nyj39: party into 26 (birthday report)


Advance warning: This entry does prove sollipsistic, alas. That said...




Yes, the report is true. July 11 I entered the second "quarter" of my life. Despite the menace of train hell, I made it into the city only 40 minutes late to the pre-party cocktails. My friend Lance Lovette was the gracious host and led us all up to his rooftop for a stunning view of the Hudson (and his Pennmark neighbors) at sunset. After all the booze and faux-Mexican snacks we could handle, it was off to a local Italian restaurant known for its sausage (no, I did not partake). Eventually we made our way to Rififi, where my friend Dawn Eden was hosting Pop Gear. The bar was dark, the music was cool, and the vids were weird (lots of go-go boots and Serge Gainsbourg singing against a background of hearts. Some suited cowboy whose alter-ego was Captain Freedom also figured prominently). Props to Kate for inviting an entourage of strangers to wish me happy b-day, and Dawn for helping provide a small, fun polka-dotted cake. Fave gift of these evening was definitely the curly bamboo from the late-night party duo, Esther and Bori.

A plant (make that two) I can't easily kill! What better birthday can a girl ask for?!!

But wait, there's more...

Lance and me.

The roomies

Sunday I dragged my tired self to church and tried to remember I should concentrate on the sermon instead of a handsome-looking head some rows ahead of me. I still can't recall the application.

After the service, I laid into a hapless friend about his penchant for dating non-Christians, but got invited to lunch with him and others anyway. Along the way I picked up a short-haired smoker who'd been at the coffee hour, solo, and invited her to lunch. She's living here for the summer after teaching English in Austria, and fit in just fine. Other strangers at lunch included a redhead who works at the UN (we talked a long time later about how or whether he seeks to glorify God in his work, poor guy), a fellow headed off to train-engineer grad school in the fall, and a woman from my 'hood who's on unemployment like me. She remembered watching me knit on the train!

Train-school boy bought my lunch for me, since we'd split a pizza. Hapless U.N. redhead (I don't know why I was in such a shoot-'em-straight mood...) was strangely compelled to buy me some sort of birthday sweet, so later that afternoon I got a brownie at Le Pain Quotidien where he impressed the clerk (from Niger) with his knowledge of her country, and we admired smartly packaged bottles of capers and olives.

'We're all orthodox'
On the train home, I chatted up a bustling Orthodox family who explained to me that the fashion differences I've noticed between Jews in the city often amount more to cultural differences (the European city they came from) than quasi-denominational differences like I'd thought. These distinctions range from the styling of the man's hair (some wear forelocks, this husband didn't), the kind of suit (some wear wool year-round, some have very long coats), the type of head-covering (various hats for men, real and synthetic-hair wigs for women), etc.

I was surprised that they spoke English — even with the children, of whom there were four. The mother told me she mainly spoke Yiddish with the first two girls, but now they spoke both, and obviously plenty of English. I couldn't shake the feeling this family was slightly progressive for an Orthodox family, but I'm probably wrong — as usual.

'How many siblings do you have?!'
By the time I got home, it was early-dinner hour and the ravages of two poorly-slept nights crept upon me. I swiped some pecans of my roommate's and returned the calls of my two Marine siblings. Between their messages and two from Gabe this morning I think I received no less than four voice mails with people singing "Happy birthday" (bonus points to Homey G. for a reprise performance that snuck in "-a-day-late" on each refrain). An hour later I finally touched base with my friend Qian, who biked over and took me to dinner. He had just returned from China and more than held up his side of the conversation — to my great relief. He also persuaded me to buy a bike before a hard drive and promised to loan me his CD burner so I can free up some memory on my iBook.

All in all a fairly good birthday. A few of you know that sadness struck in the wee hours of Saturday morning, so I am particularly grateful to God for His graciousness to me through so many near-strangers. It would have been really hard to spend this weekend alone.

If you live in New York, yet still missed all the fun, don't despair. Christy and I are already planning a second party to celebrate our joint birthdays (hers is the end of this month). Also, I realize some people were put off by the prospect of dancing. This party will be just for drinking! ;) ... And probably eating some cake. If you're interested in coming, contact me to be added to the Evite. I can also tell you where to send all belated cards, gifts and other tokens of love. ;)

posted @ 05:07 PM on Mon - July 12, 2004 remark! Email |  as quoted:
before I said ...  but more recently: 

©