IPW

Things Accomplished

This weekend has been a little sedate, only because the weather has been punishingly wet. To spice it up, let's pretend that the weekend started on Thursday, like I often do, behaving on Friday much like I do on Saturday, sipping lattes and staring blankly at those who'd have me accomplish something. With Thursday night came a lightning storm that rattled the city's collective teeth. We came out of the subway in search of half-priced sushi on 1st ave. and a crowd was gathered around a man selling umbrellas in the vestibule of the station. These characters sell either sunglasses or umbrellas, depending on the weather, and where they keep the former when selling the latter is a mystery. The crowd was a bad sign though, since usually these guys are pretty lonely. Sure enough, the sky was redistributing half of the Atlantic ocean onto the East Village. Undaunted, I put a plastic shopping bag on my head, M had a broken umbrella, and we ran into the solid wall of water towards the Sushi bar. Just before we reached the block that the restaurant is on though, a barrage of lightning strikes started crashing all around us. If you can tell how far away lightning is away from you by the time it takes to hear thunder, then we were actually straddling each bolt. Finally just as we were entered the place, a flash of white hot light blinded us, followed instantly by a deafening explosion. We stumbled through the door, senseless and soaking wet, in an entrance which would have surely elicited applause from the patrons if they weren't so sure we were two of the four horsemen. Quite dramatic really.

The previous weekend we'd spent a peaceful time in the small town of Katonah, NY, at the childhood home of our friend Nick. The town itself was charming and tiny, almost edible really. The area was lush with late spring foliage and Nick's house was a large slice of domestic Americana. He was having a BBQ for friends and coworkers while his parents were out of town, so it had a Risky Business vibe, minus the hookers. We played wiffle-ball in his enormous back yard, the size of a football field, bordered on one side by an ancient stone wall. The property was once a small part of the huge estate of John Jay, one of the authors of the federalist papers. Maybe he'd sat on that same rock wall and pondered the grand future of our country. The Natives that had been living previously on 'his' farm watching dejectedly from behind a tree. We spent the night at Nick's getting drunk, sitting on the patio next to the cooling grill. We could see fireflies in the blackness around us, practicing for mating season by briefly flashing their tail-lights at us. I was allured.

This morning (sunday)we went to a nice little grocery/cafe and Marlow and Sons which was established by hipsters some two years ago. It would be the ideal little place to have a coffee and a scone outside if not for the fact that the hipsters running it, much like the neighboring hipster at 'Diner' next door, are total jerks. I'd like to use stronger language to describe them, but I fear my infant niece may turn into a reading protege in the next few weeks and ask my brother what an asshole is.

oops.

Anyway, note to you hipsters out there: lighten up eh? I thought part of being counter-culture was to reject what our nation's current diplomacy. Apparently though, in Hipster Williamsburg, you're either with us or against us.

Posted by ian at June 4, 2006 03:05 PM