2/15/02, 11:59 pm

In my last post, I predicted that the word for Valentine's Day would be "male". I think "karaoke" would have to be the winner though.

Single guys night out was a lot of fun. There were about a half-dozen of us. We gathered at a laid back bar downtown that was formerly frequented by a group of abstract expressionists known as The Club. (The 1951 entry of the Club minutes records "77 members + 11 deadheads".) Our conversation was perhaps not as deep as their's. We talked of women, music, and comic books. My kind of guys. Far better than discussions about football.

I shared a story Dad had told me that day about a Valentine's fifteen to twenty years ago. It involves leaving work at three in the afternoon and sneaking beer into a Clint Eastwood marathon at the Quad Cinema on 13th Street.

The evening and the crowd were winding down. The hour was nigh for the city's lovers to be celebrating the holiday as lovers do, and I was ready to wander home, feeling only slightly sorry for myself. That's when A.J. suggested karaoke.

So we got a room at a karaoke joint near Cooper Union and a six-pack and sang and laughed until three o'clock in the morning. Matchbox 20 never sounded so good and so bad.

2/13/02, 11:40 pm

I always knew that I was a little weird, but the last couple of days, I reminded myself of it. Two things got me very excited recently: XML DTDs and campaign finance reform. It wasn't the only thing that pepped me up recently -- but they were highlights.

XML DTDs are cool because the let you define syntax and set of rules for an XML file that you can then use to validate a file. Imagine writing a few rules down and instantly being able to speak another language and know without a doubt if you're doing it right. I should have been using DTDs all along, but better late to the party than never. I'm getting the vibe that XML Schemas are superior for the same tasks. I'll have to check them out.

Campaign finance reform is hot because we're on the brink of the most significant structural political change in my lifetime. The Shays-Meehan bill passed tonight. (No link yet, the papers should be full of articles tomorrow.) If it can weather the remaining battles ahead of it, it will go a long way to reducing corruption and in appropriate influence in our political system. The good news, great news even, is that it looks like there's a strong enough coalition of politicians who want to do the right thing to make reform succeed.

There are exceptions, but most people I share my excitement with on either of these fronts -- well, let's say they're excited for me, but not with me. Ah well. Weirdness is what it is.

As for the rest of life, it goes on. Been lucky enough to spend a lot of time with friends recently. We picked up a win this week in volleyball and celebrated Cher's resignation afterwards over sushi, sake, Asahi, and even age-tofu and kanten. That was Monday and that was Japanese.

Last night was a celebration of Chinese New Year (Year of the Horse, if you're wondering; and bad year for getting married, if you're thinking about it) at Melissa's. Dumplings, eggrolls, noodles and apple pie. Yeah... I'm not sure if the apple pie fits in either, but it was damn good. The crowd was lots of fun. It broke down like this: a teacher/poet, a student/teacher, a producer/Bill-Moyers-sidekick, a web-writer/job-seeker, a designer/blogger, a boyfriend/ex-banker, a city-planner/secret-DJ, and more good-hearted citizens (my wit is fading...). G and I talked blogging as usual: he's going to be published in a book about bloggers! Anyway, that was Tuesday and that was Chinese.

This evening, I showed Shannon pictures from my trip at a mildly overpriced but tasty vegan restaurant in East Village. Nice to catch up with her. And I think she's the only other person in New York that hasn't seen "Amelie"! Since the photos of the world-traveling duck continue to elicit reference to that movie, we're making plans to check it out. So that was Wednesday and that was vegan.

Tomorrow... Valentine's Day. Not the most wonderful holiday for a single and slightly-depressed-about-it young man. I thought about drinking alone at home, (There's a six-pack of Kirin in the fridge leftover from the Superbowl.) but downward spirals are so very unattractive, so I decided to drink at a bar with my other single male friends. There's not too many of them, but enough to commiserate and generally get ourselves in trouble. So that will be Thursday and that will be, umm, male, I guess. Or something.

Screw it, I'd better wait for the future to arrive before writing about it. Happy dreams of useful Document Type Definitions, corruption-free politics, themed days, and friends that are there for you when you need them most. I'm serious! Especially about the last one.

2/10/02, 10:36 pm

Mini-review of Dead Tech, a theatrical production by HERE:

"Dead Tech" lives up to its billing as a radical reworking of Henrik Ibsen's "The Master Builder." A little too radical. A bunch of new dialogue was written for the production, thankfully not to be spoken by Ibsen's characters but by two orange-clad additions that had little direct interaction with the main characters. The new dialogue was generally trite, consisting mostly of warnings about technology and statements about towers that were uncomfortably suggestive of the WTC. The whole technology angle was too much a stretch to pin on Ibsen's play. Other aspects of the radical reworking, though, were successful. The music and dance sequences added wonderfully to the surreal qualities of the original work. The director cut a few parts (Kaja and the doctor) and a lot of dialogue, and kept the pace brisk without damaging the thrust of the script. A concept called "gestural choreography" was used and I thought it was pretty cool. It was very original and added an interesting dimension to following the action that was challenging but manageable to understand. Not sure I can justly describe it in words. In Brooklyn, $15-$18, on til Feb. 23rd.

2/10/2002, 1:05 am

Another great perl/guitar session with Alec today. Learning a lot about strumming and rhythm, developing my ear, learning a bit of music theory. It's all so fascinating and exciting to me. I feel closer to music than I ever have before in my life, even when I was singing regularly in high school. My childhood piano lessons and high school voice lessons provide an interesting base of knowledge to expand on now.

I'm reading a book called Einstein in Love, and it's painting an interesting picture of the interplay between Einstein's efforts in music, friendship, physics and romance. He was apparently quite a debonair young man.

Friday night, I played volleyball at Brandeis with Ilio, Cher, Liz, Anthony and A.J. I tried setting for a while, and got a big rush out of it. You get to be involved in every play and it's a great position for putting up blocks, too. My game was on Friday and I had a few kills that felt positively sublime.

After playing, we collected our free beers at Alligator Alley, a simple jukebox and pool table bar around the corner from the gym. On account of our position squarely in front of the restroom doors, we met a few odd folks. One couple drove in from Connecticut specifically to come to this bar. They seemed especially interested in meeting us, the "locals." Another gent responded to a playful political question from A.J. with "oh, f*** you." Quite entertaining.

I hadn't seen A.J. in a few months, and we made it a late night going for a few beers and wandering discussions of songwriting, relationships, and the prospects of his move to Los Angeles. Yet another cliché proven true: ain't easy making a living as an actor.

Caught up with Melissa, Carrie and Dan tonight for dinner. (related link: site about Dan's poetry, built by Carrie) Grill-your-own-at-your-table style asian grub. Fun and communal, just like I've been looking for in New York. Also bought some CDs. The Dead, Dylan and David Gray.

Communal. Acoustic. Trusting. Open. Vivacious. Adjectivicous.