A weekend with RQS in Queens

 

Since we had no plans to see anyone needing for me to be in Mario Mode, I planned to present as Marian all weekend.  So I packed a bag with three changes of clothes (all dresses) and drove to RQS's place for the weekend.

Now, it usually takes roughly 2 hours for me to reach RQS's place from my place.  And this past Friday was more of the same, save that traffic jams (I should say, avoiding traffic jams) kept me on-time.  For example, traffic jams prevented me from shifting to the Hutchinson River Parkway and getting stuck waiting for a draw bridge to reopen.  In short, everything that went wrong ended up helping me. When I reached RQS's place, I got there late in the afternoon, and was lucky to find a parking spot that I did not need to wake up early on a Monday morning to vacate.  Then, I carted my bag to RQS's building, then up the stairs to her apartment. 

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An unfortunate thing about living in RQS's area is that delivery people often screw up deliveries for some unknown reason. RQS lives at an address which should be easy to find, such as "12-34 1234 Street".  Often, the lummox that is doing the delivery will either deliver to the wrong street or the wrong address on her street.  In one case, a post office delivery was made to a house 1/2 mile away.  She was lucky that the person who received her package delivered the package to RQS - even though she didn't have to do so.

Why is this important?

RQS often has expensive things delivered to my place.  But we can't control food delivery.  We ordered some Halal food (I love Chicken and Lamb combos from NYC Halal carts), and it was dropped off at some unknown apartment nearby.  As a result, we ended up having Pizza - something that RQS was not in the mood to eat that day.

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Saturday came, and we ended up going to a movie called "Bad Apples".  It is a story about a teacher and an extremely disruptive young boy.  In the process of trying to get his dad to do the minimum to help his son, the situation escalates to a point where the teacher kidnaps the boy and keeps him imprisoned in her basement, while she (and the rest of her students) blossoms in her classroom.  Do I recommend this film?  Wholeheartedly!  Yet, I'd have made one change - I'd have allowed the movie to have some closure that it doesn't have.  (I'm not giving away the ending, but I'd have cut out the final scene.) 

When we got home from the movie, RQS cooked some salmon.  I wish I could have had more.  But she buys human portions...  

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Sunday was a day doing much of nothing - it was raining out, and the last thing we wanted to do was go out to the bodega down the street in the rain. It was a day where we watched old movies on Amazon Prime, and I introduced her to a pleasant movie I found online - "Saving Grace".  Since I never got dressed, I still had to figure out a way to make sure that my car was parked on the correct side of the street to not be ticketed.  So, I went to Google Maps' Street view and look at the photographed street signs.  And, I was both lucky and right - I could stay parked until Tuesday at 8 am.

It's nice to be able to sleep late when I'm at RQS's place for the weekend.  

Getting together with my niece for lunch

 

No, this is not my niece.  But it is a drawing of a pretty woman who was "hid" in many of an artist's drawings.  Today, RQS and I met my niece in Manhattan and went to one of my favorite Indian restaurants.

Since my car was left in a good parking spot over the weekend, I didn't have to take my morning shower until 10:30.  And then I proceeded to get made up, dressed, and ready to go into "the city".  We started walking to the nearby subway station at noon, and saw a bus coming by.  RQS checked the schedule and found another coming 3 minutes later.  So, we took the bus to a different subway station, and didn't have to climb any stairs.

Just as we were getting off the subway, my niece called to tell us she was at the restaurant.  5 minutes later, we were there, and I could barely recognize her with her sunglasses on.  As much as we loved the food in this place, the service was very slow.  We were there for the better part of 3 hours.  Luckily, the conversation was going well, the weather outside was perfect, and I was ready to drop a couple of "C-Notes" on lunch.

 

A little bit before 4, my niece had to make it back to Long Island, and we had to make it to Queens.  We got to RQS's place around 5, and I was able to rest until 6:45 when I started my drive home.  When I got home, I found the dress and T-Shirt I ordered from Ulla Popken, and put it on.  It looks nice, and I'll be getting much use out of it as the weather gets cooler.

One bit of bad news - Medicare turned me down for the bridge program.  I guess I'll have to wait until 2028 for my GLP-1 drugs to start being covered. 

Shifting to RQS's place for convenience

 

Lately, I'm grateful that I use a cane (albeit mostly for security), as my legs have been giving out on me.  So, the decision to drive to RQS's place to spend Sunday evening and go to the closing on the family homestead the next day wasn't done lightly - it was a matter of practicality.  There was a much smaller chance of getting hung up in a traffic jam on the way to the closing when I didn't have to cross a bridge, and I knew I had to play these odds.

