Today is a lovely day to run.

It's been a while since I wrote anything here. The last few weeks have seen my life turned upside-down in fairly comprehensive fashion, and I expect the next few will continue the trend.

The cafe has re-opened, and I'm back making coffee and working seven days / week (between two jobs). I've moved out of the apartment I was in for the past 4 years, put nearly everything I own into a Manhattan Mini-Storage space on the Westside Highway, and am staying on couches and floors of friends for the next few weeks. If all goes well, will have a new (bigger and better) place come August, living with my old pal Will in the Lower East Side. Gonna be DJing at NuBlu on the 20th of this month with a couple friends (which should be AWESOME). Have set August 3rd-13th as the dates for my next swing through California, staying in Santa Cruz with family, catching up with friends, and doing lots of wandering around.

And in the midst of all this, I somehow end up dating an amazing girl.

Days become a blur of work and running around and iced beverages and rock shows and movies and listening to music and dealing with realtors and going out dancing and making piles of boxes and figuring out how to pack bags and going to sleep and waking up and rooftop parties and plotting events for the next few months and falling head-over-heels for someone.

Ah, summertime.


-PAR

Last Day At The Cafe.

This past Monday was the final day of the coffeeshop. Before catching my bus down to Charlottesville, I dropped by, did shots with my bosses and coworker, chatted with my best buddy Angus (who's thwee and a hawf), made fun of the guy who was asleep against the memorial wall, and spent a few last minutes goofing around at Alt.

In a few weeks we'll rise again, like a phoenix from the ash and rubble. Renovated, clean, more family-friendly, with expanded menu and a new name and logo... But this was a last huzzah for the old-guard East Village hang-out that we knew as Alt.Coffee. Nice way to go out.


















-PAR

Nonsensical and awesome.

Then, one day, it's seventy degrees outside and margaritas start seeming like the best idea in the world. Time to start seeking out rooftops and patios.

I'm catching a bus down to Charlottesville on Monday. Spending the better part of the week there, with few places to be or events to attend. An actual real-live vacation.

Yeah. Spring is thus far a totally disjointed series of phrases and images that I'm not even trying to form into a cohesive whole. It's just stuff happening and things flashing by and falling-over tired and laughing a lot. The music needs to be louder. Sure, I'd love another drink. You're doing what? I'd love to, but I'll forget, could you remind me later? We need more of that. Open the windows. Yes, move to New York. Check THAT out. Yeah, I should probably get more sleep. High-five! Yes, please. I'll get to that one in a second. You like-a that one so much, we playa it for you again now. Easy, buddy. Faster. Tomorrow? HELL YEAH.

Big complicated sandwiches. Grindhouse. Ted Leo. Booker T. & The MG's. The Orange Juice Man, in his BIG orange wig. Hot Dice! Kahlua and iced coffee. Wind whipping up Second Avenue. Patron on the rocks. Sgt. Fury & His Howling Commandoes. Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde. There's this girl. Old Elton John records. I wonder what I'll be like when I grow up. Cold, rainy evening. That issue where they have to help the Sub-Mariner, but he never finds out. Gotta pay taxes. Cameraphones. Stevie Wonder's "Down To Earth". Almost bedtime. North, South, East, West! Bears!

* * * * *

And I expect life'll only get more absurd as the weather gets warmer and my surroudings keep transforming. Awesome. It'll be fun to see what happens next.


-PAR

Third in a series.

It won't stop raining in NYC. And it's not quite warm enough to be enjoyable. It's just a cold and wet and dreary. Rain not even coming down, but streaming horizontally so umbrellas don't make much difference.

Iced coffee is all that's coming between me and falling over, giving in to the 80-odd hour work week I'm winding up. Well, iced coffee and Mike Doughty's redition of "Looks" coming over the stereo. Perfect rainy day tunage.

This upcoming week: the last few days of working at the coffeeshop before we close for renovation/transformation. Seeing a rock show with a cute girl. General exhaustion, margaritas with friends, dealing with taxes, buying tix for my trip to Ch'ville at the end of the month.

Transmission continuing soon.


-PAR

Second in a series.

...And the next thing you know, it's full-on springtime. Daylight savings shakes everything up, time starts accelerating, kick the windows open to get some fresh air and turn up the stereo. My life suddenly kicks back into high gear between theater gig, planning next visit back to Ch'ville, being smitten with girl and pop music, other as-yet-nameless project taking too much of my time, coffeeshop what I work at closing to renovate, planning next stage of DJ career, and all the usual idiot revelry that comes with the being young and foolish.


-PAR