New York things I’ll miss: free street books. Just scored a hardcover “Up In The Old Hotel” & some old John McPhees.
Things I’ll miss about New York, number 3: the combo of Xian Famous Foods and the International Bar.
Things I’ll miss in New York #2:
Sitting in the parked car while Shannon nurses Isaac in the back, watching New Yorkers pass by, and wondering which of them he might be like someday.
61° yesterday and Mario Lopez is outside. Why are we moving to LA again?
Things I’ll miss in New York #1: El Rincon del Sabor
Yes, I know: Mexican food is better in L.A. Don’t even start, because a) E.R.D.S. serves Ecuadoran food, and b) my love for it isn’t about the taste or quality of the caldo gallega. I love it because it’s four flights up a cast-iron staircase in a regular old office building on Jeweler’s Row - but because it’s Jeweler’s Row, visiting a regular old office building means taking a trip to 1932. Every tiny room or suite has another jewelry-ancillary business going on, from medieval-seeming smith-type operations to a little guy behind a desk yelling into a phone in Yiddish (on my way up the stairs) and Dutch (on my way down). Going to El Rincon (where only Spanish is spoken and the wood-paneled interior is as cozy as a rec room) is my only access to that world. Plus the food is pretty good.
We’re moving to Los Angeles. In February, or maybe a little sooner, but not forever - just for a couple of years. Just thought you should know!
Three hours of sleep, 9.5 hours jetlagged, in a hot room, listening to a presentation about video encoding.
So this happened: through a complicated series of travel logistics and schedule misreadings, I ended up getting a ride from Belmar to Perth Amboy, NJ with a very nice lady - a stranger I met in the train station parking lot - who believes that the world is going to end on Friday. Apparently the Family Radio guy has set a new date, and she is a believer. Actual exchange:
Yossi: Well, now that we’ve figured out the train schedule, you shouldn’t have this problem next time.
Nice lady: Yeah, that’s true. Although hopefully the world is going to end on Friday.
I wish I could say I came away from the experience with some understanding of her mindset, but we mostly talked about her grandkids.