Knowing that parking spots on the correct side of the street would be scarce the later I looked for a spot in RQS's neighborhood.  On one side of her street, there is no parking on Mondays and Thursdays from 8 am to 11 am.  On the other, there is no parking on Tuesdays and Fridays during the same hours.  I would either have to get up, get showered and dressed and kill several hours, or I could sleep late and meet my brother at lunch time.  So, we left my place before noon, and found a good parking spot around 2 pm - about 600' from RQS's place.

Going up the stairs was painful, as my legs didn't want to cooperate with me.  But, with a little bit of use, they functioned acceptably.  Yet, I knew that I will need to do some exercises to strengthen some muscles to get my mobility back.  And I will need to do this before leaving for my next cruise, as I want to go on the shore excursions and not feel like a cripple.  At least, I was able to take a nap when I was upstairs.

When evening came, we ended up getting delivery from a nearby Thai joint.  The food was good, and I was ready to fall out again after dinner.  I'm growing less able to eat large meals on a regular basis, and have already started to cut down some.  Hopefully, I won't look like the lady in the photo above when I'm on my cruise.... 

The only time we went out on Sunday was to pick up veggies for dinner.

 

Yesterday (as I wrote this, RQS and I went out and disposed of some e-waste.  On our way, we passed by this building, where one tenant keeps up a campaign, calling his/her landlord a slumlord.  What I found interesting about this shot is that the downstairs apartment is supporting the landlord.  (You may want to enlarge the windows to see their signs.)  Given NYC's lack of affordable housing (and housing types), it's not hard to understand why this person may be staying in a substandard apartment.

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Today, neither of us were in the mood to go outside.  But we had to take care of two things: (1) Picking up vegetables for dinner from the local bodega, and (2) Making sure that my car is parked on the correct side of the street for alternate side of the street parking rules.  So, I got dressed in a frock I had stored at RQS's place, and we walked the block and a half to take care of things.  My car was parked in a place that would allow me to sleep late, so I walked back to the bodega to meet RQS and bring home veggies for dinner.

RQS was hurting - her knee was acting up, and it was a major effort for her to walk the block and a half to the bodega and back.  As for me, I carried the heavy stuff home (a 12-pack of soda), knowing that I'd have something cold to drink later on. I figured that the way RQS felt, we were going to be in for the night - and I was right.

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We took it easy for the rest of the evening, and watched a movie before going to bed.  On the whole, it was a quiet day.  But rest was something we both needed, as we are still recovering from our latest cruise. 

The only reason we left the house was to move the car.

 

RQS lives on a street with Alternate Side of the Street parking.  When I arrived on Friday, I parked on the wrong side of the street for short term convenience, knowing that I'd have to move my car again if I wanted to stay over until Monday morning.  Well, Sunday came, and I planned to stay over.

Around 3:30 pm, we went out to move the car.  It was in front of the building next door, and I had to move it to an opposite side of the street.  (Her side is no parking on Monday/Thursday mornings, while the other side is no parking on Tuesday/Friday mornings.)  We got very lucky.  There was a good open spot right around the corner.  So, I parked there before we headed to the supermarket.

The area of Queens we were in borders Brooklyn, and this is one of many neighborhoods in NYC where per-consolidation street grids clash.  The bus route that RQS takes to the subway was established when trolleys ran between Brooklyn and Queens, and had to be changed slightly when some awkward intersections were taken off the street grid.  As a result, the main bus route that takes us to a key subway station makes a strange zig-zag before it crosses Myrtle Avenue.  For us, we didn't need to do the zig-zag, as we could walk along the path the road once took and cross Myrtle Avenue without problems, on our way to the supermarket.

The Ridgewood, Glendale and Bushwick neighborhoods are undergoing ethnic change.  Gone are the days when both Ridgewood and Glendale were German neighborhoods, although some traces of this still remain in a few stores which were founded during that era.  Now, the Spanish speaking community has moved into some of the blocks while others are being gentrified.  Gone are the days when one could rent a 2 bedroom apartment for under $2,000.  Given the going rate in RQS's area, I don't know how any newcomers can afford to live there.  But I digress.

We reached the supermarket and picked up some things to have with our leftovers meal that evening.  We had a sweet tooth for Ice Cream Sandwiches, so we picked up some Klondike Cookies & Cream.  Then, we picked up an apple pie before walking back to RQS's place.  Sadly, neither of these items were to our liking.  We prefer Fat Boy's Ice Cream Sandwiches to Klondike's.  And the apple pie was best left forgotten, the brand never to be purchased again.

Were the leftovers good?  Yes.  Was it worth staying over an extra night?  Of course.  But, do I wish I found a spot on the right side of the street on Friday?  YES!!!!  Both of us would rather have stayed in bed until evening.  But if we had done so, I would have had to leave for home that night.

It was the end of a weekend, and a long search for a parking spot.

