Wednesday, January 23, 2019

Second Leg: DC To NY.

It’s nice that my vacuum has a headlight, just in case I want to wake my dog up thinking he’s getting hit by a train.

Actually, trains deserve better PR, because my trip to New York on AMTRAK was an absolute delight. AMTRAK has come a long way since my freshman year of college, when it didn’t reserve seats, and I stood in a crowd of people for four hours on my way to College Park.

Nowadays, it’s a comfy WiFi-and-power-source filled cruise with no wait time – a better alternative to flying, what with the current longer lines at TSA. (Side-note: I thanked all TSA agents during this trip for working during the shutdown, to which a group of them at LAX half-jokingly exclaimed: “Help us! We’re being held prisoners!” I told them I was on my way to DC and would see what I could do.)

Rafele, a superb new Italian restaurant that moved into a former GAP located in my hometown, and co-owned by one of the owners of the New York Giants. Trust me when I say the yummy ice cream custard only looks like cat food.

Getting off the plane I was about to board to LA: Chris Pine. He seemed like the nicest guy, albeit the briefcase was an interesting choice. If given the chance, I would have told him I loved him in Bottle Shock. (Tip: when you bump into an A-lister, they really dig it if you reference an obscure, good movie they were in. My friend Daniel taught me this after he told Ben Stiller he loved Permanent Midnight, and Ben really lit up. I saw Chris Pine for the first time in Bottle Shock, and it was immediately obvious he had Robert Downey, Jr.-level charisma.)