Else what's a heaven for?

Last summer, Lexan became obsessed with boats, to the point where on our Cape Cod vacation, he would try to get on to boats and would get really mad when I wouldn't open gates so he could go on them. I bought him a book called Boats Go, which caused him to lead his preschool class in singing "O Sole Mio". Eventually, in one of my greatest parenting moves ever, I realized we live 10 mins from a ferry stop, so I took him to South Street Seaport on a boat. He spent the whole 13 mins ride concentrating with all his 26 lb being on the boatness of it all -- and 2 days later, he dragged me back to the dock and we went on another boat ride. I had no idea what was on Governor's Island, but that's where the boat was going and I was pretty sure we could make it back.

I didn't plan for every vacation this summer to have a nautical component - and frankly he's a little over it by now - but somehow it happened. Over Memorial Day, Jon had a family bar mitzvah in Las Vegas, which turned out to be epic but I'm still glad I went on vacation with my mother and son instead. My mother suggested we take Carnival's newest ship to Bermuda, but it seemed like a lot of effort and expense to entertain a 3yo (especially since I'd already booked a cruise for the whole family later that summer). I suggested we drive to Mystic, Ct instead, which I didn't really remember from a trip we took when I was Lexan's age. It turned out to be exactly right. ( Read more... )

Jon and Lucky had a conference (not kidding) over July Fourth weekend, so having spent Memorial Day with my mother, Lexan and I went to Maryland to visit my lady love. Well, Lexan spent 1.5 weeks at Grandma's house, going to swim camp in the morning and being spoiled in the afternoon. I took a delightful static trapeze class July 3rd, before heading to Ct. My brother stopped by on the actual Fourth and we went for a run. The next day, my mother took us to the train and we were off on another adventure. ( Read more... ) We went back to the aquarium briefly, so we got to see the awesome jellyfish exhibit, and then visited 2 of the ships in the harbor, the submarine Taney and the USS Constellation, before hopping on the train home.

It was a really busy week. On Tuesday, during my three conference calls, I unexpectedly found out my consulting "clients" want the project finished more than they want more of my time, so I started scrambling to start pulling together a final report. I had a follow-up call with a Grade A contact, an unexpected recruiter interview -- and 3 interviews with Petite Fromage's new firm. By Thurs night, I was very happy to have fun time with Julian. He cooked for me and forced me to do the things I needed, helping me write some short, but important and much-postponed pieces. I gave him dating advice and we had ridiculous sex that required us to wash the sheets.

I don't remember why Jon and I didn't go out for dinner Fri night, but we got up early on Sat and decided to go for breakfast at Isabella's, a neighborhood brunch place, instead. The service was so superb, I left a 30% tip. Way better than fighting the Fri night crowds, if you ask me. On the way home, we stopped at Duane Reade for a card for my sister's birthday and I tortured my poor fiance by making him help me pick a new foundation. Turns out it's my less gay boyfriend who has the better color distinguishing abilities.

When my sister picked us up, she had friends in the car. We were driving to Ct for a pool party for her birthday. I thought it was going to be a family event, but both Lbro (the host) and my sister (the GOH), had invited friends. Which was fine. Lbro's gf puts on a wonderful party: for dessert, she had an entire ice cream bar with every flavor you can imagine. The GOH didn't really talk to her family, but my niece is more fun anyhow. We got home kinda late and decided to skip climbing in favor of local exercise.

Which didn't work out either, bc I woke up feeling a bit sniffly and low-energy. Jon took care of me all day, running out to get groceries at two different stores so he could cook for me, letting me play games, etc. I was even less willing than usual to eat food that requires effort, but found it hard to get calories. Thank goodness for chocolate and SmartFood. I dozed on the couch and read a magazine and thanked the higher being I have such great partners. who cook.

Last week was tough: I had 5 productive days in a row, taking my shiny streak to 7, but I whined whined whined the whole way through. My Friday plans fell through when we couldn't get confirmation that there'd be a hardpoint at that night's party. Instead, I had an unusually frank conversation with my mum about my love life and then had dinner with Jane to discuss her ex-husband. My Saturday plans fell through too, which was sort of okay bc I got some things done - I finished sorting my 1100 Himalayan expedition photos - but it was more like an unproductive weekday than a weekend.

