Travel Days- A Greatest Hits of Sorts
Upon arriving back from New Orleans, I was greeted by the very good news that I got enough money back from insurance that I could afford to get a very reasonably priced used Nissan Versa. My old car, as their lovely euphemism states, was a total loss) I also got to go through the very fun and not at all frustrating process of buying a car. Luckily my parents came along with me, and when they weren't setting off car alarms in the dealership they were very helpful. So, drumroll please, say hello to the newest member of the Palana family.
The slight downside was that the airbags were part of that major recall of faulty airbags from a few years ago, so I had to hang out around Massachusetts for a little while longer while I waited for that to ship to the car dealership. While I was home I got to see my cousins and friends from high school and college, which was really great because I wasn't sure when I would have seen them again otherwise. Some friends and I went to trivia, some of us made dumplings together, a lot of us went out for drinks at various points, and somehow this little guy is always the only I ever think to take pictures with. He's just such a charmer.
I also got to go to the Peabody-Essex Museum in Salem with my parents. They had a really great exhibit about the art and style of Georgia O'Keeffe. I didn't realize that besides being one of the great modernist paintings, she also designed and made most of her own clothes. I wasn't allowed to take pictures because it was traveling exhibition, but I did really enjoy getting to see the evolution of her style, in particular her works from New York City because I knew her more for her natural or abstract works so seeing her do city scenes was really interesting.
They also had another special exhibit called Playtime that was all focused on art that either involved or concerned childlike and whimsical themes. My two favorites were a room just entirely filled with pink balloons that you could walk through and try to get to the other side, and a photo collage of a father and son all over the world with the dad wearing a Yoda mask. Classic male bonding.
The other really exciting thin I got to do was pick up the old Sousaphone again and play with my college band again at a hockey game. I didn't realize how much I had missed playing music until I got to do it again. Band was my first real home at college, even before I found my little place in the comedy world so it was great getting to see so many of my best friends in one place again. They also did a rare show on the ice between periods, and I quite enjoyed watching everyone slipping and sliding while they played.
Not long after the hockey game, I got the news that my airbags were in and I was ready to get back on the road. But first I had to sop for some fancy new supplies to look more like a real grown up doing real grown up business.
My first stop once getting back on the majestic asphalt ribbon of American highways was to visit my friends Mike, Dan, and Nora in New York City.
Mike and I started out by getting Thai food at a great place near them on the Upper East Side called Andaman. It was incredible. We split some pork and shrimp dumplings with a peanut curry sauce. I don't know how their peanut sauce went so well with the pork and shrimp but it complemented the dumplings just perfectly. I also got some chicken pad thai, which really hit the spot even if the dumpling may have stolen the show. Unfortunately, I was too busy enjoying my food and my company to take a picture of it, so clearly I wasn't back into the swing of this whole travel blogging thing yet.
After dinner, we went back to the apartment and cracked open some Great Molasses Disaster Stouts I brought from a small brewery in Roxbury, because it combined our mutual loves of beer and weird New England History. We watched the surprisingly dark season finale of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, and some old episodes of Community. It was a nice laid back way to ease back into life in transit.
After a few episodes, we went to surprise our friend Karen at her birthday party. She knew Mike was going to be coming, but had no idea I was going to be there that night. It was very fortuitous timing. I hadn't seen Karen since graduation, but she is one of the funniest, smartest, and most all-around impressive people I know. She's a really excellent comedy writer, and she's had pieces published in the New Yorker, The Huffington Post, and McSweeney's, and she's performing comedy shows all around NYC so I highly recommend you see her if you can. You can keep up with her writing and performances at her website here and if you're not sure where to start this piece was always my favorite.
It was great getting to see a mix of old friends and new, and it made me really happy knowing that my friends' talents and positivity has been attracting more kind and talented people wherever they go.
The next morning I bid farewell to my friends and started things off in New York the right way by getting a garlic bagel with a lox cream cheese spread from Tal Bagels. I'd been craving one of those perfect bagels for months and it was everything I remembered and hoped for.
At this point, things become very uneventful as I hauled buns from NYC down most of the Eastern Seaboard to get to South Carolina. It was a roughly ten hour drive, plus some breaks for coffee and Popeye's Fried Chicken, which I had deemed the most superior rest stop food choice.
Once in South Carolina, I got to meet up with my friend Ally and some of her co-workers for drinks and bowling at that hip bowling-alley/restaurant/bar The Grand. I'd never been anywhere like it before, and it was great getting to see another friend I didn't think I'd be able to see again so soon. Bowling is a great sport for always being much more fun than you expect it to be. I never think of bowling first when I'm trying to make plans with people, but I always always enjoy it when I do go out and play.