 

All too soon, Monday came and we had to drive down from Croton to RQS's place.  The storage area in my car had stuff from a prior weekend's visit to BJ's that had to get to her apartment.

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Neither of us wanted to get up early today.  But we knew that if we didn't get moving by noon - 1 pm, we'd never get the chance to both stop at Trader Joe's and find a good parking spot.  (Her area of NYC has alternate side of the street parking, and I didn't want to leave her at 7:45 am to avoid parking tickets.) Traffic moved fast, until we reached the bridges.  Both the Whitestone and Throggs Neck bridges were backed up due to lane closures, and it took us more time than usual to get into Queens from the Bronx.

Once in Queens, we had no trouble making it to Trader Joe's for a shopping run.  I picked up some candy for early Xmas gifts, while RQS stocked up on needed goods. Next, we were off to RQS's place where we stopped to unload my car and get stuff into her apartment. And then, the fun began.  When hunting for a parking spot, one has to zig-zag through the streets until an acceptable spot is found.  Today, I had to find a spot on the Westbound side of the street - and this took longer than expected.  First, I made my usual loop down the street for two blocks until I could reverse direction on an adjacent street and continue my search.  After completing most of the first loop through the neighborhood, we encountered a problem: Two ambulances blocked the street for an emergency call, when they had open space to park their vehicles.  I was pissed to say the least - especially when none of the personnel seemed in a hurry to do what they came to do.

After a few minutes, both the car behind me and I backed up, going the wrong way on a one way street, escaping the defacto dead end street.  We were lucky to have done so when we did, as there was a bus about to come up the street, and we would have been boxed in by it.  Yet, we escaped the blockage, and circled through the neighborhood until we found a spot 3 blocks away from RQS's place.

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After dinner, I had to sign on for a closing session for the study in which I participated.  While RQS kept busy in one room, I took the test to see how my skills may have improved via directed game play. I feel a little strange, as my part in this study is almost over.  Tomorrow will be my MRI in Queens, and then it's over. 

A visit to see my brother

 

I don't get the chance to see my brother that often, and this was one time I knew he needed to talk with me. Without saying too much, he has both an important career decision to make and a decision that will affect his peace of mind.  So, I knew that I had to see him immediately after leaving RQS this evening.

Normally, I am not under any time constraints when leaving RQS's place, save that I have to be aware of alternate side of the street parking rules and on which side of the street my car is parked.  However, I knew I had to reach my brother's place by 5, so that we could get to dinner by 6.  Just as I was walking out the door, my brother called - and I told him I'd be there shortly.  

Arriving at my brother's place around 5, we chatted for a while, and then proceeded to a seafood restaurant in Oceanside, NY - Jordan Lobster Farms.  As much as I didn't need another big meal, it was hard to resist clams on the half shell, clam chowder, and a 1 1/2 pound lobster.  YUM!  We talked about many things:  career, family, friendships, and pastimes. We also talked about my uncle, who I will be visiting in April.  

All too soon, this visit had to end.  I drove back to my apartment to find several things on my doorstep, one of which was a pair of large door stoppers which I'll be using to keep my refrigerator door closed until I can properly level the device.  (Too bad I forgot about the shims my brother had saved for me back at his place.)  Although there was more that I could have brought in at the time, I left some stuff in the hall to retrieve in the morning.

A nice weekend with RQS - a quick post

 

This weekend was a "half and half" weekend in more ways than one.  Although she came up on Thursday to spend the evening with me at game night, we drove down to her place on Saturday to spend the rest of the weekend in the city.  This was a nice change of pace.

But first....

Lately, I haven't had much energy to do much of anything.  But I had enough to get dressed and meet RQS at the train station in Marian mode.  From there, we were off to Lefteris Gyro, as we'd be heading towards Yonkers for game night.  Once done with dinner, we drove over to game night where RQS was warmly welcomed.  (I think that the host and hostess approve of my choice of girlfriend.😊)  We were in time for 2 games, and both of us did poorly - and had fun doing so.

On Friday, I had to return to Mario mode, so that I could test drive a car.  I'm very surprised that Buick has a compact SUV in my price range. Even though it has a 3 cylinder engine, the car had a bit of pep for a small car.  The way the car performed justified my visit to the dealership.

Saturday came, and we woke up late.  Instead of risking not getting a parking spot at her house, we skipped test drives of 2 other brands/models, and saved time by going directly to Ridgewood.  And this was a good thing, as after a bit of food shopping in her neighborhood, it took 15 minutes to find a parking spot.

Sunday was a sleepy day for us.  And the only reason for getting dressed was a visit to the local Bodega.  While out, we checked the alternate side of the street parking rules that applied to my car.  I could stay overnight!  Yay!  So that's just what I did.  It was nice to have an extra night with RQS.....