Goodbye Carlee, Cigarettes (Hello Dylan, Michelle)
Carlee had her going away party this past Friday night at her apartment on Moore St., a place she shared with Bailey, Liz, Carlos, and maybe some other people(?). The population of the apartment expands and contracts (they've had other roommates, Patrick lived there for a spell), but I'm pretty sure those four are the main residents. It was good, there was a big turnout and the apartment was packed with howling bodies by 1:00am. I smoked myself hoarse and drank half a six pack of Yuengling, and left around the time a screaming crowd had formed in a circle surrounding a makeshift flipcup table, warped plywood placed atop an ancient card table with folding legs. The wood was dark with spilled beer and Bailey's booted feet stomped in frothy amber puddles on the floor.
Dylan and Michelle are back from their nearly yearlong curious expedition, and it is good to have them back. It's hard for me to articulate what it is they bring to a room, but I hadn't realized how much I missed it until it was finally back. They have been apartment hunting and have settled on an apartment in Greenpoint. They came over for ice cream and a chat the other day, and I asked them about the more personal aspects of their trip as their blog is more academic than anecdotal. I'll let them share details here if they choose to.
In other news, I have quit smoking as of today, February 17th, 2008. I am done smoking for keeps. (Except, perhaps, the occasional hookah with my neighbors. It would be rude not to!) Whenever one of my friends quit, I always say "Real smokers never quit, they just stop for a while." I am determined to prove that I was never a real smoker!
I guess I'll leave it there for now. I think my writing is coming out a little funny today. I'm reading a story in the new issue of A Public Space all about an expedition to the North Pole that is ruined and devestated by rats. I think the narrator's voice is sneaking in to my prose a little bit.
A side note: Albanian pride today in Manhattan! Woo! (Full disclosure: I am not, nor have I ever been, a member of the Albanian party.)
Congrats on the smoking. I'm not sure if I ever remembered to tell you, but I was talking to one of the vascular surgeons about smoking, and I told him what you say about "real smokers" (and that you refused to quit). He told me to let you know that you are "an F squared... a fucking fool. You tell him I said that. You tell him that Dr Kaufman said that he is a fucking fool". There you go, from him to you.
(P.S. - He was probably one of my favorite surgeons there. Hilarious.)
*groan* You tell him that if everyone were as priveleged and well-adjusted and right as him, then there would be no war or hunger. I guess he should stop being a doctor and go on a quest to become supreme overlord of the world! How great that would be for the rest of us!
You tell him I said that!
Oh no. Not well adjusted. Maybe not privileged prior to becoming a surgeon, either. Completely nuts and cynical, which is why he was so fun to work with. This dude swore more than... well, anyone I've ever seen in the hospital besides the patients. Maybe even more than them. Keep in mind, the man's a vascular surgeon... every day he picks out the remains of poor lifestyle decisions. Or cuts them off. Yum.
um, where did carlee go?
what boobs said.
Carlee went back to Seattle "for at least a few months" for a break from NYC.
I know that neither of us look particularly happy in that picture, but those hot dogs were delicious.
Also, Carlees gone and that bums me out.