Hurricane Drunk
Everything is fine. We haven’t gotten power back yet but our house is warm and cozy, there are bars and restaurants open even in the dark areas, and it’s only a couple of miles walk for us to our firms’ midtown offices to work and nearby branches of our gym to shower. I can’t believe all these people constantly bitching about minor inconveniences when people lost their homes, their livelihoods, their lives.
I had been working like a crazy person, so we weren’t really doing a ton before the storm anyway. The one exception was one night we went out to a free event at Nitehawk Cinemas in Williamsburg. Very cool. The movie was horrible but I really liked the place. I wanted to come back for the midnight showing of Nosferatu paired with a live band on Halloween, but obviously did not end up doing that. Afterwards we ended up getting oysters and absinthe cocktails at Maison Premiere. Love love love love love. Great decor, food and drinks. They told us a big fat lie though, that the floorboards were reclaimed from a ship. They totally weren’t the floorboards were obviously from an old barn and look completely different than carpentry on even the hugest ships. The food and drink though…wow. I had this drink called the Imperial Opal with absinthe, chartreuse, and rosewater over crushed ice. After that we went to a dive bar down the street and drank draft beer out of huge styrofoam cups. Yep. The next couple of days S had food poisoning or some sort of other bug so we stayed in most of the weekend. It was kind of strange because this is maybe the first or second time he’s been ill since I’ve known him.
Then the storm craziness came. Things started to close on Sunday, so we stocked up on food and library books. On Monday night, I put my out-of-office autoreply on, did work until the power went out, and then took a hot shower while I could. We cuddled up and then went outside for quick peek out onto the street. Things were calm, there were a few people out but not much happening. We’re on a very protected block of old residential buildings in the West Village, so I wasn’t too worried about damage unless something really extreme happened. It didn’t. Weirdly it wasn’t even a hard rain, we had our window open a bit the whole time. The next day we got up and took a walk and things were really calm. We walked by the waterfront and everything was murky and grey. You could see lines where the water had been or where things had been moved and the water must have came up pretty far. I saw gasoline in puddles making rainbows, New Yorkers coming out after the storm and it was strangely beautiful.
All work offices were closed and I didn’t have access to email or even smartphone services from anywhere except the West Side Highway, so we just kept walking. Power was still out but many places were still open. We went from place to place, grabbing a snack or a drink where we could, and ended up in the East Village. We probably hit 6 or 7 places, going wherever the warmth of candlelight and an open door beckoned us. A wonderful, kooky Manhattan night. We made it back to our neighborhood and up the stairs, then hit the sheets. Slept in a bit the next day, which was Halloween.
On Wednesday, 25th Street and above had power back and our midtown offices were open, so we walked uptown to do some work. When I got online I was sad to learn that that our Halloween party at the appropriately spooky McKittrick Hotel was cancelled. That combined with some key elements of my planned costume never making it to me made the whole night kind of a bust. We took showers at the gym, walked home, and had a lovely Italian dinner together at a spot on our way back. Barely anyone was out and the mood back in the dark area of town felt a bit negative, so we went straight home and didn’t pursue any other plans. Bummer, I love Halloween. The next day we woke up with the sun and headed back to the office.
Thursday we did work all day, then left pretty early before it got too dark. We stopped in at a Halloween store where everything was half off and I got some facepaint, an Oktoberfest fraulein costume, and a fun pink wig. Good stuff. We grabbed a slice on the way, then a bar by us we’d never tried had a ton of candles and welcoming glowsticks arranged in really creative ways, so we stopped in. We had a glass of red wine each, then the bartender made shots for everyone. You know when the bartender starts giving you free drinks it’s time to go home, so we went home, had another glass of red, and S made me avocado toast. Yuuuum. I stayed up too late reading by candlelight and felt groggy this morning.
This morning we were able to walk to 34th Street and grab the subway from there. Fairly productive morning, then went down to the gym to shower with Kiehl’s products and blowdry my hair. So nice. I have a call in 5 minutes, then am going to plow through work, meet up with S to walk home, then hopefully go out. We are supposed to get power back by 11pm tomorrow so that would be excellent.
"This is the true joy in life…being a force of nature instead of a feverish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy."
– George Bernard Shaw
People will always find something to complain about. It’s a shame really. I’m glad you guys made it out unscathed and I hope your power comes back soon. We went without it for only three days and that started to wear on me.
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So glad you two found a way to continue on gracefully in spite of the storm and it’s inconveniences. I’m also glad both of you and your home are okay.
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Looks like you guys were lucky and unscathed. I think the “islands” got it the worst.
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I am so glad you two are ok as well! BTW I love the “snapshots” you provide of your New York… it almost makes it seem like a small town at times. 🙂
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Glad to hear you are okay. You and S are pretty resilient though, so I wasn’t too worried :-).
