Friday
The Bohemian Beer Garden in Astoria is quickly becoming one of my favorite places. You just can't beat good weather, good friends, tasty German beer and cheap burgers. Too bad it will soon be too cold to frequent outdoor drinking establishments.

Saturday
The good thing about going to a Saw Doctors concert by myself is that I can be a total geek and get there really early to get a spot up front. The bad thing is that then I have to stand around with no one to talk to for an hour until the opening act comes on. And I don't have anyone to hold my spot while I go get a drink.

The opening act sucked. Willie Nile is trying way too hard to be Bob Dylan. He even has the hair cut. But his rhymes are really awful. And Jimmy the guitarist from Conan played with him. He's really scary looking up close.

The Saw Doctors, on the other hand, were fabulous. I love those boys. (Yes, I realize they are middle-age Irishmen, but they are still my boys. But, Davey, darling, please get a hair cut. You're starting to look like an aging hippie.) They played almost two and a half hours, and they played my favorite song, which they rarely play in concert. And they must be able to read my mind because after the last concert I was wondering why they didn't usually play songs from Villains, their most recent album, in concert. Then, this time they played quite a few from it. And they introduce songs with comments like, "This is for all the Catholics out there. It's about the tradition of going into a cupboard with an old man and telling him all the most interesting bits of your life." And in the middle of one song, Leo always goes on a tangent about Gaelic football. And their music always makes me happy. I wish I could afford to see them again when they come back in October.

Sunday
I also wish I knew some Irish guys with illegal cable (or really, really good cable). The All-Ireland Gaelic Football Final was today. Kerry v. Mayo, and Mayo was the underdog. I'm a Mayo girl, and I really wanted to watch. But I had no idea where it would be on or what pub would be open at 10:30 in the morning when it was on. But it was a gorgeous day, so I spent most of it outside in Carl Schurz Park instead. I guess it was just as well because Mayo lost.

P.S. to Clare
The bus also stopped at a different rest area than usual. And it was in Delaware. While I was there, I picked up some proof for you. A post card. E-mail me your address, and I'll send the proof of the state's existance along for your inspection.

I'm on the bus
First Stop: The Drunk Guy
Or at least I was on Friday, but not at first because there was no bus. I left work early to check a 3 p.m. bus to Washington, D.C. I got there about 2:30, and there were quite a few other people waiting already. A drunk man was weaving in and out among us. He stopped in front of me. "I'm a writer. I write books." He gestures with the pen he's holding. "Mm hmm." I look away hoping he'll move along. He doesn't. "I'm a writer. I write books," he say moving closer. "Mm hmm." "I also write movies. Because I'm a writer." I begin to realize he's not going to go away, just keep getting closer. I'm not sure what to do. I catch the eye of a twentysomething guy sitting nearby reading a book. I give him the "help me" look, and he comes to rescue me.

John (I found out his name later) pretended to know me, asked this guy why he was bothering his lady friend. The drunk guy (really you can smell the fumes) doesn't get the hint and starts telling both of us how he's a writer and a lot of other stuff that was impossible to follow. He keeps wandering away and coming back. When he starts touching my arm, John tells him to back off. When he grabs me around the waist, John pulls him away to have a chat. This is only semi-effective. The guy keeps coming back, but John stands between us to keep him away from me.

Finally the drunk guy goes off to bother someone else. Now that this is under control, John and I begin the awkward, well-thanks-for-helping-me-out-maybe-we-should-get-to-know-each-other. He lives in Brooklyn and works as a community gardener, which sounds like a pretty awesome job. He gets to live in New York City, drive a truck and work outside.

Second Stop: Mechanical Difficulties
So as John and I are talking, 3 o'clock comes and goes. The natives are getting restless. Where is our bus? Finally at 3:15, our bus pulls up. Hooray! Complete escape from the crazy, drunk dude. But the driver is on his cell phone and doesn't let us him. Um, that's not right. Turns out the bus won't stay in gear and keeps breaking down, so obviously it's not going to make it to D.C. They're trying to locate another bus for us. Twenty minutes later, another bus shows up. We get on it. I sit with John. And then we wait. And wait. A new driver has shown up. But then there seems to be so disagreement, and the original driver gets on the bus. Finally, we pull out. But it's 4:15, and traffic in New York has started to get nasty. It's going to be a long ride. And it is. Luckily, the show two movies, which John and I can make sarcastic comments about.