Sat night was the second of what is turning out to be 3 goodbye parties for MLev. ( best parting gift evuh )

My sister and I had both signed up for a brunch with Eric Danko talking about the situation in Israel. I had low expectations, particularly after seeing the crufty school where they were holding the breakfast - they didn't even serve lox! - but Danko had many interesting insights. I hadn't thought about how Qaddafi's fall would spread better tech through the region. He claimed that Hamas is now targeting Israeli children to break their will to fight (since it's not like the international media are going to post pictures of dead Israeli children). He also drew connections between internal Palestinian politics, Hamas' attacks on Israel, and why Abbas pursued recognition at the UN, which led to an interesting question about ICC and ICJ funding. He had some convoluted explanation about why Iran is dragging its heels on getting the bomb. All in all, I walked away even more convinced Israel can never win, it can only hope to survive one more day at a time.

Bbro was having brunch 2 blocks away with his gf and when the four of us got together, we discovered all four of us were poorly. oops.

Then it was off to the NY Public Library for their annual holiday open house. I've never been before, bc it's mostly for children, but this year my boyfriend and I went with his daughter. Honestly, it was more crowded than I expected. We waited on a slow line to make origami penguins and we had punch and cookies. What made it worthwhile was seeing Junior playing in the reference room, looking at books and getting excited about all the knowledge in the world. If we could spark a love of reading in her, it would be worth everything I've ever donated to that library.

Then we headed to Little Italy for dessert at Ferrara's and dinner at Il Fornaio with Jane. It's hard to believe we've never hung out in Little Italy together, although Julian claims it's bc we eat a lot of Italian food in NJ and he's nervous about bringing me to restaurants with so many carbs.

Monday morning, I had to get up ridiculously early for a breakfast sponsored by the alumni organization of one of my former employers. My ex-boss' competitor was speaking and after 9 months away, I had a very different perspective on things. It's going to be a great talking point when I see my former colleagues. It was also interesting to see how they still firmly push their exceptionalism to alumni.

Then I went to my eye doctor. Turns out when I tried to take out my contact lenses while drunk, I'd ripped one, which had given me a "huge conjunctival abrasion". It continued to hurt, a lot, for the rest of the day, but on the other hand, my eye doctor offered me contacts to put in immediately, so apparently it wasn't a big deal.

Spider, her boy, and I had tea that afternoon at the Pierre, my current favorite hotel tea in NYC. Monday was a much better weekend day than Saturday had been. When I got home, Julian was waiting for me in my lobby. Even though I hadn't finished my tasks for the day - I'd only picked up one contact that day and I hadn't applied for any jobs - he still gave me the sexual rewards I wanted. (I think he might have wanted them too.) Then we dressed for a variety night in Brooklyn. ( Picky Kate is picky but pleased ) it got late and it was time for Julian and I to head home for bresola and ziti leftovers.

I walked through Lincoln Center at matinee time earlier, to get from my therapist's office to the library, and was delighted to see all the old people in their nice clothes get off their buses and cross to the theater. It reminded me how awesome my city is, that people flock to it from all over.

I also ran some back-of-the-envelope numbers recently that confirmed that I should stop stressing about unimportant things and enjoy life. I can totally afford a road trip, if that's what I want.

Things I'd like (to do) this summer, in the order in which they occurred to me:

• use my kayaking GroupOns
  
• rapids somewhere in the Northeast, like the Esopus or the Delaware Water Gap
  
• why didn't anyone tell me that Shakespeare in the Park is doing Into the Woods??
  
• Once on this Island at Paper Mill, with someone who likes musicals
  
• good lobster roll of goodly size, none of this hot dog bun nonsense. Girl gets hungry yo.
  
• Southern bbq. Fried pickles are optional.
  
• rum-based cocktail
  
• a tasty drink or meal where a witty man tells me fascinating factoids about what we're consuming that would charm my pants off if that was ever in question
  
• spend a day at the Met, preferably on a Friday so I can have drinks on the roof after
  
• get dressed up for tea at the Four Seasons
  
• bike somewhere
  
• ride on a boat with someone I'm kissing
  
• hike or climb somewhere that's not in the tri-state area. I'm thinking of going up to Rumney or North Conway right before the Boston Flea (which is in Portsmouth), bc after is a Liz Callaway performance with Jason Danieley et al. in NYC of Stephens Sondheim and Schwartz.
  
