Last week was a very dichotic week between work and home – at the office was super-busy (but not in a bad way) and home was wonderful because Puck was over every night except last Monday.
The reason why wasn’t very pleasant – their grandma was in the hospital all week on the Upper West Side, so they were keeping her company during the day while their parents were at work, then came over and stayed with me rather than trek all the way to Staten Island and back each night. I lent them some clothes to get through the week, and we played video games and watched movies at night (we saw X-Men: First Class on Thursday). So it was wonderful to come home to them each evening and snuggles every night.
Work was incredibly busy last week because of an environmental issue out in California that Lori and I have been working on together. We’ve been having two, sometimes three calls every day, between editing and reviewing documents, photos and videos. It’s going to continue to be a big part of my work for a while, but hopefully the worst of it is over now.
The other bad news is that Yoshi developed an electrical problem that got to the point where he wouldn’t run, so I couldn’t bring him to the hospital, as I’d planned to do on Friday. His engine would start just fine, but as soon as I let go of the ignition, the engine dies. Last time I drove him on Wednesday for my allergy shot, there was smoke coming out of the steering column and smelled like burning rubber, so that’s not good.
Yesterday I spent most of the afternoon dealing with tow trucks, trying to get him out of our 7-foot clearance garage (where tow trucks couldn’t go) and get him to the local Honda dealer in Princeton – it turned out to be an ignition switch that is covered under warranty, and $100 in labor. The tow truck was covered under my cell phone plan, so that was nice. All in all, it could have been a lot worse. It’s a scary thought, not having a car.
So back to the good stuff. Friday night I met up with Puck at a TNG munch that preceded a play party at Paddles, a local BDSM club/dungeon in midtown. I met some nice people at the munch, and we all walked over from the Chelsea Diner to Paddles together. Puck stayed for about an hour and then left to attend the MMMM. A few minutes later, Bellatrix arrived and we played for a little while, then watched some of the other scenes together before she left to go home and I walked over to meet up with Puck at the MMMM.
On the way, a man stopped me on the street and introduced himself – he had tried getting into Paddles that night, but didn’t realize it was closed for a private TNG party that night. We chatted while we walked together over to the MMMM – he’s Italian and new to the kink scene too. He didn’t stay at the party long, and in fact, neither did I. Puck was really sleepy, so I just said hi to the people I knew there – Jet, Aaron, Kiwi and Ilan – and then we went home.
The next morning Puck and I took the subway, ferry and bus to Staten Island and hung out with their brother-in-law Alex (Sasha) until everyone came home. I helped clean up their room and we had dinner together with some of their family friends from Baltimore. I watched Walk the Line on my projector while Puck played their daily dose of computer games before making our way upstairs for bed.
Sunday was our friend Jon’s birthday party, and we went to Medieval Times in New Jersey - somewhere my family and I used to always talk about going, but never quite made it to. We met several nice people at the party, and there were a lot of huzzahs and laughs all afternoon.
From there we went to P3 (the Palisades mall that I used to visit at least once or twice a month with my family) to play games at the Dave & Busters. A fun couple named Laura and Adam gave Puck and me a ride back into Manhattan, since they live in NoHa (North Harlem). In keeping with the medieval theme of the day, I showed Puck the movie 1981 movie Excalibur, John Boorman's vision of the Arthurian legends, before going to bed.
Funnily enough, we saw Laura almost exactly 24 hours later at Poly Cocktails, along with lots of old friends, some of whom I haven’t seen in many months – Rev. Jenellen, Professor Joe, Sara & Seth, Calico (from Ryan’s birthday party), Hookah Mike, Phrannie (who is moving to Wisconsin in a couple weeks), and others.
As usual, I talked OLNY shop with the leadership team while Puck socialized, although we checked in together throughout the evening. I left around 11 to get ready for bed since I had to go to work in the morning, and they left at midnight to come to bed after we filled in each other about the evening.
So it’s been a very fun seven-day week with Puck, and with Bella and other friends. I am enjoying my life right now, but I know I will miss Puck very much when they leave for a month in Russia next month. It's a situation that I will get used to someday, but not quite yet. Until then, I am living in the moment and cultivating new experiences and connections that may come to define me in the near future.
