The evening was originally supposed to be a trip to the Medieval Times in New Jersey to eat chicken drumsticks and drink mead and get served by a woman you're allowed to call "wench". I know irony is dead, or at least it should be (someone please send a memo to Urban Outfitters, Williamsburg and anyone drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon), but I thought it would be fun. I never went to a Renaissance Fest in high school, and I kind of love excuses to get out of the city. Whenever I get in a NYC funk, the best way to like NYC again is to travel anywhere within a 25 mile radius of Manhattan. Not only do you get the novelty of leaving the city, but you also see what the neighboring inhabitants are really like and remember that you actually like living in NYC where there are few children and people don't wear sweatpants outside the house. A prime example of this phenomenon is making a weekend trip to IKEA in Elizabeth, New Jersey. But I digress. Medieval Times fell through due to lack of interest - who knew. The runner up plan was a sushi/karaoke party.
This, in my mind, was a brilliant idea. Number one, I love all things Japanese, so sushi and karaoke definitely fit the bill. Number two, I love singing karaoke with my friends. A lot of people think singing karaoke would be a terrifying and embarrassing experience, but that's just because they think you have to sing like Whitney Houston or make an ass of yourself to some lame middle school party song like "Baby Got Back". Those people have it all wrong. I've realized that the two bands I can actually get away with doing karaoke to are the Smiths and Weezer. With the Smiths, people will all think "Wow, I forgot how much I love the Smiths, it's fun singing melancholy but upbeat pop songs about unrequited love and being a closeted homosexual." With Weezer, people will all think "Wow, I love Weezer, this reminds me of good memories of high school, and the 90s are totally the new 80s, what a good choice." Also, it helps that both bands have a singer with a relatively monotone voice and no embarrassing lyrics. But alas. Sushi/Karaoke also fell through...
This left us with a final option that required almost no planning or initiative. A relaxed night in the East Village. Obviously, the path of least resistance, but a fun choice nonetheless. And since I hate planning social events, I was happy to just go with the flow. One of my friends is housesitting another friend's palatial apartment, which is conveniently located at 3rd and A, and inconveniently filled with four cats and lots of cat hair. He invited us over and after hugging the birthday girl we went out to a yummy dinner, followed by digesting at home while watching bad cable TV. Then we decided to go find some ice cream to complete the evening. This is where I have to confess to you that secretly (Shhhh! Don't tell!) I'm an old man. There is nothing that I enjoy more than a night with friends involving eating dinner, watching bad cable TV and then eating ice cream. So, after our second episode of The Soup we set out to find ice cream. Of course within a block of our friend's apartment in the "gritty" East Village we found a brand new gourmet market selling ten different brands of organic / soy / exotic-flavored ice creams / sorbets / gelatos for the reasonable price of $6.99 a pint. And to think that a few years ago this building was probably a vacant hovel where homeless people would squat and do heroin like a scene from "Rent"! Oh the good old days before gentrification.... Sigh....
Anyway, the point is - do you know how hard it is to choose between "Organic Super Premium Moroccan Vanilla Bean Ice Cream", "White Chocolate Sorbet with Organic Raspberry", and "Belgian Chocolate and Hazelnut Gelato"? Trust me, its a hard choice. Growing up, I was lucky if we had a brick of Roundy's brand Neapolitan ice cream with strawberry, chocolate and vanilla in the freezer. Well, we decided to avoid having to decide and just got all three, then spent the rest of the night eating out of the tubs and watching clips of the Spaghetti Cat on Youtube. (If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend looking it up.) We said our adieus, and walking home I realized that while I may not have had the hippest evening in the city, I definitely had one of the most fulfilling evenings I could have had helping a friend ring in her special day. Three cheers for friends, TV and ice cream!
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