ethiopiques

New Haven, CT – A soggy drizzly evening in Yale-country - an unplanned stop

I’ve met with some serious rain and traffic today. Looking back, the drive from California to North Carolina was simple and relatively care-free. Out there, you just get on one highway and then stay on it until you reach your stop. But it all changes once you get to the northeast. Navigation around DC, Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania is confounding in comparison.

Today, I had originally sought out to reach Maine from Philadelphia, but the weather in New Jersey and New York caused hours of delay, and now I’m here in Connecticut. My final east-bound destination will have to wait yet one another day.

But lets go back to Pete and Sara’s place back in Queens.

Pete and I were spending a quiet morning at his apartment in Queens. My fingers still a little sore form playing Guitar Hero II with Pete, Sara, and Jay (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guitar_Hero_II ), I ate a big bowl of Kix and drank a bunch of coffee as I wrote and re-wrote my blog. Pete woke up a little later and started preparing for his performance, which was later that night. We chatted for a while about our lives, movies, music, and his improv troupe “Chicago City Limits.”

In the afternoon, we took the 7 train from Queens to Manhattan. We wandered about midtown for a little while before Pete had to go to a meeting with the show’s production team. With a couple hours to kill, I bought a New York Times and walked over to Central Park. It was warm and sunny, a picture perfect day for a walk in the park.

Central Park is grand and romantic looking. Woody Allen’s “Manhattan” came to mind and I recalled how good New York looks in black and white. Although, this day was definitely one for color film. The sidewalks and streets had steady lines of joggers seeking their ideal heart rate. People were napping all around in the ample shade.

I closed my eyes and could make out the clip-clop of horses tugging carriages. I heard children screaming and music from a distance. I heard Birds. I heard traffic horns from the busy-busy-hurry-up-and-go hustle-bustle of the streets. I opened my eyes and read the Times. I wandered a bit more and watched part of a co-ed softball game.

With a little time left, I walked back towards Times Square to snap a few pictures. Earlier in the day, Pete had told me it was possible his show would be cancelled due to low attendance. When I showed up at the venue, it looked as though the performance would be cancelled. I overheard the show manager telling the ticket-taker just that. Having already seen the show, I was just as happy to have a couple extra hours to explore Manhattan with Pete.

That’s when the little ones showed up. Six kids and a couple lady chaperones arrived just as the manager was heading out the door. The ticket-taker explained to them that the show had been cancelled. A barrage of gratuitous whining and pleading took place from both the children and the mothers. After explanations and negotiations, the manager agreed to put on an abbreviated show for the young audience. Normally, the show is performed in a club setting amongst a cocktail sipping audience. It was really fun to watch how the group adjusted its act for the chocolate milk-sipping crowd.

In a typical “Chicago City Limits” sketch, the troupe will establish a basic premise and then take direction from its audience as to what the content of the performance will be. With the Teletubby-Generation at the helm, the sketches were comprised mainly of toilet and slapstick humor . From my perspective though, the show was just as entertaining. (B+)

The performers met with the little ones briefly out on the street, and then disbanded. Canedy (Pete’s fellow performer), Pete, and I walked downtown a bit to Rudy’s Bar and Grille. Rudy’s is a cool dive bar which offers a nice backyard patio area and free hot dogs. Hot dogs and beer, on a warm summer night, hit the spot. I was having fun in New York.

In the morning I got up early enough to have some coffee and watch cartoons with Sara before she left for work. Sara and I were both in the College Avenue Players and buddies back at Rutgers. I had the pleasure of acting in a couple plays with her, my favorite being “The Heidi Chronicles”. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Heidi_Chronicles )

After hanging out with Pete for a little while, I took the number 7 train again to meet up with a couple more old CAP associates, Doug and Jay. I had worked with Jay several times doing sketch comedy shows. In CAP, we would do two sketch shows a year. The first was made up of sketches from Monty Python, Kids in the Hall, The State (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_State_(TV_series) ), and Saturday Night Live. The second show was comprised entirely of student-written sketches. Doug wrote a bunch of those sketches. He's currently working towards getting his novel published.

Doug Simpson and I worked together in several sketch shows and dramatic plays. In our senior year, Doug directed Mike Cavanaugh and I as Oscar and Felix in “The Odd Couple”. That show was a lot of fun. Doug, Jay, and I got sushi in the Chelsea neighborhood and talked about movies, CAP, and baseball. Later on, I was also able to catch up with another old RU friend Dan, who happened to work in the same building as Doug and Jay.

After lunch, I grabbed an iced coffee and made for the village (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwich_Village ) on foot. On a gorgeous summer day I strolled down Bleeker Street and snapped pictures of city life. I saw beautiful brick townhouses, record stores, kids cooling off in mini-park sprinklers, and high-priced clothing boutiques. I saw a trio of dachshunds waiting on the sidewalk for their escort to return. After getting lost for a little while, I found Washington Square Park and people-watched.

