Life in Moo Town
EIP Tomorrow
Sunday was Tisha B'Av and I fasted for the first time ever. Well, I mean I've fasted before, just never for Tisha B'Av. I guess the holiday didn't mean that much to me in previous years but this time with Jews split down so many lines from the pullout in gaza to religious observance to American politics, it's hard not to mourn the baseless hatred within the Jewish community. It was very intense for me. Saturday night I went to Eicha services at JTS where Hadar was convening. It was a beautiful service. The lights were all out and we sat on the floor and read with flashlights. Sunday I finished reading Jew vs Jew and broke my fast with a tortilla before going out for the evening. I was supposed to catch a show in Williamsburg but due to inclement weather I ended up staying in at a friend's place on the upper west side where we ordered in pizza and watched family guy. Just getting between the subway and the apartment I was soaked to the skin through 3 layers of clothes. The thunderstorm moved in quick. Within minutes the streets were flooded and rivers were running down the sidewalks. It would have been more appropriate at the begining of the fast than after, but the weather doesn't always cooperate with spirituality.
Monday after work I met a friend for dinner at Alouette, a French restaurant on 97th and Broadway. The food was amazing. Particularly the steak. Very cozy and pleasant atmosphere. Great waitstaff. Anyway, after dinner we went wine tasting at Vintage NY (a favorite of mine) and then took a walk in riverside park. Very nice evening.
Tuesday I took off work because the Columbia Journal of Law and Social Problems (hereafter JLSP) had mandatory training. It wasn't too exciting since I was already trained by JGL last year, but such is life. Took a break at noon to add more law firms for EIP. Couldn't get the ones I really wanted. They were too popular. Rather bitter about that. Oh well. Spent the afternoon cite checking then we had an info session on EIP and to relieve stress ended up at Radio Perfecto. Thank goodness JLSP has an open tab there. A Pina Colada, Strawberry Margarita and a Guinness improved my mood a bit. Then I went to Chelsea, to the apartment of one of the attorneys I work with for dinner. Of course this couldn't take place until after I was mixed a HUGE mojito. It took me the next hour to finish it. Anyway, the attorney and her partner (she is gay in case you didn't guess by the Chelsea address) were very nice, as was their dog and baby boy. About half of my office was there so it was nice to see everyone even though I wasn't in the office that morning. Dinner was ordered chinese and cajun. It was a fun time.
Tomorrow: EIP!!!!
Interviews include: Proskauer, Cleary, Wilson Sonsini, and Ropes & Gray
8/7-8/13: The Week in Review
Monday-
Was 3 hours late to work due to subway shananighans. On the bright side I met some cool Israelis who want to have drinks at some point. Had dinner on the UES with a freshman from New School at some meditteranean place. Boring.
Tuesday-
Met some people from Tulane and UCLA in midtown after work and showed them around the giant Toys R Us with the life size T-rex. It was fun but it made me late for my mock interview back at Columbia. Didn't matter, even showing up late I did fine.
Wednesday-
Met up with a friend from the nursing school for an open bar in the East Village. It's good to be on club promoters' lists...had some bad red wine and a pretty good gin & tonic then went to AISH to have dinner and watch Relentless. The movie was standard Israeli propaganda (which is fine) but what got me was the audience response. Some went so far as to say that they were big Kahane fans. Nearly all wanted the Palestinians expelled. It was ridiculous. As one of the only left wing people in the room I felt a duty to speak out but the rabbi wouldn't call on me. Probably because I was wearing a save the children tie with people of all different nationalities shaking hands on it (I certainly didn't look the part of a right wing hawk). I finally just interrupted and explained that genocide is not an acceptable solution and that to hear Jews talk this way made me sick. I then spent an hour debating with idiots who claimed to have gone to yeshiva at flatbush but somehow were completely unfamiliar with shulchan oruch, the criteria for an animal to be kosher, the fact that there are two different versions of creation in genesis, or the history of WWII. One also claimed to speak hebrew and this was swiftly proven not to be the case. Ugh. I hate it when ignorant people who think everything is blcak and white refuse to see the light of reason. I don't know why I waste my breath sometimes. I kvetched to a friend in CA all the way home and I'm sure I won't be able to step foot in there again for at least 2 months. My new roomate moved in at 2AM waking me up. Sooo not appreciated ><
Thursday-
Went to a book signing at the Galapagos Art Space with my boss after work and got a pastrami knish at a little restaurant by Bedford. The book was on how not to get busted with drugs or something but it was a comedy. Not terribly enthralling for me. After that I went for drinks and dessert at Prohibition with a banker from Goldman and then hung out on a rooftop most of the night. Took a cab home at 4AM. Need sleep.