• Gay & Lesbian Center Garden Party
  
• see my girlfriend
  
• see a fetish performance, preferably with suspension or aerial elements
  
• take a flying trapeze class, or at least a static trapeze class
  
• take a dance class at Broadway Dance Center
  
• get eaten alive by mosquitoes outdoor cultural performance, preferably with good eats (for me, not the mosquitoes)
  
• watch a movie while cuddling
  
• see my great aunt
  
• wear a halter top
  
• is it worth going out of state to see Dralion?
  
• trivia night with a ringer and our respective partners, at a bar we like enough to drink at

You? What did I miss? What are you excited about this summer?

Edit: How did I forget Six Flags?!??!

I woke up at 6am on Sun morning, with plenty of time to go to lessons the only morning both Academy and adult group lessons meet -- and realized I'd be better off getting some extra sleep to treat my cold. Slept for another 3 hours, then dressed for the family gathering. ( ah family ) I spent an embarrassing part of the evening reading about and then calling guiding companies, before Pongo turned up. I keep edibles in the house for perhaps longer than my menfolk consider wise, but wine ought to be fine, right? We opened a half-bottle of Grgich Hills fume blanc and while it was from 2005, I was surprised at how dark the color was. It also tasted a lot heavier than I expected, although still interesting. It didn't go particularly well with salmon leftovers either. I'm not sure if it was that or being too excited about talking about the Himalayas that made it hard for me stay asleep. oops.

It was awfully nice to go skating at 9am on Mon: the rink was quieter and I got to watch an old couple ice dance -- before he went off to practice with a male instructor. So very hot. ( skating ) I had a surprisingly small window that afternoon to research new landline phones and call medical offices before it was time to head to Pongo's for Valentine's Day observed. He made cracktatoes and London broil. The brunello my boss bought for my party didn't turn out to be a particularly good pairing but it was alcoholic and then we watched surprisingly good porn. ( less plot would have been more enjoyable )

I met a new instructor at Tues morning's Academy lesson and she showed me a trick for practicing 3-turns with a scarf. David complimented my forward stroking *facepalm* Met a former cow orker for lunch but the very bestest part was Julian's double-take when he saw me quietly sitting in his work lobby. MUAHAHAHAHA. After lunch, he and I went to Starbucks (first since I got laid off?!) and he brought me pig caramels and homemade truffles. I win! I dropped off my skates for sharpening, came home, and collapsed. Pongo told me if I was tired, maybe a quiet night alone at home would help and he was absolutely right. Best. Boyfriend. Evuh. I read a horrible book for a few hours and went to bed.

Weds morning I ran for the first time in 3 weeks. It was drizzly and I was unmotivated, so I went back for an extra jacket I knew I didn't need and listened to James Bond rather than my usual logistics porn. Middle 4 in 45mins, but I didn't have to ice my knee after, so that's that. Then I had breakfast with my neighbor my former coworker, who told me about her house hunt and let me talk through vacation time, regulatory requirements. Then I went to my eye appt. ( I should've stuck to my usual doc )

My therapist tells me I need to make time for vegging. Considering I was scheduled for 8 things on Weds, she might be right. My former cow orkers went to the 'burbs to celebrate Donut Day, so instead I picked up my skates from sharpening. I punted evening skating, the tech/patent-related networking event, and a class of tying up men to... read half a relevant book and half-pack.

Thurs morning I went... skating. The Academy lesson was dull: we spent the whole time working on "tempo" in crossovers. The only good part is I realized how bad I am at back crossovers, so I practiced those after. I was very bad and signed up for a private lesson with David. WHICH WAS AWESOME. I hadn't realized how good a lesson can be. ( Read more... )

Unfortunately, it cut into packing time, so I ran around frantically and barely made my train to NJ. It was so very nice to see GMac at the station and then we went to Gravity Vault. ( climbing ) Then it was off to the diner for dinner and home for quiet reading before bed.

This post will be moved to its appropriate place in the timeline in a few days.

