Logan Lo's Blog

Plus a PJ video

Him: Can we go for bike or scooter ride?
Me: Absolutely!

When I got back from our trip, I really wanted to spend some time with the kid so, on the first sunny day we were able to, we hopped onto my scooter and went down the Hudson River Greenway.

Ended up at the Pier 97 playground, where the kid immediately made some friends and did his thing.

Unfortunately, the whole time, he was complaining about pain in his leg, which I found stressful.

This was further exacerbated by the fact that A-MIL told me that, while my kid was with her, he was complaining about pain the entire time.

So, the next day, I took him to urgent care in the morning to get an extra in his leg just to rule out anything like that.

My friend Nikki, Bryson’s wife, is a pediatrician and she told me that it was most likely growing pains but, with my history and bad luck, I wasn’t taking any chances.

Unfortunately, the x-ray tech never showed up so the kid went to school, and we had to come back later that day.

But, alls well that ends well, it was exactly as Nikki said: growing pains.

Me: Heya, the x-rays were totally normal. The doc we spoke to agreed with your assessment that it’s most likely growing pains, although he’s never seen it quite this bad. Anywho, thanks, as always, for entertaining alla my ridic questions.
Her: Hooray! So glad X-rays were negative and you got some peace of mind.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I found this cute little video of Sara during the pajama night that always makes me laugh

https://loganlo.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/SaraGif.mp4

We had eaten so well on that cruise, and I broke my “no carbs” rule so often that all I wanted was some New York City pizza once we got back.

Traveling’s great and all, but – really – there’s no place like home.

Mostly.

Her: What?
Me: (looking at receipt) This was almost $16 for two slices of pizza and a coke.
Her: (shrugging) That’s normal. We’re back in New York.
Me: Looks like we’ll have to rob a bank later.

Location: back in the grind
Mood: irritated
Music: we’re just made that way, made to brave the pain (Spotify)
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The best one I can make

Him: You’re 50?!
Me: Well, 53 as of last week.
Him: I would have put you at 38 or so.
Me: It’s the toupee – people think the hair’s the most important thing but it’s really the glue that matters.
Him: (laughs) Besides good genes, do you do anything special?
Me: (shrugging) I just choose not to age.
Him: How does a guy choose not to age?

The Scenic Fights producers were pretty sweet and posted a nice birthday greeting for me on the YouTube channel.

Didn’t think they would tell the viewers my actual age since I figured they would want people to believe what they wanted to believe but they listed it after all.

What’s wild is that, as of this writing, I have 560 comments on the post, mainly with people either just wishing me well or wishing me well but also not believing that I’m 53.

The thing is that getting chronologically older isn’t a choice but getting biologically older is a choice and it’s one that people make every single day.

Half of it is that, because I was a fat kid, I’ve been watching what I put into my body since I was 12 years old – the same age as Sara’s kid now.

See, you make a choice every single time you pick something to put into your body.

Like when I was in college, in Dickson Hall, I lived with a hippie that refused to have a bagel.

Asked him why and he said, “Because a bagel has 35 grams of carbs and that’s more than my total for the day.”

It was the first time I’d ever heard the word, “carbs” so I went to the library (this was waaaaay before the internet) and got some books and read up on what that meant.

And I was mindful, since that random day, about how many carbs I ate.

Likewise, as a club promoter, I’d often end my nights at a diner on 3rd Avenue called the Around the Clock Diner – it’s long since closed.

Anywho, I remember that I went with some women after event and someone ordered this huge plate of chili cheese fries and I declined to have any.

Some girl: Logan’s always on a diet.
Some other girl: He doesn’t need to be on a diet.
Me: Yeah. That’s because I’m always on a diet.

I was still out with alla my friends.

I was still living the NYC young adult life.

I just was careful with what I let into my body and life.

Still am.

The other half is what we do with the roughly 28,260 days we all get.

I never stopped physically playing.

See, we call it “the gym” as adults, but my kid just asks, “Can I go outside and play?”

When I’m waving sticks and swords around or rolling around with people trying to not get strangled, I’m not really so much doing violence as I’m just…playing.

Like football is crazy violent. It’s also a game. It’s also play.

