TABLE OF CONTENTS
Ahh, what a weekend. Friday afternoon I got off work around 3pm for "early dismissal" with Memorial Day and the 3 day weekend. Also, that name... We had "early release" every Wednesday at some point in high school and it was the best thing ever. Yay for company policies like this. But back to the events of the day:
I got home, dropped my bag and made my way to Emily Jones' spot up on 12th or so in EV. Had a nice sauntering walk around Washington Sq park and over to "The Village". I get that there are so many villages in NYC but why is the Comedy Cellar area and this spot specifically called The Village? West Village? East Village? The Village? Someone feel free to text me to explain. We finally end up settling on heading back to the East Side to grab a beverage for happy hour. Met up with some friends of hers I've never met before and we encountered a teensy first dilemma of the weekend. I don't mean dilemma in regular sense of the word. We were at Rosie's, the Mexican joint on 2nd st, and I did the quick count of friends set to be joining us and I added to 8 for the table. Waitress chuckles and tells me about 2.5 hour wait to fit us all in. So boohoo to that whole thing and we might even have more coming later so I had a weird little fight or flight moment.
Let's see... how do I begin to explain what I mean by "fight or flight"? So you ever been put into a position where nobody in the group necessarily has volunteered to play leader yet? Or maybe nobody wants to be the asshole that starts making moves for the whole group because if you had to go full democratic with it you'd literally get nowhere. I was left with a couple options but my friend Cat K had made plans for Rosie's a while ago and either way I was gonna wait there for her and see what she wanted to do. She arrives and says either way she wants a marg and now I had the option where I could've just blown off the 4-6+ other peeps that were coming but nah gotta swerve over to 310 Bowery to make room for the whole gang. Speaking of, please someone give me a good rec for a large bar that's not too American bro-ey in East Village over by me on 4th and C that does a fun happy hour plz, plz, plz.
So we end up at 310 Bowery and yay not too packed to fit the whole group. Some point within the 3 hours or so we're there we have about 3 or 4 segments of groups of friends all present. Ooooo ok, now how do I explain the segments without sounding too weird and honest hehehe. I know nobody really talks about splitting up their friends this way but hell we've been doing this since we were kids in order to remember everybody. Good ol' tiny bits of psychology say that we really only remember a certain amount of names at total recall before you have to make a couple jumps (gotta find that source later). So the way I do it is I try to contextualize "how" I know someone in the moment that I recall all the information about them. Soon though with enough time getting to know them they get on that whole "first degree" kind of network and you can drop the context of who you know them through.
pause
Oh, wait!
Ok, people on their way over to tan now! Gotta enjoy my Memorial day! Can't wait to get back and finish this one though. Number two is feeling even more cathartic than the last.
Lovely Monday Memorial Day 78 degrees with some nice sun soaking up on the rooftop today. Thanks Cat K for the company!
Totally forgot that Lena our cleaner would be over this afternoon for her normal Monday cleanup which was a nice surprise after the couple of quick spot cleans I did this weekend during all the shenanigans. Sitting back down at my computer back to writing these "thoughts". Had a convo with Cat about the fact that I made the last post. Also how over the weekend I had a couple friends that referred to some of the things I wrote about in the last one. It's kind of fun to hide little tidbits in here like this and see who parses through this. I dabbled with doing a voice recording but then it's super hard to index so I think I'll stick to the typing for now. I know some of y'all might think I'm batshit crazy for this sort of thing but my only response to you would be maybe you don't know me well enough to know this is the epitome of me hehehe
I put the kettle on for some pour over coffee before I get back to writing. I probably/definitely don't need the caffeine while I ketone extra hard waiting for my dinner but also I love the taste of my bean water so there's that. Ok, back to it.
unpause
Back to the original programming of my tale of my weekend. Song that just came on as I sit down to write btw: https://open.spotify.com/track/5U6ZzFbxI9AHpWUWEy8rw7?si=2v_KeAYXQuWjMu9hAzz-2A
We're all around the table at 310 and I'm so thankful for my peoples. We had the back "L" shaped extra large table that originally had a "reserved" label on it but obviously that's not a thing looking around the room and feeling the vibe. A quick word with the waitress and we're sitting down ordering some beverages with the squard. She asked us to put a card down and I "took the hit" as we call it. Luckily this group and most of my friends in NYC in general know how this vibe goes and I just take a pic of the receipt and everyone "Venmo"s the hit person back immediately after. Ugh, more I think about it though the more I don't like Venmo as a company; to hell with Paypal and their sketchy ways.