I'm not sure any more how I learned there's ice climbing around Banff: I picked it bc my mum said the scenery is amazing and Pongo seemed interested in skiing. Then we got on the plane and I opened Will Gadd's Ice and Mixed Climbing and discovered every picture in the book is from that bit of Canada. oops.

Our guide Patrick is possibly the best guide I've ever had. ( And the Junkyards in Canmore are pretty awesome for a crag that's practically in town ) Then it got better.

Patrick said the weather was right to do Lake Louise Falls, so the next day, we ( did ) We actually got back so early, Pongo and I hit the hot tub before showers and dinner at the concierge's best recommendation for a steakhouse, Saltlik, which happened to be one of the restaurants I wanted to try based on Frommers. I can't remember which special we started with, but we shared a bodacious rib eye. It was indeed very tasty, although I remember it being not quite enough food, even with lobster mashed potatoes and asparagus. We also tried a Canadian merlot, which Pongo wouldn't let me order as our bottle, bc apparently "not tasting like a merlot" is not a reason to order a merlot. oh well.

Weds was our rest day: we lingered over the buffet breakfast and then headed to a corner of the castle with a view of the curling courts and some big mountain in the distance. I feel bad that my bf was reading patent applications while I flipped through Cosmo, but considering how revved my engine was when we got back to the room, he's talking about getting me a subscription. We had decent massages and bought chocolate, before heading to the ski shop around the corner from our hotel. Unfortunately, by the time we were done getting fitted and buying lift tickets, we couldn't get a reservation for dinner, so we headed to the Waldhaus Pub. It was crowded, which I can deal with, having lived in NYC for over a decade, but the bartender didn't seem interested in serving drinks and they had no discernible system for getting people queued for tables. The service was terrible all night and it was emblematic of the irritations of our trip.

I was nearly as impressed with our ski instructor. ( And Sunshine Village is a gorgeous ski resort )

Thurs night, we had another magnficent dinner at Maple Leaf Grill. We started with the game platter, which included venison? carpaccio, more bison sausage, duck pate?, duck thingy, and a few other local animals. I think Pongo had the bison meatballs and pasta. I had two appetizers, possibly a salad? and cheddar & apple wontons which were totally delish. I finished with a glass of ice wine with a honey like sweetness made by somebody & somebody. argh.

btw, as if he didn't deserve major props for driving me everywhere, knowing exactly how to get our car fixed when it misbehaved, having good grace through all challenges, oh yeah AND SURVIVING A KATE-STYLE VACATION, Pongo totally wins points for letting me drag him to a local smelly face stuff store AND a tea shop where I deliberated and bought one of everything. And tried to lend me cash to do so. He's a saint.

Our concierge couldn't get us reservations for the fondue place in town and suggested we tried the Waldhaus in the hotel. I carelessly said, "Is it a different menu than the (Waldhaus Pub) downstairs? Bc the food was ok, but I wouldn't go back." He made us a reservation for Fri night and told us that he'd ask for us to get a fireplace table, one of the best in the house, as an apology for Weds night. oops. Then the manager (who imho had been a little bitchy on Weds) apologized, brought us bubbly, and checked on us all night. ARGH. I was miffed, but NOT seppuku miffed. The fondue was also awesome. I eat as much fondue as possible and I thought their cheese concoction was particularly tasty. I loved their chocolate fondue as well, but really, I was thankful we could catch a shuttle bus back to our doorstep, instead of walking.

The piece de resistance of the trip was dogsledding. I've jumped out of planes, leapt from bridges, dived with penguins and seahorses - but dogsledding was the wildest thing I've ever done. We were introduced to each of our furry engines and "helped" harness them. When that sled took off, it was crazy: we were on a sled! dragged by animals! that can't talk! eek! The itinerary was perfect: just long enough for us to chat with the driver, enjoy the scenery, and get a frisson of fear. They took us 5km out on Spray Lake to a magnificent view and fed us hot chocolate and cookies. I particularly like that Pongo got to see the remarkable scenery, instead of just driving through it.