Pleased with my tour, I got on the number 2 train and met Sara in midtown. With an hour or so before Pete’s play, we grabbed dinner at a pub, the Triple Crown, near the theater. It was a real treat to reconnect with my old friend for a while. We walked over to the theater and saw Pete’s play “You Can’t Take It With You” (http://www.tschreiber.org/theatre/index.htm ). Pete played the role of Donald. The play was hilarious and poignant. The comedy is set in the 1930’s, and reminds one to live in the moment and do in life what truly makes one happy. I laughed really hard at times and would seat-dance with Sara as bouncy swing tunes played during the set changes. Fun. (A-) After a drink with part of the cast we returned to Queens.

I slept in late the next morning and kicked myself for missing the opportunity to give Sara a hug good-bye. I watched Crocodile Dundee on the tv and vegged. Pete got up later and we watched Crocodile Dundee II. I collected my gear and made my ritual scan of the apartment for anything forgotten.

On this trip I’ve managed to leave a bread-crumb trail of forgotten items from sea to shining sea. Shampoo. Deodorant. Laundry detergent. Toothbrushes. Soap. Shaving crème. I most recently left my cell phone charger at Rachel and Jay’s house in Highland Park... Luckily I brought a second charger with me…

ANYWAY, after the Crocodile marathon, Pete and I went for a walk in the enormous Calvary Cemetery for a little quiet time amongst a noisy Queens borough. We talked about mortality, relationships, the film “Garden State”, and tattoos. We then took the white wonder over to Manhattan to meet up with Jay Tyrrell (my long-time college roommate and fellow CAP member). We left the car in the care of a nearby garage and I thought of “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”. Jay was doing part-time work for an independent film distributor and met with Pete and I after finishing his day. The three of us sat for a while in a café plaza before it started to rain. Pete took off for his next performance of “You Can’t..” and Jay and I took the Integra to his place in Verona, NJ. The traffic to the Lincoln Tunnel was murder.

We picked up some pizza and beer en route to Jay's and then watched the first game of the weekend Sox/Yankees series with Jay’s wife Kelly. I met Jay and Kelly’s doggie Maggie Mae, which is also the name of my sister’s dog. I met Kelly for the first time last year at her and Jay’s wedding in the Poconos. Jay and I got to be friends living on the same floor of our freshman dorm and were later housemates off-campus for our last three years. The Yankees made fools of the Red Sox that night. Wakefield just didn’t have it. Jay, Kelly, and I took a short trip to the nearby Eagle Rock 9/11 Memorial. I’d remembered being there years earlier, not long after the towers fell. The park offers a clear view of the Manhattan skyline. I’d seen it for the first time at night. At that time, one could clearly see the two massive spotlights that had been placed in lieu of the towers, aimed strait up. The three of us chatted for a bit and called it a night.

In the morning Jay took me to the Montclair Char-Coal Broil, a local diner. Practically every town in New Jersey has its own local diner, standard-issue. After some coffee, eggs, and bakey we toured Montclair a little and then went for a walk in Essex County Park, only a block or so from his place. We talked about film making and my newfound interest journalism. Jay is working full-bore towards a career in filmmaking. You can learn more about his production company, Junction Jump, at: http://www.junctionjump.com/ . There’s some cool stuff there. Check it fool!

Afterwards, Jay, Kelly, and I went to the Clairidge Clearview Theater to see “Once”. I was moved by the film, and impressed with how complete the movie was with its relatively little story. (A-) The film over with, I said my see-you-laters with Jay and Kelly and drove the Integra down to New Brunswick to visit with Rachel, Jay, Laura, and Jenny. Rachel, Laura, and Jenny had been good friends of mine at Rutgers. Rachel and I had been close ever since living in the same dorm our freshman year. Back then, we shared many of the same freshman biology courses. I met Laura for the first time doing my first sketch comedy shows for CAP. Laura was also a biology major, and so we had lots of classes together later on, the most memorable classes being comparative morphology and histology. Laura, Rachel, and Jenny (a several other girls) all lived together for years at a house off-campus that I visited regularly. Rebecca also lived in this house (but we’ll get to her in a second).

Rachel and her husband Jay have a cool house in Highland Park (just next to New Brunswick) chocked full of cool antique and retro furniture. Getting a tour of their house, I saw something completely unexpected and amazing. It was a microwave. Specifically, it was a microwave which my grandmother had given my parents on their wedding anniversary some 25 years ago. (It was fitting that I should see it, as the very next day was my parents 40th anniversary.) Back then, every microwave was enormous. Big enough to zap a large turkey if need be. I'd grown up with this appliance. I had taken the monster to college and then deserted it before I moved to California. Life is funny sometimes.

