Friday: Ick, and NY is Time-Shifted

Still queasy on and off for most of the day. Rained all day too. Poured some of the time. I got caught in a brief spell that changed from a drizzle to a downpour really quickly on my way home, only a block from my building. The doorman was shocked how wet I was, and was even more so after I told him it only started three minutes ago.

I was trying to eat healthy stuff today. Real OJ in the morning. Chicken and lots of fruit for lunch. Around dinnertime I was heading to Arthur's Tavern, really just a bar that features live music with no cover. The 7pm show (which I thought started at 6:30pm) was supposed to be really good. I arrived at 6:20pm and the place was still closed. Debating the rain and everything, I decided to go into the only nearby restaurant I knew in this district that was supposed to be good, Wild Ginger (same place I went last Sunday). (And it certainly was nearby: two doors away.)

I was the first person in the restaurant: New Yorkers just tend to eat late. Floridians eat early; most of the country eats around 6 or 6:30, and New York is more like 7:30 or 8 (unless trying to hit a pre-theater dinner).

I had green curry with eggplant, green beans, and duck. Surprisingly uninspiring given that I quite liked what I had on Sunday. The green curry was so mild it had little flavor, and the duck was really fatty with little meat. And I made the mistake of ordering brown rice which, in my opinion, doesn't tend to go with dishes that you want to soak up its sauces.

Heading back to Arthur's Tavern, I was the third person there besides the waitress, the bartender, and the jazz trio (already started). The waitress and the bartender were both cute girls. For a little while I thought they were dating but, listening to their conversation, I realized they were straight. The rain really was depressing business everywhere. Hung out for a little while, chatted with the barmates, and imbibed some fruity drinks (fuzzy navel, metropolitan) to try to help my stomach. The Eri Yamamoto Jazz Trio was pretty decent. Eri is the pianist, originally classically trained. My only complaints about them is that (a) their jazz tended be half-jazz half-easy-listening-type-music and (b) much of their songs had the same musical theme (from a high level). But it was still reasonably fun.