the diary of antoine roquentin

The last few days have been a blur.

On Saturday, my mom and I woke up at seven o’clock in the morning to make sure that we made it to The Wages of Fear on time. Bus service is erratic on Saturdays and Sundays, so we couldn’t take the chance of missing the later bus. We arrived at the West 4th Street subway station an hour and a half before the movie started, so we decided to go to this French café that we had been to before. We got coffee and scones and my mother regaled me with stories from her fishing days. We got on that subject because I asked whether a friend of hers that we both knew was a good captain. According to my mom, the thing makes a good captain is knowing what to do when the shit hits the fan.

There were only a few people in the café, so we had a great leisurely morning. After coffee, we walked over to the IFC Center (which seems to be the only venue that has independent film in the city, at least so far).

The movie was incredible. I don’t know, maybe it’s because we saw the movie in a theater, but it was just mindblowing. I don’t think I’ve seen a better film in years. It has an incredibly sad end. After the film was over, this woman stood up behind us and exclaimed in a tearful voice “This is the worst day of my life.” We thought she was joking, and then we saw the contorted expression on her face. We were so floored by the movie we walked over to Washington Square Park and watched some street performers for a while. It was a beautiful day.

After that, we headed back to the house to have some lunch. After lunch, we went over to Lowe’s and got some patio furniture for my uncle, which I put together once we got home. At about this time, my heart started to pound. I knew that in an hour I would be on the bus to New York City. At night. Alone.

I played it cool for the fam, but inside I had tons of butterflies. I convinced myself that they were mostly concert butterflies as I was getting ready, but as I stood at the bus stop waiting it didn’t seem real. It took about 10 minutes (I think we’d hit Union City) that my heart started palpitating. It was oddly poetic that we had just seen a movie intensely focused on the human reaction to fear.

We got to the Port Authority, and I descended staircase upon escalator upon staircase to get to the subway. I had scoped out the venue (the Bowery Ballroom) the day before and decided to take the most direct route (a backwards-to-go-forwards-but-only-one-transfer affair). After a wasted hour figuring out that the JMZ doesn’t stop at Broadway – Nassau on weekends (thanks for the shitty signage, MTA), I climbed out of the Bowery station right in front of the venue.

Will call line, flash of the ID, a rum and coke, and I emerged into the back of the concert hall. The place was packed (all the way to the back, I could barely get in), but the band sounded incredible. I didn’t find out until later that I was listening to the opening band (A Place to Bury Strangers) of which I am now a huge fan. (There’s a picture here, but it’s copyrighted so I can’t put it on my blog.) After the first act I was able to get very close to the stage and actually dance a bit. I was having such a good time, and sharing it via mobile AIM with a friend I’d met online named Sebastian. He met me at the station and we went to a few bars and this Ukranian diner, walking all over NYC on the way. It was the most fun I’ve had since I moved here. I lost track of time (I’d been up about 19 hours at that point) and realized it was 5 a.m. and that I’d better be heading home, so we walked to the subway and parted ways.

I slept for ages. Today was the first day I’m back on a normal schedule. I spent the day with my mom and my grandma, we went to Metropolitan, this amazing flower and plant store. It was the size of a Wal-Mart and it was completely devoted to plants. Totally awesome. After that, we trimmed a bunch of the trees on the side of the house that were impeding sunlight to our fantasy garden. After dinner, we went over to Lowe’s and got the stuff to create a planter box for our vegetables and such that we want to plant. After this weekend, I am so exhausted. I’m glad I don’t have anything to do this week save for work.

Awesome bonus: the pool opened this weekend, but we didn’t get to go. I’m walking down there tomorrow to try it out.