I chose not to age because I choose to never stop playing, which keeps my mind and body young.

It’s not a chore to go to the gym.

Because it’s not a chore to go play.

It’s the opposite of a chore, in fact. My kid understands that.

Shockingly few of my peers understand that.

https://loganlo.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Clip-1_2_2.mp4

Alla that is why getting chronologically old isn’t a choice but getting biologically older is.

We’re choosing with every food choice we make, the life we wanna live down the line.

And it all adds up, like Jacob Marley’s chains.

And like those chains, we wear the bodies we forge in life, bit by bit, cell by cell; we girded it on of our own free-will, and of our own free will, we wear it.

So, I am careful – very careful – with what I wear eat and do.

Because I believe this is the only life we get, so I want it to be the best one I can make it.

Although, on that note, I probably should cut back slightly on all that fiber.

Her: (turning to me) What happened to you in there!? Look at your hair!
Me: (exiting smallest room in my pad) It was an experience.
Her: Yes? Should I be jealous?
Me: No, you’ll always be my number one. (pause) Although that was a number two.
Her: (bursts out laughing) OK, ok. (wipes eyes) OK, you can put that in the blog.

Location: my desk, shooting a short as an experiment
Mood: busy!
Music: This life would just be so easy (Spotify)
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Nuthin

Him: 53! You’re another year closer to death.
Me: I’m another year closer to baseline.
Him: What does that mean?
Me: (shrugging) I’ve been dead a lot longer than I’ve ever been alive. Once I’m dead, things will go back to normal.

98% of the universe is hydrogen (74%) and helium (24%); the remaining 2% is the stuff we care about and most of that is nuthin.

In fact, most of the universe is just that: Nuthin.

No light, no heat, no life.

Just..nuthin.

But on top of all the current nuthin, everything before us and after us was and will be…nuthin.

Life itself and everything we know is an anomaly.

If all of time was the following, then the entirety of all life from the Big Bang onwards – planets, stars, galaxies, people, dinosaurs, hot blondes from the south, everything that ever existed and will exist – would be a single atomic particle somewhere inside another atom, inside that green cross below.

…++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++…

And all those white crosses before and after that atomic particle would stretch out into infinity and just be fulla…nuthin.

Mark Twain once said, “I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.”

That’s probably the truest thing the fella ever said.

And, after these short 53 years, I’m not so much afraid of dying as I’m a little weary of life itself.

Don’t get me wrong, I AM afraid of dying, and I definitely WANT to stick around for as long as possible I’m able to enjoy it, but I’m also old enough to feel, well, tired.

But the kid’s not ready yet and I’ve gotta do everything I can to stick around until he’s ready to face the world alone.

Alison once said that the moment you become a parent is the moment you start worrying and never stop. She was right.

In any case, I look at people that spend their lives watching Netflix and gorging themselves on junk and wonder if they truly appreciate the astronomical odds that gave them life in a universe filled with nuthin.

Like, you’re actually sentient and have free will and what you choose to do with it is buy MAGA hats and believe nonsense.

It seems insane to me.

We’re so unbelievably lucky to even exist – we are in such an infinitesimally small minority that, if I think about it too much, I feel my own madness begin – and yet so many people, myself included, squander it.

I suppose that’s why most people seem insane to me.

Because this – existence itself – is the outlier.

Since the beginning of time, most of everything was nuthin.

And someday, it’ll all be nuthin again and never stop being nuthin.

And that’s when it occurred to me that perhaps everyone else is sane and I’m the insane one.

Not that it would surprise me.

Him: So how are you gonna celebrate?
Me: Gonna have some rum, make out with the wife, go to bed with a good book. The kid’s gonna let me sleep in.
Him: (laughing) Living the dream, man.
Me: (nodding) Living is the dream, man. Few people get the chance.

Location: here in space and time, if only for a moment
Mood: philosophical
Music: each one and the next one to arrive; the argument for consciousness (Spotify)
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Guess I live here now

The next day, Sara had arranged a full day to celebrate both of our birthdays since it was kinda the midway point between both of ours.

To this end, we started off with a brunch with bottomless cocktails at the steakhouse on the ship.

