fun weekend

My weekend was a blast.

I've been in some serious therapy lately, and one of the things I'm learning is to take time to do what I want rather than what others want me to do. I told Carol I planned to play bike mechanic on Saturday, and I did that for several hours.

So here's the basic outline of my weekend. I rode my bike to work Friday, and I rode it to the Maplewood train station after work. Rather than locking the bike up there and taking the train to NYC and the subway to couples therapy with Carol, I took the bike on the train and pedaled up to our appointment. Riding in NYC traffic is a blast. Stuff happens really fast, because it's crowded and busy. It takes a lot of skill and nerves of steel, because you have to be out in traffic. They have bike lanes, but they're a joke.

After the appointment, I was willing to ride back to Penn Station with Carol on the subway, but she didn't mind meeting me there, so she took the subway, and I pedaled back down. We met at a deli in the station and grabbed a quick bite. Then we jumped on the train back to Maplewood.

We got home and headed out again. We have a friend named Mary, who isn't really a close friend, but we like her. Mary was throwing a 49th birthday party for Meg who has become a local celebrity for her various recoveries. Meg mentioned a few weeks ago that she doesn't have a car, so I built (or really rebuilt) a bike for her, from a trashed police auction bike. I rode it to Mary's house. We arrived late, about 10pm, but there were tons of people we know from town there. Everyone thought it was such a nice thing of me to give Meg a bike, though I didn't really think it was so unusual. It's what I do. Some people called me a mensch.

Saturday, as I said, I played bike mechanic. Most of it was actually planning and shopping. I met my friend Peter at the bike shop. I bought some things for myself. Nick the manager was, as usual, warm and helpful. The folks there are the best.

Peter and I rode from the bike shop back to my house. I live up a hill, and we took the steepest street back up. We went about as fast as we could, and I was pedaling so hard I was grunting loudly on each pedal stroke. I push myself harder when I'm with other riders.

We're doing a big project by converting Peter's bike from multi-geared to fixed-gear. We did some measurements and then ordered some things for his bike and some for me.

In the evening, Carol and I went to Roberta's birthday party in NYC. Roberta is the wife of Carol's old college friend Rick. Roberta turned 50. Carol's circle college friends is a wonderful crew. Another in the bunch is Roz, who has been with her partner Laurie for something like 30 years. We talked about life being gay, since Julia recently came out as gay. They were happy for Julia to be comfortable enough with us, since it all went so well. The party was great fun. There was lots of singing. Roberta's 18 year old son is in a barbershop quartet, and they sang four numbers for the entire party. They were really excellent. Their singing teacher was there, and I congratulated him on such fine work.

We drove Roz and Laurie and Mel home. Mel is another in the crew. I put one of my recent favorite songs on the stereo, My Whole Family Thinks I'm Gay, by Bo Burnham. I call this guy's style "Pansy Rap." Watch this video! I think it's hilarious, and so did Roz and Laurie and Mel.

Sunday, Julia had lunch with her mother for Mothers Day, so Carol and I went into NYC again to visit my mother. We brought a rose and a pre-cooked meal which we bought at Eden Gourmet, our local, excellent gourmet supermarket. We had a pleasant time. I also did some things around the house for her and Harry, like change lightbulbs, show my mother how to use her new email gadget, put felt pads on the dining chairs, move around some lamps.

Julia said she had an unusually nice time with her mother. She said she decided to try to be pleasant, and it paid off. Debi said she noticed it and appreciated it.

We went to our Harmonium rehearsal as usual, and it went very well. Our concerts will be on May 30 and 31 at 7:30pm at Grace Episcopal Church in Madison, NJ. We really like the program this time, more than usual, so I am looking forward to it.