Jay and Rachel also have a basset hound named Lillie. This is one very cool dog. While the dog is only 4.5 years old, it acts like an old man. It mostly sleeps, but will tour the house occasionally for head patting and ear rubbing.

At my arrival to Rachel and Jay’s, I got a surprise call from Rebecca, who lives in Philadelphia. Having not seen her in six years or so, I immediately decided to pay her a visit. The trip to Maine would be delayed a day.

The group later assembled, we walked across the Route 27 bridge into New Brunswick and visited many of my favorite spots downtown for dinner and drinks. We visited the Harvest Moon, Timulty’s, Clyde’s, and then another bar who’s name I can’t seem to remember right now. We had great food, several pints of Guinness, and lots of laughter.

Walking back to Rachel and Jay’s, we found that New Brunswick was demolishing part of the Route 27 overpass. It was a strange sight, as this giant crane-type device was slamming an exaggerated pick-ax down into the pavement, making this “ca-chunk-a-chunk-a-chunk” sound. At the time we found this extremely amusing.

The next morning we all met with Chad at the Somerset Diner for breakfast. I spent a good chunk of my junior and senior years at the Somerset studying for this class or that at ungodly hours. I was a little disappointed to find that the diner has been totally remodeled on the inside. According to Chad, many New Jersey diners had chosen to remodel after a smoking ban had been put into place years ago. Still, a nice time was had by all over coffee and breakfast. After more see-you-laters, I went back to Piscataway for a shower and some quality Chad-time. Chad and Helen are missed back in California. Nuff’ said. I also managed to get in touch with my old roommate and friend Mark, who lives just outside Phili. The stars were in alignment, as he was free that night to meet up for dinner.

Now completely going in the wrong direction, I drove back down the Jersey Turnpike to Philadelphia. It was worth it. It was a joy to reconnect with Rebecca after not seeing her for so long. She lives near UPenn with her two kitties, Fuzz and Zorro. Mark and Rebecca’s beau Will joined up with us a little while later. Mark and I were roommates my freshman and sophomore years, and housemates the last two years. Mark was also an actor for the College Avenue Players. Today Mark has a precocious six-year-old daughter named Gracie and has become a well known didgeridoo player in Philadelphia. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Didgeridoo )

The four of us went to a cool restaurant called the White Dog Café. Dinner was delicious. We went to a couple other spots about Rebecca’s neighborhood afterwards for a Guinness or two before calling it a night. Before driving away, Mark played one of his didgeridoos for a minute. It sounded really cool. Deep and throaty. Unique.

That brings us to this morning. Rebecca and I had some breakfast and chatted a bit before I departed for Maine. It will not be six years before I see her again. That’s for sure.

Right off the bat I got lost. I drove the wrong direction down I-76 and, with some heavy traffic mixed in, it took me thirty minutes or so to get back on the right track. I was off to a rough start. After I crossed the Walt Whitman Bridge, the weather turned sour. Chatting with my mom, I learned that a tropical storm of some sort was sitting over much of the northeast. I trudged back up the Jersey Turnpike under heavy rain and then everything just stopped. I was approaching the George Washington Bridge when I saw a divide up ahead. One side would take me to the “Express” lane, which has no other exits in New Jersey, while the other side was the “Local.” The divide presented itself quickly as the visibility was low. In a second I decided for the “Express” lane and then immediately came to a stop. The “express” lane was completely gridlocked. A parking lot. Meanwhile, the “Local” lane was moving along at regular speed. Being already cranky after the confusion in Phili, I was downright irritated with this newest development. Discouraged, I sat in this jam for about two hours before I eventually would get to the GW.

By the time I crossed into Connecticut, five hours had gone by. I knew it would take at least another five hours to reach Maine, possibly more with the weather situation. It was only 2:30pm, or so, and I already felt weary. The car felt weary. Pretty certain that I wouldn’t be able to hack a ten+ hour trip, I stopped in New Haven and got a room.

That pretty much brings us to the present.

This last week has been amazing. Old memories are constantly swirling around my head of the times I've had with these people. I never imagined I’d be able to see so many of them in such a short time. I have reconnected with so many friends from my college years, and it has warmed my heart. I’m already looking forward to seeing them again, sooner than later.


To see all the photos to date:

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcMnLVq3aN2IM

Now I just have to get to Maine. I’ve driven some 6,500 miles already to get this far, and I'm tired. I have only a few hundred miles to go before I can take it easy for a while. I’m ready to give my family in Maine a big hug, and then sleep. Deeply.

More soon.

Andy

Pete loves his mom.