a history of me

Well, last night was the last night I'll spend exclusively in the company of my friends this year. The evening began (again) at Kenka because we simply couldn't resist the cheap eats and ridiculously cheap Kirin Ichiban drafts. Ben, Scott and I went through fourteen of 'em for just $21. I guess I'm drinking a lot lately but it's a celebration, bitches!


Kenka offers complimentary cotton candy to all diners at the end of the meal.
Ben tries his hand at collecting it onto a pair of chopsticks.


I enjoy a pensive moment at Astor Place.

Eating and drinking at Kenka takes a long time, so we didn't finish our meal until well after 9PM. The plan was to meet Mike and Hyde somewhere to sing karaoke so as the meal went on, my phone was abuzz with messages as we struggled to coordinate our evening. While the East Village is full of legit karaoke bars, most of them have per-song charges or specific drink minimums. So we instead went up to Hyde's favorite local bar which has karaoke parties on the weekends. Being in midtown would also be easier on Scott and Ben since they would eventually have to get back to Grand Central to catch the last train. Hyde got there first (of course, since she lives right nearby), then the three of us showed up shortly before 10. Mike rolled in about ten or fifteen minutes after that.

I immediately signed up for my "signature" song, "New York, New York" as I knew my friends would enjoy it the most. Hyde was eager to sing a duet with me (as I was to sing with her) and we settled on "Summer Lovin'" from Grease. Kind of apropos I think (if only halfway). Hyde also sang a few tunes by herself like "Hopelessly Devoted to You" and at one point joined four other girls in singing "Lady Marmalade."



When my turn came, I think I did pretty well. The more I sing "New York, New York" the better I feel about it. I don't really need to read the words anymore; if anything, they sort of fuck up my own personal pacing. Hyde and I got to sing a little bit later which was a lot of fun. I've never sung "Summer Lovin'" before but I think I did OK. She was much better than me (given that she is an actual trained vocalist) but that's unimportant in the world of karaoke. As a gag, the bartender (who knows Hyde very well) suggested I change one lyric from "Wonder what she's doing now" to "Wonder who she's doing now." I oblidged and got a laugh or two, including a chuckle from Hyde herself.


Might those be the hands of Hyde in the shot? Could be...

After our songs it seemed that no one else in our party wanted to sing so we went up to Hyde's place to hang out. We chilled out up there for a very long time. Scott ended up leaving to catch that last train home but Ben stayed. The four of us hung out until around 4 AM. At some point we went up to the roof for a fantastic view of midtown (better than the view from inside the apartment, if that's possible) Ben was trying to convince me to let him sleep at my Dad's place instead of going home with Mike which I simply could not agree to. I am simply unable to predict Dad's reaction to a surprise guest in the house although I'm confident he would not be very enthused about it. Hyde offered to let him stay on her couch but warned that she was leaving early on Saturday morning. The funny thing is, once Ben started talking to Hyde about fixing her computer (remember that he does this for a living), he arranged it so that he could stay there and then just fix the machine during the next day. So Ben successfully negotiated a place to stay in Manhattan for the night and a job the following day! Quite impressive.

Since Hyde asked me to promise to help her wake up in the morning I hung around a bit longer but fell asleep around 5. I did not sleep very soundly so I had no problem getting up at 8:15 to make sure Hyde got up in time to leave. It felt very strange leaving her apartment with Ben still on the couch (asleep by this point) but I didn't want to find out what would happen if my Dad woke up and I wasn't at home. Thankfully, I made it home before he got up and simply crawled into my bed and got a few more winks.

This afternoon, Salena came down and the three of us went shopping. I was planning on buying a bag to carry my laptop in but Dad just so happened to have a bag around the apartment that could do the job. Serendipitous! We instead focused on getting me some new clothes. I suppose I already have a lot of clothing but to be frank, I have way too many T-shirts and not nearly enough nicer things. We went down to the Old Navy near Herald Square. I got a bunch of polo-style shirts and a couple pairs of pants. I dare say that if my weight loss keeps up, I might be able to go below a 40 inch waist soon!

When the subject of dinner came up, Salena thought I should try something other than Japanese food since that's going to be my everyday food for the next nine months. Suddenly, I recalled the name of an Ethiopian restaurant that I had been hearing a lot of good things about: Queen of Sheba. I proposed it and the idea was approved.

You need to understand the backstory here: seventeen years ago, our nuclear family had our first experience with Ethiopian food at a restaurant in Washington, D.C. None of us had ever eaten that cuisine before and we are horrified by the experience. What we thought were napkins was actually a rubbery kind of bread. There were no utensils, you had to pick up the food with the bread and eat it. We found all of the items revolting and I clearly remember making jokes along the lines of "If this is what food is like in Ethiopia, no wonder the people are starving." I was a real smart-ass back then. Long story short: we ate ice cream afterwards for dinner since we all hated the food and neither me nor my father have eaten Ethiopian food since.


Salena demonstrates how Ethiopian cuisine is eaten.

Thankfully, this latest experience was overwhelmingly positive. Yes, the bread is a little odd and spongy but I enjoyed everything this time. As you can see, our dishes were presented on a giant tray and we all just went at it. I found the vegetable dishes my sister ordered were much tastier than the meat ones. The biggest drawback is the presentation doesn't allow you to know which dish you are eating, so I have no idea what to recommend! Also, I was eating a lot of the bread out of necessity which isn't so great for me but I'll survive.

After dinner Salena and I said our goodbyes because it's unlikely that we'll see each other again before I leave (she's not going to make it to the airport for my early departure). It's hard to believe that I have less than 36 hours left in these United States!