23 June 2016

Marginalia

And now I’m fully in the swing of things, having gone so far as to fill out my Google Calendar with potential events. You know, things you think you’ll do but then pull out at the last minute? Like this Romy and Michele's Saturday Afternoon Tea Dance that I really want to go to — just look at those playlists! — but I know there’s slim chances of me making an afternoon dance party. Still, dare to dream.

As I’ve already covered my NBA Finals exploits, the other things of note I wanted to highlight was Eclipse, a play I saw on Wednesday. Actually I’ll just quote myself (how gauche!), from the fourth issue of Cool It Now: "Let's be real, you're never going to get Hamilton tickets. So what's the next best thing? How about the first all-black, all female creative cast and team to premiere on Broadway? Eclipse is a play about four captive wives during the Second Liberian Civil War....the whole play was amazing, and Eclipsed will likely make the rounds, even if it's leaving Broadway soon. Just keep the play's name on your cultural radar!”


So that was Wednesday, and then on Thursday I hopped to AAWW again for a reading featuring Esme Wang, a writer I’ve been following online for awhile. Wang’s work is emotional, confessional, and often has a focus on creating while struggling with mental disorders, specifically schizophrenia. Her new book, The Border of Paradise, is partially set in Kaohsiung, Taiwan and I can’t wait to read it.

Also during the reading, a new writer I was introduced to, Wei Tchou, shared with us her Tiny Letter about Wendi Deng, aka "the world's most perfect woman.” Sign up with me and stay up-to-date on the former Mrs. Murdoch!
And last Saturday I went to a local B&N for Dhonielle and Sona’s book panel, as part of B&N’s inaugural YA book fest. (And in a month is their debut party for Shiny Broken Pieces, the follow up to Tiny Pretty Things). Afterwards we trekked, well Ubered, to Shanghai Cafe for some Chinese food. And after hanging out at yet another great NYC secret bar — Genuine Liquorette, which served wonderful music —we cleaned up with more Chinese food at Congee Village. Verdict: Chinatown Chinese food is greasy! But we knew that. Sigh, I guess you can't have Taiwan back again... Unless you go to Flushing! Please someone take me to Flushing?

Exactly a week later I found myself at Parkside Lounge, waiting for my friend’s DJ to spin. It was a long wait, as he didn’t come on until 2AM or so, and in the meantime I just sat on the sidelines, not moving. It got to the point where my friends were worried I was sick or something. “Nope, nope, just old!” I wasn’t feeling the middle set and had to conserve energy for the old school hip hop that was sure to come. And when it finally did, we got in a good hour or so of fun and finally I got some good proper dancing in.

Maybe this will portend more summer dancing, otherwise I’m not sure what I’m even doing with my (night life) here. Note: The usual crowd at Parkside is not one we like, but the once a month party is old school hip hop and had some amazing throwback jams.

Oh, popped by the Brooklyn Makers Market on Sunday, and bought a handy pouch with an egg on it, but otherwise passed on all the jewelry and various other tchotchkes. One guy was selling pens shaped like disembodied eye stems and eyeballs. No thank you!