Yes, let's. I'm around, busy most of this week through Friday, but Sat/Sun's free.
Ack. I'm in DC next weekend but I can do during the week this week or next.
Actually, I just looked at my calendar and see that I can do Tuesday or Wednesday of this week or any day next week.
This week or next would be fine; I'm just supposed to have a second date sometime this week. I can schedule around a meetup.
I think we're going bowling, for reasons too convoluted to discuss here. That said, I don't think it's a romantic relationship and he'd really like you all.
Ooh, live-action Ask the Mineshaft. That's good stuff right there.
I would never have imagined you could have convoluted reasons for going bowling. That's like having convoluted reasons for eating cornflakes or wearing shoes.
In New York, you apparently need convoluted reasons. He's a midwestern hipster who has his own ball and shoes and none of his hip friends here bowl. I was like, dude, I will bowl with you.
He's a midwestern hipster who has his own ball and shoes
Where do you find these guys?
May I mentally excise "hips" and "hip" from that sentence? Absent those, it is sort of sweet.
Wait.
Wait.
His friends don't bowl? Who the hell doesn't bowl?
Bowling in New York City requires far more dedication than bowling in other cities. In other places, it's a random $3 a game excursion. Here, there are only fancy, upscale bowling alleys. We went to one for a work party a few years back on the company's dime and it was like $700 for the 10 of us.
I reiterate that New York is hell on earth.
Couldn't you, like, go to New Jersey to bowl or something?
New York is not a bowling kind of town. Bowl-Mor is super-expensive and full of douchebags, and I haven't been to the Port Authority bowling lanes which are, apparently, somewhat more in the correct tradition. On our first date, we both recalled excellent morning-after-a-party bowling excursions with everyone still drunk, downing PBRs and smoking cigarettes. Ah, the good old days.
Okay, I just googled "cheap bowling new york city" and almost every entry contained the word "hip" in the excerpted paragraph.
James Murphy was right.
I agree with the post, but am out of the country from tomorrow until the 23rd of August, which might make attending difficult.
I fixate on his hipness only because I am used to dating incredibly uncool old dudes. I cannot imagine he is attracted to me, given the tight jeans and cute glasses.
Lots of guys like tight jeans and cute glasses, AWB.
Wait, he has tight jeans?
Does he have girl jeans?
He totally does. Now I want to break all his Decembrists records and say "go cry to your mama, Klosterman!" while revving my Cadillac CTX, like, at him.
Now, now, Sifu. We can't just discount everyone on earth who isn't trying to live in 1993.
As a disincentive for a meetup, I will be in NY from the 10th to the 15th for a conference. As an incentive, it looks like I will be spending most of my time with tribal representatives.
Please, please promise you will never date Klosterman, AWB. Or if you do, you will only do so in order to ruin him.
I don't think that's in the cards, Tim. No worries.
If we do end up with next week, my vote is for not-Monday.
(Mondays are hard because I take a 6:50 AM flight back from DC)
You know, I never actually listened to those lyrics before. Not a happy song, after all.
Just after the Virginia Tech shootings, I heard a DJ on one of the radio stations here blatting on about how it was so sad and how it was so important to care about each other, and maybe just maybe if someone had paid attention to the guy who went on the rampage it wouldn't have happened, and she was going to play a song that summed up the day.
I was *exceedingly* disappointed it wasn't "I Don't Like Mondays".
I've only been bowling once, but it was pretty fun.
I've enjoyed bowling the couple of times I've gone, and I'm grumpy, ffs.
Are tight jeans really back in fashion? There are photos of me from the early eighties wearing seriously tight jeans that my wife has been known to make mock of. Now I can tell her that she's out of date.
re: 37
Been back in fashion, on the way back out again. Super-skinny jeans have been 'in' for at least a year.
Little, skinny girl jeans on men have been fashionable for six or seven years and if, like me, you're looking for somebody to blame, this is the guy.
On the other hand, like crocs, Ugg boots, and George W. Bush, I think ttaM is right that they're well on the way out, although they'll probably do some damage as they fall.
There's cheap bowling in Yonkers, but that takes a certain amount of committment.
I'm game. I still have to see the chaos show at PS1. Any way we could do it on not Tuesday or Wednesday?
