I’ve moved from W. Mass back to Queens.

Doing some freelance work.

Enjoying the outer-boroughs.

Month of January
Went to NY one weekend for FEAST.

Prob went to some shows at work and drank beer at the Mohawk?

Can’t recall…

February
There was a staff party at the Elk’s. I went to the local bars after. Ended up at the Crystal Hardhat and running into Martin, Lydia and Marty. We watched the biker band for a bit.

I watched a lot of documentaries and movies about the finance industry.

March
Went to San Francisco for a weekend. Jeff flew in from Minneapolis and we toured the sites and took in the sights. We had lunch some place, went to a Korean bath house, went to SF MoMA and YCBA, had pizza in Berkely with Liz, met up with Jenn at the CCA, ate vegan mexican food, shopped, had coffee, saw grandmas cleaning garages, went to a park on a hill where all these people were hanging out drinking and doing drugs in broad daylight, went to some bars, saw a drag show, ate breakfast, went to another park where people were talking about ‘policing the chill’, took naps, ate Doritos on a bus, stood in a line for two hours to get into a daytime dance party, ended up going to a bar called ‘Naps’ instead, ate sushi, then tacos, went over to Mellisa’s, walked a lot, went to a beach with lots of dogs, urban hiking, ate a burrito, Jeff left Sunday night, had breakfast with Jenn and Ryan B, met up with Liz and Heather at a fancy hotel and swam, and had Korean food. San Francisco is a real chill place and no one is all bossy moo cow at you.

Went to see No Age at Bennington student center. Super loud. Lots of co-ed hugging.

Esha and I drove down South for Spring Break.

NAMA > QNS

QNS > West Virginia. Their regional gas station is called ‘Sheetz’. We stayed with Esha’s former roommate Greg and they gave us the dirt on all the local happenings. There’s not much happening. We drove an hour to the top of a mountain. Then it got dark 15 minutes later, and we drove an hour back.

On the way to Nashville we stopped through Lexington. Pretty nice little historic district there. Ate breakfast at a very efficient place called Doodles. The people the next table over were talking about guns.

Stayed a night in Nashville. Got drinks at a speakeasy-type bar that was similar to Brooklyn’s speakeasy revival bars. The people sitting next to us were talking about guns.

Stopped in a small town in Mississippi and had lunch at a florist / cafe ‘Figs and Twigs’. A neighboring store was called Kountry Kids Kloze. Nashville to East Texas to stay a night at Esha’s parent’s house. They gave us the grand tour of Orange, Tx and we discussed various familial details.

Went on over to New Orleans. Stayed at a real nice little B&B house on the outskirts of the Quarter. Just down the street from Buffa’s bar. Again it was my inaugural watering hole for the visit. Went Jacque Imo’s the first night. Esha thought it was great. I thought it was good. I’d recommend it, but describe the menu as ‘fun’. We’d planned to see Rebirth Brass Band next door at the Maple Leaf, but we were too full, tired, etc.

We went on a ghost tour of the Quarter. Though many of the stops were about vampires.

Went to a nearby plantation. They mostly talked about the good parts of the plantation, and not so much the slave stuff.

The best meal of the trip was lunch at Coquette.

One night we’d waited too long to get to dinner, and ended up at the Hi-Ho lounge where The Stooges Brass Band was playing. It was a messy, fun show. My favorite thing in live music is when bands don’t stop between songs. These guys never paused. One song went right into the next. Very loud too.

Stayed a night in Asheville and had dinner at a place called The Admiral. Walked around downtown the next day but realized it wasn’t much different than any other hippie college downtown and left. I wish I’d dug up more Black Mtn College info before I’d gone.

We had no car trouble.

Since my last post I have grown another beard, and:

Sept 25 wkend
There was a bluegrass festival at work. One or two bluegrass bands is enough. 10 is too many. It’s bluegrass. I get it.

Oct 1
Left the cabin and moved into a regular apt. It’s old and kinda junky and in the worst nabe of NA. But it’s cheap.

Oct 15 wkend
Kyle and Julianna got married near Gowanus.

Esha had a birthday party at the Manhattan Inn.

Saw ‘Living as Form’ in the LES.

Halloween weekend
Went to an unlimited bar, 20$ at the door warehouse party in Williamsburg. Drank more than 20$ worth of alcohol. Bad hangover. I wore a hat from the dollar store. Esha was Black Swan. There were a lot of Black Swans and Steve Jobs.

Nov 10–18
Went to Chicago. Stayed with Beth and Sam. They bought a real house and they fixed it up in pretty quick order. Sam and I had tacos and talked about our careers. I walked Total a lot. Saw Adele play a rock show. Dave and Abby showed up and there was a nice little party. Beth still feels I should be clean-shaven with a tidy haircut, and was a good sport about watching us get drunk.

Then I went to KC. Matt Blume picked me up. We had a few hours of catching up. He was doing some leaf raking that day and Charles was helping him out. Mostly by identifying the various rakes (daddy’s rake, my rake). Matt was generous with his delicious homebrews and we all stepped in the dog’s shit.

Ted got married that evening. Catholic wedding. Real fun reception at Boulevard. Good beer of course and the band was fun. We all danced and went out to some bars afterward.

Went to Wamego for a few days.

Thanksgiving Weekend
Esha cooked a real nice turkey and we ate it at her sister’s with her family and a few friends. There was too many things of food.

Went to an early evening party at Nick and Jaime’s. Hung out with some people at some bars.

Dec 10 Weekend
Esha came up. The water in North Adams was off for a day and I am pretty sure we’re all [modern society] going to be fucked when something catastrophic finally comes around. Saw some boring dance thing at work, crashed a dinner at Maureen & Tim’s.

Holiday Party Weekend
Friday I met the gang at Diner for a couple beers and some soup. Went to a friend of Esha’s party. The crowd was kind of fashion / goth. They had lots of food and booze and candles.

Saturday was the famous cookie party. As always, many incredible little bites via Jenny and Dan. Later that evening Esha and I went to Bay Ridge for “reindeer games” at Christina’s. I sucked at these games but excelled at eating a lot.

Sunday we saw “The Skin I Live In.” Pretty good movie.

I started re-watching all five seasons of The Wire.

Christmas
Molly and David hosted a fantastic tamale party on xmas eve. More friends in town than usual. More little kids and kids to be than ever before. I drank too much, then went to Del Posto to drink more while Gino worked.

On xmas day Esha made a nice big dinner for her family, Gino and myself. Lamb, and curry.

New Year’s weekend
Back down to NYC. Friday night was a party in Jackson Heights for Esha’s Uncle “Mama.” Saturday night was NYE with a dinner at Laura’s (oysters, shrimp, hummus, black eyed peas, beets, salad, pork shoulder, green bean casserole, beer, wine, whisky) followed by a real swell party at Jenn’s with great decor by Sandman. Sunday night I had dinner with Gino, Helen, Mike, and Esha at Diner. Really gluttonous and enjoyable.