All the Small Things

October 12th, 2009

I have had writer’s block for so long that I can’t even pretend that I have writer’s block anymore; I’m just not writing. I flopped and moaned and pouted my way through August and used, ‘But it’s August’ as an excuse well into September. And then suddenly it was October and have no idea where the past three months went but gone they are.

October is nice.

This was my first full season as a Red Sox (albeit by proxy) fan. I met D. towards the end of last year’s season and sat tensely next to him during the final game of the ALCS series, unsure of what – if anything – to say (I opted for nothing) and when the Sox lost to Tampa Bay we hopped on a plane and headed to Barcelona, which was a pretty nice way to spend an October week, post-baseball. This year I was at Fenway for opening day and in between that cold and rain-delayed afternoon and yesterday, I probably watched 100 games. That is a lot of baseball, and while I’m not necessarily a legit fan, I invested a lot this year (100 games! Maybe not a full 100, and maybe not all watched in detail, but still!) and went through my own ups and downs (the downs seem to stand out) with D. and the Sox and I have to tell you: it’s draining. By 4pm yesterday, I was drained. And a little sad; post-season baseball is fun. Even so, October is still nice.

A dear friend from home was in the city this weekend and I had brunch with her and her husband and her baby and we walked through Central Park and plopped the baby in leaves and took photos and ended up on the east side where we walked up to the Guggenheim and it was great for several reasons: I got to spend time with lovely people, I got a nice big bite of October, and I got to see New York through fresh eyes. I need to do that more.

My mother was also in town this weekend, and she texted me last night to say that Beyonce was on her flight back to California. That never happens on my JetBlue flights to Oakland.

My 8-week old nephew has my parents wrapped around his little fist. I had to laugh when, during dinner on Friday night my mother said, “Now, I know people say that all babies are beautiful, but they just aren’t. But Ronin! Ronin is – objectively speaking – a beautiful baby.” Objectively speaking, of course, as all grandparents do. (He is, though. And he has giant cheeks and wears special earmuff headsets when he goes to concerts with my brother and sister-in-law which are the cutest things I have ever seen, aside from a beagle puppy I saw one time who tripped over his own ears.)

My friend Laura had a baby on Sunday, the day before her own birthday. Her name is Margot and she lives in Queens and I need to go meet her soon.

I have eaten an entire jar of Nutella in the past week. I cannot get enough of wheat toast with Nutella and banana on it. And when I run out of banana, or bread, I’m content to just eat Nutella right off my finger, which I am shameless about dipping into the jar.

Some friends-of-friends are in a band and that band was playing on Saturday night so I took a break from my Nutella binge and D. and I went out for tapas and sangria and then walked over to The Mercury Lounge and every time I go there I forget how small it is, and perhaps this is just a sign on my age but I also forget how LOUD it is and it’s definitely a sign on my age that three songs into the second band’s set I was yawning and asked D. what time it was and the answer was 12:34 and I was like, OH DEAR MUST BE IN BED BY 1AM NEED STRETCHY PANTS AND A PONYTAIL ASAP so we stayed for a few more songs and then ducked outside where we both remembered how annoyingly hard it can be to find a cab at 1am on a Saturday night in downtown Manhattan. MY FEET HURT, D. said. I’M SO TIRED, I said. We found a cab, made it home and were asleep within half an hour but here is the saddest thing of all: I was tired for ALL OF SUNDAY. All.

Sigh.

Entry Filed under: General