Author: F C

You can’t make this up.

Scene 1:
Singing panhandler croons an a capella version of “Stand By Me”. No money gained. William Hung could have done better.

Scene 2:
Black woman with really big poofy hair and bustier as troubadour. Her hispanic boyfriend has the guitar case in tow. Strums a lyric, then asks, “Am I over-analyzing…”.

Scene 3:
Couple playing hand held video games. The girl is singing something unintellible, and then giggles every few minutes.

Scene 4:
Old Chinese woman gets into a Jerry Springer moment with a young black woman. Nobody on the train can figure out what the argument is about, but after four letter words on one side, and the equivilent ones in Cantonese, it degenerates into volleys of “You shut up”…”No, you shut up”.

P– and I went to too many Brooklyn Restaurant Week restaurants. Marty’s restaurant week was an astounding success!

Worth another visit: Cocotte (French bistro cooking): excellent coconut-hinted bouillabaisse. Totally tolerant of having one latecomer to our party. Prix Fixe was a worthwhile value.

Worth waiting a few hours on the cell phone: Blue Ribbon Sushi (5th Av): sushi platter modestly sized, but absolutely satisfying and filling. Salmon had the most outrageous stripes of delicious fat, showing its excellent quality. Tip: get there to be on the waiting list early (no reservations), give them your cell phone number, and then hang out at Ozzie’s coffee across the steet. My friend Kam and her husband were also waiting there.

Not worth it: Baccus (Atlantic Av, French bistro): While the scallop appertizer was skillfully done, and the deserts were heavenly, the main dish (lamb ribs – 3 ribs yielding enough meat to make 2 chicken nuggets) was unimpressive. They also litterally left money on the table by forgetting to make our extra side orders, which would have been an additional 12 dollars.

This is the worst time of the year for me health-wise. The usual MO: two weeks of spring tree pollen and 20 degree fluctuations turns into itchy, stuffy, sneezing hay fever. The hay fever turns into a scratchy throat, then a full-blown cold. This year it hasn’t helped that I’ve spent the last 12 days in ultra-refrigerated server rooms, then emerging into either balmy 80 degree weather or rainy 40 degree weather. I’m in the final rounds of the cold now, so I’m going to sack out on Saturday. I’m still also in the last stage of healing of my elbow, which was sore through the San Diego trip due to too much mouse use.

I’ve been going to sleep at around 3-4 am each night this week because of the irritating allergy/cold tag team. I awoke to the beeping of my cell phone this morning at 8:30. I tried to answer the phone through my phlem filled throat; after listening to the constant beeping through the phone, I realized that the UPS had failed on one of the servers. I threw on some clothes and made a mad dash to the office. 2 hours later, it was resolved, wanting to go home to do my morning routine, which I actually didn’t get to until after 12.

I revisited the college cultural & fashion show that I ran as a student. Now 12 years later, I am in awe of how far they have gone, and yet, how many things are the same. Best of the cultural stuff were the VariAsians — a cappella and asian heritage — two good flavors blended into one. On the fashion end, I remember a lot of the moves the models made were very similar to what we had done 12 years ago. Some innovations we came up with are still practiced on the fashion show end: projecting the name of the next scene (we invented the technique 13 years ago); dancing by the models (before we did it, everyone did straight catwalks). Good DJ music choices, pretty good food for a fashion show bento box. P– won us dinner for 2 in the raffle. The auditorium was completely rebuilt, and it looks very much like the one that it replaces.. I’m proud of them. Photos will be added when I get a chance to download them.

Exciting day: time to crash and cough again tomorrow.

Oh, yeah — it was AJ’s birthday on Friday. Happy Birthday!