Taking care of business (part 2)

Today, I had two things on the docket.  One would cost me some chump change, and the other some coin.  Either way, I had to present myself as Mario to the world.  It was just as well, as it looked like we'd have some scattered thunderstorms today.

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I got up at 8:00 am, so that I could make it to Mavis Tires for the New York's mandated yearly safety/emissions inspection for my car.  Reaching Mavis by 10:00 am, I was out of the shop an hour later, and proceeded home to nap, work on cleaning up some mess in the apartment, and to meet the handyman who'll do work on the tiled wall next to my bathtub.

Since I've been sleep deprived for the past few evenings, I took my nap first - and awakened by 3:30 pm.  I got dressed, and started to clean up my place when the handyman arrived.  As expected, he will need to tear out some sheet rock and replace it as part of his efforts.  So I gave him a 25% deposit for materials, and will pay him the rest when he returns over the weekend.  

Tomorrow, it'll be off to the tile store to see if I can get a box of tile similar to that on my 65+ year old bathroom wall....

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This weekend will likely be a "Cluster F" of scheduling headaches, as both RQS and I will need to be up much earlier than usual and stay in the apartment while work is done here.  I am not looking forward to this, but I have no choice, as the work needs to be done no matter what.  I am tempted to ask her if I could come down after work is complete (or, have her come here), so that she isn't as disturbed as she will be when the workers are taking up space in the bathroom.

Assuming that the work is done in one day (which I doubt), we will have Sunday free to do things for ourselves. But what might we do?  At least, I have several days to think about this, as tomorrow, I will have to go to a couple of tile stores to see if they have tile that matches the scheme of the remaining tile on my walls.

Welcome to Clown Town - Finally!

 

Picture this: the audience rolls into a seemly delightful birthday party filled with bright colors and balloons. The sounds of children laughing with glee are heard as Pixie rolls onto center stage. With her sweet smile beaming, she pops a balloon with a hint of murderous rage: "Awwww, may it rest in pieces". This begins the rock 'n' roll ride through outlandish personal stories of working as a party clown in NYC and Hollywood.

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I had tried to see "Welcome to Clown Town" the other day, and got to the theater too late to get in.  So I suggested to RQS that we go to see this play before I had to go home at the end of the weekend.

But first....

The day before, we went into Manhattan to see a film at the Quad Cinema.  Due to the weather and weekend subway schedules, RQS and I had a hard time reaching the theater from her place due to the rain and the subway's weekend schedules.  (The subway's weekend schedule usually terminates the M Train's service at Essex street, a location not convenient for most of the connections we needed to make.)  So we took a bus to catch the L Train to Union Square (where service terminated due to maintenance work), then walked the rest of the way to the theater.  Once we reached the theater, we found that we arrived too early and needed to kill an hour before the showing.  So, it was off to get something to nibble on to ease the rumbling in our stomachs before walking back to the theater in the rain to see the film.  And then, we ended up walking over to the West Village for dinner before going home.

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Sunday came, and it was time to see Welcome to Clown Town.  RQS had gotten some virtually free tickets (we only paid a service fee) to see the play, and we left for the theater an hour and a half before the scheduled performance time.  We needed each and every minute of this time, as we had to reach 36st street and 8th avenue from an area of Queens served by (formerly) BMT lines.  Like yesterday, we ended up taking the L Train into Manhattan. But, instead of walking 1.8 miles to the theater in the rain, we took a convoluted path via subways to reach the Penn Station area.

Finally we got to the theater, and had the chance to see the play.  Although it was short, it was very entertaining.  I can only imagine what this woman felt when she was hired out to perform for an hour at a gang member's children's birthday party, and the family attempted to use force to prevent her from escaping their clutches. (She was lucky to be able to use her to escape.)  If I'm in the mood, I might go to see it again before it closes.  But I doubt I'll have the chance to do so.

Next, it was out in the pouring rain and off to a diner for an early dinner.  By the time we were seated, the heavens opened up, and we were lucky to get inside without getting drenched.  And then, it was into the subway system to attempt getting home.  For what should have been a 2 or 3 train ride, it took us 5 trains to get home.  Weekend subway maintenance and the rain made a 1 hour trip take almost 2 hours, as we avoided certain bottlenecks where crowds would either force us to wait a long while for a train, or cause us to stand for an hour.

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We reached RQS's place as the rain was easing off. All too soon, I had to leave her and go home.  It'll be a bit longer than usual until I see her again.  But, this will give me a chance to see some people I don't usually have the chance to see, and to do some of the things I don't usually have the chance to do.

I didn't get no premium candy....

 

OK, you'll have to pardon me for my terrible grammar in this entry's title.  But I had to make a mention of my recent visit to Economy Candy, and I wanted to catch your attention....

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RQS and I had planned to go into NYC today.  Sadly, it looked like rain, and we didn't want to risk going to the Nom Wah Tea Parlor and getting caught in the rain going back to the subway station on the way home.  So we ended up deciding to go to Katz's Deli for a nice pastrami sandwich and looking for something else to do while in Manhattan.

We decided to take the M train into Manhattan, as its last stop was at the one train station we would have normally used to go to Katz's.  (The M train terminates at Essex Street on weekends, and this complicates weekend subway travel a little.)  Across from the two of us were two young women, and both of us were saying that they were cute. Given the usual characteristics of a subway rider, it was nice to see two young people enjoying themselves as if they didn't have a care in the world.

Upon arrival at Essex Street, we climbed up several levels of stairs to reach the street.  RQS commented that this station is hell for a visually impaired person due to its complexity - and I found that easy to understand.  This is a major interchange station which is not well adapted for the needs of the handicapped.  Thankfully, both of us were in good enough shape to climb the stairs and then walk to the new site of the Essex Street Market.

Having visited the old Essex Street Market once, I found that the new market was much more inviting than the old one.  However, both of us were shocked by some of the prices being charged for meats, fish and cheese.  Yet, if I lived nearby, I'd shop here now and then, as all of the expensive goodies were of top notch quality.

Once done with the market, it was off to Katz's.  We didn't plan it, but we stumbled into Economy Candy just before it closed.  Although we were interested in candy, neither of us succumbed to temptation.  We both knew that we'd soon be at Katz's, and that a Pastrami Sandwich would be waiting for us.  The candy was tempting us, especially the almond butter crunch pieces.  (I used to love Loft's version of these treats, and could easily finish off a whole box of 12 or 16 when I was young.)  However, at $22/lb. I was not going to spend my money on candy when I could get a tasty and humongous Pastrami sandwich for the same price.

Finally, it was off to Katz's.  I'm sure that most of my readers do not know this, but one has to take a ticket upon entering the place.  One needs this ticket to exit, as it tells the cashier how much food you consumed, and how much you have to pay for that food.  Instead of getting our tickets and finding an available seat before going to the counter to get our food, we decided on going to the back for waiter service.  This was the best decision we could have made.  Although the waiter didn't seem to pick up on our order (he didn't bother writing down our order, nor was he giving us his full attention), he got everything right and had it on our table quicker than expected.  The man was simply very good at his job, and had no need for pleasantries - a pure professional.  

This is what we got for our meal.  We shared a giant pastrami sandwich, and I still had leftovers for the next day.  The only thing I felt lacking (and this was no fault of the restaurant) was that the split pea soup was missing something - ham flavor.  (This can not be expected in a Jewish style deli.)  So, I added a little salt, and most of my concerns were addressed about the soup.  As expected, the pastrami was top notch, and we'll be here sooner, rather than later.

All too soon, the day had to end.  So it was a trip back home with sunset views across the East River....