Sunday, October 16, 2005

Ring Around the Rosey....err, Central Park

Ahhhh....Autumn in Central Park, New York City. There's little wonder why it is often referred to as Fall. The temperature falls, the rain falls (sometimes for days on end like last week), the leaves change color and subsequently fall (along with twigs and nuts that are prepared to survive the winter), and, of course as a result of these things, even rollerbladers fall. Well almost.

Yesterday I took what I guess could be one of my last rollerblade laps around Central Park. As Autumn progresses, every time I get out on my wheels I think it could be my last trip before next spring. With all of the rain that we've had over the last week, I knew that crevices at every corner would still be wet and that the streets on the loop would be littered with leaves and other Autumn-like items. It dawned on me (as it does on every trip around the park) that my face and hands had not yet tasted asphalt this season, although I constantly push my limits with the expectation that it could happen. Especially with the plethora of twigs and acorns in the road. I started day-dreaming about writing a blog toying with the homonym "fall" to describe the season as well as the experience and action of the event while rollerblading. I almost wanted to fall in order to make this blog a reality. I decided I could still write about it without actually experiencing it, so I changed mental topics and went into observation mode. Towards the end of my trip, I mentally observed the fact that my shorts were beginning to slip down my waste a bit and so I shifted them back up my hips and BAM. I don't know what I hit, but the contact with my worn-down wheels and rollerblade chassis made a crackling noise and I almost did a face plant. Luckily, I have the balance of a hockey player on my blades and was able to recover before this happened. But I smiled because that's the closest I've come to falling this year and now the blog could become a reality :) ....

I'm back to a semi-liquid diet because my braces got a new wire yesterday. I went out to dinner with some people on Saturday night at an East Village Venezuelan establishment called Caracas Arepa Bar, which served something like an empanada made out of corn (an Arepa) which makes it a desirable place for gluten-intolerant residents and diners. Unfortuantely, the corn shell was a bit crunchy, which made for a painful experience - but I look forward to eating there in 18 months :-/. After dinner, we checked out a place near Sean's new apartment called The Porch, which had an interesting crowd and was great for people watching. It was a pretty mellow evening and to make the weekend complete I met up with my EV peeps at Organic Grill this morning for brunch. Mmmh....Challah French Toast is quite edible even with braces on.

J. Riley, for the record I think that September is one of the best times of the year to visit.

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