She even booked the nicest table at the rear overlooking the ocean – the view was gorgeous.

The view of the water was nice too.

I may have had a bit too much to drink.

Me: I almost dropped my room key into the urinal. BUT, my lightning fast 52-year-old reflexes caught it!
Her: (rolls eyes) You’re like a week from 53. Can you imagine the conversation with the ship staff if you didn’t catch it?
Me: If I didn’t catch it, I wasn’t gonna fish it out. I’d just be, “Welp, I guess I live here now.”

We had such a good meal that we ended up going back there again for dinner where I had lamb chops, a filet, flank steak, and a ton of sides.

This is the before shot.

This was the after.

Her: I can’t believe you ate all that.
Me: OMG, that was a lot even for me.

We had to walk it off so we went around the ship checking out various events and such.

Later on that night was Virgin’s Red Night, which is their big shindig and the entire ship is in red.

Sara even got her face done by some people on the ship.

It was a pretty fun night with copious amounts of alcohol.

The next day, the weather was finally warm(ish) enough for us to kinda go out onto the balcony…

…and do some general stupid human tricks.

https://loganlo.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/LoganGif.mp4

But it was also cold enough that we were pretty much the only people dumb enough to be outside at all.

This is us on The Net, which is essentially netting a few stories over the water – it woulda been super cool in the Caribbean.

We are freezing in the video below.

That night, we had our final dinner on the ship, which was at their Mexican restaurant…

…and Sara had ordered another meal with unlimited drinks.

Sara: (to waitress) But no mezcal.
Me: Or tequila.
Sara: Definitely not. Just put in rum instead.
Waitress: OK, not a problem!

We ate until I couldn’t move.

But Sara had one last surprise, which was a cake for the two of us.

The next morning, we got up and I had my last first brekkie of salmon and avocados…

…and my last second brekkie of an acai bowl.

After that, our trip to Bermuda Canada was done.

Me: OK, so it wasn’t a Caribbean vacation, but it was still nice and the ship was gorgeous.
Her: True. And I think it’s the best food I’ve ever had on a ship.
Me: Agreed – and we had each other, so that made it great and I had a good time.
Her: (laughing) OK.

Location: yesterday, all over Queens and Brooklyn – Woodhaven, Ozone Park, Ridgewood, Brooklyn Manor, Cypress Hills, etc.
Mood: busy, busy, bzzz, bzzz, bzzz
Music: lost within the darkness, but then I found her (Spotify)
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Not Bermuda

Thanks for alla the birthday wishes!

Now, where were we…

The next morning, after my usual brekkie of all the salmon and avocados I could acquire on the ship…

…we got up to check out Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada.

Her: Maybe it won’t be so bad.
Me: Here’s hoping.

Nope. It was pretty terrible.

Sara’s face really says it all.

This is her doing her level best to be positive on a trolley tour, which was only so interesting.

OK, maybe terrible is too strong a word for it, but it wasn’t great.

It was pretty…meh.

No fault to St. Johns, per se; life only makes sense with relativism.

After all, no one understands hunger unless they’ve been fed, no one understands wealth unless they’ve been poor, etc.

Here, we were planning on heading to beautiful and warm Bermuda and ended up going to somewhat grey and decidedly cold St. Johns.

The trolly tour of the town was about 90 minutes and not terrible but also not anything like a sunny Caribbean beach – at least we learned about what happened to Benedict Arnold after he betrayed the US.

At least it was sunny, albeit cold.

The rapids were supposed to be pretty impressive but the looming paper factory in the distance really killed the view.

I cut it outta the pic above, but you can still kinda see it.

Afterward, we went to the market there – the oldest market in all of Canada, evidently – so Sara could have her first poutine.

That, she enjoyed.

Her: Wait, so poutine is just French fries with gravy and cheese?
Me: Looks that way. (trying it) This is pretty gross and delicious.
Her: Yes.

The market was pretty nice and probably the nicest part about our visit there.

The rest of the town was pretty sparse, like this mostly empty mall which was decidedly creepy.

Me: Although I think this is the same situation back in the states.
Her: Yup. Malls are definitely dying out.

While we were there, we realized that her forever nemesis – birds – were following her.

