Good morning and happy Saturday - hope that you had a great Valentine's Day - I spent part of yesterday braving Tiffany for a piece of Italian glass I've had my eye on for some time. I knew the Mister would love it (I wasn't wrong) so in I went. It actually was not as zooey as I thought it would be. I did have a "moment" while getting this shot of the Empire State Building built out of Tiffany blue boxes - my crazy fear of heights rears its head again.

There was a time, years and years ago, when I was in Trump Tower and nearly lost my footing and pitched over the edge. That it, by the way, a metaphor for how I feel about the last three years, but I generally try to eschew too much political talk on this blog. I mean, if you don't already know my political affiliation by me being a middle aged gay New Yorker, then nothing else I can say will help you figure that out. As usual, I'm against anything that will kill me, my family and/or the planet. 

As for the Vday itself, we had dinner at a little seafood restaurant in our 'hood - it was amazingly good and the meal was topped off by a complimentary slide of chocolate lava cake (they certainly knew their audience). I would tell you the name of it but I've learned my lesson - don't tell people about fabulous restaurants because then they'll go and it will be too crowded for us! LOL (I should add here, that this is more or less just 'snarky' as I don't think for a moment that me telling the name of this place on this blog will cause an avalanche of patrons to descend upon this place, but hey, you never know so I'm not taking any chances). :) 

Today, Saturday, it's a super cold day here in NYC so we spent the morning lazing around the apartment in jammies, making banana bread and sipping super incredibly strong Bustelo.... I would like to have used the cold as an excuse to just not go anywhere today, ah, but errands called as did an out of town friend who requested a dinner meet up, how can I say no? :)

But there are worse ways to spend a chilly Saturday afternoon than wrapped up in a blanket on the couch watching movies and occasionally dancing around the apartment to "Staying Alive" (BeeGees rule!)

Tomorrow, it's supposed to be summer (comparatively). Welcome to the new normal for climate: if you don't like the season you're currently experiencing, wait a few minutes. (see also being against things that will kill me, my family and/or the planet). 

Ok so if anyone who has never been to a gay bar has ever wondered what it's like, last Saturday night's episode of Saturday Night Live was, for me, like spending 90 minutes in the Boiler Room in the East Village - there was drag, shade, intelligent conversation, cute guys, some politics, a little game playing, some flirting (and some welcome objectification), and, as happens, philosophizing about the 'good old days' of New York. It seems that even when I've not lived in New York, conversation with my peeps invariably turns to 'well, things were better back then' (that "Old New York" sketch was sadly accurate, but hilarious).

I've also been to bars where they feature some twink performing something unintelligible but the middle aged gays like it because the performer is cute. This is sorta kinda how I feel about Justin Bieber but without the "the performer is cute" part (but I know plenty of guys that think that he's a hottie). My favorite line of the night came from the Facebook as one friend said "how did he go from looking like a 12 year old pretending to be an adult to a 47 year old drug dealer in just three years?" 

Anyway, Ru came to play and she succeeded.. go Ru! (Photo from NBC!)

It's Sunday, I'm about to go to the gym and then to the Apple store to manage my eighteen billion Apple devices (really, it's just my phone, my newer laptop and my older laptop and an external harddrive that isn't behaving right - all have one or more wackadoodle issues and I'm going in to see how I can resolve them all in short order) and then spend the afternoon cleaning the apartment that we live in that has gotten a bit ... casual (I think that's the nicest word I can think of) over the past couple weeks. 

But, while I'm doing all of that, ponder these things: 

When did New Yorkers decide it's OK to throw out decades of conventional behavior and walk on the left side of the sidewalk? It used to be tourists, now it's practically everyone. Walk on the right, and nobody runs into each other. Why is this hard to grasp? 

Does everyone switching sides on the sidewalk auger some kind of spiritual shift that's going on or are we, as I have often thought, simply living in a parallel universe since 2016? (I miss the universe that I used to live in where Hillary Clinton and Obama were considered awesome - I want to go back to that one and leave the one we're all stuck in... perhaps David Bowie is alive over there too... damn you, Hadron collider!). 

In the recent STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER, Fran Drescher should have been one of the voices that Rey hears when she's down for the count -  "Raaaaaaaay... get up and get me and Mr. Sheffield some CAWWWWfeee"... that would revive her much faster than hearing Alec Guiness. :) 

I was born in 1964 and technically am a Boomer, I guess, although I've never identified with the Boomers much. Since the end of the Boomers and the start of Gen X are fuzzy (no two sources agree, naturally) I have found I tend to side more with Gen X. Douglas Coupland got it right. A recent Medium article gets it even right-er. The last sentence sums it up for me: "You can just go ahead and play Prince at all our funerals." True that. Because Prince was the personification of Gen X - the man who sung about being Gen X by never actually singing about Gen X. If you're Gen X, I think you'll get that. Also: other than the Coupland book, we've been largely ignored. We kind of like it that way mainly because we're used to it. 