Well so my buddy Steven sees the act of my snagging the "reserved" table and made a comment which meant a lot to me in the moment since he is usually the organizer when it's his group of peeps. I felt proud that he applauded my taking action.
😜
But as I was saying before, I'm so thankful for these people. We have from left to right in our hodge podge circle (also lol that Modge Podge was a thing in college and I'm just remembering): the Owen Dayoub gang, the roomie peeps, Em Jones and boo + 1 and Cat, Brayton and Hayden arrived a little shortly after their marg at Rosies. It's fun in these moments to head to a spot and kind of take over like we did. But at same time some folks don't like the same ol' "chain gang" so I attempt to be sure we don't spend too terrible long at a place like this.
Finish up and head back to Ave C to regroup at mine. A few of us wanted to go out on this Friday evening but I've actually just put in place a new rule for me: no nights later than 1am on a Friday in order to be sure to have a full day Saturday. Most everyone is gone around 12:30am and then the last stragglers and then I'm in bed by a cool 1:20am or so.
...
I wake up Saturday morning at 7:45am to no alarm just naturally with this new early morning thing and whatnot and I know in my head that the plan is to get a run in but the first agenda of the day is not til 2pm for brunch with the roomie gang. I snooze another hour and a half, brush the teethies and running gear on. I start out running to the East River which is only 2 min or so from my spot and I'm already feeling a little bad with the alcohols last night. I knew it was going to be tough but I gotta stay on my fitness grind. I always run south when I get to the water. I made it the first 3km without any rest at about a 5min/km pace and then needed to catch my breath. Also, totally a shirt off kind of day because it finally feels like summer but it's also not necessarily hot enough yet for the rest of NYC peeps to be ok with the shirt off sort of thing. Screw it though.
Make it to 5km down to Pier 17 or so and I'm finally feeling pretty well so I keep going. On a solid pace and made it all the way to Pier 45 and the little jetty they have there. Turned on my 20 min timer and attempted some Vipassana meditation. First attempt was with headphones in but it was basically impossible to listen to music and meditate at the same time and I always forget this. At least maybe not music with words. The whole point of mindfulness is to block out the noise so it doesn't really make sense to pump in even more noise to your ears. Opened my eyes as my timer goes off and to my surprise there's another guy sitting to the bench to my left that is also meditating. If you don't know much about meditation, that sort of thing is kind of like a badge of honor because it means that he felt comfortable enough in my space to a) not break my concentration and b) to use the safe space I'd already created while meditating for a little while in that spot!
One of the big points about wanting to last all the way to Pier 45 is that I had something in my head that I wanted to attempt a cartwheel this morning and I needed the grass for that attempt. I think I got this cartwheel thing from a friend I would run with in Barcelona but I can't remember who. It kinda shocks your body back after you're exhausted. Up from meditation I popped a cartwheel (in perfect form I might add thanks to Emma Battaglia and her cheerleading) and it felt amazing to still have the flexibility. A quick stretch and some long strides I was back at a super slow pace to go due East back across Manhattan to get home. On the way home I tried to record some thoughts using a voice memo for this sort of thing but I was so brain dead. I had to switch to iCloud Notes instead. Attempted to call a few friends to see what they were up to. The walk home across the island took me approximately 4km just fyi. Manhattan is quite small if you think of it in those terms.
Stopped at Starbucks for a cold brew and a water and then back home. On the phone with Momma Battaglia catching up and then in the shower for a hot refresh. Speaking of showers, am I alone in that I have a full system for my routine? Shampoo -> conditioner -> bar soap to body -> face wash and then at the very end put the temperature to the coldest setting -> step out of shower and stretch in my towel in front of my standing fan hehehe
Just as I'm ready to go it's time for our changed reservation at 3pm at Pardon My French. It was supposed to be a full gang but it just ended up turning into the three of us roommates (Oriane, Kenzo and me). I got a spinach omelette and dranks with the brunch menu.
new song comes on while I write: https://open.spotify.com/track/23e6ly5nFanMQOk4cAwJj2?si=6TvOjqN3Rtim3qJ_koB5Bw
Brunch at PMF (Pardon My French) is unlimited Bloody Marys or mimosas so I'm right back at it drinking my spicy vodka tomato drink. Sidenote: key to a good Bloody is the worcestershire sauce just fyi (thanks Emma Battaglia for that tip). I have to leave around 4pm to get back home to Ave C for the folks to start arriving for rooftop hang/Memorial Day event/Alivia D's bday! Happy birthday Alivia!
