It was my birthday

Yesterday it was my birthday. I woke up early and went to the MoMA around 11 to try to sneak into the member's preview of the Lee Friedlander show. At the counter, the woman said I had to be a MoMA member. I said it was my birthday. She said there were people outside the exhibit checking membership cards. She gave me my ticket and I took the escalator up to the sixth floor.

At the exhibit, I asked if I could get in. The woman scanned my ticket and waved me in. I said thank you.

The exhibit was amazing, making me rethink the way in which photographs can be composed. The prints were sumptuous, and as I moved from his 35mm prints to his medium format landscape photography, I was completely drawn in. On leaving, I bought the exhibition catalogue. The cashier asked if I wanted it double-bagged. I said yes; the book is 13 pounds.

I walked down 7th Avenue, through a street fair en route to the subway. I went home to drop off the book before heading to Chinatown and Sweet and Tart for a lunch of shrimp dumplings in noodle soup. After lunch I walked to South Ferry caught the 2.30 Staten Island Ferry. The sky was clear, and the decks were full with people looking out for the Statue of Liberty. Once on the island, I took a bus to Lighthouse Avenue and climbed the hill to the Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art. Flooding had forced them to remove a number of items from the museum, and the docent told me that at the entrance to the museum they sold postcards of what the museum usually looks like. She said that renovations shouldn't last more than a few months and I promised to return later in the season.

I took a turn around the gardens before leaving. Looking through the postcards, I couldn't find the image the docent referred to. I asked an attendant, and she said it was no wonder. The room looks completely different. She pulled out a postcard and I was shocked at the difference. Murals that lined the wall had been removed, as well as a carpet and cushions. I promised to return later in the summer; I was told to wait a little longer and to check the website for updates.

I ran down the hill to catch the bus back to the ferry landing. It was packed. I stood and swayed my way back through Staten Island, arriving at the ferry in time for the 5 o'clock ferry. The ferry was 10 minutes late. I made it back to Manhattan and boarded the subway for Brooklyn.

I arrived at BAM at 6.20. Cherry appeared soon after and we walked into the theater for a screening of Hou Hsiao-Hsien's Cafe Lumiere. It was playing for the one night only as part of the Village Voice best of 2004 series. The film is lovely. Near the end, I was thinking that something had to happen. When the final song was cued, I realized what had already happened and I fell in love with the film.

Afterwards, Cherry and I walked to Smith Street and had dinner at Tuk Tuk. The food was mediocre, but it was still somehow more fun eating there than at Le Bernardin (my original plan for the evening). We chatted about the film and this and that and the other thing and then went looking for a bakery. Failing that we went to a diner for milkshakes and shortcake.

Around 11 we parted ways at the F train. I took photos of Cherry as the train approached, echoing the final shots of Cafe Lumiere from across the platform. I don't think they'll come out quite as well, and I didn't realize what I was doing until I had boarded the train heading back towards Manhattan. Through a scratched window, I watched as Cherry disappeared into the tunnels.

In Manhattan I stopped by Ivo and Lulu to invite Sebastian to small gathering I'm having today and to ask whether he had any chocolate cake. He said he had made plans for Sunday with his mother and couldn't make it. He said he had a little cake left, but the waitress had promised it to a party who had waited an hour to get seated. But he said he'd have it all week. I said I'd stop by later and hoped to meet his mom. Definitely, he said.

As I entered the apartment building I looked at my watch. It was midnight, the first hour of the 5th, and my birthday had passed. Posted by eku at June 5, 2005 10:36 AM