This weekend I watched other men work as they put down a new kitchen floor. When an old rug was pulled up, a bit of old floor in the living room was exposed. I called up my sister to bring over her sander and a can of polyurethane.Man cred established after inhaling a lot of dust and poly, I rewarded myself by going to see JULIE AND JULIA. The ticket price seemed cheap, $8.50, and I thought I had somehow made the Sunday matinee at Sheepshead Bay. I later confirmed that there is no Sunday matinee. As I walked to the Theater 6 I saw the work "Senior" on the ducat.
This morning I ran a 9:30 mile, which I've been able to do consistently this summer on a 1.45 mile course in Marine Park. I played street sports as a kid but never blew out my legs playing competitive schoolboy sports, so I'm lucky to run now with nothing but occasional heel pain (a bone spur relieved by stretching).
I don't feel like 52. I took a picture of myself tonight just to give you an idea of what I look like. I could use a shave and it comes in a little gray. My son Matt said I looked good except for losing hair. Matt was the one who, when I was sitting on the floor 15 years ago playing with him and the other kids, pointed out my bald spot. He keeps it real.
I know guys with white hair but you'd never mistake them for seniors. I wonder if the girl who sold me the ticket just hit the wrong button?
CULTURAL NOTES
Theater
I saw REASONS TO BE PRETTY and rooted for it hard on Tony night, with no success. The opening scene is like the worst fight Margie and I ever had and amazingly, author Neil LaBute and a bravura cast sustain and extend the drama and humor throughout.
Video
Great vid: PERSEPOLIS. After seeing this well-drawn and -acted animated flick, a true story based on a graphic novel about growing up female under fanatical Islam in Iran, and reading READING LOLITA IN TEHRAN some time ago, I felt like John Lennon (subject of a great interactive exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex, the longest time Margie and I ever spent in a museum) who said, woman is the N-word of the world.
Books (thanks to the annual buy 2 get 3rd free at Posman's (Grand Central Station)
NETHERLAND by Joseph O'Neill. I had avoided 9/11 novels but this one is falsely promoted as such. Very good read, about a man with a shaky marriage and a questionable friend; a great meditation on getting through life and the meaning of friendship. I lose empathy when the protagonist inherits a million bucks (I'm buying Megabucks tix trying to pay for the new kitchen floor) but once you put that kind of money (after all it takes place during the boom when all NYers were raking it in) out of your mind, you can enjoy the car ride down to Floyd Bennett Field where the player/friend is building a cricket field. Not many novels take place in my area.
Next time: THE LEOPARD by Giuseppe di Lampedusa; LITTLE DORRITT by Charles Dickens
3 comments:
Welcome back.
I must say I'm pretty shocked about the movie theater mishap, but I guess there's a first time for everything. Maybe try sporting a backwards baseball cap and baggy pants next time, just for kicks.
It has nothing to do with your look (you look younger now than you did in '84! if I comment in a totally scientific and hetero way) and everything to do with using MAN CRED and "Julie and Julia" in the same sentence. It is possible you inhaled just a touch too much in the way of fumes while working. Or more likely you are the recipient of a cosmic comeuppance for your choice of "reward."
Keepin' it real...
Brian, you look younger than springtime. I think the ticket vendor had that rare time-accelerating vision disorder recently profiled in The Lancet.
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