Aaaand, the weekend is finally over. Seemed like it wouldn't end. Not that it was a bad thing, but now I might be able to actually get some sleep for a change. Besides the catnaps I was getting on the train. At 2-4am. Was great to see the Captain, and we had a bit of a blast. Unfortunately, we spent a lot of time in the city, which is a very noisy place that demands either a lot of saying nothing or shouting at each other. Very tiring either way. We got a few nice quiet moments to sit and chill and just shoot the breeze, but probably not enough. Also ran with his penpal and her gal pal, which was nice if not a bit conflicting. On one hand, I'm all about monopolizing my buddy, on the other, I'll see him in November whereas he'll probably see her in another 10 years. Sort of like how I promised Ben C. that I'd keep in touch with him after high school ... 12 years ago (c'mon man, let's go crach the Old Boys Dinner at St. B's!). I felt a bit bad about that when I thought about it. Being the bastard that I am, I just distracted myself with obsessing over where to go eat dinner, and conveniently forgot about the whole situation. Just like I'm about to do ... now! I never know where to go eat when people come from out of town, because I never eat out at the fancy shmancy level. Which is a total lie because I do it all the time. But it's true. For Restaurant Week allows access to the really high end places which I could never ever afford to eat at during normal times, and during normal times I specialize in cheap cheap eats. $50 a plate steak place, I've got three suggestions. $100 bottle of wine romantic getaway, I've gotcha covered. $3 hotdog and papaya drink combo, I can list of 5 spots right off the top of my head (Grey's Papaya at 8th St., at 36th St, Papaya Dog at 4th St., 42nd St., and Chelsea Papaya on 23rd St.). $.60 chinese buns, check. Questionable meatloaf, check. $1 Pizza, doublecheck. Besides Republic, Yakatori at St. Mark's Place, and a mess of burger places (Shake Shack is the best, btw), my knowledge of local food is limited at best. When we went to Serendipity (For the love of Pete, DO NOT GO THERE! The waits are IN-SAAAAANE![/Crazy Eddie]), and bailed because of the 2 hour wait, we ended up at Starlight Diner, which was marginal at best and notable only for the fact that I made a chow stop there after prom. It was sad that we ended up using "the book" to find places to eat, whereas I should have been a font of foodie knowledge. To my defense, I should note that our party was reluctant to venture far from Midtown, so I couldn't rely on some old standbys in the East Village. Like vultures we circled the island again and again, running through the same subway stations sometimes up to three times in a day, moving from uptown to downtown to midtown to downtown again and again. The lesson learned is that the double decker bus ride it a total ripoff, but well worth the money if only to hit the real touristy spots fast and quick, and then settle into enjoying a select few areas with a more relaxed manner. Lots of time was lost underground moving from Midtown East to the WTC, Empire State Building, Canal St., Little Italy, Serendipity, Time Warner Center, Times Square, Circle Line, Wall Street, Tribeca (where somebody to remain unnamed (Lucy) harassed James Gandolfini ), Feast of San Gennaro, etc. At the very least I should have planned a circuit, so that all the spots could be hit in an organized circle. Good walking shoes were well appreciated. I do regret not following up on a random opportunity to catch a part of the CMJ festival, especially as we ran into parts of Viva K at Pianos and had a nice little chat with the lead vocalist. It would have been nice to get a sitar based rock show into the trip, because I'm all about giving people the NYC experience (aka You Can't Get That Stuff At Home). I would have liked to have gotten in some walkup Kickball in Williamsburg to boot too. It was a good visit, and despite some miffed plans with the housing, it was a total blast. My only regret is not getting some more slee ... zzzzzzzzzzz ...