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One of my favourite quotes. Glad to hear you’re ok.
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Cozied up and reading by candlelight sounds just awesome to me! I am sad that there has been destruction and that people are going through a rough time, but the idea of a non-destructive hurricane (I know this doesn’t exist) but the idea of big weather outside and being forced to stay inside just sounds so romantic and cozy to me! I would love to be forced to miss work for weather reasons! Again of course, as long as no one is inconvenienced/killed. So FantasyLand Hurricanes. I think this is because I am a California chick and I never got to experience the bliss of a snow day.
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Glad to hear you are well – I thought the same thing about the marathon. People complaining about it must have never lived in NYC.
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i’ve been thinking about you. glad to hear you are okay! i biked across the bk bridge into the city last night and it was so much eerier than i expected. very end of days. your description of the bar with the glowsticks does make me want to venture back over there however. is’t this weird how the storm hit around the same time as last halloween’s freak snowstorm? i stayed in then too. what were you originally planning on dressing up as?
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They just canceled the marathon – have to disagree with you on this one and think it’s the right call. Glad you guys are okay.
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Are the people who lost their homes allowed to bitch about the marathon?
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RYN* Now it’s whining for everyone, running for no one. Were you crazyheads signed up this year?
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Glad to hear you guys are okay!
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Avocado toast,Yum!! Glad you both are doing good, you seem to enjoy the day with everything else going on.
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I have very mixed feelings about the marathon cancellation. Halloween at the McKittrick would have been just perfect. Next year perhaps. Glad you guys weren’t too impacted. Vx
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Glad you’re ok. It’s been devastating for some people, you’re right. It’s also been nice to see community spirit resulting from it.
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I`m glad to hear you got through it OK.
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glad to hear you’re safe!
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Yeah, definitely if I was living only with inconveniences I would feel thankful in comparison to the many who lost so much. I am finding the coverage of the destruction in NY and NJ absolutely unbelievable!
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Well sounds like you are now prepared for next Halloween!
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I want to say SO MUCH, but my nails are wet, haha.
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Glad to hear you’re OK. That’s a great quote; I am Facebooking it!
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that quote is great, sounds like you made the best of things and you turned it into an adventure, like usual. sorry that it ruined your halloween though.
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I’m so glad you are okay! Your perspective and buoyancy are lovely. 🙂
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i love kiehl’s. glad you’re safe.
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I’m so glad you’re OK. I was really worried about all my east coast friends. CD xxx
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I adore that quotation. Must copy it. I have a friend who complains constantly and I’m getting worn down by it. Life is a gift. It’s good to keep that in mind, mostly. I’ve also noticed that people who really do have something legitimate to whine about often are the troopers among us. In conclusion, I vow to bitch less and to turn to the light. You make a disaster sound like an adventure.
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rynotes: thanks for dropping by! Gary Johnson woohoo! lol. My sister is in Virginia and the water came up about three/four feet from her front door but otherwise she was fine. All in all most of the people hit by it came out okay. But I’m glad I don’t live on the coast. I don’t think I could deal with hurricane weather….
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I am glad you are okay! I was wondering about you!!!
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My gosh. I can’t imagine. I didn’t realize you were that direction. So glad you are well and stuck it out! xoxo
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I have been thinking of you guys. Glad you are OK.
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holy cow, you poor New Yorkers. first Sandy and now all this freezing cold and no freakin’ elecricity??!! ugh. i hope you got your power back on by now.
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Thanks for checking in, glad you’re ok, and hope you got your power back by now (pretty certain you did)
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I love that you stocked up on libray books! nerdtastic!
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This is a great description–I don’t live in NY but I’ve been looking at pictures and this really captures/extends the tone. And I love that quote… That’s really wonderful.
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Hope the power comes back on super soon. I’m also super happy that you all came out okay.
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Daaaaang. I need you to plan my social calendar, yo. *grin*
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RYN: Shoe-boots? Like the short ones?
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RYN: cuuuute! Thanks for the tip! 🙂
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RYN: I had to switch to the 2 bunny ears tied together because Orion could not get the other method. It’s kind of pointless to him because he has only worn velcro shoes. Sadly, Calla has also shown no interest in dress up. It’s like there’s no ounce of girl in her. Or maybe I should do a better job of encouraging it since she’s not going to pick up from her brother.
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ryn: in Weehawken on Blvd East.
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You seemed to weather the storm quite successfully! My Halloween plans were ruined this year too, what a disappointment! Ah well, there’s always next year, right?
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This entry is a great little snapsnot, thanks for that. Glad you made it through ok.
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I expected no less of you, weathering the storm with much fabulousness!
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I was in Greece watching CNN during the storm. It was so weird to see…
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