It is a Good Friday, Indeed - Friday, April 6, 2007

Friday, April 06, 2007

It is a Good Friday, Indeed Ah, the life of leisure that I've had the past few days. I sort of like this concept of working really hard for a week or so, making the money that I need, then having all this free time at my disposal. Although, at the same time, when I do have free time, all I do is spend money. No bueno. Since it's Friday, I think I'll stay home, drink some tea, and hang out with my roommate's cats. No better time than the weekends to do that. Today, I spent a lot of time lounging around, going through miscellaneous crap in my room, and doing a little reading. I just got another book of short stories by Dorothy Parker. There's something about her that I find appealing. Is it her intense honesty? Or perhaps it's her level of vulnerability that is completely surrounded by a facade of steel. She was definitely - how shall we say - a complete wrecking ball during her time. I think what I like most about her is the fact that she was so brash, and she was definitely way ahead of her time. Especially when it came to addressing issues such as dysfunctional relationships, and chemical dependency/alcoholism. I'm actually taking my friend Jay to the Algonquin Hotel for his graduation from culinary school. The Algonquin Hotel is one of my favorite places in NYC, where the likes of Dorothy and F. Scott Fitzgerald formed the Algonquin Round Table. I don't go there very often because it's so expensive, but for Jay, I do believe a fifteen dollar martini is in order. Cheers to him, and cheers to Dorothy. I finally got in touch with my friend Humberto who is originally from Puebla. I used to work with him at one of the many NYC catering establishments, and at one time we would go out at least once a week. No longer, though, since we aren't working together anymore. You know how these things change. We usually went to a place called Tequila's, over on 14th and 8th. It's this little Mexican joint, that is mostly frequented by Dominicans and Puerto Ricans, and is home of the $3.00 margarita. The cast of characters used to be me, Humberto, my friend Irena (she's Eukranian), Johnny Rodriguez, and sometimes Ramon, Kid (a/k/a Adolpho Silverio), and Emilio. Usually being one of the few English speaking people in kitchens really helped my Spanish along, although lately I feel that it's been slipping a bit. It's funny, because with my new job, nobody speaks Spanish. Back to Tequila's we go, or perhaps we'll go to Siberia. That's another place that he and I used to frequent. We could never get Miss Irena to go with us though, because let's just say it's the dive of all dives. It's a bit like Al's Bar in LA used to be, or perhaps CB's. As a matter of fact, I think it's even more of a dive than those two places. Regardless of where we go, Thursday's my opportunity to practice my Spanish with Humberto. It's funny, because I try to speak Spanish with my friends down in the Dominican bodega that's on the corner, but they just aren't having it. I still haven't figured that one out. Tomorrow I'm supposed to help Jay and Josh cook for their Easter dinner. Josh is making a coke baked ham, and all the typical Southern accoutrements. Josh is from Fresno - a long way from anything resembling a coke baked ham - but I'm sure it's going to be great. True that.