Third Stop: The Fender-Bender
With all the delays, we're supposed to get into D.C. about 9. I called my friend so he could drive in to meet me. We finally hit the city limits just before 9. Thanks to Hurricane Ivan, it's pouring. Suddenly, our driver is laying on his horn and breaking. Then there is a thud. We just hit a Geo Tracker. Now we're never going to get there.

No one is hurt in the bus or the car. Our license plate is bent, and the back window of the Tracker is knocked out. The guy driving the Tracker doesn't seem to care, just wants to get on his way after exchangin information. But our driver has to call his boss and call the cops to file a report. Of course, it's a Friday night in D.C. (and not a very nice part of it), so a minor traffic accident is not at the top of the priority list for the police. Luckily, we figure out what intersection we're at. We're only about five minutes away from the drop off site, so I call my friend and have him come pick me up. I finally get off the bus at about 9:30.

Really, in comparison, the rest of my weekend was uneventful.

Some days
Some days you really need a hug, and you end up in a fabulous group hug with a good friend and your two favorite Irish bartenders. (We miss you, Jack. Come back from Ireland soon!) Other days you really need a hug and the people on the other end of the phone are just too damn far away. And then there are the days you just need to eat M&Ms. Lots of M&Ms.

Grand Theft Auto
Last night, I was riding in a car of the non-taxi variety (a cousin of the Little Mama in fact) with a friend who had driven in from Jersey. We were looking for a parking spot in the Times Square area so we could meet Michelle at The Whiskey and shake what our mamas gave us. We saw some one get into a Ford Taurus. Ah, they'll be leaving soon. We pulled over a bit so we could wait for the spot and not back up traffic on 47th Street. The man behind the wheel was kind of looking down and seemed to be concentrating on something. We just need to wait for him to finish rolling his joint, and then we'll get the spot, my friend joked. The guy was taking a little while, so we pulled up and asked if he was leaving. Yeah, in just a second, he guestured. We back up and waited. The car alarm in the Taurus started going off and then stopped again quickly. After another few seconds, the car started, and the man drove away. I'm 95 percent sure he was doing more hot wiring than joint rolling.

What would you do?
a) Pull into the spot and laugh about the crazy stuff that happens in New York, knowing your car is safe because what are the odds of two cars getting stolen from the same spot. Go to the bar to meet your friends.
b) Pull into the spot and locate the nearest cop to report a stolen vehicle.
c) Pull into the spot and call 911 to report a stolen vehicle.

I chose A.

Theatre of the Bizarre
a) I would just like to formally tell the French Culinary Institute that I'm no longer looking for a roommate. I have no idea how you knew I was looking or how you got my phone number. But I have a roommate. She just moved in this week. Her name is Alexis. She's very nice. Please stop calling. The same goes for the random people who have been e-mailing me the past two days. The room is no longer available, and I don't know your friend Dominique or my (?) friend Annie or anyone who works at Coach. Thank you.

Thanks, tax-free gods
New York City just finished one of their tax-free weeks on goods under $110. It is no coincidence that I now own a pair of hot pink heels (technically, raspberry).

E4 or I need an intervention
I have the position of peanut M&Ms in the 4th floor vending machine memorized. This is probably not a good thing. I might need to be cut off. But there are always ways to cheat. Today I got my M&M fix via the "confetti" cookie at Au Bon Pain. Yum.

Wet, crowded and cranky
Let's just say my morning blew.

I like visitors (hint, hint, you should visit too)
This weekend, a friend came up to visit from D.C. We took a tour of the boroughs.
Staten Island. The Staten Island Ferry (at night, of course). We did technically step foot on the island because they make you get off the boat and get back on now. Security, blah, blah, blah.
Brooklyn. Coney Island. We made a pit stop on the way at my favorite hole in the wall pizza joint in Midwood. Fresh mozzarella+tomatoes+lots of garlic=manna from heaven. The break dancers on the boardwalk cracked my up. "We'd like to introduce our manager, 'Philip.' So when we pass the bucket around, you should fill it up. And if you just walk away, we're from Brooklyn too, so we'll chase your ass." And the Cyclone was awesome. Painful, but awesome. And they sell soft serve pistachio ice cream.
The Bronx. Yankee Stadium for a Baltimore vs. New York game. We had front row seats in the bleachers and got fabulous Yankees stocking caps as a promotion. Of course, he insisted on wearing an Orioles hat during the game. But the Yankees still won. (Ha!)
Queens. The Bohemian Beer Garden in Astoria. It was like being at a big backyard barbecue, but with lots of strangers and hearty German beer. And there was a power outage while we were there, which was pretty entertaining. I really want to go back with a bigger group of people and a deck of cards (an idea I totally stole off the people at the next table).