Stratovania

It's been a pretty busy week for me, at least relative to how my weeks usually are. I already wrote about my anniversary dinner on Monday and seeing Aladdin on Broadway on Tuesday. On Wednesday, I started a temp assignment, my second since moving to New York, and the first that lasted more than a day. I've heard it might last until June, but I never regard such estimates as set in stone. I'm definitely hoping it lasts a while, as it's something I can put on my résumé when looking for future jobs.

Also on Wednesday, I saw Kim Boekbinder play at Pianos.

I've been a fan of hers for a while now, but haven't seen a solo show of hers. I learned of her existence when Vermillion Lies, her band with her sister Zoe, opened for Amanda Palmer in Philadelphia eight or so years ago. I believe she actually lives in the city, but travels a whole lot, or at least that's what her social media suggest. At this show, she played a set about forty-five minutes along, accompanied by a bass player and a drummer.

Kim played guitar and keyboard, although on some songs she just sang.

The set was heavily electronic, which seems to be the main direction she's been going recently. Many of the songs were from her 2013 album The Sky Is Calling. She wore an interesting outfit, starting out with a jacket and later removing it and leaving her colorful dress.

I introduced myself after the end of the set and told her I saw her before years earlier, and while she was nice about it, I'm always afraid I'm just being annoying when I say anything to a performer I don't know personally. On the other hand, I also feel I'm missing out if they hang around to talk to people and I DON'T say something. Why can't I ever come up with witty comments that cause minor celebrities to remember me? Well, maybe it's for the best; I've known too many people who didn't seem to respect artist/fan boundaries.

Today is the sixteenth anniversary of when Beth and I first met in Philadelphia after talking on the computer for a few months, and once on the phone. Beth loves the phone, and I find it awkward, but it was fun conversing with her that time. It was actually the night before I left school for winter break. Eight years ago, we met at the train station and went to the art museum, then returned to the station to eat some terrible pizza. I don't think that pizza place is even there anymore, although I haven't been to 30th Street Station in some time, as we usually take the bus when going through Philadelphia. Our official dating anniversary is the tenth of July, which is when I said on the phone that we could be a couple. It's generally easier to say the art museum was our first date, though, even though I didn't see it as a date at the time. Otherwise, I think the first time we went out while officially an item was to the Franklin Institute. We argued a lot that day, and I don't remember exactly when it was anyway. We had considered getting married on the fifth of March, but it didn't work out that way. What should we do to celebrate?

On Thursday night, Beth and I went to see Michael Ian Black do a stand-up special at John Jay College. This was pretty soon after Family Guy made fun of him, and he also mentioned the Penguin from Batman Returns during the show. Coincidences abound when you care to look for them. Beth has commented before on how much she identifies with his jokes about married life, like how long-term couples fight so much because they've run out of things to talk about. The thing is, a lot of his humor is based on making totally audacious and offensive statements with an obvious heavy dose of sarcasm, but it just seems obvious to me that he's not being serious. Maybe it's because I've seen him a few times and am familiar with his humor; I don't know how I'd feel going into it with no warning. I was just thinking about this in light of how many stories there are about liberal comedians being lambasted by other liberals for making jokes about certain subjects, even if it's pretty clear they're actually on the same side. Then I think of how people like Mike Huckabee and his good-ol'-boy preacher ilk refuse to ever directly say marriage is anything but a blessing from above, but then make jokes about how dumb or annoying their wives are. It's like, I know it's meant to be a joke, but it just really seems like you don't think much of your wife. But then, in a fundamentalist marriage, wives presumably aren't meant to be respected.

On Saturday night, we went to a birthday party in Queens for our friend Dave, whose actual birthday was the day before that. Beth's birthday was yesterday, and mine is on Wednesday. Scorpios of a feather flock together, or something like that. Today, Tavie and Sean took us out to dinner for our birthdays, and we ate at Heartland Brewery in the Empire State Building. They have good cheeseburgers there. We've never actually tried their beer, but I'm not into that anyway. Beth does like beer, but doesn't have any particular type she favors. At the party on Saturday, I did try a hard apple cider, and it was good. I usually just don't much like the taste of alcoholic beverages.

We've been meaning to go to the Bronx Zoo sometime, since we can get a free membership with a city ID, but only if we apply by the end of the year. It seems like we can never get up early enough, since it's a two-hour subway ride to get there and they close pretty early. There are closer zoos in the city, but you have to apply at the one in the Bronx to become members of the other ones.

