October: Full Sequence

Sunday the 23rd, I took care of business: asking boys out, giving my church lessons, taking Benji on a walk down Lee Avenue. We checked out the Williamsburg pier, got some grilled cheeses at the Flea Market, skyped with the parents, watched some venture brothers. It was chillaxing. I still can’t help but feel that I am a terrible host when people visit me. I’m all “Hey, want to not do anything new except walk around my neighborhood and eat pizza? No? Too bad that’s what I want to do.”

My beautiful project manager Arturo left on Monday to start his new job, so met him at Bamboo 52 for drinks after work. Those vegetable dumplings were super bad—if it weren’t for their drink specials, I can’t imagine that place would still be in bidness. People sure aren’t coming for the food.

Tuesday the 25 was super awk—somehow stumbled into taking Mark to Sleep No More. Benjamin—and in truth, everybody else I told about it—was very un-enthusiastic about the idea. We had an awkward lunch over yakitori as I tried vainly to explain myself.

Mark of course showed up looking awesome. Our conversation was stilted at first, but gradually fell back into its old patterns until he or I would remember that we were not, in fact, still friends. Then things would get very quiet very fast.

Afterwards, we grabbed some food nearby. I regret a lot of what I said, and more of what I didn’t say. But I still enjoyed myself more than I had in months, which was an unfortunate consequence of the evening. I did feel better when I returned home to find a pan of made-from-scratch lemon bars. Oh Benjamin, you are determined to make me fat, and for this I am grateful.
The next day, I stayed home from work with a colossal migraine. Feeling like a terrible host, I crawled out in the afternoon and schlepped into SoHo, taking Benji to some of my favorite stores—Ritual Vintage (Antique and Vintage clothing store), All Saints, Evolution, and Ben Sherman. Ritual Vintage had a whole bunch of Victorian and Edwardian dresses that were to die for—I ended up buying a skirt from the 1880’s. I need to mend the waist, but otherwise it’s to die for. In the evening, Benjamin made me a delicious pork loin dinner as I took a nap.
Thursday the 27th, my roommate had to put up with another one of my drop-in houseguests, as my love Annika came to the city. Annika works at the Kristen Flagstad museum in Norway, and comes to New York every few months to meet with The Met regarding acquisitions and loans. In this case, her trip coincided perfectly with some of the Met’s new production of the Ring Cycle. The stripped down production, boasting a $40 million dollar stage design “Beast” that rotates for video projection, has been relatively controversial (by NYC Opera standards, I guess).
Annika had bought me tickets to see Siegfred which, clocking in at 5.5 hours, was definitely a force to be reckoned with. But I am determined to see the entire Ring cycle, so it is a sacrifice that must be made.
Up until Thursday, I had only seen Götterdämmerung, the first in the series—so seeing Seigfred was like skipping to the end of a long book. I had to keep reading the plot summary to figure out the entire back story I had missed. But after the first hour, man, that baby flew by. Those 5.5 hours were gone like they were nothing. I adored it—adored the way the leitmotif unfurled, loved the relationship between Seigfred and Brünnhilde. Plus, during the first intermission, Annika and I snuck over to Duane Reade and grabbed some Twix bars and soda, which we smuggled into the Met. Yep that’s me, drinking Pepsi clandestinely during a Wagner opera, like the classy lady I am.
I had to ditch Annika Friday night, as it was The World Inferno Friendship Society’s Hallowmas. I blogged about this back in 2006 when I went with Benjamin and his friend Joanne. This time, the action was in Lincoln Plaza, and the theme was gray.

I went as a silver screen star, coating myself head to toe in grey paint. Benjamin went as a grey Henchman from Venture Brothers.
Unlike previous Hallowmas celebrations, however, we were among the most ornately dressed. It was sad to see everyone being too cool for school. A shocking lack of bowties and tuxedos, if I do say so myself.
The show itself was, as always, completely awesome. Waltzing and jumping and moshing and elbows flying., stage dancing and wine spitting and chandelier swinging. My feet were stomped so many times I was convinced they were broken, and for several weeks afterwards had a limp.
After the show, Benjamin met up with his friend Joanne, and they went out to do stuff together, while I went to the Dumb and Reckless record release party up in Greenpoint. Labretta Suede represented as only she can do—with lots of nipple and hair a-swinging. I danced like crazy—still high off all the World Inferno energy.
Ran into Mark, and we had a niceish talk outside. He had a nice whisky buzz going so he was actually being kind to me, which was a bit of a shock. OK, that's a bit unfair-I know he tries, and I know my jabbing comments don’t make it easy, but it’s hard not to get insulted by the thousand little jabs that come with being demoted from lover to friend. They’re unconscious, of course, but still prickling. I got home around 3 or 4 in the morning, and noticed my silver and black makeup and all blurred together, making me look like the bell tower hunchback. No wonder everyone on the street had been staring at me.
Saturday the 29th, October decided to send us out with a colossal snow storm. While 3-6 inches isn’t a big deal when it’s winter, in a surprisingly warm Fall with the leaves all on the trees, it turns out to be a big deal. Leaves + snow = really heavy wet slop, and that means tree branches be busting down all over, yo. Huge blackouts, trees split in half, all around grossness. Because I had abandoned Annika on Friday, Benjamin and I took her into the city, where we did some shopping and ate a few sandwiches. The weather took it out of us, though, so we shuttled off back to the house around 4, and Annika headed back to JFK.
I had been so distracted by company that my Sunday lesson on the 30th was the worst I had given in recent memory. Benji stayed home, still feeling a bit sick and under the weather. We ordered in some burgers, and then I went over to Brooke’s house to watch the Simpsons Halloween episode and hang out with a sculptor (named Mark) and an accountant (Kevin). This is my life.
My pre-Halloween calendar was so intense that my actual Halloween was a super-big let down. Benji went to Philadelphia to catch the last World Inferno Show (they were doing a series of Hallowmas shows), and I hightailed it all the way over to Grant and Clinton to see a steam-punk/performance art haunted house.
And man, did it suck. It sucked super hard. It was like $25, and it looked like it had been made out of whatever was leftover in your family basement. The lights were super bright (no doubt for fear of a lawsuit), so there was no suspense, and the “frights” were essentially people dressed up as Victorian Goths who got really close to you and made prolonged eye contact.
NOT SCARY

Yeah, I’m not really the kind of girl that’s going to get weirded out by someone in torn clothing and black eye makeup staring at me. So I felt bored AND ripped off. But no matter! That’s the risk with new things: wins and losses in equal measure.