Waiting.

When we got back to the ship, I was on a carb and cheese kick, so we promptly got a pizza.

Afterward, we went out to check out the outdoors areas of the ship; something we didn’t get a chance to check out at all previously because it was so cold and dark.

Although, it was just as cold except it was bright.

Still, it was nice to essentially have the run of the outdoor areas to ourselves.

We didn’t do much the rest of the night; she went to catch a show by herself while I went to get some reading and writing done.

I did catch part of another show myself and I may have also had a salad, a double burger…

…and an enormous foot long hot dog topped with a Reuben (pastrami, sauerkraut, and Swiss) plus a beer.

My 50s are exciting times, lemme tell ya.

Location: my place with five kids, four adults, six beers, one bottlea rum, one pizza, and 70 dumplings
Mood: grinding
Music: just been at the wrong party (Spotify)
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Once I was seven years old

Taking a brief pause in my riveting – riveting, I tell you – tale of our trip to Canada to tell you that I’m now 53 years old.

Half-a-century-plus-three.

Wild. I don’t feel 53 most days, although there are times that I’m rudely reminded that I am, in fact, that age.

Sara loves me and the kid still wants to hang out with me so there’s that.

Speaking of the kid, this is him at eight years old playing Seven Years by Lukas Graham.

I was last seven years old 46 years ago.

Here’s hoping I have another 46, maybe?

Back to the usual nonsense on Monday.

Now, wish me a happy birthday, alla you people that read me and never say anything.

Seven Years
by
Lukas Graham

Once, I was seven years old, my mama told me
“Go make yourself some friends or you’ll be lonely”
Once, I was seven years old

It was a big, big world, but we thought we were bigger
Pushing each other to the limits, we were learnin’ quicker
By eleven, smokin’ herb and drinkin’ burnin’ liquor
Never rich, so we were out to make that steady figure

Once, I was eleven years old, my daddy told me
“Go get yourself a wife or you’ll be lonely”
Once, I was eleven years old

I always had that dream like my daddy before me
So I started writin’ songs, I started writin’ stories
Something about that glory just always seemed to bore me
‘Cause only those I really love will ever really know me

Once, I was twenty years old, my story got told
Before the mornin’ sun, when life was lonely
Once, I was twenty years old

I only see my goals, I don’t believe in failure
‘Cause I know the smallest voices, they can make it major
I got my boys with me, at least those in favor
And if we don’t meet before I leave, I hope I’ll see you later

Once, I was twenty years old, my story got told
I was writin’ ’bout everything I saw before me
Once, I was twenty years old

Soon, we’ll be thirty years old, our songs have been sold
We’ve traveled around the world and we’re still roamin’
Soon, we’ll be thirty years old

I’m still learnin’ about life, my woman brought children for me
So, I can sing them all my songs and I can tell them stories
Most of my boys are with me, some are still out seekin’ glory
And some I had to leave behind, my brother, I’m still sorry

Soon, I’ll be sixty years old, my daddy got sixty-one
Remember life and then your life becomes a better one
I made a man so happy when I wrote a letter once
I hope my children come and visit once or twice a month

Soon, I’ll be sixty years old, will I think the world is cold
Or will I have a lot of children who can warm me?
Soon, I’ll be sixty years old
Soon, I’ll be sixty years old, will I think the world is cold
Or will I have a lot of children who can warm me?
Soon, I’ll be sixty years old

Once, I was seven years old, my mama told me
“Go make yourself some friends or you’ll be lonely”
Once, I was seven years old
Once, I was seven years old

Location: well past middle age
Mood: creaky
Music: Soon, I’ll be sixty years old (Spotify)
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Slay the day

Our first day on the ship was pretty uneventful.

We got to our cabin – which was pretty gorgeous – and unpacked.

Even though it was closer to her birthday than mine, Sara surprised me with a bottle of champagne in the room.

Me: OMG, you’re the best!
Her: I’ve got a few more surprises for you as well.
Me: Someone’s getting lucky tonight…
Her: (laughs)

One more really annoying thing was that we were gonna save some money and just have a window insteada a balcony since it was just the two of us, but we decided that, since it was our birthdays, we’d splurge on the balcony.

