Last Friday, I finally had my Name Day celebration. I sent out an Evite to some of my friends and acquaintances in a bid to load up the Guggenheim with people that I knew. Naturally, about half of the invitees couldn't make it. And half of the people that said they could make it didn't show up. I guess it wasn't very well organized on my part, since there were several hundred folks inside, scattered throughout the Guggenheim's world-class gallery. I arrived with Joclyn, a girl I've been on a few dates with lately and we met up with Alan and Andrea, who arrived not long after we got there. The only other people we ran into were some folks that I share mutual friends and went to college with, but that's alright. They were on the Evite, too.
In any case, the event was great. This was the kind of party that you see in movies about Manhattan, the type of event that guys like James Bond would attend (substitute yellow taxis for his Aston Martin and other guest's limos). It was a very diverse group of people, many of whom (myself not included) were dressed up in suits or chi-chi outfits. The cash bar downstairs served a few types of wine along with the standard cosmopolitan and sour-apple martinis. Ambient music mixed by a "world-class DJ" (who had no results when I googled him) flowed through the speakers setup around the exhibits and the crowd was generally in a good mood. So, after enjoying a toxic apple martini, we headed up to the exhibits to find out what the Guggenheim was all about. Now, I'm not much of an art interpreter, but that martini turned me into a true modern-art aficionado ;o). It was a lot of fun, for sure...
Saturday the weather turned fabulous on us and I was fortunate to be volunteering for the day with some kids. We took them out to Coney Island's aquarium next to the ocean and let them check out the sharks, seals, walruses, jellyfish, etc. It doesn't have quite the enornimity (I just made that word up, I think) as the Monterey Bay Aquarium, but most of these kids hadn't been to one before, so they got a kick out of it. One of them even proclaimed that he hadn't ever seen a fish before, so it was pretty neat. It also gave me the chance to renew my vows to visit Coney Island at some point this summer. I gotta ride the rollercoasters, eat Nathan's Hot Dogs and swim in the polluted water while I have the chance!
After being totally worn-out by the kids, I went home, ate some leftovers, and passed out on my futon for a few hours, only to wake up at 9:00 with no plans for the evening. Oh well, I guess I can take a Saturday night off every once in a while and recuperate - and clean my apartment!
Sunday was an even more phenomenal day as far as the weather goes. It hit almost 90 degrees outside, but with low humidity so it was very much bearable. I hit Central Park at about 11:30 with my blades and spent a few hours toiling around, checking out some live music, admiring the views, smelling the roses, watching the break-dancers etc.
After chilling out and catching up with people on Sunday, I watched the Tony awards at Cathy's place in the evening. They are the equivalent of the Oscars, only for Broadway shows. After seeing those, I realized how few shows I'd even heard about this year. So, with that in mind, I'm planning on hitting up some mid-week show lotteries in the next few weeks. Tonight I plan on trying my luck for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, which is supposed to be hilarious and is starring John Lithgow (of Shrek fame). I know the movie was great, so the show must be even more hysterical!
Thursday night I'm heading back to Cali for Faryn's graduation. Can you believe that she's graduating already? Unreal. It'll be nice to be back home for a few days, especially since many of my readers will be joining us for the celebrations for her and Summer's college graduation on Saturday. The last chicks are leaving the Haines nest, what are my parents going to do with all of their free time??
J. Riley
PS - Don't worry about my job, it looks like everything is fine. South America or Europe is gonna have to wait :o)
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