dumplingboy

I'm 30.

Turned 30 this past weekend. Got to spend it with some of my favorite people in the world at an amazing location. Also got to dine at Blue Hill for the first time after year's of dreaming about it thanks to Jen. Lived up to all my expectations and was an incredible treat. She also planted 30 douglas firs in my name at (?) national park which was also something I've always wanted to do. She's incredibly thoughtful, that one.

Although, as I enter this next decade, I have more big burning questions than ever before, I do feel more readily equipped to find the answers than ever before too. I'm starting to really get a sense of who I am and that's exciting. It also helps to have the sage advice of some good friends. Adam, I hope you don't mind that I'm sharing your email with the 0.2 people who read this blog:

from my friend adam who is awesome in just about every way:

what's in store? 

continued professional improvement.  30 somethings rule the world - or at least do all the work.

you'll also take over the family as most responsible most able bodied generation

then there's your own family.  breeding if that's the path you choose will become an ever increasingly present thought/discussion.

and finally saturday afternoon becomes the new thursday night.  unless you go hipster on us (really you are kind of on the fence) and then tuesday night becomes the new saturday afternoon.

enjoy it...stay happy, happy 30's,
a

THE MEDIATOR BETWEEN HEAD AND HANDS MUST BE THE HEART!

last night david, jen, & i went to see metropolis at the film forum. a new restored 35mm print. was brilliant. amazing what a bit of eyeliner and mascara will do for a person.

two nights ago, went to see the swell season at the blender theater in gramercy with matty & jori. very strange to see the two performing live after having seen the movie. they'd just been two fictional characters in my mind until then. pretty fun set with the highlight being glen's solo performance of "the banana man."

on sunday, the three of us went to city island in the bronx. a strange little town that resembles a new england shipping town. one main strip lined with seafood restaurants with a southern point across the bay from the mansions of great neck. city island however is primarily a working-middle class town with a lot of people coming in from the bronx for a good meal. ate at johnny's reef restaurant and had baskets of fried shrimp, fried calamari, and fried soft shell crab. was so greasy and delicious. check it out. we'll definitely be back and highly recommend. afterwards got some yummy ice cream at lickety split down the road. then stopped in this little cemetery. pelham cemetery. made the long trek back home to park slope and ordered some pizza from two boots and jen made a yummy salad. david and i had a couple beers on the roof and capped off the evening with chaplin's city lights. was a perfect idyllic day.

Another bout of insomnia saves the day

I live in fear of Mondays. A typical Monday has me coming into work and finding nearly 100 new unread emails sitting in my inbox waiting to welcome me back from the weekend. Thanks to yet another bout of insomnia tonight, I was able to plow through all 75 or so new emails I received since Friday night, so when I arrive in the office in 3.5 hours, I'll be feeling a little less anxious. Of course, I'll be feeling a lot more like crap due to lack of sleep. But, I guess it's an okay tradeoff.

Saturday was a near perfect kind of day. We slept in. Cooked a delicious breakfast. It was sunny and near 60 degrees out, so we went to the farmer's market in Union Square and picked up some baked goods and cider on the way up to Central Park. Bumped into Charels & Laura who we found out are moving to Barcelona this August. Yet another reason why we must visit this year. Strolled around the park until the weather did an about face and turned freezing cold. Went down to the East Village and went to Cha-An (our new favorite spot in the city). Had some delicious food and tea, walked home, got a bag of peanuts for the Stuy Town squirrels. Fed a bunch of fat and overfed squirrels. Relaxed for a couple hours. Made a quick bite for dinner, and went to see The Cats of Mirikitani at Cinema Village. One of the best and most uplifting movies we've seen in a long time, and something we highly recommend to everyone! Thanks for a perfect day J.

Is it bad to have Nilla Wafers w/ Nutella at 4:00 in the morning? It made me more hungry and there's nothing to eat. OK, I guess I'll try to get a couple hours of sleep now. Wheeeeeee!

Happy Monday.

Poopy Butt

From Wednesday to Sunday I suffered from the stomach flu. It was nasty. I thought I was going to die. But, I survived, and damn it feels good to actually eat whole food again.

Since I wasn't exactly capable of eating or doing much of anything the past week, last night J & I had a proper anniversary celebration with some delicious pie from POSTO Pizza and Season 1: Disc 3 of LOST.