Becks can go to a New York meetup any old time she wants, people.
Schedule this one for this Saturday or Sunday.
(Or Friday. Which is to say, "most out-of-towners tend to visit on the weekends.")
I vote for not today! And not tomorrow! But any day after that. (I'm proofreading a Russ/ian textbook and I can't pause till it's over, but then boy will I need a drink.)
If we do it a week from tomorrow, I've been abandoned alone in the city while Buck takes the kids up to visit his family.
That sounds reasonable, as long as you're not too grumpy.
DaveB, you're behind the times. Oxford and Cambridge have decided that proofreading isn't that important.
Yet someone is still willing to pay me a decent hourly rate to do it. How paradoxical.
Sifu's right that we need to reschedule the Boston meetup. Of course, if Sifu's travel plans hadn't been so crazy....
Is anyone free this Wednesday or Friday or next Friday?
I'm out of town (in NYC, of course) from this Friday through Sunday. But any other time would be fine with me, this week or next.
This Wednesday I'll be out of town. Friday and next Friday and pretty much most Fridays I'll be about an hour south, which does not preclude a meetup, but makes it somewhat less handy for me. Generally Mon-Thurs is going to be better for me.
Monday the 20th I'll be here, and so should everybody else. I say.
You must be working for one of the backward publishing companies.
One of these days, get Language Hat talking about Oxford and Cambridge's editing practices. Editing is his trade, and he's appalled. He would commend you for your work, especially because it's a Russian textbook. (Though his standards are high; fear him).
This week is a little fucking insane for me. I'm hoping that next week will be less so.
The copyediting practices of academic presses, if one can make inferences about them from the error-riddled end results, are really appalling.
JM, check your email.
I've noticed that recent Cambridge books in particular seem to be just full of editing mistakes.
I'm with the next week crowd - I think LB's idea of Tues the 14th is a capital one. If I can also put in a word for a location, Botanica's pretty sweet, and centrally located.
8/14 Tuesday and Botanica sounds good to me!
Yay! You can all console me on my newly acquired late-30'sness.
Maybe I should bake a cake and we can humiliate you!
As long as I don't have to bake it. I just made it through the Week Of Birthdays, with a cake each for Newt and Sally, and I'm not decorating anything else until Christmas.
Delicious, delicious, humiliation.
(to keep momentum rolling on Botanica let me say that I forgot to mention their $3 beers/well drink happy hour, that last to 8pm)
Oh, God, that sounds great. I've been going out a lot the past week, and I always seem to end up at these $6/pint places. How can beer possibly be worth 38 cents an ounce plus tip?
aw, i wish it were on a weekend, then i'd totally make it. i'm trying to have as many unfogged meetups in different geographical locations as possible.
If you're around on a weekend day, catherine, I'd love to hang out sometime! Send me an email if you're coming up.
How about this: if anyone is in NYC this weekend, and wants to grab a beer with me, drop me a line. I might even bring my friend 'M', who several Unfoggeders help set up with a date when she was in Seattle last month.
And of course, if anyone comes up to Boston in the next month, let it be known? Maybe we can try to plan another meetup around the occasion, and not all flake out on SP this time.
I might even bring my friend 'M', who several Unfoggeders help set up with a date when she was in Seattle last month.
Did that come off?
"Did that come off?"
No 'torrid affairs', but yeah, she was really happy with the experience. One regular here, and one friend-of-Ogged (who may also be a regular, but I only saw a forwarded email name) had friends in the area. She ended up having a great time, and was significantly less bored/lonely when she left.
But if you want more details than that, you'll have to buy me alcohol this weekend.
I am particularly free on Sunday.
I am spectacularly free on Sunday, as well as Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Unfortunately, I'm nowhere near New York.
To all of you having fun without me in NYC this weekend: you suck. Especially because you get to hang with out-of-towner arthegall.
On more pleasant subjects: are we doing next Tuesday? There hasn't been much consensus but the little there is suggests that might work.
Bostonians, Girl and otherwise: let's do Wednesday! I hella am free after all! C'mon c'mon c'mon! USA NUMBER ONE!
arthegall you have the chance to do TWO MEETUPS IN ONE WEEK!
