reflex firmly in place, and you're not feeling so confident anymore, are you?
I choked down a few more pieces, and I knew this was getting serious. After all, I had never failed an eating contest, and certainly not at All You Can Eat sushi. I mean, I didn't even know what they did to you if you couldn't finish but I knew it really could not be good.
So, I brought in the big guns: Eric.
I bet you didn't see that coming, did you?
Yes, Eric, my dear sweet vegetable loving Eric, took one (actually two!) for the team and ate two of my not-tasty-at-all-and-if-I-have-to-eat-those-I-will-vom-or-at-least-cry Spider rolls. He soaked them in soy sauce for approximately five minutes, but he did it. And didn't even cry or vomit.
By then, I was down to about 8 rolls and I was seriously considering Failure. I could hear Paul's laughter in my head, wondering how I got myself into this, even as I attempted to swallow bite after bite after bite. Eventually, I made my way down to 3 and was ready to accept the Big Fat Fail.
Oh the shame...
So, because my competitive spirit cannot be stifled by an eager gag reflex, I rallied. With Eric cheering me on and taking pictures and mocking my pain, I pushed through and willed myself to swallow that last bite of tuna wrapped in neon seaweed. Out of the goodness of her heart, the waitress did not force me to eat the last piece of shrimp on my plate, and, thank goodness, because that would have been the end of me.
End of story- my All You Can Eat Sushi dignity is still intact- barely. We still don't know what the Penalty is for failing at this game though. Do you have to wash dishes? Do they charge you for a second All You Can Eat dinner? Or is it just the humiliation of having the cute little Japanese people point and laugh at you because you were stupid enough to order that much sushi rice and tempura shrimp?
I'm going to guess that last one is a given, even if you don't fail...
Fear not- this sushi adventure was much less overwhelming and, basically, was just much... less. But (isn't there always a but?) I am ashamed to say that it wasn't smooth sailing. I made what every All You Can Eat Sushi afficionado would call "The Rookie Mistake."
Everything started just great- we were bopping right along, Eric munching politely on his teeny cucumber rolls and me stuffing my face with Fancy, Fancy Rolls. And it was all just extremely tasty! So OF COURSE after round 1 I HAD to order a round 2. I mean, hello, it was ALL YOU CAN EAT. Why can I never just leave well enough alone? I mean really, it's not like I was competing against Paul this time. I already had Avocado Boy beat at this meal.
But, alas, I decided to order 2 more rolls. And I picked the innocent enough sounding Y2K and Spider rolls.
And then the horror show began.
What arrived in front of me was 16 pieces of the largest sushi I had ever seen. Both were approximately the diameter of my fist and both were enclosed in mountains of rice. And one of them was wrapped in HOT PINK SEAWEED. Not joking. My sushi was neon. I took one bite, and suddenly, I was so very, very full. And these rolls were not so very good. And yet, I had 15 pieces to go.
Here's where we get to "The Rookie Mistake"- you see, before my Spiders and neon Y2K's arrived, I was feeling so confident and smug. Like, now I know the secret, just order a couple at a time and get hand rolls because it's the rice that kills you and I'm so smart and so good at eating contests and this is so great and blah blah blah. Stupid, stupid girl. Your sushi was COVERED IN RICE. Oh, and it was NEON.
15 pieces to go, and gag reflex firmly in place, and you're not feeling so confident anymore, are you?
I choked down a few more pieces, and I knew this was getting serious. After all, I had never failed an eating contest, and certainly not at All You Can Eat sushi. I mean, I didn't even know what they did to you if you couldn't finish but I knew it really could not be good.
So, I brought in the big guns: Eric.
I bet you didn't see that coming, did you?
Yes, Eric, my dear sweet vegetable loving Eric, took one (actually two!) for the team and ate two of my not-tasty-at-all-and-if-I-have-to-eat-those-I-will-vom-or-at-least-cry Spider rolls. He soaked them in soy sauce for approximately five minutes, but he did it. And didn't even cry or vomit.
By then, I was down to about 8 rolls and I was seriously considering Failure. I could hear Paul's laughter in my head, wondering how I got myself into this, even as I attempted to swallow bite after bite after bite. Eventually, I made my way down to 3 and was ready to accept the Big Fat Fail.
Oh the shame...
So, because my competitive spirit cannot be stifled by an eager gag reflex, I rallied. With Eric cheering me on and taking pictures and mocking my pain, I pushed through and willed myself to swallow that last bite of tuna wrapped in neon seaweed. Out of the goodness of her heart, the waitress did not force me to eat the last piece of shrimp on my plate, and, thank goodness, because that would have been the end of me.
