a history of me

These last two days are why I hate the summertime. It's hot out there, and even though it hasn't been exceptionally hot by any standards, I am incredibly uncomfortable. Still, I can't sit at home every day, so I spent most of yesterday and today in New York City.

Typically, when I go to Manhattan I proceed directly to the East Village. I wandered through Strand Books and Forbidden Planet, considered buying items of no importance but decided against it. Next stop was the Sunrise Mart for a refreshing Japanese beverage. Sadly, my favorite drink was sold out, but I settled for the always amusing ラムネ (ramune). I ate lunch at the Otafuku, a wonderful little hole-in-the-wall eatery on 9th Street. If you think Japanese food is all sushi and tempura, the Otafuku will show you something new.

I took the Q to Dekalb Ave in Brooklyn to meet Mike. As it turns out, Junior's Restaurant was right at the top of the stairs out of the subway. This meant I had to buy a slice of cheesecake. I didn't want to, frankly, but I had no choice. It was quite expensive ($5?!?) but it was delicious. I still say the Carnegie Deli's cheesecake is number one though.

I met Mike at his place and we went to a free concert in Fort Greene Park. The star of the show was Bilal, a guy I had never heard of but Mike assured me was cool. The concert turned out to be not so cool though. First of all, it was a free show, so anybody could just walk right in. That means there were a lot of people who weren't really into the music (just like me). Secondly, Mike told me that the songs were being "cleaned up" a bit. I guess a free concert paid for by corporate sponsors couldn't be sexy or exciting in any way. Thirdly, I was uncomfortably warm, but that's just me. We still did our best to enjoy ourselves, and when we got back to his place we hung out for many more hours.

One of the things that occupied our time was NBA Live 2002. Mike really likes basketball and he has a lot of fun with this (admittedly dated) title for the Playstation 2. We collaborated on making some new characters. Mike wanted to created a pair of Indian-looking guys to dominate a team. Obviously, the Create-a-Player feature never figured on an Indian player but we did the best with what we had. The end result was Sanjay and Bramm Tigre, two rookie seven-footers from the University of Maine. We stuck them on the Boston Celtics and played against them using the L.A. Clippers. They kicked our ass for three quarters until we turned off "fouls." Once it got down and dirty, like the South, we dominated. We outscored them 33-0 in the final quarter, turning an embarrassment into an incredible comeback. Later, we got drunk and watched Zoolander. That Hansel is so hot right now...

FUN TRIVIA FACT: Mike played basketball with Clippers star Elton Brand in a local summer league back in high school. According to Mike, Elton is really good.

I crashed on Mike's couch and left this morning. Mike had to go to work, a feeling I no longer understand. En route to Grand Central I stopped in Book-Off, a used book/CD/DVD store, but I bought nothing. The incredible heat forced me into a nearby market for something to drink. I probably should have gotten some tea but I was sweating so much I instead grabbed a Pocari Sweat. Somehow, when I'm sweating, I need to drink something that looks like sweat.

As an added bonus, I got to ride one of the new M7 Metro-North cars home. They were nice, but frankly I felt the seats were a little too upright and stiff. I didn't fall asleep as easily as I normally do. Maybe when I'm not surrounded by jackasses on mobile phones I'll find it easier to doze off.