The next morning I got a long overdue haircut at the Southern Gentleman Barbering Company in the Five Corners neighborhood of Columbia. I love that place, I got a great haircut, I had a nice chat with my barber, and they made me a mean jack and coke while I waited.
After my haircut, I went to meet Ally and her daughter for lunch. Along the way I got distracted by a restaurant probably named after a Kenyan community tradition and not after a slain gorilla but who am I to say?
I met Ally and her daughter back at the Grand for some more bowling, though having a five year old playing changes the tone of the game a bit. We definitely spent more time playing tag around the bowling alley than bowling but it was so much fun. I don't know what happens to all that energy we used to have as children, because I was getting winded after a few laps around the place. Luckily the Grand had really good brunch food to get some of that energy back. I got bacon and eggs, but their bacon was so fat and juicy it was almost more like getting ribs. It was amazing. It was great brunch all around, and I was just happy to get to see my friend one more time. It was really sweet getting to see Ally with her daughter, because they both clearly love each other so much, and that kind of energy is alway nice to be around.
After brunch, though it was back to my old grind with another 7 hour drive to Tupelo, MS so I could be almost where I left off and show that damn Magnolia State I wasn't afraid of it.
About five hours in, I stopped at my favorite BBQ place in Birmingham, Saw's BBQ. I got an absolutely monstrous baked potato stuffed with pork, chicken, and bacon and then liberally sprinkled with cheese and doused in BBQ sauce. Everything was absolutely incredible, but I had no idea how much food I was bargaining for and I couldn't finish all of it. I made a truly valiant effort though. Luckily there was a sign on the brick wall in the bathroom that told you the wall was not exit, because I might have gone potato crazy and tried to kool-aid man my way outta there otherwise.
With my belly sagging, I finally made it to my Air BnB in Tupelo and with that it was like I was right back where i needed to be.
Favorite Random Sightings: Gaylord Healthcare; A big billboard saying "Childhood obesity is going down!"; Ratbones (not a super appetizing restaurant name); Norwegian Seamen Church; "I like my wife and kids, but I love my storage!"; Blueball Road; Love Stuff for Adults (it sounds like an adult store named by a child who didn't actually know what anything in there was); Shut Yo Mouf
Regional Observations: I think I can say after twenty hours of driving in two days that as a rule, the average American driver is just not very good at driving. Bring on the self-driving cars!
Albums Listened To: Again by Them; Anything Goes by the Brad Mehldau Trio (I started back in alphabetically with all the new music I got while I was home); The Authorized Bang Collection by Van Morrison (pretty awesome box set, featuring Van's ideal idea of what his first album should have been without studio meddling, outtakes, and, most importantly, the album of nonsense songs he made to get out of that recording contract); Black Excellence by Mel Washington; Black Panther: The Album by Various Artists; Broken Bridges by Mel Washington; Faceless by Mel Washington; Friends EP by Mel Washington; Gentlemen by The Afghan Whigs; Goodbye, Babylon by Various Artists (I couldn't resist this collection since I heard about it in the New Orleans Jazz Museum. Just amazing); Houses by Mel Washington; Largo by Brad Mehldau; Live from New York City by Mel Washington; Out of Luck by No Intention (back into the main iPod alphabetical order again); Out of Range by Ani DiFranco; Over the Counter Culture by the Kings of Nuthin' (some Boston boys with one of the most, shall we say, interestingly voiced lead singers); Over-Nite Sensation by Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention (a very dirty album lyrically but one of his finest collection of poppy rock songs); P+P 2016 Spring Summer Sampler by Various Artists; Pageant Material by Kacey Musgraves (just Are You Sure featuring Willie Nelson); Painkillers by Brian Fallon
People's Favorite Jokes: I didn't get back into the swing of asking people because I was so focused on moving on so here's one from the internet:
A Guy urgently needed a few days off work, But, he knew the Boss would not allow him to leave.
he thought that maybe if he acted "Crazy" Then he would tell him to take a few days off. So, he hung upside-down on the ceiling &
Made funny noises. His co-worker asked him what he was doing. He told her that he was pretending to be a light bulb,
So, that the Boss might think he was "Crazy" & give him a few days off. A few minutes later the Boss came into the office and asked,
"What are you doing?" He told him he was a light bulb.
The Boss said, "You are clearly stressed out. Go home & recuperate for a couple of days."
The man jumped down & walked out of the office. When his co-worker followed him, The Boss asked her "...And where do you think you're going?!" She said,
"I'm going home too, I can't work in the dark!!
Songs of the Day (there's gonna be a couple):
A great Album for a great movie
I love this woman's voice
Bonus Van Morrison Giving Zero Shits: