Wild Blue Yonder

After a hump of packing and wrapping up details and pre-missing Bend and our lovely peoples there ... I'm off to the wild blue yonder. Overnight flight PDX to JFK ... jetBlue is pretty sweet. Mega legroom ... TV in every seat ... good snacks and drinks ... slick professional staff ... and cheap! Woke up above the clouds ... so sweet. One of the better flying experiences. As they say ... if you don't have a window seat you aren't getting your money's worth. Better yet on the red-eye ... a whole row to yourself.

Tried to watch TV ... surmised that sleeping was more productive as TV is like 80% advertising and 20% programming dressed up as advertising these days.

Unfortunately the situation below the clouds was a cold and drizzly affair ... though the rain and wind felt raw and good compared to the climate controlled plane and airport. Off to go find the Airtrain into Brooklyn through the megalithic landscape of concrete and urban decay.

3 trains later ... and a hump with a too heavy duffle bag (I was too 'cool' to get a bag w/ wheels) ... a pimp pad in Park Slope right out of a movie was waiting. I am sitting on Frogman's frog-o-lounger as we speak. It's a spartan (efficiency) kind of burgeoise hole in the wall in one of the nicest parts of Brooklyn. The breeder and wine/cheese part of Brooklyn. Sweet deck overlooking one of those inner block courtyards. A tree or two ... in the sea of concrete and steel. Strangely soothing and the couch is treating me so right. The radiator creaks and groans but puts out comforting warmth. None of the doors close right as everything in here has been painted 100 times since time imemorial. All door knobs are painted heavily and repeatedly.

Andrew's not here ... allegedly spending the night at his girlfriend's house ... whatever that is code for. I'll have to verify that a little more. A cursory check into the bathroom products indicates heavy metrosexuality bordering on ... yeah ... you know. Things have been quiet on the Steiner front and I'm here to uncover the truth. So far ... I can report that every other book on the shelf is either about law or hiking ... but that the art studio corner of the room is flowing with new works of surprising depth and quality. The place is clean, cheerful, and quiet ... hardly the pad you would expect from someone who obsessively streaks at weddings and social gatherings.

Off to dinner with Shelly at a sweet little Korean food joint (tofu + rice dumplings in spicy red kimchee soup!). Had pizza for lunch and it sounds crazy ... but even the worst pizza here is disturbingly good. And at the risk of sounding obvious and silly ... I'll say that New York is every bit what you see in the movies and a whoooole lot more. Holy culture shock, Batman.