Finally, Happy Palindrome day- 02/ 02 / 2020 - apparently this won't happen again for another hundred years. I'll be 155 then, nearly 156. I might not be in great shape at that point, but who knows? With enough cawwfee and a switch to another universe where humans live to be 500, I might just be getting started! 

Have a faboo Sunday and catch you back here tomorrow! 

P.S. the photo above has nothing to do with the blog - it's just a pic I snapped Friday night on my way home from work and I thought this blog was as good a time to post it as any. Enjoy, don't steal! I say this because someone on the Facebook snagged a pic I took of Radio City a few weeks ago and passed it off as his own. When I pointed out to him that he should give me credit, he claimed to not known that I was the photog. I don't sort of mind if it gets used, really, but just give me credit (and don't play dumb with me when you've had to go into Photoshop and edit out the watermark... sheesh!)

THING ONE: So far this morning I've purchased a dresser (long needed, much delayed, now finally obtained) from an old high school friend (who posted it on her FB account and I'm so grateful, it's exactly what I've been looking for). That may not seem like a big accomplishment, but it is. I bought my last dresser in January 2000 for $100 from a furniture shop in West Hollywood that was going out of business. I didn't intend on having it for 20 years but there you go. Sometimes that happens. A few years ago, during one apt re-org, the dresser had to be 'trimmed' to accommodate new placement between the radiator and a door in our tiny place thus making it the New York apartment equivalent of a car in the front yard on cinderblocks. I promised myself then that I would replace it soon.. that was about 6 years ago. Sigh. 

THING TWO: It's supposed to snow today but I've seen nothing yet on the UWS. I love snow and miss that it never really snows like it used to in NYC anymore. For those who complain about shoveling it - know that you are lucky enough to have luxury of seasons (and a home out from which you must shovel in the first place). I realize that for my Wisconsin and Minnesota friends, being bombarded by snowfall after snowfall can be tiring, but I invite you to look at how lucky you are! On the upside, the ivy we planted in our window boxes outside the window where I sit with my computer last summer is thriving. 

THING THREE: 6 years ago today I started the last six week cycle of my long running Bingo show. I was working a corporate events job at the time (as I am now) and couldn't put the time into Bingo as I had been able to do previously with other jobs that were less demanding. I revived it for a few weeks in the summer of 2015, but that was done by August. However, one slices the time away from it, I miss emceeing the show, raising funds for non-profits, and booking fabulous guests. 

And that's three things I'm thinking about today on the upper west side/New York. Hope your day is going well! 

This morning, as I raced across W. 51st Street, I passed by Radio City Music Hall, as I usually do every day from the 1 to my job at 51st/Park. There's always something interesting happening there - a few weeks ago I watched in horror as a crane lifted a half dozen follow spots into a dumpster (I kept thinking that they could have been donated to a high school or something.. sigh) and today, it was camels. 

I'm generally chugging along, listening full tilt to uplifting music (yes, a dance remix of "Sex and the City" counts) but this stopped me cold. How could it not? 

They bring in camels and other animals for the end of the show manger scene. When they call it a 'spectacular' they aren't kidding around.

And that was it. 

I wish I had a better story than that today, but I will end by saying that it's so easy to get lost in our devices, between checking the time, scrolling through music, updating social media, etc, that you really miss a lot if you don't look up once in awhile. As Ferris Bueller once said, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

I've purchased our Thanksgiving turkey and it's sitting on our tiny kitchen counter thawing. At this point, It's literally a 9lb block of ice with some turkey thrown in for good measure. But, thankfully, we have a little time until it needs to get thrown in the oven. 

One of the things that I am most thankful for this year is that I am now only about 6 months from the date of May 27, 2020 - it's the date when all space and time converge for me - it will be the day I've lived longer than my father who died after a year long battle with cancer when he was 56.

I don't know why it's become like This Thing, but I do remember those days following his death, when I was 17, and thinking that 56 seemed scary but thankfully so far away. And now... I turn 56 on March 9th and then .... well, then I'm nearly there to the point that he was. I'm nearly where the scary part is. The part I've spent my life preparing for. A kind of time of a cosmic report card surveying all I've done and left undone. 

What I haven't really thought of is, what occupies that space, filled for so many years with the anxiousness of 56 in the distance, when it's May 28th? 