Don't turn that down!
Tia's in Costa Rica, but it sounds like Mike and I are in. Dave? JM? Scott? Those others who I won't call out because I don't remember which ones broadcast this sort of thing?
Next Tuesday is great. And thank God for a venue that's not in Midtown.
74 -- this wednesday? Or next wednesday?
one friend-of-Ogged
I think it was just another reader, not a friend of mine.
What are we doing Wednesday, Sifu? And which WEdnesday are we doing it?
This wednesday! We're going to the place! To do the thing!
Hm, I suppose we should decide that part. Aren't you all experts at that sort of thing? Bar, T accessible, outdoor seating, possibly, snacks?
I was going to suggest Copia in Charlestown, but the damn place is closed. I would also suggest someplace in the North End, but I can't remember the names and they don't generally have outdoor seating.
The Silhouette in Allston and and Flann O'Briens in Mission Hill are probably a little too homeless-oriented for this crowd.
In summary: fucked if I know. What's good? There's that joint with the blue lighting near prudential, but I forget the name.
Tia's in Costa Rica
Unfogged Costa Rica meet-up! I'm game for Costa Rica. We've got our passports and places to stay.
Okay, Boston people, I'm just going to pull a bar out of my ass (ow!): 33 Restaurant and Lounge in the South End. It doesn't get hugely crowded, it has good drinks, you can usually park nearby, it's near the T, and it's easy to find since the address is in the name. What do you think about this Wednesday?
Do you have a time in mind, Sifu? At $6 a pop, I may only be staying for one beer... but I'll be there.
I'll come on Thursday probably, but Tuesday would make me happier, what with the family out of town anyway thing.
If it's on Thursday, I can make it a work trip. New York has a retarded policy of closing its museums on Tuesdays.
I would like the Pittsburgh meetup to wait until at least 6 weeks from now.
Speaking of Pittsburgh, somebody with an unknown 412 number left me a weird message yesterday. Was it one of you? If so, you can confess over email. (becks at unfogged)
86: Stay over Tuesday night, and go to museums hungover on Wednesday? You know you want to.
Uh-oh Becks. Did it sound threatening? Have you have a bad experience with an ice cream man recently?
I spend half the fucking summer in Pittsburgh trying to hide from my mother and wedding preparation and NOW you want a meet-up????
Let me talk to shivbunny. It's a goofy stupid thing, but I'm not sure how well he'll take to the 'I'm out of town with work and my wife is running off to meet her pretend internet friends.' It's a stupid hang-up he has, but it's something I'd like to run by him. No preference on the date or location.
I can do Tuesday or Thursday, but 91 sounds reasonable. Can you imagine how drunk LB would get with no family obligations? And how much fun that would be for the rest of us?
I'd prefer Tuesday, as Thurs I have to pack for a long trip, and so wouldn't be able to drink with the breadth or depth that I'd like to.
Smasher should definitely get smashed with us on Tues and then hit the museums on Weds.
What will it take to bribe you to come up early, Smasher?
It's probably take me coming up on Monday, too; the show I want to see (and the one I'm pitching to justify a midweek trip up to NYC to drink) is closed Tuesday and Wednesday.
Fine—for a cost. Of, like, a beer.
wait - don't you owe us a beer, for voting you sexiest man alive?
Yay! If you're up Sunday, you can go out with me and Arthegall, too.
So, Sunday meetup with AWB and (maybe) Smasher? Yay! I was just about to email you, Bear, about it.
Sunday I can't do. And you people know that I do work, right?
MixCDs are doable. Everyone, except for Kree-lovin' DS, should e-mail me an address.
If anyone wants to get in on Sunday's thing, email me so I can keep you in on the deets.
Smasher is making people mix CDs? I'll take one, please, along with a copy of The Education of Arnold Hitler.
Oh, and since my blog is dead, I suppose I should make my name link to my email instead. It now does.
206: THAT'S the title of Sausagely's book?
Not according to her, you didn't.
I can't wait until this thread is 205 comments long...
Some lucky spider will snap that up.
I was just at the post office sending out books. I'll go by again tomorrow. Anything else you need?
Some lucky spider will snap that up.
