So after "A Night of Hoopla" with Ring of Honor, I got home from Marionette Park, IL around 11:45 pm. I probably got into bed around an hour later and woke up at 3:15 am. So I was going to live my Friday on less than three hours of sleep, something I almost never do. Throw in the airplane and going all around Manhattan, I had a feeling this wasn't going to end well!
As I always do, I parked at Blue Sky and took the 6 am plane, landing in NY around 9 am. Ellen and Angelo picked me up and dropped me at the house, where I changed clothes and cleaned up. I sure needed some extra hair gel! Then Angelo and I took the M train to the J line; I got off at Fulton St, near the lower east side of Manhattan.
I wanted to try a new place for lunch, and I decided on the Sandwich House on Ann St. It was a tiny cafe, maybe six tables and a counter, a very easy place to miss. I ordered a half sandwich on country Italian style bread with prosciutto di parma, arugula, sliced tomato, shredded Asiago cheese and a splash of virgin olive oil. It was less than five bucks, and tasted really fresh. A very solid light lunch.
I walked a few blocks west around Ground Zero and near the 9/11 tribute site. But I really wasn't willing to spend $17 to enter the memorial so I took a few pics and headed north to Modell's. Over there, I bought a David Wright shirt for a friend as well as one of those squeeze stress balls and an official Mets baseball for myself. Then, I headed over to Starbucks to charge my phone and read my Donald Miller book for an hour. At 1:15, I took the 6 train north from Brooklyn bridge to Union Square, and I then walked five blocks northeast to Lantern, a local Thai restaurant.
I saw Nona for the first Tyne in twelve months and as soon as she laid her brown eyes on me, she popped up from her seat and gave me an enormous hug. I also met her friend G, he's a French guy, whose real name I can't spell or pronounce. Jeanne showed up soon and we shared different experiences with travel, dating, men vs women dynamics, etc. I ordered drunken noodles with shrimp, Thai chicken wings, and a green salad with peanut dressing. It all cost about 17 bucks.
Then Nona wanted to buy us dessert and we went to Starbucks, which would not have been my first choice, with all the great bakeries in NY...not to mention juniors cheesecake. But I had a piece of coffee cake and an iced peach green tea lemonade.
With the rain coming down a little harder, we decided to just see a movie. I wanted to see Pacific Rim or White House Down, but World War Z was what the group chose. $14.50 for a depressing, freaky flick. I'm not into zombies anyway, but when humans become the zombies, it's even more uncomfortable. Also, it's still not easy to watch New York get attacked, not matter by whom. And on top of that, at the end, there was zero resolution, it felt like the sequel was coming any day. Brad Pitt's character himself said the war was just beginning...the movie was well made, I just hated the basis.
After that, we met with their friend Dan, who lives on the east side. Nona had a weird desire for corn muffins or corn bread, so we had to satisfy that first at a convenient store! We ran though the now very heavy rain from 2nd avenue to Park and went into a decent bar, where we ordered some apps and shared some goofy conversions. I drank a pint of Yeungling, since they were on special.
Around 10 pm, I gave some hugs, said good night, and grabbed the 6 downtown to Bleecker street, where I transferred to Broadway/Lafayette, where I caught the M train back to Middle Village. Once I got back to the house, I ate a couple raw oysters with a cold beer and watched the last hour of the Shawshank Redemption before I went to bed.
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