I make it back and then over to Fine Fare (our local grocery store) for 6 bags of ice to go in the good ol plastic bucket + trash bag setup to keep the drinks cold. Cat K and Bailey are the first to show and I give them my key to get in the apartment while I pass them in the street heading to the liquor store to buy some vodka for my new drink of choice: vodka + seltzer water + lemon. It was also in this moment at the grocery store that I had to Google what the hell the difference between club soda, seltzer water and sparkling water is. Seltzer is definitely my fave though if I go this route. Heavy on the lemon and you have a nice refreshing beverage that keeps ya in pace with your friends while also kinda sorta being hydrated in the process. I know this sounds like a lot and if you're not a drinker then that sorta statement might be shocking but tis things like this that you gotta pay attention to when you're in your twenties drinking every weekend in the big apple!
Back at the partay people are arriving and now we have the UT (Texas) crowd, Alivia's main homies for her bday, the OG high school gang + 2nd degree peeps, Dayoub + friends and finalmente the roomies. Fantastic late afternoon and evening where we had surprise appearances of my cousin and his crowd and even Emily Cahill who's bday it is today! Happy birthday Emily!!!
A couple weeks ago we had the neighbor who lives on the same floor as us 1 building over contact us to talk about the noise late night in the summer time and I even made sure to text this Brian gentleman in advance to warn him that I'd be bringing up my vanilla stereo speaker system from the late 90s/early 2000s to the roof. A big old Sony receiver/amp thing with two copper wire JBLs and the original Sony subwoofer it came with. My father had bought this sound system for our basement when I was a kid and it went unused for a while so I stole it for my room at home in ATL and even brought it to friends' house parties senior year in high school because hot damn this system bumps.
Notable other events of the partay included it getting chilly and everyone breaking into my closet for my Southern boy Patagonia sweaters (thanks Victoria for the red one you got me forever ago at xmas), Diego snagging my red/white/blue patterned sport coat and my cousin Dylan learning how to twerk.
Topped off the evening at Avenida (now called "East" something) for some wakeup food and margs and then over to the Blind Barber for late night drinking and music and then back home for some good sleep to try and make it to Rockaway tomorrow.
...
Woke up to some texts asking if I still want to come to the beach and I can tell I was quite "dehydrated" (not the worst hangover in the world just some lack of water). Brushed my teeth and threw my beach bag together and Uber'd down to Little Italy to meet the friends for another Uber all the way to Rockaway. We thought the Uber might be shorter and that was our main rationale to pick it but also just because we were all not feeling too great from drinking. Yay for time to nap in the car. Lovely car ride getting to meet this Burger fellow and chatting about music.
Arrive to Rockaway in the parking lot of Key Food's and into the grocery store and, SHABAM! How on Earth? I run into Sarah Crawford from Tritt elementary school. Which is actually super awesome now that I think of it because she also has her own website sort of thing that I believe she's turning into a full blown publication. Her website is http://thefluf.com/! Please if you're already this far into mine be sure to give that one a click and look around! Either way, lovely to see you Sarah!!!!
Onto the beach and we meetup with our friends by 91st street towards the end of the surf section. People watching at Rockaway is amazing. This was my first time at a NYC beach even after having a whole summer last year here too! Also, I still need to get my outer NYC geography down pat: Rockaway -> Long Beach -> Lido Beach -> Jones Beach -> Fire Island -> Hamptons -> Montauk in that order. But yay for new experiences! Rockaway is wild tho holy wow. Props to the free hugs guy but that's kind of a lot at the beach where everyone is all sunscreen-y. Also, wtf with the nutcrackers (? I believe that's what they're called). I'm reminded of the drink sellers in Barcelona but hell no I def need to know what kind of liquor I'm drinking. No way in hell I'd buy a drink from them haha
Sun hides behind the clouds around 4pm after a solid 2.5 hours of sun for us and we start our trek home. It was enough sun at least for me to burn the hell out of my feetsies. No Uber this time. Uber all the way out here is quite expensive and we ain't need to do that again. Hop on zee subway back near Key Foods at the S train "northwest" to the city. A few delays but rly not that bad for travel. It's similar to heading to Sitges in Barcelona. S train -> A train -> J train and got off at Bowery or Delancey (for me). Started to rain just as we were heading back which felt like perfect timing. Grabbed an Uber back from little Italy instead of walking home in the rain. Felt so good to get home and have a nice long shower. What a fantastic NYC summer day holy wow.
...