114: That made me tear up a bit, Ben.
Apo has outdone himself. He belongs in a higher league.
I doubt that the termites ate him, however. Googling "carnivorous termites" only brought up metaphors, fantasies, and gamers.
That reminds me: I bought two tickets for a concert on 9/5, which is likely to sell out. I thought the Chestnut would be in town, but he's back in CA by then. How do I decide whom to take? I keep thinking that it would make a fun date, but I am nervous about coming down to the wire and not having anyone to bring.
Relevancy: If one could send Ben a girlfriend in the mail, surely someone could send me a hot date for 9/5. It's close to my birthday! But then again, I should choose. Should I just suck it up and ask a friend?
You have taken a blind date to a show, Ben. Is it from this experience that you declare it a bad idea?
I'm just saying, why not take a friend? This friend to be named later is your friend, right?
It may also be true that concerts aren't good dates, at least not first dates.
Right. I guess I don't feel like I have a lot of friends who would enjoy it. They're book nerds. There is a guy I play softball with who mentioned loving the band, so I might ask him, but it would be one of those awkward "I totally don't mean to freak you out by making you think I'm asking you out" moments.
Is no one worried that Apo was almost eaten by termites?
124 -- and his insect-animated body is posting links from beyond the grave?
Dance, puppet, dance!
Matt & Kim would be a good date show.
I have exactly two takers on my offer to mail out mix tapes.
I thought it would be a wildly successful idea, Smasher. Should I remind everyone that you have very good taste?
That guy tasted just like bacon.
123: Are you internet-dating at the moment? I know Tia's mentioned putting up CL ads for a date to a particular show, and if you don't have someone particular at the moment, that seems like a low-pressure way of at least finding someone who'll enjoy the evening.
Spending the evening with a douchebag would be totally un-fun though.
Here's the problem:
Going to Matt & Kim and then getting laid --- Sublime
Going to Matt & Kim with a fun friend who will enjoy it --- Excellent
Going to Matt & Kim with a friend who's like meh --- Good
Going to Matt & Kim by myself --- Fine, whatever
Going to Matt & Kim on a terrible date --- Tragic
So it's a gamble.
137 -- you need to start assigning probabilities to those outcomes, though, before you start trying to figure out whether a decision to take the gamble is worth it.
Maybe I forgot to mention the cock pics in the liner notes.
138: The middle three would be easy to predict. The first and last, though, are very difficult, unless I have a boyfriend by then.
How about a pre-date for testing purposes?
I don't know why I said that, I know nothing about these things.
Maybe you could scalp?
139: 'Smasher, I would tell you that I just emailed you about the mix thing, but that would violate the sacred privilege of off-blog communication.
141c: Scalping is out of the question. I'll at least bring a friend.
141a: Yeah, I guess. I just hate to go out with someone and be thinking, "I'm auditioning you for the role of someone who will be expected to dance semi-violently with me at a future date."
Yeah, my online dating skills are nonexistent. It just seems as if screening for "Someone it would be fun to see a particular show with" would be a lot easier than "Someone to date generally".
142: Good thing too, because you'd be banned if you told him that.
I have exactly two takers on my offer to mail out mix tapes.
Perhaps it would help to put it in a thread that is more general interest than a NY meetup thread.
I am interested, but only read this thread because I was curious why it was getting so many comments.
OTOH, I'm not sure that I've had any takers on offers to send out Mix CDs in comments, so perhaps I should be jealous.
I want a mix tape!
Isn't there some kind of continuum between "getting laid" and "terrible date"?
147b: Yes, but that's more awkward territory. The guy I'm supposed to go out with this week, for example. How do you say to someone "OMG, I totally think you're hilarious and awesome and brilliant and it's totally fine if we never become attracted to each other physically because I think we should be BFFs!!!" without either (a) pissing on possible future attraction, or (b) being insulting in the explicit dating context?
I would love a mix tape. Can you bring it to the meetup or should I send you my address?
148 implies there's a current lack of attraction. That seems like the problem.
We're both very cute. Can't figure out what the deal is.
As yet, it's not a goal of mine to do him. Is this the price of respecting one's date intellectually? 'Cause it sucks.