Friday-
Was stuck in the NY Public Library's Business Branch most of the afternoon researching and copying microfilm. Not exciting. Grabbed some interview attire at Men's Wearhouse on the way back to the office. Had to work late in the office when I got back so my shabbos plans went down the drain. Too tired for services after. They were probably over by 8 when I got home anyway. Ended up doing laundry and then going out to a friend's house at 12:30AM. Got home at noon Saturday. Need to work on this whole sleeping thing.
Saturday-
Did the dishes (they had been in the sink for nearly a week). Went shopping at Century 21 with a friend from Queens and then walked up to Chelsea to check out a gallery and eat some pizza. Soo tired. Gotta go to services now for Tisha B'Av with a lawschool buddy.
Philadelphia
I spent the weekend in Philly, taking the China Town bus down Saturday Afternoon. Not nearly as miserable a ride as the one to Boston, getting to Philly took about 2.5 hours and the worst of it was just getting out of the city. I arrived before the friend I was going to meet so I took the train across the river and hung out around Penn until she arrived. Didn't get a chance to see the lawschool but saw plenty of the rest of campus. Great architecture in the distinctive Pennsylvania style, red brick of course. The Penn Tower Hotel where we were staying was pretty terrible, no hot running water, dirty windows, etc... But it was free so what the hell. I met lots of new JCSCs since it was their training conference and a bunch of us went out to dinner at Cosi on campus and then a few of us went across town in a cab to South Street to check out the bar scene. Lots of people were out and about Saturday night and they were dressed in everything from punk to 80s to college prep or ghetto fabulous attire. Interesting mix. Fun bars too. We went home relatively early because everyone but me was exhausted and jet lagged. There were only two beds in the room and 5 people so it was kind of smushed and no one slept well, mostly due to fluxduating temperatures, lack of oxygen, and snoring.
Sunday morning a friend of my friend (this will get more complicated shortly) came from Baltimore to meet us with a van so a bunch of us piled in and went downtown. We saw the liberty bell and then got breakfast at a little diner (I think it was called Benny's). We went to the Constitution Center and rang a replica of the liberty bell called the Normandy Liberty Bell and heard some stories about the underground railroad in philly. Later in the day I went to Ben Franklin's grave, Independence Hall where the declaration of independence was signed, the rose and magnolia gardens (though there wasn't really anything to see there), the building that used to be the US Bank, Ben Franklin's house, Union Square Park with it's memorial for the soldiers of the revolutionary war, the oldest library in the country (I think), the Free Quaker Meetinghouse, the firehouse, and many other sights.
In the evening my friend's friend's friend came to visit my friend's friend who was driving me around in her van (the complication of not using names does irritate me on occasion). We had already pretty much trod through everything downtown that was open (the city closes at 5 on Sunday) so we drove out to the 'burbs to my friend's friend's friend's house. It was in a nice neighborhood and a very large house. The properties were fairly spread out with rows of trees in between rather than fences. Would have been very nice but for the humidity and abundance of crickets creating a cacophony in the trees. I must confess I felt a bit strange running all over hell's half acre with two strangers whom I hadn't met prior to that day. We went to an Italian place for dinner that was quite good, Burtuccis or something I think it was called. By the time we were done there it was pretty late and I needed to get back downtown to catch the last bus, which left at 11PM. I was a bit concerned that I would miss it but I supposed I could always crash somwhere until Monday and go back then, missing a day of work wouldn't be the end of the world (as it turned out my attorney didn't even show up Monday). In spite of getting a bit lost on the way back, I did make it to the bus and arrived safely in NYC at about 1AM. After trekking through the blistering subways I got home around 2:30 to find my air conditioning blocked and my room 83 degrees. You win some, you lose some...;-)
Kavehaz Again and Goodbye to Interns
August 5th: It was the last say for most of my office's interns so we had a sort of going away lunch for them at Planet Thailand in North Williamsburg. Lots of appetizers and beers and food, great little shindig. Friday night instead of going to shul I went to a jazz club. I feel a little guilty about it. It's been a while since I've had a chance to go to services and I'm feeling the call of Judaism...might have something to do with the book I'm reading right now, "Jew vs Jew", it breaks my heart. But anyway, the music sucked there again, but with no cover what do you expect right? Had some drinks and meditteranean tapas and called it a night around 1.
