I’ve already had chicken soup for breakfast. Now I need an iced grande skim caramel macchiato to get me through the rest of the day. Of course, I’m not allowed to have either on my nazi diet, but it’s a weekday, so it doesn’t really count. It might be gray outside; but I haven’t left, or showered, or done anything besides heat the soup. My neck hurts from writing all day.

Last night I went to The Bitter End because I could. It’s one of the reasons you move to Manhattan: to go to Bitchy Bingo night at Lips or the oldschool kind at Tortilla Flats, Trivia Nights at The Slipper Room, Board Game Night at Sugar, Movieoke at The Den, and the Poetry Slam at The Nuyorican Poets Cafe. Freshman year of college was the last time I ventured to Bleeker Street, where they didn’t care about your I.D. And now, ten years later, I’m back on Bleeker, at The Bitter End fighting for a table with a view. Common Rotation hopped on stage, nerdy and buzzing with the energy of yeast. They did a lot of head bopping. I soon learned their fan base originated from Buffy The Vampire Slayer. I don’t think I need to say much more about the bopping.

Jim Bianco began to sing next; he was Robert De Niro in a hat. I didn’t recognize him. I was actually checking out his clothes, thinking would I ever date a guy who wore striped brown pants with two shirts and a hat, and then I heard his name. Wait; I know him. Jimmy Bianco sang Run Around Sue at our middle school variety show; all the girls of Willets Road School swooned. Brother to Dana Bianco, friend of Hillary Cohen (one of my best friends since fourth grade), Jimmy recognized me. “Hey you went to my high school” He says smiling into the microphone. I shake my head affirmative. “Did we ever..?” I shake my head no, laughing. And that got me thinking about Zack Cohen, Hillary’s brother, who was on the original “Average Joe.” And no, I didn’t have seex with him either.

Zack and Jimmy were buddies, and as I watched Jim Bianco up there, I was having a hard time finding a difference between him and Zack. In my mind, those two were best friends who finish one another’s sentences, and I forget which memory belongs to whom. When I went to Hillary’s to “play” which involved calling boys, I remember Zack trying to wrestle us. Wrestling is still foreplay. Unless of course you’re thinking WWF. It’s nice running into people who knew you when, even though you were coming into your own, you were probably more YOU than you are now. Overall, Nostalgia Lane has some nice divots, despite the few bitter endings.