A Stud and a Babe

Happy Monday everyone!

So this is the second Monday in a row I've been back! YES! And it was a pretty fun last week or so.

Everyday I come to find more reasons why I love this city. I could be on the train and see someone I recognize but maybe not know, see someone I do know but not recognize them, or possibly find someone's doppelganger--which happens a little too often, to be honest. More often than I ever expected, I see people talking to themselves, even arguing with themselves. This is equal parts hilarious and disturbing. What makes it all the more frightening is that I've noticed it is a trend among older women that seem to have a chip on their shoulder. You know the type: whiny, picky, and altogether bitchy... Yes, my friends, this is what girls in New York fear of becoming. Don't let it happen to you.

This brings me to things I don't like about the city: the women mentioned above. Now, I'm not being sexist or anything, because there are definitely men that act the very same way, but they seem to realized it most times and stop. The women, however, believe they are always in the right and YOU are the bad person. For example, I work in a restaurant in Times Square which is of course in the Theatre District. Many patrons will come to our restaurant prior to their show. Now, most people anticipate and desire the ability to take their time with their meal and leave plenty of time for the food to be properly prepared and brought out in a timely manner that still allows time for well-paced conversation over their meal. However, it seems uncommonly common for this situation to go this way: said patrons enter restaurant and ask for a table for x-number of guests*; the host/hostess takes them to a table for the desired amount of guests and the Undesirable Guest (I shall refer to this guest in this way) insists that this table is not good enough for them; the UG proceeds to search the restaurant for exactly the table that fits the right mold, all the while the host/hostess has moved on to their plan B table which also allows for the servers to not be overwhelmed which will maximize the quality of service, etc.; after much deliberation and mumbling under the breath, the UG sits down with his/her other guests. After the order has been taken (all medium well to well done burgers), sent to the kitchen, and 10 minutes has past, the UG will more than likely call out, rudely, "Where's our food? We got a show in 15 minutes!" This information should have been stated earlier in this scenario where the asterisk (*) lies. Please, take a moment to find this part in the story... Naturally, their food only has another 5 minutes, but that's not good enough, so the UG sulks in the our "inadequacies", reveling in the idea that they can do our job better than we do on a 40-hour/week basis. It is at this point that mind tends to create an alternative reality where I proceed to tell the UG: "BITCH! IF YOU HAVE A SHOW, YOU SHOULD HAVE SHOWN UP MORE THAN 30 MINUTES FOR THE CURTAIN IS SUPPOSED TO GO UP! IN THE FUTURE, DON'T BE SO F-ING DUMB! NOW EAT YOUR DAMN BURGER, PAY YOUR BILL, TIP ME MORE THAN 20% AND GET THE HELL OUT OF MY SECTION!" However, in reality, I apologize for not knowing they had a show because had I known this, I would have insisted that they not have ordered burgers cooked anything above medium.

End of rant.

I think I may have found my favorite pizzeria in NY! It is called Arturo's Pizza and is located in Greenwich village on Houston, just south of NYU. This past Thursday night was my rommate Javier's birthday and I was invited to attend dinner here. I thought, "Oh, how nice, it'll just be like 6 or 7 of us having pizza. Goodie." Little did I know that I was living with the single most-popular guy on NYU's campus. Initially, there were to only be 10 of us. Shortly after we were seated, however, the party started to grow. It grew to the nice, round figure of 20...or so. Pizzas were ordered and brought out and devoured, wine was poured and drunk fairly quickly. More pizzas were ordered, brought out, and devoured. More wine was poured and drunk. Lather, rinse, repeat. I forgot to mention that Javier is my roommate from Uruguay and he is getting his PhD (question mark) in Spanish Literature (bigger question mark). What this means is that most of his friends are all from his department and from all the linguistics departments. (Of course, I naturally cut to a scene from FRIENDS where Ross tells everyone "She a linguist! They're crazy over there...) What this really means is that everyone around me was speaking in different languages... The night could a great turn when I found a mutual topic to discuss with some people at the table: Food Network! Yes, we discussed all of our favorites and some we didn't have as much mutual respect for. (Austin, if you're reading this, please skip the next few sentense) One couple at the table insisted that Paula Deen is terrible. I know, I know, I know. I'm upset, too. They insisted that everything she does is just loud and obnoxious and bigger than everyone else because that's her character. They insister that the Barefoot Contessa does the same dishes but in a much more elegant fashion. Well, EXCUSE me for liking things big, loud, and obnoxious (I like myself, obviously). Anywho, it was fun to talk food while enjoying some of the best pizza I've had. Most pizza in New York has a pretty non-descript curst but really good cheese and toppings. This pizza had it all. It was coal oven-baked which gave it a fantastic grilled flavor with just a touch of burntness (yes, it tastes like burning...) and the toppings, cheese, and sauce were just perfect. If you come to visit me, we're totally going to Arturo's!

The next night was HUGE! I made my New York City performance debut at the first ever Christ Church UM Cabaret Night alongside Emily. We sang "A Stud and a Babe" from I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change and were a pretty big hit. Of course, being me I didn't hit all the right notes, but I hadn't even gotten ahold of the music until the day before. But, of course, being me I did hit all the funny parts. The whole theme of the evening was Loving the City and Emily was kind of a centerpiece for the night as she wove the theme throughout the night with three songs about wanting, finding, and having love. Other than our song, she sang "Taylor the Latte Boy" and "Make Someone Happy". She spoked briefly before each performance, telling a story about finding love in the big city. EMILY KILLED EVERY SINGLE SONG! She was a huge hit for the night. I hope she doesn't hate me for saying this, but she was really nervous the whole night because she had never performed for the people at her church before, yet they all knew that she was a performer. It was kind of her coming out party for this nice facet of her persona to them. And they LOVED IT! So many wonderful comments came her way and I am so proud of her! You GO EMILY! Video was taken of the night, and I promise I'll post it here as soon as I get ahold of it.

Saturday. Work.

Sunday. KICKBALL! Yes, I joined an adult kickball league and am on a team with KTD--the Dirty Pirate Hookers. I'm a new member of the team and as such, I do not have a Dirty Pirate Hooker name yet, but it's being worked on. So, our first game of the season was against Balls N' Dolls--all the teams have "clever" names. I felt like Emily starting my first game of kickball since maybe middle school, but both times I got up to "bat", I got on base. Of course, there was a big mistake on my part: after the first time I got on base, another player on our team got a good kick in that was caught...or at least that's what I saw. As the rules state, I need to touch back on my base before I could go for the next base. After I saw the ball caught, I went back to first. In doing this, I missed the ball being dropped and so I stayed at first while several people were yelling at me to "GO! NICK! GO!" You all know me: I don't like being yelled at... So the other team got the ball to someone within feet of me and they threw it directly at my chest. My response: "At least I used my chest!" WHAT?!!? Glad to see not much as changed since I moved, huh? Anyway, after the game we proceeded to our sponsoring bar where we played several games of flip cup and had an altogether (that's the second time I've used that word in this post, or ever) legendary time. Finding my way back to Astoria from the Lower East Side was interesting--especially while a little drunk. But I made it back and had myself a delicious dinner of PJ&B and two apples while finishing the season two finale of LOST. I will soon be commencing on season three--my FAVORITE!!!

I guess that's all for now. Hope you're all doing well. Let me know what's happening in your lives, please.

Happy Adventures!