Up and at 'em this morning (Monday aka Memorial Day) and straight to cleaning up the apartment. Still needed to clear the roof from Sunday which is nasty but just the way it goes with a weekend like this. Felt so good to have everything neat and tidy. I think maybe tonight end the day with a movie and quiet time.
Yay for my friends. Yay for NYC. Yay yay yay!
Whelp, there's a jumbled mess of thoughts and a little bit of story time but merp I don't necessarily do this for anyone to read other than myself. I just don't really mind how public these kinds of things are. If you made it here then sincere thanks and I love ya, hunnie.
the "index" or "TOC" (unsure what to call this yet)
basically at the bottom of these I'll put my bulleted list of what I use to remember things
- Sunday beach day to Rockaway
- Totally fucking up where Fire Island is vs the Hamptons vs Long Island
- Making an absolute fool out of myself talking to a female
- Missing context clues with a social experience hehe
- Not playing a good host to Emily Cahill and her friends
- Twerking with my cousin on the roof
- Everyone grabbing my lovely Patagonias because it got a little chilly at night
- people hanging out in my room
- Kenzo breaking my storage container
- Curry Hill
- sleeping on my couch waiting for my food
- jolting off my couch over to someone's place to meet to make it to Rockaway
- burning my feetsies and needing to always be sure I wear a minimal amount of sunblock at the start of the summer
- S train to the A train and coming back from Rockaway
- Sarah Crawford at Key Foods and seeing Mollie's blog post the other day
- cleaning up on Monday
- Memorial day what does it mean to me
- Steve Schindler and NYC watershed
- Vodka water and lemon
some other thoughts I had today that I don't necessarily have a good chronological spot for yet
I have a few things around the house that I definitely maybe take for granted: a Brita water filter (although cheers to Steve Schindler my father's good buddy who helps manage NYC watershed). Also included in this list is paper towels and dishwashers and dryer sheets. I think it was traveling and always thinking about packing light that made me come to these realizations about how much I appreciate taking a paper towel instead of having to manage washing towels all the time.
I'm writing all these notes on my computer in a raw .md text file because I like the vanilla nature of it and I know I can easily expand on the markup whenever I want unlike a Google Docs file for example. This means that I actually have all my notes in a repository that I Jenkins deploy upon commit to master which ssh's into my Digital Ocean box to deploy. This means that I use git for file revision history and I use command line instead of the GUI because I ain't a scrub. Ok, hell the GUI is great for diffing though... Either way, I'm sometimes frustrated when I ctrl+c out of a command because then I can't look it up later unlike a command that I just totally botched typing. I wonder if I can find a plugin to automatically copy to clipboard the last input line in the buffer when I hit ctrl+c in iTerm.
It's also kinda interesting that Keyloggers work sorta the same way. GUI vs command line. It's certain typings that occur that a keylogger can guess at. Does hitting the backspace key too often throw off a keylogger?
Canva got hacked the other day just after the huge news of their big investment. I think they played the news right by notifying us in realtime. It's the perfect little example of how my perception as someone in the computer science space feels about companies not being open enough about when/where/how they got hacked. If it happens to you, don't panic, be honest and your customers will hopefully understand. Have I Been Pwned exists for a reason.
I was reading an article about some company's reason for switching to gRPC today as well: "Why We’re Switching to gRPC". I think gRPC is such an under-appreciated piece of tech in today's world. For starters if you're not technical, gRPC is a tech originally from Google that let's you be super explicit about data we send between servers. This means iPhone batteries last longer and we can communicate far more frequently by streaming as well. I know it's not necessarily better than rest but there're a ton of advantages as we go to the http/2 world. I'd love to build a prototype streaming server that replicates Google Docs using IPFS and Noms and gRPC for backing up to a central authority.
Back to being healthy: I had a convo with Emily on Friday about the whole cutting weight vs bulking/lifting. I think this is the stupidest thing to hear from guys that they are "bulking". Men, don't be afraid to be honest with yourself and cut weight/trim. The only way to get rid of the fat in some spots is to trim down to build back up later.
Hell yes, I got my shorts on for the first time this summer after spending the whole day in my bathin' suit yesterday and getting that first bit of freedom. Hilarious with my southern style 5 inch inseam LL Bean shorts though =P.
I always keep a portable charger handy charging one at home while I always have another in my pocket and more people need to know that this is a thing. They are so small nowadays. Also, you if you're a fan of in ear canal headphones and don't want to spend hella money on Air pods, speaking of charging, you could buy two bluetooth headphones for half the price of Apple's and then I just leave one of those charging at home as well. Make's life so so easy with music 24/7 and never letting it be an excuse for me not going to the gym.