My Saturday in the City

I woke up, so happy it was my Saturday morning - and got to walk to Starbuck’s, one of my very favorite ways to start to the day. Living within walking distance of Starbuck’s is definitely a priority for me. Good thing that they are ubiquitous.

Anyway, I brought DJ V a caramel macchiato as a souvenir of my adventure, and walked her to work. For lunch, we walked up to the House of Blues and met Hollywood Stafford for lunch! It had been a very long time since ol’ Hollywood and I got together, and it was great to visit with him, as well as introducing him to DJ V. To ensure future visits, I brought a couple of CD’s with me to loan to him - clever, huh? Speaking of music, I was bragging to Hollywood about DJ V’s amazing ability to hook me up with any ridiculous, obscure tune I could think of (except Cher’s Do You Believe In Magic from 1967 - no luck - YET), and that she was able to get the long-sought Melissa Etheridge / Joss Stone Piece of My Heart from the 2005 Grammy Awards. So Hollywood threw her a challenge, a tune he has been searching for to no avail.

Hollywood spotted HuggyBear walking by - a dude wearing a bright purple zoot suit. I am digging this hanging out downtown thing. Something new and exciting every day…

So we finish our lunch and go back to DJ V’s office, and within ten minutes, she has burned a copy of Hollywood’s tune, and I was downloading iTunes songs all afternoon - including an Alan Paul/Janis Siegel duet, and really working this high-speed internet service, I grabbed a bunch of Studio 360 shows as I got hooked on listening to spoken word performances on the iPod.

I took DJ V out to Coventry after work, and we went to the new and improved Big Fun store and dropped some quid on toys. I added two more action figures to my collection - I now own Houdini (complete with chair, straitjacket and shackles), who sits on the bookcase amidst my magic texts, and Edgar Allan Poe. Edgar is all goth black and white, with a removable raven that sits on his shoulder. So I have been thinking that I could never take Oscar Wilde with his weapon (wit), nor Houdini (magic), but I just may be able to hold my own with Edgar. His special weapon is: Morbid Rumination. How much do I love THAT?

Edgar now stands guard on the bookshelf in front of Matthew Pearl’s Poe Shadow. Oscar is still on my desk, challenging me every day to match his wit…

I had heard from ScubaSteve that City Buddha had opened up on Coventry and I really wanted to see what it was all about. DJ V pointed out that she had seen it down the street, so off we went. It is a wonderful place, playing great tunes and filled with wonderful art. I picked up a vintage Japanese poster for BC's birthday. They also had a giant bed/couch/party pit thing that we decided would make a great piece of furniture for the living room for TV viewing.

It was nearly impossible to refrain from saying ThatWhichShallNotBeSaid while we were shopping. Strangely overpowering forces at foot...as a review of the store says:

You get the eerie feeling at City Buddha that the thing you've found has been looking for you, too.

Indeed.

When we left, it looked like the sky was going to start crying for sure, which threw a wrench into my plans to take DJ V to Little Italy for dinner. As well as meaning our meal would most certainly be taken indoors. We decided to run into the Winking Lizard. Turns out it is Wing Night, and that made DJ V very happy. Turns out they also have Hoegaarden on tap, and that made me very happy.

As we were heading home, it occurred to me that we were very near the oldest extant street in Cleveland, Hessler Court, and so I took a wee detour unbeknownst to DJ V. As I turned onto the street, and stopped, I told her to roll down the window and to look at the pavement. She was actually impressed at the wooden blocks, proving that there is a little geeky nerd in everyone.