And, then, of course, it hits me - what if I don't get beyond his age? That's scary for lots of reasons. LOL 

But in the here and now, I have a frozen turkey, a great partner of 4 years, a home I've been in for 16 years, am drawing (sporadically, but I am doing it), a job and a few friends sprinkled across the world. For right now, it's what I will focus on. 

On a completely unrelated note, tomorrow, Thanksgiving, I will once again be a balloon handler in the Macys Parade, if the winds allow it. My first year was 2006 and I was on Super Grover. It rained a lot and I wore boots that had holes in them (I didn't know, of course, until the first puddle I walked through). The Macys people had a policy of no photos at the time so I don't have a picture from that year, but above is a montage of all the other years I've been in the Parade. It's comforting, somehow to watch me morph into Santa Claus. :)

Have a very happy Thanksgiving all! 

A few weeks ago I wrote a blistering expose on the closing of the Paris movie theater where I named names and ... ok no I didn't do that. I just wrote a little blog post that lamented the closing of a popular place to see (mostly) art house movies. 

Since then, Netflix has swooped in and saved the single screen theater. Sort of. Netflix's MARRIAGE STORY opened there a couple weeks ago as a theater run is required for the film to be considered for an Oscar. It's a neat trick and I'm glad that the treasured place can maybe get a second lease on life. 

I don't really expect it to last - I mean, how long before the tech giants convince the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that the rule about a theatrical release isn't needed any longer? But I'll take what I can get. 

I can't say that I'm going to be rushing out to see MARRIAGE STORY as I'm bummed out enough what with seasonal disorder and just general life stuff that I don't think that I need to immerse myself in a film about divorce, but I highly support the idea of it and hope that the next flick that Netflix plays there is something I'd actually like to see. 

Good morning and Happy October. It's International Coffee Day and yes, it's a real thing. 

There's no real special way to celebrate, just chug down your favorite cup of Joe and SPEED THROUGH YOUR DAY LIKE YOU'RE ON FIRE! 

I didn't start drinking any kind of coffee-like drink until 2011 when I was dating a guy whose apartment always smelled of Cafe Bustelo. I had always loved that aroma but had thought that the taste was nasty.

I am willing to admit that I based this dislike on two things - my mother's coffee breath (mixed with cigarettes and her perfume) and terrible awful taste of coffee ice cream. Upon reflection, neither was, of course, a gauge how I would myself like or not like an actual coffee product. 

Flash forward to autumn 2011 when I was at a moment in my life where I was more or less starting from scratch and was willing to try things, even things I swore I didn't like (I will say for the record that my refusal to eat any condiments - ketchup, mustard, etc - on the basis that 'they're yucky' is unwavering).

Anyway, he offered to make me a cappuccino with his fancy schmancy espresso machine and, when I realized it was basically a caffeinated milk shake, I fell in love. Oh, no, not with him, the relationship with him didn't last much longer but that's OK; the love of all things coffee more than took up the slack. I think I got the better end of the deal. 

So Happy International Coffee Day to all of those who are reading this blog post through hazy morning eyes! 

Good morning! It's a gorgeous day here in Manhattan and I've been up since the crack o dawn. I've been to the gym, I have been grocery shopping, the exterminator just left, and, at this writing, it's just 11:00am. But, in my defense, it's been an intense couple of work weeks what with the end of the fiscal year and handling a bunch of events. Winding down on the weekends is a bit of a challenge but that comes with the event planner territory. 

One of the events I helped with was a big company party at Rockefeller Center. A bunch of us on the team offered to help the planner by being 'extra hands' for her. I was put in charge of hanging a company branded flag from the underside of a large umbrella. It sounds easier than it was. lol

Anyway, the planner had done such an excellent job of logistics that the 'extras' weren't really needed. So, we got to enjoy the party as guests. 

You know, I've lived in New York for a long time and I've worked as a consultant at 30 Rock so being there isn't really super new to me, and yet, I've never actually stood so close that I could touch the gold statue of Prometheus. I mean, if I tried to, a billion security guys would pop out of the woodwork and drag me away, but the idea that I COULD was kind of cool.

It's occurred to me a couple times in the past couple weeks that, at 55, I still get giddy about this kind of stuff. I know that I "shouldn't" be giddy anymore about doing events at this or that place, having lunch at this or that place, or walking on the floor of Rock Center. But I still am. I kind of think that the day I'm not will be a sad day for me. 

My fond wish for you is that you go out and enjoy the day today no matter where you are - and that no matter what you're doing or where you are, you continuously find things that make you giddy! 

Good morning and happy Friday.

Here on W. 102nd Street all is well but busy. Hope you're all doing great. 

Will be blathering on this weekend about a bunch of stuff, so be sure to come back and hang out. The Mister and I are planning on painting the ceiling of our middle room. Life in the big city has never been wilder! lol 

What are YOU up to?