The reason I didn’t blog yesterday is that I’m an idiot. I had Word open and was about to write when I got a text from Bri, asking me about parking at Allison’s house. That’s when I realized it was Thursday and I was supposed to be boarding a bus to New Jersey at that very moment. I hastily called Allison and told her I’d be late. Jumped into clothing, and headed out. Now I have to write about two days. So let’s roll back the clock to Wednesday.
As I have been lamenting, I had not seen a friend since Falcon Ridge. On Wednesday I decided to do something about it. I went to the Met game with Alan. This is notable as I bought a ticket. I can’t afford Met games on a regular basis. Alan has season tickets and often treats me. The last two games I he gave me tickets to I missed because I was an idiot. The last one was because he mailed me a ticket and it got stuck to another letter to my roommate who was away. I made the sorting error. The Mets have been doing well and more importantly I wanted to see Alan so I went to Stubhub and bought a ticket then headed out to Citi Field.
The Mets were playing the Indians. We never sit in the seats that we have tickets for, there are always many no shows at any game. We sit in the upper deck right behind home plate. I got there first and told Alan where I was and he joined me. Alan always thinks that “this game will be different and we’ll have to sit in our regular seats.” He says that every game. He has not been right the last two years except for the Yankee game which I also knew would be a sellout.
It ended up being a great game, a pitcher’s duel. The Mets starter Stroman started out OK, not great; he gave up two runs in four innings. Then he pulled his hamstring covering at first base. The Mets needed to rely on their unreliable bullpen. They have the third worst relief pitching in baseball. This time they shined and didn’t give up a run. The Mets only managed to score two runs themselves. Their second-best hitter, McNeil is on the IL. In the 11th the bullpen faltered and Carlos Santana hit a solo home run. I thought that was pretty impressive; coming 50 years after his performance at Woodstock. Then in the bottom of the inning the Cleveland closer made a goof, he didn’t cover first base on what should have been a game ending double play. That allowed the running on third to tie the game. Then Mets then scored the winning run! It was a fantastic game.
Now on to yesterday. Allison and Joe moved, and faced the daunting task of organizing their CD collection. I told Allison that I enjoyed doing that. Bri does too, so that’s why we headed over there. We estimated that there were 435 CDs. We had books of sleeves to put them in. The first part was alphabetizing them all. That’s what we spent hours on. Bri and I made piles for each letter. This is on the basis of the artists’ name with special piles for collections and soundtracks. Boxed sets also got their own pile. That took the entire time that Bri had available. I then had to alphabetize each pile and put them in the sleeves. I got as far as sleeving halfway through C. There are now piles of CDs on Allison and Joe’s floor.
The plan was for me to go back there Sunday and finish. Then when I got home I opened my email and saw my invitation to Katherine and Deb’s birthday party on, you guessed it Sunday. Katherine had sent it weeks ago and I missed it. I got the first letter asking what date worked best. I realized before I left yesterday I didn’t know when the party was. I knew it was soon. For some weird reason their birthdays fall on the same dates every year. It has something to do with the way that time works. When I saw that it was this Sunday I wrote Allison and told her I’d be there on Monday instead. I’m going to be good and try and get there early so I can finish the job.
I forgot the important thing, eating. We got pizza soon after we arrived. Then we ordered Chinese for dinner, right before I left. I know everyone wants to hear what I ordered, General Tso’s Chicken. I’ve read that it was invented in New York City, so technically it’s American food not Chinese.
The trip home was an adventure. Joe drove me to Manhattan where I could catch the subway. It should have been a 15-minute trip. “Should have” is the tipoff. The traffic approaching the bridge came to a complete standstill. Thanks to the miracles of the smartphone and internet I was able to find out that a suspicious package had been found on the upper deck of the bridge. Of course that’s where we were. I don’t know how long we were stuck but it was over an hour. Good thing Joe is good company. The suspected pipe bomb was not a bomb and they finally let us cross.
Today’s plan was to go to therapy then a free show in Bryant Park. As I did not have time to do what I wanted to last night when I got home, I will skip the concert. Gord’s Gold does not record itself. This is going to take extra time as I just got the latest album by Sunny War and I want to profile her. That means listening to it carefully first. Maybe I’ll wait on that for a day so I have more time to digest it and go with Anna & Elizabeth tonight. Ron has a backlog to play but I want to keep to my quota.
Putting this in perspective; after going almost three weeks without seeing any friends in person, on Wednesday I saw Alan, yesterday I saw Bri, Allison, and Joe, and on Sunday I’m going to Katherine and Deb’s birthday party. I’m out solitary. That’s what matters. That and the amazing Modican chocolate that Allison and Joe gave me. It’s a Sicilian specialty.
Wise Madness 