End of story- my All You Can Eat Sushi dignity is still intact- barely. We still don't know what the Penalty is for failing at this game though. Do you have to wash dishes? Do they charge you for a second All You Can Eat dinner? Or is it just the humiliation of having the cute little Japanese people point and laugh at you because you were stupid enough to order that much sushi rice and tempura shrimp?
I'm going to guess that last one is a given, even if you don't fail...
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Recent Sightings
Like the previous 9 months of this year, October is passing us by in a flash. It has brought what seems to be an early winter (the first Nor'easter of the season is upon us right now, but so far it's a pretty lame one.) While Eric is the one crying about putting his shorts away for the year, I'm the one who actually seems to be resisting the change in weather the most. Case in point- last week most of the city busted out their heavy duty winter clothes. Instead of t-shirts and shorts, everyone was suddenly decked out in in Northface and Uggs (a little extreme for 45 degrees, if you ask me). I, on the other hand, decided the best thing to do would be to wear a dress and flip flops (and a scarf, for warmth, duh.) NOT SMART. VERY COLD.
Speaking of cold weather, last Monday was a day off (HALLELUJAH! COLUMBUS DAY!). Because of said non-warm weather, I spent most of the day curled up with my favorite furry friend. I did, however, venture outside because rumor had it that they were filming the second Sex and the City movie just up the street! Though you'd think I would be completely unfazed by this now that I live in the big, exciting city (you mean another film crew? Please, give me something more exciting than that), obviously, this was not to be missed. So I half-bundled up and set out into the brisk and freezing wind. Sure enough, the streets around Lincoln Center were packed with movie trailers and clusters of paparazzi were huddled on corners, cameras in tow.
At last! I had actually stumbled onto a movie set where I might see someone famous! But, despite the Hollywood lot surroundings, there were no skinny, beautiful, heavily made-up starlets in sight. So then I was forced to make a big decision- should I keep my hand tightly clenched on my camera and pal around with the paparrazzi, waiting all day in the cold to take a picture of SJP, like some kind of crazed fan (which I may actually be, somewhere very, very deep down inside), or do I behave rationally and go back home to my nice cat and warm apartment?
It really was a tough choice, and I'm not even kidding.
But, in the end, normal behavior won out, and I circled the block for one last hope of a glimpse of TV's most famous foursome, and then headed back home- satisfied that I had tried to be a crazed fan, but held myself back for the sake of remaining a respectable person. I did see Pat Field, who designs all their ridiculous costumes, smoking a cigarette and yelling at someone on the phone, and I saw a lot of limos by the Empire Hotel, AND I saw very skinny, beautiful, heavily made-up people dressed in ridiculous fashions filming inside PJ Clarke's. I couldn't see faces, but I know they were in there, so actually I pretty much was part of the action.
Totally successful Columbus Day, I say.
Speaking of cold weather, last Monday was a day off (HALLELUJAH! COLUMBUS DAY!). Because of said non-warm weather, I spent most of the day curled up with my favorite furry friend. I did, however, venture outside because rumor had it that they were filming the second Sex and the City movie just up the street! Though you'd think I would be completely unfazed by this now that I live in the big, exciting city (you mean another film crew? Please, give me something more exciting than that), obviously, this was not to be missed. So I half-bundled up and set out into the brisk and freezing wind. Sure enough, the streets around Lincoln Center were packed with movie trailers and clusters of paparazzi were huddled on corners, cameras in tow.
At last! I had actually stumbled onto a movie set where I might see someone famous! But, despite the Hollywood lot surroundings, there were no skinny, beautiful, heavily made-up starlets in sight. So then I was forced to make a big decision- should I keep my hand tightly clenched on my camera and pal around with the paparrazzi, waiting all day in the cold to take a picture of SJP, like some kind of crazed fan (which I may actually be, somewhere very, very deep down inside), or do I behave rationally and go back home to my nice cat and warm apartment?
It really was a tough choice, and I'm not even kidding.
But, in the end, normal behavior won out, and I circled the block for one last hope of a glimpse of TV's most famous foursome, and then headed back home- satisfied that I had tried to be a crazed fan, but held myself back for the sake of remaining a respectable person. I did see Pat Field, who designs all their ridiculous costumes, smoking a cigarette and yelling at someone on the phone, and I saw a lot of limos by the Empire Hotel, AND I saw very skinny, beautiful, heavily made-up people dressed in ridiculous fashions filming inside PJ Clarke's. I couldn't see faces, but I know they were in there, so actually I pretty much was part of the action.
Totally successful Columbus Day, I say.
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