Astray from the Straight Road

Thursday – Off-site workshop, drinks with my team at the W afterwards, then went uptown to meet S for a cocktail party previewing the NY Auto Show.  It was terrific, as usual.  A lot more manufacturers represented and more lavish displays than last year.  Most brands seemed to be hosting a preview party – last year I think it was just Lexus, Bentley, and a couple of others, this year most booths were hopping!  Hopefully a good economic indicator.  Lots of food, drinks, and beautiful cars.  I don’t know if I will ever own a car again but I do appreciate them as works of art.  

One of my favorites this year was the new Dodge Challenger.   Beautifully retro design and very affordable.  Reminds me a lot of my dad’s old 1969 Dodge Dart.  They still make the Dart but the model is more like a station wagon now.  I feel like we’re in kind of a sad age right now in terms of regular cars you tend to see on the street.  So many regulations/rules these days for design of passenger cars – grille has to be a certain height from the ground, front needs to be fairly flat, makes everything look the same.  

Last year I think the big trend was matte paint, this year everything was showcased in a pearlescent white color.  Very pretty but who decides these things?  There was a "performance and dj set" by Taryn Manning which was pretty much hysterical.  I didn’t know whether to laugh or be a little concerned for her welfare.  We walked around a bit more and got a ride over an obstacle course in one of the new Jeep Rubicons which was pretty crazy.  It was a closed course but it still felt really freaky to be going up and down at 35% inclines!  After that we walked inland, had a couple of beers at a dive bar, then walked home.

The next day was Good Friday, and Saturday was my first free Saturday after several months of French classes.  We lazed around most of the day, then met up with my mom to see Nora Ephron’s Lucky Guy, starring Tom Hanks.  It was pretty solid, worth seeing.  After the play we walked my mom back to Grand Central and took the subway home.

Sunday was Easter so we took the train up to see my Mom, Dad, and brother for lunch.  I ate my weight in mashed potatoes, which was great.  After that we headed straight to Lincoln Center for the closing night of their New Directors/New Films festival.  I wasn’t really excited to see the movie, Our Nixon, but it ended up being quite entertaining.  I usually hate anything about politics or set in the 70’s but this was all made up of found footage from his aide’s home movies so it was an interesting primer for me with a more human angle.  We stayed for the Q&A afterwards which was awesome because one of the panelists was Barbara Walters.  Such an intelligent and well-spoken woman with so many great stories!  After party was decently fun with tequila cocktails and lots of wine, pretty festive for a Sunday night!

No non-work activities scheduled for Monday through Wednesday, but then Thursday was really nice.  It was the Spring Gala/Opening Night of the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Handel’s Giulio Cesare.  It started at 7:30pm and went until after midnight, which sounds like a nightmare, but it was super lively.  I liked the mixing of very different time periods in terms of the costuming and staging a lot, and it was completely fun to see a Bollywood dance number in the midst of an Italian opera.  Very entertaining!  We took the subway home and all the bars/restaurants near us were completely packed so we just grabbed a slice, people watched for a bit, then went home and to sleep.

Friday started off with a walk up the West Side Highway to Chelsea Piers but ended up being a really annoying day.  I was working from our midtown office and met S in Rockefeller Plaza.  It was a nice day out but the iceskating rink was still up so I watched the skaters for a while until he showed up.  We walked crosstown, took the train home, grabbed groceries and wine.  S made me dinner, we watched Rome on dvd, and I passed out around 8pm.  I woke up bright and early on Saturday then proceeded to do absolutely nothing for the rest of the day.

Sunday continued in a similar slothful fashion, until I peeled myself out of bed around 5pm. We showered and got dressed up for a viewing party of the Mad Men premiere.  It was very nice – we lounged in comfortable seats,  sipped on bourbon, and enjoyed the episode.  We talked about which character we relate most to, and both chose Roger Sterling.  Funny.  Then we walked home afterwards, without coats, which was great.  And today is glorious, like summer –  I love this time of year.