Cigarettes and Alcohol

The 40-year-old virgin
Originally uploaded by holylandhipster.

As usual when I sit down to blog, I went looking for some good tunes to accompany my writing. For some reason, I can't seem to find "Cigarettes and Alcohol" by Oasis in my iTunes but that song would have been perfect.

This morning, I felt like the drunk girl from The 40-Year-Old-Virgin movie but minus upchucking the shellfish sandwich. If you've seen the movie, you'll undoubtebly remember the hysterical car scene. Swap Steve Carrell out and put my 80+ year old Grandmother into the passenger seat, and we've got a bad movie. Now, before y'all start calling the cops and screaming DUI, I was NOT drunk. I wasn't even hung over. I was just exhausted from last night's farewell bash at Verlaine's on the Lower East Side. But, since I had promised Grandma to take her to buy shoes before I leave for Israel, that meant waking up at the crack of dawn after five hours of drinking and only 5 hours of sleeping and driving a few miles to the special shoe store. Fortunately, we made it there and back in one piece (and I even managed to parallel park without a problem), and Grandma even got a nice pair of Mary Janes out of the excursion.

So, last night was the final farewell get together before my flight to Tel Aviv next week. It was off-the-hook fun. Verlaine's is one of my favorite wateringholes in all of Gotham City, and my friend Gary (co-owner) took really good care of us. Loads of people showed up. Old work buddies: Vicky and her cousin Claire, Jill, Julie and Schuyler. My friend Zeke who I've known since we met at summer camp when he was 15 and I was 16, my entire Ulpan class including Rob (the absolute BEST baker on the Upper West Side), Orna and her boyfriend Lior, Bracha, her husband Yotam and their friend Mia, my friends Ron and Suzanne, and last but NEVER least, my writer friends Jules and Jenny who have been my partners in crime for the past 3 1/2 years.

It was overwhelming seeing everyone and I wasn't able to give everyone the one-on-one attention they deserved, but by the end of the night Julie, Jules, Jenny and I were able to grab a final drink and really talk. Someone had posed this question to me a few days ago, and I was curious to see their comments.

Question: You have 5 days left in New York City, what is the one thing you want to do (that you've never ever done) before you leave town?

Jenny: Go see The Drowsy Chaperone on Broadway, jump on the Circle Line or take the Staten Island Ferry. Now, I've already been on the Ferry when Jules and I went to Across the Narrows for my birthday last year, but I've never done the Circle Line or been to that broadway show. Interesting choices and VERY Jenny, who is Queens of Manhattan Culture.

Jules: Go to Ellis Island and see where our families all came from. Now, this was pretty surprising coming from Jules, I actually thought she would tell me that we should take in one last concert at a new venue (i.e. one of the WIlliamsburg hotspots) but since everyone was coming up with touristy suggestions, I think this was a pretty good recommendation

Juliet: I actually cannot remember what she said! At that point of the evening, I was on my first Lemongrass Mule which had followed four Ginger-Ales (soo good it has Ginger-infused Sake, Ginger Beer and some other great alcohols, topped with a lychee nut). I think she suggested going to Roosevelt Island, but I'm not sure if that was also another Jenny suggestion.

As for what I'm going to do with four more nights left in the City, I honestly don't know. But, I'll be sure to blog about the experience as soon as I do it!

Song for the day: Get Your Freak On by Missy Elliott. For obvious reasons.