Looks like we're back to Tuesday
Ooh, Bonnie & Clyde's playing at the pool that night. What time was this meetup thing gonna be again? (don't answer that, I'll find it in the thread)
I don't think we said what time yet. Cerebrocrat, if you're interested in coming out to Brooklyn, we're having a little Arthegall-inspired meetup on Sunday at 530.
Don't you live in the impossible-to-get-to-from-Williamsburg part of Brooklyn? (a.k.a., "the rest")
Don't you live in the impossible-to-get-to-from-Williamsburg part of Brooklyn? (a.k.a., "the rest")
I thought you were in the UES? But yes, we're hanging in the Slope. You can take the G to the F to 7th Ave and meet us, though.
148: How do you say to someone "OMG, I totally think you're hilarious and awesome and brilliant and it's totally fine if we never become attracted to each other physically because I think we should be BFFs!!!" without either (a) pissing on possible future attraction, or (b) being insulting in the explicit dating context?
(a) isn't a problem -- it's more likely that once you seal things off in the just friends box, they will start to ferment and blow the lid off the box, which is a separate, fun problem. B is a small problem: it will likely result in a bit of pouting, but if you mean it, not too much.
You can take the G to the F to 7th Ave
I'll be sure to pack dinner and start out on Saturday.
160 -- yeah, but if you can set Firefox up with Elvis...
162 is comforting.
163: Baby. Of course, taking a car is like $8.
148: If you come up with an answer to that question, I'd like to hear it; this is sort of what went south with my first-and-last internet dating episode.
Cerebrocrat, I'm about to head out, so I emailed the details for Sunday to you.
166: I'll keep you updated. I'm hoping that, magically, there will come a moment when we both cast ourselves into one another's arms, but this is unlikely. Instead, I'm guessing that both of us wanting to say "I really want to hang out and be friends" will turn awkward and we'll end up not seeing each other again, which would make me absurdly disappointed. It's so rare to meet someone as fun as this guy! It will make it easier if one of us gets a romantic partner so we can hang out without sexual attraction hanging over our heads.
I really don't want to miss this thread getting to 206, but I have to leave.
Too bad. This happened to me with my first internet dating. First, there was no spark, but I called her afterwards because that's what you should do, I thought. (i realize that for the profligate dater this is incorrect.) we hung out as friends for a while and it was superfun. Then we made out once. Then she decided she was too sad because of her ex, and we both new that nothing very long term could work out. Then we remained friends. Then I accidentally introduced her to someone she liked a lot and I was jealous and inadvertently sabotaged things. Then we separated for a while and only hung out intermittently. We're supposed to hang out tonight. She's wicked fun to talk to: writer, whipsmart, etc.
I suspect the EXACT SAME THING!!!1!! will happen to you.
I was jealous and inadvertently sabotaged things
Bwahahaha.
Don't write it off too fast.The magic moment could come (teehee) on the second date!
And it's hard to be friends with someone you met online for the purposes of dating because it's not like your lives normally intersect so it's hard to keep up the friendship. But that doesn't mean it's impossible.
Arthegall, I decree that the 10 minute Boston meetup, consisting of you and I drinking one beer each and then departing instantly (at least, as far as I can tell) will happen at 6:30PM. I have no reason for giving this time, but people seem to be looking to me for certitude, so okay. Whenever, though. Where are BG and MCMC and SP and BL and whoever the hell other initialed people are that we have around 617? Speak up, suckas!
Fair enough. 6:30 it is, then. See you there.
Woop. 6:30 PM, 33 restaurant and lounge, 33 stanhope st. Mark your calendars, creepy lurkers!
people seem to be looking to me for certitude
Ohmygod, you saw me looking through the internets?!
I'm so embarrassed.
Sifu -- any chance of moving this back an hour or three? I have family coming into town, suddenly and unexpectedly, and they've asked me to join them for dinner... but I'd still be free later, if you were.
Ah! Comity, perhaps. I can't make 6:30, but I will be there at 7pm.
Okay, 7PM it is. Still wondering if anybody else will show.
Sifu, I sent an e-mail saying that I'd come--especially since I've discovered that it's easy to find. I'm petite with brown, not quite shoulder-length hair. I know what arthegall looks like.