Well, that was a HUGE waste of money as there was no chance we could be out on it for any meaningful amount of time as it was freezing out there.

Anywho, getting back to our first night, we went to the Korean restaurant on the ship and had a feast.

While there, we crossed under the Verrazzano Bridge, which some non-natives asked if it was the Brooklyn Bridge.

Both Sara and I had been on a significant number of ships already but I gotta say that Virgin probably had the best food either of us had ever had.

But more on that later.

We finished off the night at the nightclub there for a pajama party – where everyone was dressed in PJs.

We were pretty entertained.

As we were walking around…

Him: I know you! Where do I know you?
Sara: Do you watch a lotta YouTube?
Him: Yes?
Me: Do you watch Scenic Fights?
Him: YES! Logan!

It’s wild to meet a fan ON a cruise ship in the middle of the Atlantic.

Not a bad way to start the vacation.

The next day, woke up at six AM and couldn’t fall back asleep, so I decided to hit up the gym.

Because the only other guy there was using the upper body weights, I decided to not skip leg day and focus on that.

When I went back to the cabin Sara was awake, so I brought her a cup of coffee.

We went to get brekkie where I ate my weight in avocados and salmon.

Me: If we’re not gonna go to Bermuda, I’m gonna make back alla our money in food.
Her: Sounds reasonable.
Me: It’s the Chinese way.

After brekkie, we explored the ship for the rest of the day.

We overhead one very sweet couple talk to the staff about how unfortunate it was that we were heading to Canada because they had flown from Canada to head to NYC to sail to Bermuda.

Instead, they flew from Canada to NYC only to sail BACK to Canada, to sail back to NYC, to fly back to Cananda.

Her: They were so nice!
Me: I know! Can you imagine buying plane tickets to Miami, renting a hotel room, boarding a ship, only to sail back to NYC, sail back to Miami, just to fly back to NYC? I woulda lost my mind.

Because Sara is a sucker for a trivia games, we ended up competing in one.

Outta maybe 60 teams, we were part of the four team finalists.

We woulda been the winners but, for the question: “What was the most popular social platform of 2009?”

We choose Facebook insteada MySpace and we had to do the runoff, which had a Wayne Gretzey question as the tiebreaker – we got that question completely wrong.

That was fine, though.

We had a cocktail party to attend…

…before headed to a dinner at their experimental molecular gastronomy restaurant, The Test Kitchen, which Steel woulda loved.

The food was very Wylie Dufresne-esque – both delicious and very, very cool.

We headed back to our cabin fairly early, but Sara wanted to grab a drink.

I figured that, since I’d have to break my intermittent fasting early the next morning, it wouldn’t matter if I had an afterhours drink, so I joined her.

Her: Actually, I want to try going to casino.
Me: Well, I know little to nuthin about gambling but let’s go.

So, that’s what we did.

There were a lotta technical issues – and some personnel ones as well with an extremely rude casino worker – but the casino manager was just great and comped us two drinks, which definitely made things much better.

Me: How much did you put in?
Her: $25? We can’t get it back, so we’ll have to use it all.
Me: OK, let’s go.

She did amazingly well – we ended up making back everything she spent and then some, plus the free drinks.

Me: I don’t want you to think this is how it usually goes.
Her: Beginner’s luck!

So, in our night out on the ship, we ended up making a few bucks.

We went to get some empty carbs to celebrate.

The next day, we were gonna be in Canada.

It wasn’t a sunny beach, but maybe – in light of our time in the casino – our luck was gonna turn?

Narrator: It was not.

Location: urgent care, waiting for an x-ray machine tech to show up
Mood: back-to-the-grind
Music: I’m easy come, easy go, little high, little low (Spotify)
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Where the heck is Saint John, New Brunswick?

Her: Oh no!
Me: What?
Her: Did you read the email we got from Virgin? We’re not going to Bermuda!
Me: Wait, what?

Sara turned a milestone birthday this year and, since we both like to cruise, we decided to head to our closest tropical destination to celebrate: Bermuda.

To this end, we booked a trip on the Virgin Valient Lady between our birthdays in April.

