Two Weeks

A record of 14 days in NY

On Wednesday, March 14, 2019, my consent to assignment of lease was finalized. After two-and-a-half years of living in the center of the universe, I would be moving back to New Jersey where I grew up to bunker down for the LSAT. The following is a stream of consciousness record of my last fourteen days in New York before the move:

3.14–1

I couldn’t get Jamilla in class, but I finally retrieved a library book I left at the studio/returned it, went to MoMath to celebrate Pi Day, saw the cutest squirrel hanging out in a lamppost, took some killer photos of Magnus in the park, bought pies to play a game for a chance to win free food, totally won the best free food prize, ate Num Pang for dinner, had the best time hanging out on the couch at Body & Pole/“partying” at the opening of The Wall, and Topez said she wanted me to write the text for her next tattoo. How amazing is that?

3.15–2

Magnus and I went to the Rubin. There was a “Wheel of Intentions” by the foot of the stairs. People typed in their intentions for 2019, which were then projected onto the bottom of the staircase and spun up the spiral. On the fourth floor, there was an installation, Wish-fulfilling Tree (2016), that was made of dirt and debris. There was a Black Tap snapback and Hello Kitty clock in the mix; I like to think both were mine.

On the fifth floor, peoples’ intentions were projected together. Magnus and I sat waiting for mine to show up, but it never did. Oh well, it was really interesting to see all of the things, serious and silly, people typed.

I got groceries, went home, napped, and felt young. Alekhya agreed to walk the Brooklyn Bridge with me. The sun was setting when I got on the train to get to the bridge. It was gone when I got off of the train, but the walk was still beautiful. We went from Brooklyn to Manhattan and wandered around downtown. There was a glass Coke bottle balanced on a gate; it was magical.

We got caught in the rain when we went to Times Square. Dumb Alekhya ran back in the downpour to talk to a tourist-trapper. We spent the rest of the night thugging in a McDonald’s. Bacon cheese fries were a disappointment, but baklava from nearby and friendship weren’t.

3.16–3

MoMa (both locations) never fails to disappoint me. I went to PS1 today and it may as well have been closed, but it was nice to see Daniel Finton. Interesting thought to remember: when you saw Josh and Elyse on Monday, Fourth of July last year came up and you realized there was a whole group of people in your life now you didn’t know then. Crazy.

There was a Hello Kitty book for sale at MoMa PS1. I bought it for $24+tax. Impulse buy? Totally. Cover of the book slightly damaged? Yes. Proceeded to damage the book further in a Starbucks bathroom? Yes.

Speaking of Starbucks, a homeless(?) person came in and very much so shouted at me to ask for change.

The day ended with a workshop at IncrediPOLE with Kiele. Four of us sat in a circle eating, talking, and laughing. Kiele had made wraps for us and described the actual wrapping of them as “fancy”, which was so interesting to me. I realized I kinda took the wrapping of wraps for granted.

Small things making big differences. Life is good. My heart is so full.

3.17–4

I woke up on the wrong side (first bit of emotion that was not positive since last Saturday) of the bed, but sat through the baby blues.

Isn’t it wonderful how things will always be okay?

Pole was great. I got Jamilla. I got aerial inverts. I got more of the flow taught on Thursday than I did on Thursday.

I talked to Iris after class. Then I talked to Moonpie and another workstudy at the front desk. Topics of discussion included: moving, jobs, yellow fever, the LSAT, macabre anime, Japan/assplay, and bad dragons.

3.18–5

Oh boy! I’m catching up on blogs and it feels great.

Helen called me while I was typing away and we talked. I forgot until she mentioned it, but I actually called her in the Uber home to complain about what awful company I kept at Maison Premiere on my birthday — hahaha, I’ve got receipts for everything!

I went to Cadillac House to see an installation by Oscar Oiwa. While I was there, I saw a guy take a great picture of his two friends taking a picture and told him so. Then we chatted. Then I asked him to take a picture of me. Then we talked more. I told him I was moving soon and about to disappear from the world for the LSAT, but he asked for my number anyway. I gave it to him.

The night ended with a swanky alumni association board meeting.

3.19–6

OOF. Woke up on the wrong side of the bed (actually had a dream that I couldn’t distinguish from reality) again, but the baby blues disappeared so quickly I don’t even really have anything to say. Life is just good, man. Everything will be okay.

