March 07, 2007

Islands

Last weekend, on Sunday and rather on a whim, we decided to wander the streets of Chelsea, a Manhattan neighborhood where Craig dreams someday we'll live. I'm not quite sure, other than word of mouth that Chelsea is happening, what the attraction is for him, and frankly, I'm not sure he was sure, either, before our adventure...we've hung out at a stray bar here or there in the Chelsea bounds, but not frequently. So, bundled, we walked the cold streets to 86th Street and took the 6 train to 14th Street, then transferred to the L and traveled to 8th Avenue. We proceeded to browse around and see what was so happening. In all honesty, there are some unique corners of Manhattan to be found in the neighborhood of Chelsea, but I wasn't overly impressed. I think Chelsea is still a pet gentrification project but of course, that is me speaking haphazardly, speculatively and uneducatedly especially given the fact that condos are listed on the market for over one mill there and that hardly seems to lend itself to still in the process of being gentrified. Anyway, possibly the most fascinating thing we encountered was the Chelsea Market. I fell in love with the interior of this place. I have limited words for it but the floors sloped curiously and there was exposed ductwork and brick and beams and there was even this really peculiar water feature consisting of a pipe gushing water into a hole in the floor.
Notice, the food network hangs its hat here...Anyway, we were both fairly flabbergasted by this place. Food selection was limited but I think partially because it was Sunday and several concessions were either closed altogether or were only partially operating. We found sandwiches and hung out at this market for a while. Overall, I'm not sure what rating I'd give Chelsea but I look forward to exploring it more in the spring. Twenty degrees on a winter Sunday wasn't probably the best time to find out what's the buzz.*Our weeks are increasingly busy. I find it impossible to designate time to call my friends, even my parents. I feel like New York has a funny grip on me but it isn't a bad thing; I'm learning a lot about myself and about everything. I just can't forget the people I love.*Monday night we had another curious New York experience. Lauren's theater company, the one for which she composes loving scores of music, was hosting a benefit at Joe's Pub in the East Village. We've been past Joe's Pub numerous times and heard rave reviews about shows that take place there, but we had never been inside. As an added bonus to attending a show to support Lauren's theater work, a silent auction was being held. One of the items silently pleading me to take it home was an autographed script of Grey's Anatomy, which might be like the equivalent of that show 30-somethings, which I never ever watched because I thought that anyone over 30 was ancient when that show was popular. I likely equate the two because the cast of Grey's, its characters, at least, are likely late 20's to early 30's, and there you have my comparison, easy as that. Anyway, Craig and I arrived at Astor Place and Lafayette Street rather early, so we ducked into St. Mark's (loved it) for dinner and a beer. Then we made our way to Joe's. The auction was a lot of fun. We saw a handful of people who we've met through Lauren who are just amazing in their own ways, one in particular who announced to us that he will be playing Chief of Staff to the Mayor of New York in a new series to possibly air this fall. Oddly enough, the Mayor is to be played by Bobby Cannavale who incidentally showed up in an episode of Knights of Prosperity not long ago and while I sat scrutinizing him on the tv screen and saying to Craig, "I swear I know that guy from somewhere," it wasn't long before I looked into it and realized Bobby Cannavale played the cop boyfriend of Will on Will & Grace at one point. That was an exaggerated tangent reflecting the indulgent amount of tv that I watch, yuck! So, Craig and I were excited to learn the news, even if the series doesn't soar, at least we can tell the story of how we know that guy who plays Chief of Staff to Bobby Cannavale. Right? So, the auction was cool - there was a wide assortment of items being auctioned. Craig pulled on his Extremely Amazing Boyfriend Coat and offered to make a bid on the script for me. Confession: I really wanted him to do that, to offer to bid on a signed copy of the script for what is most definitely my favorite tv show ever to air and then continue on into its third successful season! but not just because I love the show...also because the money would go to such a great cause (Waterwell). We drank a little bit of wine, mingled, and then were ushered into a fantastic room of Joe's Pub where the benefit cabaret show would be held. The place was packed! - huge success for Lauren and company, and eventually the show began and it was absolute joy and they were cruising along when suddenly, from one corner of the room, smoke began to billow. In fact, it swelled so quickly that the audience seated there began to rise and file out of the room. There were murmurs throughout and the cabaret cast tried to crack jokes but to no avail because Joe's Pub was on fire!! Or so it seemed. To make a long story short, the entire night came to a grinding halt and it was never determined, to our knowledge at least, what exactly happened...there were guests grabbing Christie's gift bags (a good friend of Lauren's works at Christie's) and waiting in line at the coat check for their coats and filing right out of Joe's...firemen swarmed, et cetera. It was a bit of an abrupt end to our evening, honestly! But we enjoyed what we got to witness, despite the odd possible fire in what may have been the basement of the building...??
*Alright, it's definitely nearing bedtime. My friend Aubree came over Saturday and we munched on vegetarian appetizers that I made (including cucumber sandwiches on wheat bread which were really pretty good!) and caught up on a lot of things. The reason I titled this post "Islands" is because Aubree and her husband Brian are moving out to Long Island, into a house, and are trying to convince us - nay, insist - that it is in our best interest to move into their soon-to-be-vacant apartment in Forest Hills, Queens. Granted, the apartment is nearly double the size of ours and rents for much, much less per month, but I have an extremely sore heartache at the thought of being ripped out of Manhattan after only one single microscopic year of this life. I won't go into all of the ads and disads, but in summary, I will say this: I don't think Craig and I are really going to give it much thought; I think we're staying put.


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