Weekend in Astoria

I rest satisfied that I have completed a great weekend...

Despite starting with a robust to-do list and a highly scheduled 48 hours, I peruse with pleasure the high contrast black-to-white ratio of that beaten and submissive to-do list, and bask in a weekend well done.

Friday night, the gym and some video game playing. The latter wasn't on the to-do list (I don't often put "goof off" on the list, never really needing to be reminded to make that a part of my day) but that was a value-added bonus accomplishment of Friday night.

Saturday I spent a few hours with my grandparents up in the Bronx. I don't see them often enough, considering I live a mere 20 minutes away, and they are such terrific company. My grandmother is committed to mastering the computer and email, so I spent some time with her on the PC helping get her acclimated, and chatting with them both.

Saturday night I made dinner for an old friend of mine, Stephanie, who is a great friend and mentor from my days at Landmark. We haven't seen much of each other for the past few years, but occasionally we reach out and ensure we reconnect. She's newly single, and we had some fun conversations on that topic, as well as Landmark and others. Then we kissed...

I'm telling you, it's been that kind of month for Dan.

Sunday was spent in the gym in the A.M. I'm finally making some headway in my quest to regain some of my lost physical prowess. Once upon a time, for a brief shining moment back in 1987, I could twelve pull ups. Yup - this guy. twelve times. Last fall I couldn't even do one. As of today, I can do two. My quest is to reach ten again... Why two is so significant is because with pull ups, it's all about inertia. If you can do seven then getting to ten isn't a tremendous leap. But getting through the first three or four is huge, because it takes the most effort to get past the initial hurdle. The increments of the first five are much more significant than the second five, is my point here. And I did two, which is my mighty start. Marvel at the wonder that is Dan.

Basking in the glow of my up-pulling, this afternoon I spent an hour Skyping with the Austrian, who wants to figure out how we can have some kind of long distance relationship, and then this evening I went on a terrific first date with someone brand new. She might not yet know that it was a date, alas. It was terrific none-the-less, but it wasn't really couched as an obvious date, and despite it having all the trappings of a date (Dan is extraordinarily charming, solicitous, gracious, and witty company and he pays for everything, then drives you home) I wouldn't be surprised if in her world it was just two people spending time together.

She's someone I met through work on a business trip. She works at one of the companies I do business with, and in the sociable atmosphere of the Miami conference we crossed paths a few times. It came out that she loves ethnic foods, and Greek food in particular, and so I invited her to come to Astoria for a tour. It took a few weeks to make it happen, but today she took the train out and tour we did.

I put together a nice driving circuit of Astoria that included Little Egypt and a few of its grocery stores, and also the two finest, most Greek-oriented grocery stories on 31st street as well. She seemed to really enjoy these stops, and we had a lot of fun trying to decipher what things were, and how we might use them. Eventually we ended at my favorite Greek restaurant for dinner, and then I drove her back to Manhattan.

Now, in the interests of full disclosure, I had been hoping since Miami to parlay this pleasant afternoon of friendship into a date. I snuck in there under friendly circumstances, since I felt that it would be unwise to gamble on the date angle too abruptly. We barely knew one another, and I couldn't (or wouldn't, whatever) presume too much too soon. My hope was to get the friendly evening under our belt, and then if it all works nicely, I have some date-cred to work with.

Now I *really* hope I can make that happen. This woman is hot stuff. A very bright, engaging, audacious, and very attractive Asian woman (born in Hong Kong, raised in San Francisco) with whom I had no trouble keeping the conversation moving, and interesting. She jumped right into debates on religion and politics, literature, art, wherever it roamed. I liked her style, liked her substance, and left feeling like that she is a woman in full.

There's a whole lot about her I like, and so I plan to try again with a thoroughly sanctioned and official date soon. Assuming of course that she wants any part of that. It was hard to tell. She wasn't playing coy or anything, it was just, you know, hard to tell. One thing I've found is that when you're accustomed to dating actresses, non-actresses are often baffling in their subtlety.