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August 05, 2006
Boys' Night Out - Literally
Among the things I missed out on for much of the last few months while running all over the place was the weekly card game (still ridiculous that I can't say the name of the game we play, but it rhymes with "poke her"). Last week, I finally got the chance to play again for the first time in more than two months, and came home with almost double what I started with. Last night, we played again, and I came home up a signiicant amount once more. Maybe I should take two month breaks more often, because I've been on a roll.
We tried something different last night, and I have to say that it worked out splendidly. Given that the temperatures finally broke here in New York on Friday, and that the high of 86 felt downright autumnal compared to the heat indeces of 115-120 we'd sweltered through all week, we decided that the weekly game should be held outdoors. So we packed up the chips, the table, and some coolers and headed out to a private beach club that one of the guys has access to, along a narrow spit of land that juts out into the Hudson River just north of the Tappan Zee Bridge -- the widest point of the river, where the Hudson is more than a mile wide. (Someday I am going to have to figure out why the engineering geniuses of 1950s New York chose to build a bridge at precisely the widest point in the river.)
Anyway, we arrived around 8:00, and the setting could not have been more perfect. With a picturesque sunset disappearing behind the hills alongside the river opposite our table, and a strong breeze coming in off the river all night long, we couldn't have asked for a better summer night to be playing cards outdoors. And once the sun went down, it got downright comfortable outside -- temps somewhere in the 70s, that river breeze keeping things cool, and plenty of soda on ice. (For real, none of us drink much beer when we're playing... we all have to drive home -- and besides, too much alcohol dimming your wits is a real good way to lose your money.) Other than having to use chips to hold the cards down and keep them from blowing away in the wind, you couldn't plan out a better boys night.
Well, except for one thing. Apparently one of the YuppieDads in the neighborhood has watched "Parenthood" one too many times, and decided that the way to become popular with your offspring is to spend gads of money on elaborate social to-dos that make a royal wedding look shoestring by comparison. Thus, we shared our card night with a gaggle of bleating 9 year olds... and a karaoke machine. Karaoke is a dangerous tool in the hands of even most adults; placed where children can easily access it, it quickly becomes deadly. And I don't know what was more disconcerting: listening to small children butchering "Vertigo" or "I Am The Walrus," listening to prepubescent girls sing "Don't You Wish Your Girlfriend Was A Freak Like Me" and having their parents think it's cute, or listening to said parents -- wealthy, conspicuous consumption Caucasian Westchester yuppies, all of them -- take their turn at the meatgrinder by trying surreally to rap Tupac.
I think I am scarred for life.
But karaoke aside, outdoor cards was a great idea, and one of my more enjoyable and relaxing evenings of this hectic summer.