Serendipity
Went out on the town after work Thursday the 4th. First to Cafe Classico for dinner. It was too hot to eat so I had a salad. The place was on 57th between 5th and 6th Ave and was ridiculously overpriced 1) because it's in midtown and 2) because it's kosher. I was not impressed. Next stop was Chicago City Limits, a midtown improv comedy club. For some reason the place was full of 8 year olds. It was terrible. And expensive. And there was a 2 drink minimum. Not impressed x2. Final stop: Serendipity, a swanky little cafe on the upper East Side. The wait to get in was about an hour and it was already 10:30. Expensive again, but worth it this time. I wasn't terribly impressed (x3) with the frozen hot chocolate (the house specialty) but the ice cream sunday with sinfully good hot fudge and a gooey piece of chocolate cake in it made up for the lack-luster drink. I couldn't finish everything, I went into sugar overload. It was a little like Fenton's in Oakland. Walked it off for a couple hours by Grand Central Station and made it home by 2AM. Have to go back to Serendipity sometime...when my wallet recovers. Total cost for the evening: ~$100.
My Attorney's Birthday
August 3rd- It would have been a fairly normal day at work but for two things, 1) the custody case I've been working on all summer was on for a conference in Manhattan Family Court and 2) it was the birthday of the attorney I work with. I arrived in Court at 10 AM since we were supposed to be on for 10 o' clock, time certain. As usual we were kept waiting since the judge wasn't around yet. The Law Guardian still hasn't quite come around, nor has opposing counsel obviously, but i think we have brought all the agencies involved over to our side and I'm still very optimistic. My optimism is sustained in spite of the judge's apparent hatred for the attorney I work with. Every time she spoke, The Honorable Judge Gloria Sosa-Lintner would roll her eyes and wave her hand dismissively with the uttmost disrespect. Of course since she is the judge she can do as she likes and no one can really correct her. She went off again today about how she doesn't know or care what the law is in the matter, she will make up her own mind so that she can sleep at night whether or not she is overuled. She went off on a tirade about not being a rubber stamp and never taking short cuts and related this to her name; she is not Judge Sosa or Judge Lintner she said, but Judge Sosa-Lintner and she expects people to get it right (no one had gotten it wrong and this was never an issue). The ego on this woman is incredible. She gave us a couple more gems over the course of the conference. One was (and I wrote these down verbatim as she produced them), "I don't think family court is a place for dreams" (the tempting retort was, sure, it's only a place for nightmares...) and "My crystal ball is kind of foggy today." Her remarks were accomanied by the requisite eye rolling and dismissive hand gestures. I'm not sure who she thinks she's putting this show on for, it seems like her audience consists of just the law guardian. The rest of the attorney's are groaning behind her back. To make a long story short, this lady is not increasing my respect for the bench any.
Because it was her birthday, the attorney I work with took off work after court while I returned to the office in Brooklyn to do some research. On the way I picked up a card and got everyone in the office to sign it (the little things make all the difference). I gave her the card after work at a little get together in Rockefeller Park. No one else from the office ended up coming so I was definitely the youngest one at the party by about 30 years. We were in the park for a concert by Ronnie Spector and the Ronnets (a group that was popular long before I was born). Still, I enjoyed the sunset over the hudson and we danced and cavorted and all that. There was a nice breeze coming off the water so it wasn't too hot. After the concert we went to a restaurant/bar down by the harbor and my elders proceeded to prove they couldn't hold more than a drink or two. I had a quesadilla which was exhorbitantly priced. Took a cab home around midnight.
ChikaLicious
So I was rather tired after getting home so late and managing to sleep in until noon. The friend from philly who I was supposed to meet for brunch fortunately took a later train and we ended up making dinner plans instead. Sadly I couldn't go to Queens to meet a second friend as I had planned, I guess that trip will have to wait for another day. I napped and read most of the day, very relaxing, didn't even change out of my bathrobe until 5PM when I needed to start getting ready for dinner. I went to meet my friend on the East Side at her new apartment and sampled a deliciously dense french chocolate cake she had in the fridge. Scrumptious. We went to dinner at the Panorama Cafe on 86th and 2nd Ave and discussed her last nasty breakup. She had the ngocchi and I had asparagus ravioli in a safron sauce. Both were delicious. Took a walk downtown for about a mile then subwayed to the Lower East Side for dessert at ChikaLicious, across the street from the 2nd Ave Deli. The place wasn't cheap, our dessert came to nearly $50, but it was divine. Dessert there is 3 courses with a wine pairing. I had the Warm Chocolate Tart with Pink Peppercorn Ice Cream and Red Wine Sauce paired with the 10yr Mas Amiel Maury Cuvee Speciale. The chocolate was mind blowing and the peppercorn ice cream was fascinating. The wine was excellent, with strong chocolatey elements. My friend had a peach dessert which was also interesting and tasty. It was a very nice place and I hope to go back sometime when my budget has recovered...
