The World Keeps Spinning

So just shy of 7PM, I'm barely beginning to return to being myself. The last few days have been a whirlwind -- in almost all respects a good thing -- that is now evolving back to the calm pacificity of normal day-to-day life.

It all started last weekend; as Friday neared, I mentally assessed the apartment cleaning, laundry and organization in my very near future in preparation of Kaia's visit on the 22nd. By Sunday, which was Father's Day, I had done a good chunk of my laundry, gotten a lot of cleaning done, removed any excess crap from the apartment I could, and managed to retain my sanity. Then, walking into my apartment around midnight Sunday night coming home from Jersey, I got word that a friend of mine was coming into town from Singapore (via India) and was going to be kickin' it for a night (Tuesday).

So Tuesday came, my friend got into town and met me at my place about the same time I normally get home from work. We hit Dos Caminos, as I indicated earlier, and everything was all peachy; Wednesday morning, about 5AM, my friend split and I wound up zombied for the majority of the day, but since I had pretty much finished my pre-Kaia prep to that point, there was nary a worry. I figured I'd come home, fall asleep and then call it a day -- and that's when my friend told me that he opted to come back to NYC rather than stay in DC for a few more days doing pretty much nothing, so he got on a train and wound up coming back to NYC. We ended up hanging for a while on Wed. night, ordered some kickin' BBQ (from Brother Jimmy's) and called it a night.

Thursday I went about my business pretty much as usual, as I had stacks of work to address on top of everything happening behind my apartment door, so I spoke to Kaia early Thursday and wished her a good flight; she was excited to be on the way to NYC, but she was tired due to some night-before-flight insomnia, so I figured once she got here, the three of us would just chill out and have a quiet, early night.

She arrived and my friend, who had never met her, hung out with her a bit before he split to give her some private/wind-down time in the apartment; meanwhile, I did everything I had to do office-wise and then headed home and finally got a chance to see my other half. In the meantime, my friend had been out shopping, come back to the apartment, gone running and then, on top of everything else, came in a little while after I arrived. So we just relaxed for awhile -- I had invited my sister to come along with us to dinner and thereafter, but she'd hurt her wrist a few days prior and was taking meds so she was pretty much wiped and ended up staying in, so we headed downtown to Jane for some Salmon Tartare with Avocado and their version of plain-ol' Fried Calamari. I wasn't absolutely starving, but I can without a doubt say I don't remember the last time I had as nice a meal as I did last night. We had drinks, the salmon/calamari appetizers, and I had a balsamic-glazed pork chop. My dinner companions each ordered the tuna, which was incredible -- as is everything else, seemingly, at Jane -- and we decided to skip dessert and head back out into the night for more fun at Pravda at 281 Lafayette.

Pravda's a Caviar/Vodka bar par excellence...I'd last visited these digs about ten years ago, and I'd partaken of both some awesome caviar and some kickin' vodka (I still don't remember the name of the vodka I first tried there, but it makes Belvedere seem like lighter fluid in comparison). What I found interesting between visits was that since there was no more bar-smoking, the place was merely cozy, not Moscow-authentic-cloudy, and it was a comfortable space rather than a busy, stuffy atmosphere. The last time I was there was during Pravda's "Hot" phase, and now that there weren't supermodels and pro athletes filling the space, it was just a fun, easy-going late-night club crowd. We tried a caviar-vodka sampler and just relaxed with the aforementioned; to be sure we had plenty of quality beverage, Kaia ordered a bottle of Cliquot. Between a glass of after-dinner port at Jane, the vodka and the Cliquot, I can pretty much confess I drank more last night than I have over the past month.

Either way, by the time we rolled home and fell into bed -- with my friend, like a stone, passed out on my couch -- we went to sleep happy, a little tipsy and very happy.

This morning, my friend was a little hung over -- no morning run -- but otherwise none the worse for wear. Kaia was more tired than usual, which didn't help matters in connection with her 8AM conference call -- but I was pretty much ready to go early, and wound up in three or four fifteen-minute conversations with clients before I even left the house. By the time I did, it was a half-hour later than I'd wanted to leave, and as per usual, even with my friend moseying around the apartment, I asked myself why I was leaving instead of climbing back into bed with Kaia.

The day went by quickly; today, like the last week, was incredibly -- and oppressively -- humid and muggy. It hit 85ish but it felt more like 95. To add insult to injury, I had to travel an hour to Brooklyn to attend a building inspection that wound up lasting three hours instead of what I expected, which was more like thirty minutes. We spent most of our time in vacant (ie non-air-conditioned) apartments; but we also got to spend time up on the roof -- nice, sunny and hot, with no breeze -- and down in the cellar, which was hot and muggy and smelled of mold. Goody...

By the time I made it back through my door, it was nearly 5:30 and I was ready to drop. I washed up while my friend was out for a run, so Kaia and I hung out until he returned to collect his stuff, pack up and make a 7PM train back to DC. We three hung out until he taxied to Penn Station, then Kaia and I picked up where we left off -- which was basically both of us in need of a nap and some private time, so we did so for a little before she nodded off and I remembered some work stuff that needed quick tweaks. And I figured, while I was here and she was napping, I'd stop in for a quick blog.

We're going to spend the next 24 hours relaxing; while I'm sure we'll hit Soho at some point, I'm guessing we'll do so after the sun sets to avoid the blistering, prohibitive humidity. I've been running around the entire week in it, and there's nothing better than getting undressed after a long, sweaty day while standing in front of a 14,000 BTU air conditioner. Well, perhaps it's having someone else undress you while standing in front of a 14,000 BTU air conditioner. But that's sort of a moot point.

We haven't seen each other for a couple months, so we're going to make sure we make up for lost time; but in the meantime, tonight's a movie/order-in/reacquaint night. I am glad my friend was in town and able to meet Kaia and spend time with us both; but there's something to be said for alone time and for making up for lost time. If I happen to be remiss in keeping this space current, at least, in advance, I think I have a good excuse...I'll be sure, as much as possible, to check in when I can, and I'm hoping to update the photosite as well, so if/when I do, you'll know.

More later...

-B-