Old friends of old friends are the best friends

My old friend Jason's old friend Dan was visiting NYC with his fiancee, Lucy, so Jason asked me to come up to see Dan. We had last met back in 2002, when the guys visited me in NYC and we all had something of a religious experience involving a snowman and the Columbia Spectator. In any case, I was looking forward to seeing Dan again and meeting Lucy, and Gretchen invited me to stay with her in The World's Most Expensive Studio, so I went. The city was in an uproar while I was there, since a steam pipe had exploded on Lexington Ave earlier in the day while I was held hostage on the Amtrak (note to self: In the future, FLY). Once I got to the city, I went to 61st St and chatted with Gretchen for a bit and then headed downtown to meet Jason et al. They were in a terrific Indian restaurant in the Village, the kind with 7-foot ceilings and 2-foot crap hanging from them. After ice cream, we headed to Belgian beer bar, which I can never find unless I am with Jason and even then, only after walking past it 2 or 3 times. Thursday I walked around the UES by myself for a while and then met up with my friend Melissa in midtown. I accompanied her to the Columbia med school campus, where we ate at old school favorite Dallas BBQ before her job interview. I went back to 61st St and got ready for dinner, then took a cab to Jason's confusing neighborhood, where we had drinks on the roof before heading to The Strip House, one of the best steak joints in the city. The steak was transcendent. I think I may have offered to give away my first-born child at one point, but I was quite fuzzy on the whole thing. After that we went to a few bars and I headed back up to Gretchen's around 2am to catch the early Delta Shuttle on Friday so we would be back in time for SCUBA lessons. We made it with plenty of time to spare, yet somehow I was late to class. That's a story for another day.

I think I may have offered to give away my first-born child at one point