More catching up on blogs, yes! Made plans with Randall to see “To Kill A Mockingbird” tomorrow, yes! Late to hammock fluidity, less enthusiastic yes! Taking CoreAerial instead though, nervous yes!

Magnus tried to show me a meme on his phone. It was in Danish. Fail.

Core Aerial happened. Then Magnus and I got Van Leeuwen’s. On the way out, we bumped in to some people singing Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream” and I joined in.

3.20–7

My alarm went off at 5:05 and I did not want to get up, but after a few minutes rolling around, I dragged myself out of bed and got ready to rush “To Kill a Mockingbird” tickets.

I fell asleep on the train to 49th St. When I woke up, there were people standing, but the two seats next to me were empty. Maybe I looked homeless with my oversized bag of heels to watch the show in/blanket to sit on while waiting? Or maybe my open-mouth, sleeping head bobbing was too much?

Arrived at the theater at 6:50; first one. The weather was not bad at all, but my toes did get cold after an hour or so. They warmed when the sun rose though and being aware of it happening was a nice feeling.

Got tickets for the matinee. Went and got a $5/30m massage. The massage was in a conference room at a WeWork where the windows weren’t frosted, so it wasn’t great. Got Chick-fil-A. Met up with Randall. Watched him eat at Pret.

Then we saw “To Kill a Mockingbird”. Truth be told, my experience was tarnished by a rowdy school group sitting directly in front of us that was talking/inappropriately laughing throughout the show. One older couple most definitely walked out at intermission and, at the end of the show the children accidentally clapped early (and then I think proceeded to do so on purpose) too. I could see the cast was not happy at curtain call.

That being said, what a singular moment of theatre to witness! Early in Act I, what I now assume was static but then assumed was part of the play, erupted from backstage right. The “kids” of the cast looked over; I think they may have tried to continue, but we couldn’t hear anything. Then the voice of god came on and said that the performance would be taking a pause. NEVER, in the entirety of my life, have I seen a show out of previews (there was a stop at the first preview of “Miss You Like Hell” at The Public) stop dead in its tracks. Jeff Daniels, who will forever my *my* Atticus Finch now, didn’t seem to know if he should stay on or get off the stage. A techie came on to pull him off and he said, “The Shubert farted!” as he walked off. Un-be-lievable. The wait wasn’t too long and Celia Keenan-Bolger resumed the show with a fantastic “okay”.

I very stupidly overate when I got home and ended up spending the rest of my day aching in bed.

3.21–8

My last class at BP for the foreseeable future was Magnus’s Open Level.

I got lunch with Sonica. Then we went to the library. On our way, an older lady stopped me and told me she loved my Ralph Lauren rainboots.

A couple blocks later, Sonica and I walked past another old lady before realizing she probably needed help. We paused, then doubled back to see if we could be of assistance. The older lady who complimented my shoes had actually stopped and taken the hand of the other older lady, who was visually impaired. I saw the first lady struggling to hold her umbrella over both herself and the visually impaired one, so I held my umbrella over the latter and walked with them. After they crossed a street, I asked if the latter were perhaps going to the library. She said yes and the first lady smiled before leaving. I then gave the visually impaired lady my arm and walked her and her service dog to the library.

Sonica and I did a little work at the library. Then she accompanied me as I got a haircut. After the haircut, I walked to 54th Street where Jen reserved a studio for us to jam in. We worked on Lily Allen’s cover of “Somewhere Only We Know” for a good 1.5hrs, then caught up while she had dinner at Dig Inn.

3.22 to 3.23

The records for these days are in my 80 Days post.

3.24–9

Woke up. Showered. Breakfasted. Walked around Philly. Went back to NY. Lost a Metrocard with a fair amount of money on it, but couldn’t be bothered to be upset. Am upset with how time-consuming uploading a video I took from the concert last night has been though.

Alison from high school found and friended me on Facebook. I can’t believe it. What a beautiful life.

3.25–10

A slow day at home playing catch-up.

3.26–11

Made it out of the house to donate some things to Goodwill. Currently sitting in Bryant Park by the ping-pong tables across the street from the Grace Building. There was an older Asian man playing who was really getting into it; watching him made me smile.

A lady bug landed on the armrest of the bench I’m sitting on. It explored my hand for a little, then I blew it off and it flew away.