Sweet. I'll be the tan dude who looks vaguely embarrassed by his goatee.
Awesome. A gang of three! See you there.
Take off every zig -- that was fun.
184: Details, arthegall! Who made out with whom? Who was wasted? Were the lurkers as creepy as everyone assumes?
You have no chance to survive, motherfuckers! Make your time!
I met up with Kugelmass and kicked some ass. Does that count as a meetup? We got really drunk.
Does that count as a meetup? We got really drunk.
Check.
"…and when Ogged had given swim in the swimmy pool and there appeared a Power Bar™, He brake it and said, 'Take, eat; this is My Power Bar™ which was broken for you. Do this in remembrance of Me. Also: get really drunk."
185: No lurkers -- it was just me, Sifu, and BG. I can't speak for them, but I was pretty drunk.
We talked for a long time, only leaving when the bar (one of those over-priced young-professional-magnets with glowing frosted glass in all the walls) turned up the 'dance' music around 11pm.
arthegall was not drunk. I've seen him drunk, and he wasn't drunk last night.
I had a beer and some tropical mango fruity thing which was alleged to have rum in it, but I think they put almost none in. I couldn't taste much and couldn't really feel it.
I was sober, debonair and charming, as far as I can remember. Of course, I'm awfully hungover this morning.
That was fun! BG and Arthegall know all the dirt about the rest of you.
I had a beverage with kiwi fruit and peppercorns, specifically because it would disappoint ogged were he there. I had two because the first one was delicious.
Arthegall refused to take the drink with cherry tomatoes and balsamic vinegar in it that I wanted to buy him. What. Ever.
For future reference, do not let the guy who lives in a different state pick the meetup spot. Not only was it not the bar I was thinking of, it was not the neighborhood I was thinking of. I had never been there before.
Photos: posted.
I'm actually starting to get jealous of all these meet ups--almost enough to make me wish there could be a Pawtucket meet up. Or a Worcester one. It would probably end up getting moved to Fargo if one got scheduled, though.
Would you ever be able to make it to Boston for a meet-up, JL? We could try to organize one around your visit, if you wanted...
I showed up scruffy without having washed my hair in two days, and these pictures get posted of me. I hope taht they're only in the private unfogged pool and not on Sifu's general contact list.
It looks like the pics are just on the Unfogged pool, don't worry.
I'm so bummed that this thread never reached 206 comments.
I've been waiting for it, too, Arthegall.
Tantalizing. I have a #206 ready, but is it worthy? Probably not. I encourage other, more creative types to step in.
I don't think I can top it, whatever it is. I merely facilitate your glory.
Banging Hot Bitches: A Playa's Bible
Unlikely, dude! Hence the surprise? This is, honestly, a load off my mind.
Ach! Missed it! This is what I get, for trying to do work.
210: Really, arthegall? That's the title of Sausagely's book?
There is no coming back, from the brink of the abyss.
There Is No Coming Back, From the Brink of the Abyss.
Or, Republican 'Foreign Policy' is Just a Never-ending Game of Gay Chicken; or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying about Being a Celebrity Among Nerds and Just Write a Book Already.
Would you ever be able to make it to Boston for a meet-up, JL? We could try to organize one around your visit, if you wanted...
I used to be in Boston all the time, haven't been in months, though. I'm pretty booked up these days, unfortunately.
Aren't we all, though.
Fair enough, but if you ever take a break and are in the 'city' again, please do let us know. I mean, if you want to meet up...
Aren't we all, though.
True enough.
One reason, aside from the fact that I don't generally do meetups, that I haven't been to one is the fact that they generally involve drinking on a weeknight. The thought of driving to work in Worcester, spending the day there, then driving in to Boston at night, drinking for a few hours, and then driving home to RI is a little daunting. Both for the amount of time in the car and then the drinking/driving combination.
Time for an Unfogged Road Trip (tm) to R.I., then. Obviously.
Yes, that way someone else can get arrested.
We Chicagoans should do another one soon, at a quieter place. Adam and Michael said nothing has ever been as quiet yet good and comfortable as Red Lion, on Lincoln North of Fullerton, where we met in April last year. Would anyone be interested?