We booked it because:

it was easy since the terminal was just 15 mins from our pad andwe were both so familiar with Bermuda that we knew exactly what we wanted to do.

But the first thing that changed on us was that our departure terminal changed from the Upper West Side to Brooklyn, which was annoying but not terrible.

The second change, though, threw us for a loop: Literally two days before we were ready to set sail, we got an email that said that we were heading to freezing CANADA instead of Bermuda.

Due to forecasted weather, it’s become necessary to adjust our itinerary to keep things smooth, safe, and comfortable. Instead of Bermuda, we’ll now be heading to Saint John, New Brunswick.

We know this isn’t what you originally planned, and we really appreciate your flexibility. This change will ensure we avoid rough conditions and take you somewhere a little unexpected, with its own charm, coastline, and character to explore.

Me: We’re going where?!
Her: Saint John, New Brunswick.
Me: Where the heck is Saint John, New Brunswick?
Her: I have no idea, Logan.

We were both pretty annoyed but, looking at the weather forecast, it did show that it was going to rain the entire time we were going to be in Bermuda so there wasn’t much to do but make the best of it.

Now, we had already decided to meet up with a buddy of mine, who’s the CEO of a bank here in NYC, and her sister down in Chinatown right before the trip.

Because of all the changes, we actually had time for lunch insteada just coffee so off we went with luggage in tow.

CEO: Where are you two going?
Me: Hoo-boy, that’s a story. Let’s sit down to lunch and we’ll tell you all about it.

They brought us to a Malaysian restaurant named Curry House as I’d not had that in ages and Sara’s never had it ever.

I’d not seen the two of them since before Alison got sick so were chatted nonstop and time flew by before Sara said we had to run.

With that, we headed down to the pier, where we got there with three minutes to spare for the ferry to the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal.

But…

Her: Shoot, my internet isn’t working!
Me: I’ll go buy paper tickets.
Her: Hurry!

I did, but we missed the ferry by literally 30 seconds.

And those 30 seconds cost us a $35 Uber ride to the Brooklyn pier.

But we made out departure, so we were off…to Canada.

Her: (shaking head) Canada! It’s going to be 27 degrees on Wednesday!
Me: Maybe it’ll be ok.
Her: We’ll see.

Location: back home, which we’re happy about
Mood: rested-ish
Music: Set an open course for the virgin sea cause I’ve got to be free (Spotify)
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Turns out, it was me all along

Me: You know what I realized recently?
Her: No, what?
Me: I never really thought of it but, I’m 52, which means that I’m over half-a-century old.
Her: That is how math works, Logan.
Me: (laughing) I’m aware. It’s just one of those elusive obvious things that are obvious once you think about it but completely invisible to you when you don’t.

Years ago, I once told you this apocryphal story about Columbus and how he was able to stand an egg up on one side by itself.

In the end, someone said that it was easy, to which Columbus was said to have replied, “Everything is easy once someone shows you how.”

A more succinct way of putting that it was simply something that was the elusive obvious:

Those things that are stupidly and patently obvious, if you just sat down and thought about it for little bit.

In many ways, this entire blog is fulla the elusive obvious.

Was talking with a buddy of mine the other day – we met in our 20s and he’s a couple of years older than me so he’s now in his mid-50s and I’m catching up.

With my birthday coming up, I’ve been finding myself looking back on my life and realizing a lot of things that shoulda been obvious to me but simply…weren’t.

Me: I’ve reached an age where…you know what I’ve realized?
Him: What?
Me: Looking back, in so many interactions, I was the villain in the story.
Him: I have that – mine were mostly with women.
Me: Some of mine as well. I mentioned that to someone once and she asked if I’d consider calling them to apologize. But what would that do? It’s really just to make me feel better, they probably just are happy that I’ve never reached out to them. Better to just let sleeping dogs lie.

It really is such a wild thing to look back with older, and calmer, eyes and realize that you were the villain in someone’s story.

The thing that’s been bothering me the most, lately, though was that I’d never really realized just how often it was me until only recently.

Yet again, the elusive obvious.

And with most elusive obvious things, once I’ve noticed it, I can’t un-notice it.