The one part of the trip that I really failed to plan was New Year's: I hadn't considered the cross-implications of a 1.5hr drive to the airport for an international flight that left at 7am on New Year's Day. Instead, we grabbed kobe burgers at The Eddie Burger & Bar before heading home to pack. Pongo got to use the hemp he'd brought to Canada and we fell asleep before the ball dropped, happy in each other's arms.

I need to be kinder to myself about my new schedule sapping my energy, but it was frustrating to watch Friday turn from a 4-thing day into a 2-thing day. I don't understand why a liquor store would open at 8am and close at 7, but I didn't get out the door in time for the former and the latter... well. Hit the gym for a very satisfying leg weights session: testosterone is so yummy. I'm doing 1L leg press negatives with 150lbs and over Thanksgiving, I impressed my college cousin with a pistol, well, until I fell over trying to do the other leg. ah well. Pongo came home not long after, looking dashing and bearing good news, and we fell asleep in each other's arms.

Under the circumstances, it's a miracle I made it to skating in the morning, but I'm so glad I did. Rusty was teaching again, but this time class was terrible. I couldn't seem to do anything right and Rusty never separated the less capable students, even though that's what ended up happening. I was pretty discouraged, but Sloan said something in the course of things about how sometimes you can get your axel and your double salchow, but not your double loop. Which meant she's a real figure skater. See, what I didn't realize before I signed up for these group lessons is that they only cover "movements in the field": if you want to jump or spin, you have to take private lessons. Which is irritating, but whatever. I was able to finagle Sloan for a private immediately after the lesson and we went back out on the ice. ( I learned a new jump! ) I love how encouraging Sloan is and I now have a lot to work on. I also like that I didn't feel pressured to sign up for lots of lessons, bc I'm not sure how I can fit them in, never mind the cost.

When I got home, Pongo was still abed and when I crawled in with him, kept taking my freezing appendages and sticking them on his warm body. How incredibly selfless, especially since he had to hear me continue to complain about the cold. I don't think I really warmed up until I put on my sweats a few hours later. I got so engrossed in downloading and sorting pics from my Galapagos trip, I barely remembered to eat and then it was time for Saturday night's party. The liquor store closed at 5!!! so I ended up bringing a bottle from my cellar and accidentally turned up too early for the party. It's interesting that our hosts have been throwing these parties so long, the crowd has separated into cliques.

I thought about bringing my laptop so I could sort more photos in the morning, but there was barely enough time to eat Jane & Julian's scrumptious brunch before the women headed off to our makeovers at Short Hills Saks. ( Read more... )

I got home and immediately got to work organizing photos for a calendar I'm making for my mum for Christmas Chanukah. While we were in the Galapagos, she commented that she liked my pictures than the postcards we could buy, bc she likes really large animal heads. I didn't have time to crop the photos as much as I'd've liked, but I'm very pleased with the result. A few things: Julian's remark about "you just need 12 photos" was a perfect example of how he cuts through whatever I'm making myself crazy about with a short statement that non-judgementally helps me getitdone. He's awesome.

Y'know what else is awesome? Lightroom. Thank y'all so much for suggesting it. I wish Lochai had suggested it all those years ago, when he was showing me tone curves, instead of saying, "This is for photo management. You don't need this, just buy Elements." ARGH NO. Reading the Scott Kelby book, I learned how Lightroom is just like iTunes when it comes to organization, so it took me <10 hours to sort almost a thousand pictures down to the 184 most interesting/best. On the one hand, I'm disappointed by how many photos came out so soft - my Lumix takes very fuzzy pictures and let's not even discuss the underwater shots - but Lightroom let me sort out the pictures that were interesting bc of the subject or were technically well done, directly send them to Shutterfly, and proceed from there. This project alone made it worth the $$ and maybe someday I'll learn how to develop photos well enough to make the time worthwhile. I stayed up past midnight but still caught the coupon; better, the calendar should arrive early Christmas week. I'm so amused by the little visual jokes I embedded - May is all baby birds; July is Sally Lightfoot crabs (for Cancer); my Harvard brother's birth month is covered in great and magnificent frigate birds (in scarlet) - that I printed one for myself. I was awfully yawny at work today, but it was worth it.

I had a whole bunch of things I wanted to do in Virginia, and with TWH leaving in the foreseeable future, I'm glad I convinced a bunch of friends to do them.