Congratulations to Leigh's mother who found out she had baby squirrels living in her engine. Lucky lady.

At 1PM a whole crew of us are hopping over to Ben & Jerry's for FREE CONE DAY. I swear, it's a party up in here! Download Eddie Murphy's Boogie In Your Butt mp3 aptly, again.

More Meat

More meat consumed this weekend. Saturday night we had a lovely get together at Ben's w/ Dumont Burgers, Dumont Mac & Cheese, delicious Belgian beer, and heavenly Apple Pie.

Sunday J & I spent the entire afternoon trapsing around Central Park and capping off our perfect lazy day with Shake Shack Burgers. The hour-long wait was nearly worth it : )

Thank You For Smoking is pretty durn funny. Go see it.

Hot Dogs and Whoppers

The other night, Jen & I spotted a hot dog underneath the seat across the aisle from us on the M14 crosstown bus. It was a very sad looking hot dog that just lay there, motionless -- cold, naked, and alone.

On Monday night we watched this new 9-11 documentary (thanks Ian). It's pretty upsetting. It presents theories on how 9-11 was an attack planned and executed by our own government. It provides evidence that is rather difficult to argue against. I'm not sure what to think about it all. I urge you to watch this video. It's about 1 hour and 20 minutes, but the questions it raises are worth the time. Let me know if you have any thoughts or ideas: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8260059923762628848

No. 5

Ahhh yes, thanks J.  No. 5 on my list of "NOT AMAZING" things is "The AMAZING Adventures of Kavalier & Clay"! I've been trying to get through this book now for the past month and have had very little luck. It's not bad. It's pretty good. But, it hasn't completely gripped me yet. I don't think about the book when I'm at work or doing other things. That's my measure of a really great book. I feel relatively unintelligent since everyone I know told me what an AMAZING book this is. Is there something wrong with me? It might have something to do with trying to tackle a 600+ page book so soon after reading Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. I didn't allow myself much of a breather. I'm going to give it another 50 pages. If I'm not hooked then, I'm going to put it aside for a while and pick up something really trashy and dumb, like me.

The morning trek through the Valentine's Day sludge provided some minor inspiration. We had a yummy extended lovers lunch at Rice in Fort Greene (mmm Indian Chicken Curry w/ bananas, raisins, and mango chutney). Tonight for V-Day, we are going back to Fanelli's -- a repeat of last year's first official date. Nothing says "Be Mine" quite like a big fat greasy bacon cheeseburger and fries. We know love and we know sexy.

And now my Valentine's Day offering. Quit reading and go make love people!!! After (or while) you listen to this song of course... Download Flock of Seagulls - Space Age Love Song.mp3

somebody kill me!

i can't believe i actually have to do work today at work. this is unacceptable. sorry for the lack of blogging. i've been busy eating ice cream.

Grimaldi's Tonite!

Tonight, the camp gang is getting into some hot, uncensored Grimaldi's action. I am feeling very anxious. Speaking of heart attacks, everyone please pay a visit to my friend Matty's latest birth, A Hamburger Today. It's not only hamburgysterical, it's essential.

J goes to the Obies tonight. Lucky girl. Coldplay does a not-so-top-secret VH1 Storytellers taping at BAM tonight. For all you Chris Martin fetishists, make your way to Fort Greene tonight to catch a glimpse of the shameless stretch limo procession sure to litter our quiet, glamorous streets.

Burger Time

Like my weekly dumpling outtings, I think I need to institute a weekly hamburger outting. J & I went to Fanneli's last night and ordered bacon cheeseburgers. Fanneli's made TONY's Top 10 Burgers list a couple months back. Dude, they were awesome. The buns are really thick though. Like mini loafs. I never thought I'd be into thick buns. But, these were heavenly.

Tonight we're going to see MASCULINE FEMININE at Film Forum. Can't wait. Philosophy, Politics, Pop-culture, & Sex. Godard's always got the goods.

For those of you looking for something to do of the musical variety, go see the Epochs play at the Knitting Factory Tap Bar for free tonight -- the 3rd week of their month-long Tuesday night residency. They go on at 10:30. Catch 'em now before they hypothetically move out of the city and get big and famous.