Today was a frustrating day. bethje had two doctors' appointments, so we checked up and made sure our prescriptions had been sent. She's pretty much out of the medicine she takes for Multiple Sclerosis, which is really important. When she asked the people at the reception desk about it, one of them said maybe she'd get around to it tomorrow or Wednesday. Seriously? The particularly disturbing thing is that she's been trying to get this medicine for weeks now, and everyone tells her something different. I also needed a refill on my pills, and they said they'd send it over to the nearby Target. Once I got there, though, I found out they still hadn't called it in. I have to wonder if working in a doctor's office desensitizes you to important issues. It probably didn't help that most of the other patients were old ladies who grumbled constantly. And why do they always have such terrible television on in doctors' waiting rooms? I mean, I'd prefer no TV, but if they have to have it on you'd think they'd choose, I don't know, PBS or something fairly inoffensive like that. Nope, we got TMZ, with its annoying-voiced host and their insistence that everything in the entertainment industry is hugely controversial. Yeah, Saturday Night Live WISHES they were still controversial. They brought up that dress that people see in different colors as well, and while it is kind of weird, it's not like this was the first time lighting made something in a picture look like it was a different color. So why is this the one people are talking about? Then came Dr. Oz, who's basically a disgrace to the medical profession. At least they weren't showing Fox News like one of the other doctors I've been to.

We also ate at Applebee's, which we normally like, but they seem to do everything differently in New York. When we get the two for twenty dollars deal with a mozzarella stick appetizer, most locations give us eight, sometimes even nine. At both the ones in Brooklyn that we've been to, however, they only gave us six. And today, we only got FOUR, with the waitress saying it was a new policy not to give a full order with the deal. Assuming they haven't made this change everywhere (and maybe they have), we might have to reserve Applebee's for when we're out of state, like we do with the Olive Garden. We also had a not-so-pleasant experience with the Denny's in Manhattan on Saturday, when they brought us our appetizer when we were already most of the way through the main course. I also had to wait a long time for toast, of all things. Maybe it's our fault for going to chain restaurants in the city. It's like when cities have malls that close at, like, 7 PM. There are some things they just do better in the suburbs, I guess. And how is New York the City That Never Sleeps when practically everything closes early? I guess the people who are awake all night aren't going shopping or out to eat.

Another thing I've been meaning to mention is that some businesses in the area have signs out that say, "We support the NYPD," or some variation thereof. You know, I do too when they're actually doing their jobs, and not killing unarmed people. Yet I don't think people started putting up the signs until AFTER the police came around fire for abuse of power. Look, you can either have people fear you or respect you. You don't get both.
By the way, Beth and I have now been married for seven years, and we already have no idea what to get each other anymore. Apparently the traditional gifts are wool and copper. A box of Brillo pads probably wouldn't be appropriate, would it?

I'm constantly having dreams about going back to college, and they never make even the slightest bit of sense. There's often a feeling of frustration and isolation to them. I'm usually back at my undergraduate dorm at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, but either none of the same people are there, or they're there but won't talk to me. Usually the more rational part of my brain will kick in and tell me things that I need to account for in the dream, like being married and being older than anyone else in the dorm. I've actually known some people who lived in dorms while older than most of the students, and I always wondered if it was awkward. Or is it like you're young again but can actually enjoy it this time? I look back fondly on my college years, although I can also recall my depression being more severe back then. I'm sure part of it was because I hadn't gone on medication yet, but there was also a general sense of uncertainty. It was one of the few times when I had much of a social life, but I had to suspect that this was only the case because we were basically thrown together. It helped that I was in the Honors College, so I was in classes with the same people who lived in the dorm. Apparently some people thought the whole thing was too insular, and while they probably had a point, that's advantageous when you're the kind of person who has trouble making friends. It's sort of like when people argue that, before the Internet, people talked face-to-face more often; and my response is "I didn't!" I've noticed, however, that it's much easier to be lonely when you're surrounded by people who seem like they're having a good time. And while I had friends, I never felt I was really close to anyone, and I envied my dorm-mates who were. Admittedly, I rarely sought out anyone's company, and more often just wandered around and hoped to run into someone. Not to mention that getting used to living on my own AND attending classes at the same time was often overwhelming. It was a lot to deal with, and while sometimes I look back and think I could have put more effort into certain things (both academic and otherwise), I also kind of wonder how I got through it at all. Then again, high school was even harder, and there I didn't feel even remotely accepted. It's also interesting to me that I started dating bethje pretty soon after graduating. Perhaps you could say it was sort of a symbolic passage into a new lifestyle. I had no clue how to go about being in a relationship, and in many ways I still don't. Beth is someone I can always confide in and someone I know actually wants my company instead of just being forced into it, which helps to take away some of my uncertainty and loneliness. Now the problem is more that I feel guilty for wanting to do so much alone when she's right there.

By the way, during my time at college, I never drank, never even tried to go to a frat party, never got romantically and/or physically involved with anyone, and never attended a sporting event. I guess by some standards, I never really had the proper college experience at all. And yet I still fell behind in some of my classes.