I Also Go Out Too Much

I really should stay home more.
Poor me, right? Always doing fun things and spending a ton doing it, but I really would like to save more, stay home, play video games, drink my own home brewed beer, and pet my cat.

When she lets me.

But living for the moment does have it's benefits! Here are some moments I managed to get my phone out and capture between all my hours at work!

A mini-JET reunion

We had ramen, karaoke...

And a little honesty? 

My favorite things about Astoria are the people.

I get to run into them at cool events like this bloc party at the Strand

These shoddy photos are from outside The Strand on Broadway in Astoria. Less than a year old, and they're already throwing bloc parties! I didn't even ask who was going, I just went, and sure enough... saw about a dozen friends from the 'hood!

Somehow I didn't get any photos, but after this, I rode my bike halfway home tothe lovely home of a JET-couple who threw a killer BBQ on their deck! It was several more hours of delicious food, good conversation, games, beer, and dessert!

Theses two photos are taken from about the same spot. One looking into the restaurant, the other looking out! If you enlarge it, you can see the band playing on the stage in the middle of the street. They were strange, but quite rockin'!

Another (the next?) weekend, us former-JET-types dressed up in yukata and jinbei for a Brooklyn pub crawl!

Every few months my coworkers and friends get together for bowling too!

Ryan's b-day party at the beer garden!

Hugh and I at his wife's going away party. He was very torn up.

More friends with Janelle, a.k.a. the one going away. She's working the coolest job ever, so I bet that helps pass the time.

Not often enough, Wendy and I go on double-dates

This friendly raptor invited me to a juggling convention!

The latest NYC craze is the Cronut, a croissant-like doughnut. The flavor changes every month. I've had lemon and coconut mint. Apparently this month's flavor is "fig and mascarpone". Getting one involves lining up outside the one bakery that invented them at 6 am and waiting until they open at 8 to buy one before they sell out, so needless to say, it's a commitment. 

Remember that juggling raptor? Here he is playing the 8 string bass with his band "You Bred Raptors?"

Another weekend I gave a couple lectures to this year's new JETs heading to Japan on Japanese etiquette. This guy, Steve, surprised me by being one of the group because we first met as fellow foreign exchange students in Japan in 2004! 

This guy works at the Czech-style beer garden near my house! The beer is good and CHEAP, but the food is pricey, so I only go about once a month.

Every year I wonder what to do for New Years, Halloween, 4th of July, etc. But this year, once again, I was lucky to be invited to friend-of-a-friend's apartment for a Japanese-style BBQ and then viewing of the Macy's fireworks on the Hudson from the communal deck in New Jersey. It was such a fun and comfortable environment, we got to know a lot of new, cool Japanese people while enjoying drinks and Japanese food! 

We love sake!

So much food!

The view was amazing even before the fireworks!

Another fun day out and 2nd year running (no pun intended) - This year we did the Color Run, a 5k "fun run", in Brooklyn. Last year in Philadelphia was better scenery, but really, it's more about who you run with!

This is our "after" shot. Hence the name "Color Run"!

Here is the post run brunch I got in Greenpoint! Nom!

Then I went home and shaved my hair!

I got to the beach only twice this summer, but on this lucky day I took 4 lovely ladies with me!

Saw the NY Philharmonic play with Mariah Carey in Central Park

And my buddy Dan held his annual, insanely good BBQ in Astoria!

So that's pretty much my summer! WINTER IS COMING!

Now I'm 29.

I turned 29 in Boston last month. I traveled back to Boylston Street, where I basically lived the 9 days in February, after the marathon bombing, coordinating, interviewing, editing, running and driving around, producing the news, but I never actually got to see the bombing sites, because they weren't open to the press or public until the day after I got back to New York. So this time, on May 13^th, we went straight there and took a good, slow walk up and down. We looked at where the blasts happened, and where memorials people had previously set up on either side of the finish line have been organized and arranged into a shrine at Copley Square. 

I spent that day interviewing an awesome prosthetic maker. He helped us get permission to interview some of his patients so we could hear about living without one or multiple limbs. It was powerful, moving stuff, and they spoke beautifully! Sadly, it didn't make the final cut. Seems a waste. 

Anyway, he also set us up with another interview the next morning with a Paralympic gold medalist named Joe Lemar. He is an amputee runner, and I don’t mean he lost an arm! 

He too was incredibly inspiring to hear talk about the strength of conviction, because he won his gold medal less than two years after his amputation! The next day, I met three of the actual marathon bombing survivors, but only one had time to grant us an interview. Luckily for him, relatively I mean, he did not lose a leg, but he had some serious hardware screwed into one leg and burns on both. He was training hard at his physical therapy, but as a craft beer bartender, he perked up when I asked him what styles he liked and if he home-brewed (he did!). The hardest part about his convalesces, he said, was not being allowed to enjoy a tasty beer, but by the time his current batch matures, he said happily, he will be well enough again to enjoy it.   

CLICK HERE TO SEE STORY ON BOSTON (in Japanese)

When I came home, I received some very nice birthday gifts from my family and friends, but this year the winner is definitely Wendy, who got me a bike lock to go with the bike I got myself, and of all things… a kit to brew my own beer!

I didn't get to enjoy either one that week, because I needed to buy a helmet for the bike, and an extra pot for brewing my beer, but before that could happen, a huge tornado hit an elementary school in Oklahoma, so once again, I grabbed a change of clothes from my locker and flew out the door!

By 2 a.m. we were broadcasting live from South Oklahoma City, only 2 miles from the path of the F-5 tornado that ripped across Moore, OK, and as the sun came up and we moved to a better position, we could start to see some of the real damage along the path of the tornado.
CLICK HERE FOR THAT STORY (in Japanese)
My words don’t really do it justice so I’ll just throw some pictures in and mention that they are from the area around the Moore Medical Center and Briarwood Elementary School, one of two elementary schools hit. This one had some injuries, but luckily, no loss of life.

Homes across from the Moore Medical Center

Homes across the street from Briarwood Elementary School

Behind what was a nice pond is what's left of Briarwood's gym. The school is to the left behind the man walking by.

When I came home I got to relax a bit. I watched my friend Tim play Paris in Romeo and Juliette, rode my bike, brewed that beer, and just Saturday, we had a pub crawl with other former JETs in Brooklyn and we all wore our yukata and jinbei!

That’s what I've been up to. Hope it was interesting and worth the wait!