I got a 30 minute massage. Holy hell, did the therapist go IN.

Back in Bryant Park, sitting in the same bench. My ping-pong table is empty, but the other one has two people playing on it. It’s sweet. Just a moment ago, there was only one person, playing by himself with a wall of chairs.

A group of children (actually they’re probably in middle/possibly high school) with ice cream just flooded the area I’m sitting and I don’t feel overwhelmed with hatred. Am I becoming a better person? Gasp!

I am leaving though because my hands are cold and now I want something sweet. Got Speculoos cheesecake from Le Pain Quotidien, which was surprisingly fantastic.

Met up with Sonica at 17:30. The guard at her work was kinda a dick, but there was joy-sparking Andy Warhol wallpaper in the building.

Caught up with Alison on the phone for half-an-hour. Seriously, what an amazing world that people can come back to your life after so many years.

Went to a Burning Man happy hour to see Brian. Talked to some virgins before he got there and was so surprised to catch myself speaking with proper “Burner lingo”. Brian came. We drank. We talked. It was a good night.

3.27–12

Maybe it’s finally starting to sink in that I’m moving, or maybe I’m just stressed because I have unfinished work that I should have finished three days ago, but I woke up feeling blue this morning and the feeling wasn’t fleeting.

I bumbled through the morning and missed an 11:00 massage appointment, but Sirena called me while I was walking toward it and we got to catch up. It was so special that she caught me when she did; it felt like the universe was taking care of me.

Made it to a library and got a little work done, but not much because I was hungry and a woman nearby was playing music. She was friendly when I asked her to turn it down, but I couldn’t ignore the sound.

I got groceries and went home. Sam cancelled plans for dinner, which was a blessing. I took a nap instead.

Woke up from my nap still unfocused. Tried to get work done, but didn’t. Ended up calling it a day early. Chelsea called before I fell asleep.

3.28–13

Woke up feeling better. Was productive, then started writing an email to El Celler de Can Roca and stopped being productive, although that email is an important thing that had to happen.

Sonica and I hung out for an hour in the city. She got ice-cream at Amorino and chips at a grocery store. I stole the smallest bits of both.

Then I met up with Sarah. The person (Michelle) whose lunch she was covering was the friend of Rilla I had met at Flagship last summer. Yikes, that is a terrible sentence.

Sarah and I went to Venchi by Union Square for ice-cream. The flavors were boring and the service sucked aggressively, but we talked for two hours. She’s raising funds to film a short and doing so well.

There was a pro-foreskin group in Union Square and a single baby shoe by the entrance to the train. I love New York and I am going to miss it so.

I went home, had dinner, got a little work done, then went to Velvet Brooklyn to see Pole Play with Sam. Sam was not late, but gave me the impression before I left she would be there at 8. Then she was not and it bothered me. Then she told me she was bothered by how bothered I was and I felt so grateful to have a friend who thought I was strong enough to handle criticism and brave enough to tell me.

We went to McDonald’s. The cashier was fun and snuck us some extra chicken tenders. We went to Sam’s. We talked until one in the morning. I am never going to forget this night.

3.29–14

My heart is so heavy. There’s no sun in the sky today. It looks like it might rain. It feels like New York is trying not to cry.

I got a little work done, then met up with Magnus at Body & Pole. We went to the place where we bought pies to play a game and won free food at two weeks ago for lunch — the realization that happened two weeks ago, the first day I recorded in this fourteen day journal, makes me feel so many emotions.

As I approached the counter to order, the cashier offered me the remnants of a milkshake she made. I was so happy, she became happy too. Her name was Kim. After we ordered, I told her I was moving tomorrow and appreciated her energy. She wished me well and told me to get home safe.

Domi and I met in a Starbucks, then walked the High Line down to The Whitney. Then I sat down in The Whitney and finally finished that bit of work I had to do. What a beautiful feeling.

Lana came around 18:15. We explored The Whitney. I picked up some debris on the fifth floor and a guard noticed. He said that in his year-and-a-half of being there, he had never seen someone pick something up. We all talked for a bit. It was so lovely.

After The Whitney, we went to Ample Hills and everything was perfect.

A (paraphrased) quote to end things:

You are my proof that anything can get better. I know that everything will always be okay because of you. We are going to live good lives.