Location: The middle of the Atlantic
Mood: It’s tricky
Music: I’ve gone identity mad (Spotify)
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Three miles on the westside

Me: What do you want to do on your actual birthday?
Her: Honestly? I just want to take a nice walk around NYC like we did when we were in Pasadena.
Me: Really? That’s easy. I can make that happen.

Me: OK, I have an itinerary. Wanna see it?
Her: Sure! Whacha got?

We start at 14 St / 7 Ave
8 min walk to Chelsea Market
15–20 minutes at Chelsea Market
5 min walk to High Line at 16th Street
Walk 1 minutes to 23rd St and go to 10th Avenue and Hudson River Park
Waterfront walk for 12–15 minutes
Exit the park around W 50th St and east to 9th Avenue, stores along the way
Walking north on 9th Avenue to 852 9th Avenue and dinner
Walk to stores at Columbus Circle, train to 96th and home

Her: That sounds great!

Me: Crap.
Her: What?
Me: Did you see the weather?
Her: (checks her phone) Oh no!! It’s gonna rain. Wait, I know, let’s go to Hudson Yards. We can walk to the restaurant from there.

Me: Oh, but that stinks, I wanted you to get the city, parks, and waterfront.
Her: It’s ok. At least we’ll still get to do some window shopping and have dinner.
Me: Sweeeeeeeeet. Let’s go.

Me: You know, the last time I was here was with you. It’s so much busier now.
Her: Well, that’s a good thing, right? Oh, Kate Spade! Can I check out some stuff?
Me: It’s your birthday, for sure.
Her: Thanks!
Me: I’ll just get comfortable in the husband chairs. (later) Hey baby, we should get going.

Me: (walking past the Dyer Avenue / W 36th Street interchange) You know, when I was a young guy working in midtown, I’d never – in a million years – imagine there’d be all these expensive restaurants around here. Literally, this is where you would go to get shived.
Her: I can imagine.

Her: Logan, you gotta slow down.
Me: You know, walking speed is directly related to biological age. The faster a person walks, the younger – biologically – someone is.
Her: Yes, you’ve said that but… OH CRAP!!!
Me: What?
Her: OMG…eeeewwwwww…
Me: DID ANOTHER BIRD POOP ON YOU?!
Her: I hate pigeons, Logan. I hate them so much.

Me: Wait, aren’t we close to the restaurant?
Her: Lemme check. (looks up address) Shoot, Kashkaval Garden is on West 56th, not West 50th.
Me: OK, six more blocks…
Her: (after arriving) Finally!
Me: I’m starving.
Her: Me too.
Me: (after the food had arrived) OK, first of all, man, does it feel decadent to eat all this bread. Secondly, alla this is so good.
Her: The tapenade and the whipped beets are my favourites.
Me: Nuthin beats beets.

Me: Excuse me, waiter?
Him: Yes?
Me: We also ordered some meat skewers. Could you check to see how they’re doing? We’re about done with these.
Him: Of course!
Her: Good, I was getting full.
Me: Yeah, me too – I’m not used to eating all this bread.

Me: You up to walk to West 72nd instead of Columbus Circle to take the train home?
Her: Sure. We can walk off some of that food.
Me: (walking past my law school) Man, I can’t believe law school was 30 years ago. That’s…crazy.
Her: (after walking past Lincoln Center) It’s amazing we get to walk past things like this all the time.
Me: It’s amazing what we get used to.

Her: Hey, do you mind if we pop into the Apple Store?
Me: (shrugging) Sure.
Her: (after a few minutes) I was almost gonna get the new iPhone 17 but they’re closing in five minutes. I don’t wanna make someone stay late.
Me: Well, they do make a commission.
Her: I heard someone say that they’re not doing any more sales. I’ll come back. Besides, it’s late and I want to go home.
Me: Yeah, I’m exhausted – we walked three miles!

Me: (at home) Was it a good birthday?
Her: You were there, so yes.
Me: Sorry we didn’t get to do what I had planned.
Her: It’s fine. We’ll have lots of birthdays to do together.

Location: all up and down the west side
Mood: sore
Music: Look myself in the eye, feel the crack of a smile (Spotify)
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