What I did this weekend or "Oh, hi Mark!"

Above is a classic sample from the film I saw this weekend as part of a birthday gift from my good friends Nancy and Jon. "The Room" is a film that was made in 2003 and has become a cult classic and last Saturday at midnight we attended a boisterous and extremely hilarious screening of this tour de force of cinema at the Sunshine theater on Houston. This just added to what has so far been an incredible set of birthday celebrations. "The Room" has become the next "Rocky Horror Picture Show" in only one but very important way: screenings are attended by rabid fans full of the desire to participate in the movie watching experience a la Mystery Science Theater 3000. Also, I should add that not only did we see the film, but the director and lead actor were in attendance for a "Q&A". That is in quotations because it consisted of two questions: Why do you wear so many belts?(He was wearing four.) and Why did you not just film on an actual rooftop instead of using a green screen with special effects to simulate a rooftop? (Please see the above scene for proof of this. Valid question that was not answered, for whatever it's worth.)

Before the movie, I went for a drink with my sister at this teeny Brazilian place that gets an A for decor but a C- for the sidecar. Despite that, I'm going to start a tradition for my birthday that includes the intake of one sidecar. It just might be arbitrary enough to work as a long standing tradition but I'll keep you posted on that.

We had a long and lovely dinner here and achieved some respite from the soupy NYC weather that visits every year on my birthday. And, amazingly despite that weather, the neighborhood was crawling with people in every bar and restaurant as far as the eye could see. In addition at about 10pm, there was already a rather impressive line to get into the theater for the midnight showing of the ticketed event. Opting instead to get another drink (my kind of people always opt for another drink), we headed to a bar that was having a "film festival" event. That just turned out to be a series of music videos for terrible music, so we left shortly after arriving and went to stand in line for the movie, a line that had doubled in length in the 40 or so minutes we were watching terrible music videos.

Did I mention that outside in the city last Saturday night was like standing inside someone's mouth? Well it was. I was also reasonably drunk. We stood in line for a good 30 minutes before realizing that the line was to have something autographed by the film's director and not, in fact, to go inside and try to transform from melty blobs of flesh back into solid form. After discovering this, we went inside and collectively breathed a long sigh of "ahhhhhhhh". The movie didn't actually start until about 12:45 and since I'm old and tired of life in general (and still drunk with a stomach ache from laughing so hard), I was exhausted by the time we got out.

Hailing a taxi when there are no taxis to be had at 3am on New York's Lower East Side is a nightmare. I lived that nightmare only once before on New Year's Eve of 2003. I think a few of us resorted to all of these that night, in a desperate attempt to get home:

It didn't work back in 2003 and it did not work last Saturday night. However, a lot of that had to do with the fact that cabbies have taken to riding around with their 'off duty' lights on when in fact they stop and "interview" you about which borough you are going to before agreeing to take you. Yes, this is illegal and no, no one can do anything about it. So after trying everything short of carjacking, we ended up on the subway. Boo hoo. Still, if I'm being honest, seeing "The Room" with a crowd of like minded enthusiasts, seeing the director and his many belts and his weirdness in person, dinner and drinks with friends, well it all seems worth it.

I got about 3 hours of sleep, chatted with my brother in the morning for a bit over DELIVERED iced coffee (good lord I miss NYC) and headed back to wilds of Long Island. Marianne came to pick me up and we went to a little outdoor market thing in the middle of another triple digit heated day. I kept trying to deflect to Marianne's pregnancy in order to excuse myself for not wanting to walk around too much. She wasn't really buying it but thankfully we both just wanted to go back to her house and watch Louie in the sweet ass air conditioning of her home and that's exactly what we did. We later went out for fondue in Sound Beach with Rob and Dana and honestly, another great meal with great friends reminds me of how great my life really is and contributed to the good feeling I have for this year.

What will make it so great, you ask? Well, I plan on getting as much enjoyment out of life before the mid-life crisis kicks in, so there will be that. Also, I might go for my EGOT. Keep an eye out for my acceptance speeches.