Tag: fiction

One More Stadium, Day #2. “A Visit to the Past, Plus Some Comedy”

by reissmd, posted in New York City

This entry most likely will be boring unless you are my sister.  Feel free to stop reading now.  How’s that for a enticing teaser?

We had tickets to a show Monday night and not much planned for the morning.  Patrice asked what I would like to do and I said, “Explore my roots”.  Being the good sport that she is she said “Sure!” and we were on our way.

Thanks to our experience yesterday with our daughter-in-law, Robyn, we felt very confident taking the subway to Queens.  That was our home when we last lived in NYC.  We took the train to Rego Park, Queens and walked a short distance to 99-60 63rd Road.  It was somewhat surprising but I recognized the building as we approached it. We met a current tenant who told us the building was now a co-op (no renters) and she purchased her 1 bedroom unit 2 years ago for $250.000.  We didn’t talk about the cost of a home in Los Angeles

99-60 63rd Road, in Rego Park, Queens. Childhood home of a famous blogger.

We said goodbye to my former residence and then took a short walk to Stephen Halsey Junior High School where my brother attended.  Amazingly I directed us to the school from memory.  I recall “almost dying” there playing stick ball (I got hit in the stomach with a liner that knocked the wind out of me, very scary for a 7 year old).  

Then we headed to Forest Hills HS.  It was also a relatively short walk and nothing looked familiar.  We were both impressed about the beauty of the homes leading up to the school.  I didn’t have any memory of ever being there before.  We introduced ourselves to the security guards who were very welcoming.  Patrice told them that my sister attended the school a few years ago.  I told them 69 years ago to be exact.  I informed them that she was in the class one year ahead of Simon and Garfunkel.  They were not impressed but one of the guards was kind enough to take our picture but more importantly they let Patrice use the bathroom. 

Possibly the first, and most likely the last, time I will be at Forest Hills High School.

Then it was off to PS 206 where I went to school until I finished 2nd grade.  Zero memory of my days there and the staff we met didn’t seem to care that a former student was now a famous travel blogger . 

We then took the train back to Grand Central Terminal.  We had lobster rolls in the station dining area where I received an email informing us that our show for the night was cancelled.  Ugh

Pretty much everything on Broadway is closed on Mondays.  This might be the “City that never sleeps “ but apparently they do take a nap on Monday (well at least Broadway does).  Lucky for us Robyn and her brother Corey had lots of recommendations.  

At their suggestion we went to the  New York Comedy Club (https://newyorkcomedyclub.com). The club has three venues and we went to the one on the upper west side.  This location was very small and had an intimate environment.  We saw 7 or 8 comics and had a wonderful time.  It was a great way to end a wonderful trip.  

Moments before the show from our great front row seats.

We are done traveling until August. If you want to hear from us please provide a like or a comment.  I need to know people are out there because I don’t like talking to myself (Patrice here: He doesn’t like talking himself?  Does he actually think I am listening to him every night?)

Ciao

Magic in Vegas Day#4 “No, No, Please Say It Isn’t Over”

by reissmd, posted in Las Vegas

I won’t bore you with stories about breakfast except to say we went to Blueberry Hill again.   It was great again. How this place gets a 3.9 rating on Yelp is beyond me.

The morning session was at times a bit mind boggling,  mind blowing, and mind numbing.  We heard an interview with Penn and Teller and also a lecture about under appreciated Black magicians which were very interesting.  There was a very impressive mentalism performance by an act named Mind 2 Mind. I don’t think many of the men in the audience concentrated on the act after the female part of the duo walked through the audience. (see below) 

The female part of the Mind 2 Mind twosome. This was the reason many of the men didn’t pay attention to the tricks and just stared at her. I of course was focused on the magic.

Patrice here. Do you believe that nonsense he just said? Ask him to name one of their tricks and see if he can name any.

Lastly and most sobering was a talk about an attempt to end piracy of magic books and tricks.  Apparently the pirates not only have stolen money but have also threatened the investigator with extortion and threats of physical harm. Yikes!

The afternoon sessions were great.  I learned some great tricks to do plus some others that although I can’t do were interesting to learn the secrets.  

Dinner was also a show.  Yes we went to Benihana.  We joined Bill and his son Bill and 4 other friends from back home, John, Connie (who told us about Magic Live) and their friends Gary and Cindy. It is always a lot of fun watching and listening to the Benihana chefs and tonight was no exception.

From left to right: Bill II, Bill (Bill II’s dad), John, Connie, Cindy, Gary. Row 2: Patrice, Yours truly, and Owen.

When I asked my magic buddy, Mike, if he wanted to attend Magic Live, he scoffed at the thought of staying at such a cheap hotel as the Orleans.  I have to admit that he was right in many respects.  Of interest there were a couple of things that made the hotel desirable. For example the hotel doesn’t have any pressure filters in the shower so you get a real blast which I really like.  Also the water temperature is extremely hot. I love a hot shower.  Newer hotels tend to limit the water pressure (money saver?) and temperature (possibly to avoid injuring guests and hearing from attorneys?) so the Orleans has my vote in regards to the shower.  Interestingly this morning Owen noticed that the cold water from the sink was hot.  I’ve been to numerous locations where hot water is a rarity (LAX for example) but I’ve never seen any location where the cold water is hot.  Well, not until today.  

The closing show was one more treat to top off a great 3 days of magic. It is late and I don’t want to bore you with details of the show. Actually I need my editor to proofread my posting and she is fading fast so we need to call it a night.

Tomorrow it’s back to home.  I am always happy to return home but I have to admit this trip was very special. I look forward to returning next year. Thanks go to our friends who made it a unique event. Treating us to dinners, driving us to locations, waiting in line to save us seats, gifts for our grandson, showing us the lay of the land for the convention, is too much to fathom. What a wonderful group of friends. I am really blessed.

Not a great photo but definitely a great bunch of people.

No trips planned for the near future but if we head out of town I promise you’ll be the first to know. 

Ciao