4 Nov 06

Time:

?

Money:

$22, breakfasts, the coffee shop on... 85th and Third?
$0, Borat ticket, since half the breakfast bill was Roey's, some theater in the Village.
$20, pastrami sandwich and beverages (yes, again), Josie Wood's.
$60 (maybe?), an impressively wide-ranging array of beverages, Peculier Pub.

More interesting things:

Woke up to a text message detailing plans for the movie and an invitation to breakfast, which is a pleasant way to start off.

Rang the LTC, the 1SG, and the CSM in turn, since I knew they were at the drill meet. It was really nice to talk to them, of course - I miss them so much - but those kids are getting a little pathetic: ONE Color Guard (and only barely that), unarmed squad, the usual female exhibition individual, and Iron Eagles. Very, very lame; I don't know what's going on with these cadets. It's almost a good thing I wasn't there, because I don't like to cut off my shiny golden early-November Saturday outside too early, and I would have felt like holding the yutes responsible. But - it was still excellent to chat with my guys.

Enjoyed my pancakes and the accompanying conversation, except for the part where some wacko jumped up from his table to ask if I'd ever even MET any Army aviators (I guess he heard some of the comments we'd been making, although a) if he'd listened to the kind of things I was saying - about Rolexes and so on - he probably would have been able to gather that I DO know what I'm talking about, and b) I actually do think it was my dining companion who made the last comments!) and then told me I was welcome, to which all I could think to say was, "Yes, I am welcome, thank you." Dumb reply - REALLY dumb reply, actually - and I could easily have come up with something better if I hadn't been so taken aback, but I don't think this guy was too bright so it would have been wasted anyway. Fortunately, based on his accent and the truck-stop-looking ballcap he had pulled down over his eyes even as he ate, I don't think he was a New Yorker, so no counter-exhibits for my campaign on that one....

Rode down to the Village for the movie with an older Irish guy in marathon number who wanted to know where "Central Station" was and a lady who caned her way on and ferociously but largely politely refused to take the seat that she was encouraged towards at least three times, proclaiming for all the world to hear - I mean, including, like, China - that she was only going one stop and would be fine standing up. Funny, but admirably hard-core in a typically New York kind of way.

Cackled hysterically all through Borat, which was a genuinely intelligent and hilarious movie, but it was almost a no-go. We got to our particular theater, which was a good trick in itself since it wasn't numbered like some of the others, and sat through all the previews only to discover that they accidentally wound Marie Antoinette up for us - yecch. A mass exodus of the yapping and annoyed descended on the poor guys in the lobby, and after some discussion about cutting off the previews (which, obviously, they are not allowed to do), we made our way back and finally got the movie AND, for those of us patient (or indecisive, as the case may be) enough to wait around for a few minutes, a free ticket. Excellent.

Admired, in a moderate and I-know-this-isn't-Market-Street kind of way, the verbal decorations on the walls of the Josie Wood's bathroom stall. Nothing to beat that poem about rolling in a bed like eggs, obviously, but a decent reply to someone's comment stating "He's just not that into you": "Speak for yourself!"

Stood on my corner in the late-afternoon grayish chill, enjoying the difference between the weather and phone calls: one is fun because it pushes you to get out of it, the other because it pushes you to stay with it.

Skipped over 28th Street on my way back down to the Village because of a police investigation in the station... what was that about?

Read a system of chemistry equations recorded for posterity in bottle caps on the wall near the restrooms at the pub. You know your bar serves patrons from a really selective school when....