On Sunday I read the Alicia Keys article in the New York Times. It made me want to listen to her, so I looked through my records to find The Diary of Alicia Keys. I had purchased it as a cut-out some years ago for a dollar. I coudln't find it. Instead, I discovered a recording of tenor arias by Luciano Pavarotti. I had also purchased it for a dollar at the Housing Works Book Store. I had forgotten it.

I put it on my turntable immediately and listened to his 70's recording of "Nessun Dorma." His voice filled the room. I resisted the temptation to place the needle back at the start of that aria. Instead I flipped it to side A and sat and listened to the album from beginning to end. And then I listened to it again.
Posted by eugene at 12:44 AM

Saturday after brunch, Simone convinced David to get new glasses. It had been a long time coming. Simone asked me to accompany them and I did.

Soon, David was deciding between two pairs of glasses. One, a thick plastic black rim he termed "art director" glasses; I think he meant "architect." I told him they looked like he was trying too hard. I told him he looked like a raccoon. The attendant chuckle. The other pair disappeared when he put them on, showing off his face. I recommended the latter.

In the first year I was in New York, when everything was cooler than I could have expected and everyone was cooler than I, I met an architect at a party. His clothes were perfectly pressed. He wore thick black rim glasses reminiscent of those my father wore in his college photographs. Around his waist was a belt with a buckle made from the seatbelt of a Dodge Dart, the car my father used to drive.

At that moment the one thing I wanted most was that belt buckle. I thought to when my father sold the car for scraps, and wondered why I didn't have the forethought to cut out the seatbelts for future use. I wished he still had the car. I still wish he did.

David ended up with the latter pair of glasses. He looks great in them. Posted by eugene at 10:18 PM | Comments (2)

I went home this past weekend to visit my parents. On Sunday, we met up with family friends for lunch in Cheshire. I saw a number of friends I grew up with, hung out with babies, met fiancees.

One friend's fiancee let spill that she had done a taping of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. She was prevented from talking about the show until after it airs, but it didn't stop us from trying to ascertain how much she had won. I noticed that she wasn't flashing any new jewelry, but she said that she wouldn't get any money (if she had won) until a few months after the air date. She also said that her episode wouldn't necessarily air. She also said that in the past six years only one person had made a million dollars, and only one woman who has aired has won. One of our friends took that to mean that she had won a million dollars. She said she couldn't say.

Her fiancee had been her phone a friend, and he said that it was nerve-wracking. He sat by the phone all day waiting for the call (the tapings run all day and there's no schedule indicating when contestants will be taping). He said he had practiced. He had a world map taped to the wall; he had two computer screens in front of him, one of them tuned to Google and one to wikipedia. He said that when his fiancee phoned him he had no idea as to what the answer would be.

My friend said that they now knew that the phone friend would have Google at his or her disposal and they've started phrasing questions to make them harder to search. There's a time limit of 30 seconds on the phone; her fiancee said that the time goes by really quickly.

He said that now that he realizes you can end up on a game show, he's been applying to all sorts. He had taken the test along with my friend, but he said he didn't pass the meet and greet round. He's sent in applications to Are you smarter than a fifth grader? among other shows I hadn't heard of.

My friend said that her air date would be sometime in December or January. I told her she had to email us to let us know. She reiterated that her episode might not air. I asked her if she'd call them to ask. She said she'd be on the phone immediately if she didn't see herself on the schedule.
Posted by eugene at 10:47 AM | Comments (5)