a history of me

I went out late last night to see Land of the Dead. It was just what I wanted from George Romero: a horror movie that wasn't really about the horror at all. Yeah, there were a few gratuitous gore moments, but the focus of the story was squarely on the humans. In fact, the story was good enough to make an argument that the zombies might just be the good guys (or at least the victims rather than the aggressors). I highly recommend it if you enjoyed the first three Dead films. Speaking of the first film, did you know that Night of the Living Dead is actually public domain? If you're computer savvy you can legally download it for free.

I forgot to mention that I went to a Yankees game on Thursday with some relatives whom I had never met before. They're from Dubai! The Yanks lost again. I don't know where they're going this year. One week they kick major ass, then they lose to last place teams like the Royals and the Devil Rays. I'll never stop rooting for them but this year is looking worse and worse.

Going up to see my friends tonight, be back tomorrow. Feit...out.

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Questions occupying my mind today:

-Should I have tipped the tailor?

-Is it obnoxious when I try to speak Japanese to waiters? After all, I know they can speak English. Do I come across as a bumbling show-off?

-When attempting to arrange a rendévous via e-mail (with a lady), how long should I wait in-between replies? If two days pass, can I send a second message without coming off like a jerk?

-Why has my job search stalled again? On paper, I look really good: my resumé is well-written and I have ten years of retail/customer service experience.

-Will Land of the Dead be awesome or a disappointment? How can I lower my expectations to avoid the latter?

-Will Hyde be OK? What can I do to help?

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I'm really furious over the behavior of the House of Representatives yesterday. Our country is in real fucking trouble right now: we're fighting a war that cannot be won, our economy is not looking very good and despite all our wealth Americans continue to starve/struggle at the bottom. So it is outrageous that the House should even consider (let alone pass) a measure to amend the Constitution so that Congress can "prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States."

Why is the Republican party (a.k.a. the entire government) so intent on taking away our rights? How did the September 11th attacks become a gateway to abuse the American way of life? I don't want to resort to reactionary slippery slope statements but it seems like the government has been steadily infringing on the Bill of Rights ever since the attacks and I view this as another ugly step.

I was stunned to learn that this is not the first time the House has passed this measure. The good news is that it takes a lot to amend the Constitution, more than a simple majority of the Senate. The bad news is that the Republicans have their biggest lead in the Senate in years, and it's going to be close. I'm not upset because I enjoy desecrating flags, I'm upset because I don't want the government to have any say in limiting my ability to call them a bunch of assholes. And for some people, burning an American flag is the best way to do just that.

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...is Craigslist. My sister has been telling me to try it for months now and this week I finally gave it serious attention. The results? I've had some very promising interviews this week and I may very well have gotten myself a job and a date!

I'm not counting chickens here but I think it's time to play that victory sound!

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As Mondays go, yesterday wasn't half bad. I suppose that's an empty statement coming from a guy who doesn't have work or school. The weather was pleasant and breezy. I met my buddy Mike for dinner down in Chelsea. We sat down in Cafeteria, one of my favorites. I actually ordered something a little fancier than normal: a grilled salmon BLT. Mike and I talked and just relaxed which did me a lot of good. I don't exactly feel relaxed at home because, well, I can't get into that here.

Mike and I hung out there for a long time and then made our way cross-town to Union Square. As we walked we talked about the annoyance of advertising buzzwords like HEMI and we quietly recited the silly rap song that we had written and performed with our friends. Once at the Square there was a pretty skilled jazz trio playing in the SW corner of the park and (as always) some guy with a megaphone shouting near the statue of GW. We discussed the possibility of meeting this Saturday before parting. I really hope we make that happen because I take great relief in spending time with my friends.

Once back at home I assumed I was in for the evening but out of the blue Joe called and he wanted to drive down and have a few drinks. He lives kind of far from here so we didn't hit the streets until after 1AM. This may be the city that never sleeps but it's pretty damn tired after midnight on Mondays. Many of the bars and restaurants were already closed. Our first stop was a real Japanese izakaya on 53rd street. Joe and I split a bottle of sake while admiring the pre-war beer advertisements featured on the walls. The bottle was really cool by itself, it was glass with kind of pocket blown into the side. If I had bought myself a digital camera I would show you a picture.

We walked down second avenue and stopped at Murphy's Pub for one round of Guinness. There was an unusually long delay between ordering our drinks and receiving them, until I realized they were actually doing the whole "slow pour" method to create that giant head Guinness is famous for. After drinking our pints we went a few blocks down to check out the Manchester (which someone had recommended) but much to my surprise they were closed already. It was only 2-something!

We stopped into another place but I was so sleepy/buzzed I don't remember where it was or what we ordered. They had pretzels which we devoured and there was one very sloshed woman inside. She was flirting with me but she never got past complimenting my hat (the Skimmer), in particular the feather in the band. I suppose I could have reciprocated but I think she needed a nap very badly. The bartender was watching Rugby on the HDTV and Joe and I struggled to decipher the rules. The sport was so alien to us despite the resemblance to football.

We parted ways sometime after 3 and I fell asleep pretty quickly. I almost slept through my dermatology appointment this morning! No big news by the way, just new ointments/creams to try and she told me what everyone has told me for the past twenty years: I need to lose weight.

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I'm going out tonight. It's about time I had a few drinks before serious commitments prevent this kind of reckless behavior.

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Hmmph, today was kind of a mixed bag. My sister came down this afternoon for Father's Day. We went over to Serendipity 3 for lunch and, naturally, there was an hour wait. We anticipated this so we left our names and took a stroll around town to pass the time. We timed our return perfectly and we were seated right away. If you've never been to Serendipity 3 I highly recommend it. The menu is varied and the desserts are awesome. I know I'm supposed to eating less but this was a special occasion, after all. The piece de resistance is the "Forbidden Broadway Sundae," a giant dish with vanilla ice cream, hot fudge, real whipped cream (the best I've ever had) and a big slice of what they call "Chocolate Blackout Cake." If you can actually eat the whole thing, I salute you!

We came home and discussed potential movies to see. Obviously Dad had the final say so we went downtown to see Cinderella Man. Much like last week's dispute over the movie Crash, I found myself disagreeing with most movie critics (as well as my family). I thought the movie was poorly written with one-dimensional characters and hackneyed script devices. I shouldn't have been surprised given that the grossly incompetent Akiva Goldsman was involved. The villain of the movie was real-life boxer Max Baer who was inexplicably portrayed as a racist monster who reveled in the fact that he had killed two of his opponents (one of those kills is actually disputed). I took great offense to this as there was no reason to demonize Max Baer in order to tell a compelling story about James Braddock. That's worse than lazy writing, that's practically slander.

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