Fri night, Evil English and I went to 1-2-3 Burger-Shot-Beer to try and use a $30 Groupon. Somehow this required 4 shots each, oops, which still wasn't enough to make the Bolt Bus scrum pleasant, double oops. I have to say, we took Bolt down and Vamoose back and the latter is ever so much more comfortable, mostly bc boarding is organized. I also kinda wondered about the racial mixes: the people running Vamoose appeared to be African-American, whereas many of the clients seemed to be Jewish. weird. Maybe that's bc they pick up in Bethesda? I dunno.

Sat we went to brunch with the Mauses. I've never been to Cracker Barrel for breakfast before, but country ham made my eggs almost in the hole just right. Then we drove to Charlottesville for wine tasting. (I wasn't kidding when I told Pongo Sat was too much food and alcohol day.)

I was terribly disappointed by both Barboursville and Horton this time. ( Read more... )

Then we checked into the hotel and drove to the microbrewery. It was too dark to see the gorgeous scenery and frankly the roads were creepy deserted. I had the smokehouse platter, which included chicken, ribs, and turkey in this case; I could still taste the strong smoke the next day. My Hefweizen was fine, but I was more shocked by my companion's beer: it wasn't a Hefweizen but it also didn't taste nasty. Like, whoa.

Sun morning we tested the sturdiness of the Courtyard's sofa before slowly making our way to breakfast. I once more ordered the country ham, which my companions declared to be the size of some countries. The banana pecan pancakes were delish, which was good, bc we had a big day ahead.

It was about 1:22pm before we finally set off on our hike. I was worried and considered switching to a shorter route, as the one we were on is described as "strenuous" by Shenandoah's NP rangers. ( It all worked out in the very end. )

I was ready to let everyone sleep in the next day, but we ended up going to Manassas after all. I'd done a terrible job of prepping this part of the trip: I hadn't even read the Wiki article on the second battle. d'oh! I was impressed with the museum and visitor's center at Gettysburg; I'm even more impressed with Manassas. They had a fantastic 3D map which lit up in time with a narration of the battle: seeing the terrain like that, it made perfect sense what happened and why. The movie made it even more clear. Unfortunately, the museum doesn't have as good an explanation of Second Manassas: Pongo tells me it's bc the second battle was bigger. We stopped at the bookstore, where I picked up a souvenir magazine -- and my evil gf found a book on geology and the battle. yeargh. Then we walked out to Henry Hill House and took a picture with the statue of Thomas Jackson. So yeah, now we've visited the scene of a big Northern victory and a big Southern victory (or two). And I really want to read more books about Porter Alexander and Mosby and counterinsurgency and tactics and and and.

Yeah, I know I'm posting this after the holiday is over. My Internet was down for 2 weeks and as you will see in this tale, the short week was busy.

Fri night I had a date with Jane & Julian. We went to Casa La Femme, an Egyptian restaurant in the west West Village. The drinks were fantastic and the food was good. I've also come to the conclusion that belly dancing places are an awful lot like strip clubs: it's all about scantily clad women interacting with the men and getting the female customers to act slutty. But also entertaining! I should hang out with J&J more often.

I didn't get nearly enough done on Sat, partly bc I was tired, but also bc I love lying on my couch and did you know you can get Bewitched for free on Crackle, a Roku channel? Unfortunately they have the inferior colorized versions of season 1, but it's fascinating to see the original premise for the show, social commentary through the lens of mild fantasy. Fun stuff and it's funny seeing how unliberated Samantha was back then. And she wore eyeliner and gloves!

Sun we went climbing at the sketchiest gym I've ever been to. I pointed out breaks in active ropes and one of the grigris didn't seem to be catching, yet the staff didn't seem to be perturbed. I think part of the problem is they have no local crags, so they are people who work in a climbing gym, not climbers who are aware of the risks. aiyee.

Still, they have some very roofy routes and a wall with a layback! and I got to hang out with TWH and then she took me to an REI bc she doesn't know better she loves me and the guy adjusted my pack so it fit perfectly and I bought a water bottle parka, a replacement prussik cord, and some food for my upcoming expedition. And then we had a nice long drive home, bc car time is quality time. I conned her into sleeping over, so I got cuddles too! and then we got tea and scones for breakfast. Clotted cream and cookies may not cure a broken heart, but they can't hurt.

( The seders themselves ) If memory serves, we got it done in 45mins. Go me. Dinner was good, I acquired leftovers, and went home - to pack for my upcoming trip. *le sighs* At least expedition packing is old hat now, hm?

Fri night was the best showtunes night we've had yet. Sing Sing on St. Marks has a broader selection than the place NY Mag recommended, although they have some eclectic choices: every song from Cinderella (presumably the R&H version) including the instrumental songs, but only one song from Into the Woods. Sna? More importantly, we had twice the usual crowd, which made it even more fun. It was extra nice getting to hear roadnotes sing. My only complaint about Sing Sing is they don't serve hard liquor and singing distracts me from drinking, so I was close to sober after 4.5 hours. Weird, huh.

My doorman must've been so confused between my kissing Julian good night after they dropped me off at my apt - and my instructions to let TWH in a few hours later without calling me. She was so quiet coming in, I opened my eyes long enough to identify her and give her a hug before falling back in a deep sleep. I was too warm to sleep past 9, but I lack the words to describe how lucky - and loved - I felt when I looked around when I woke up.

A merry band of us went climbing at BKB that morning. They seemed to have more 5.6-5.7 this visit; I wonder if they'd set more kid-friendly stuff for their kids team. I like working through problems with friends and figuring out how things work, but it was also cool to work on a 5.9+ roof novalis found. Made it to the top, but I'd like to climb it clean someday. There was a 5.9 on the overhanging wall that I couldn't quite get, bc there was a move where I had to reach up and grab something when I couldn't statically hold my weight in place. I need to practice those semi-dynamic moves; I may be just a social climber, but I'd still like to get better. Then we went for brunch at 4pm at Lobo and then tea at Tea Lounge, which was so very amusingly Brooklyn-y. We thought a lot about going to hear Rasputina at the Highline Ballroom, but I had a race the next morning.

"Climb to the Top" was the best organized race I've ever done, ( and here's why ) When I signed up for the race, based on my (running) road races, I'd assumed I'd be about at the median for my age & gender and in my application, told them I expected to come in at about 20mins. Reading the race materials the night before, I was worried when they said the average participant finishes in 30-40 mins. oops. They also claim that 66 flights of stairs is similar in effort to a 5K, which I generally run in about 27mins -- but in my (running) training log, I noted this race as roughly 0.75mi in equivalence. (66*10 /5280 *6, bc stairs are hard so maybe they are similar to a 10-min mile?)

I told TWH I was hoping to break 20mins: 10mins is a reasonably fast pace for me to do a lap of the 35 flights in my building (including the elevator down) and while I'd be excited on race day, I also wouldn't have the elevator as a break in the middle. She didn't quite say "with it or on it", but there was a dire, unspoken threat. I don't think that was why I did so well, but it turns out I did the 66 flights at Rock Ctr in 15 mins, coming in 25th out of the 207 female 30-somethings (and 236/1022 overall). This is an extraordinary finish for me. I wonder if it was bc most people don't train well for stairs events - I've actually been stair climbing regularly since last June? - or if it was bc stairs require more (bodyweight) strength or if it was a function of who is willing to commit to raising money for charity (as opposed to merely paying an entry fee). I'm vaguely tempted to take up stair climbing as my next sport though: at the very least, entering a race (and wanting to improve my time) is more likely to get me to do stairs than merely knowing I have some horrible mountain to climb.

After I got home, TWH and I had the best French toast evuh - it was so good, I was offering lap dances for bites of it - and then she got her heart rate up for the day. We went to Cafe Lalo, which had a dizzying number of things she could eat, and had a congenial conversation with thewrongbrother and his date before she headed home.

I ended things with Fulbright: the final deciding factor was Elana pointing out that even after I decided to stop dating, I've had chemistry. The first time I saw Fulbright, I thought, "That can't be the guy they're trying to introduce me to! He's too old." Never gonna get over that one. He apparently wasn't expecting it: when I asked him (on the phone), "Do you think we have potential as a romantic couple?" he asked, "Are you talking to me or someone else in the room?" I can't even imagine. It was incredibly awkward. oh well.