Note:  New this year ... yes, those.  What?  The ellipsis (plural, ellipses).  Yes, look it up; ellipsis is not the same as the mathematical ellipse although both come from the same Greek root.  Well, that's not quite true ... not the Greek root, I mean, but my use of it.  I don't wish to imply that I will begin to use the ellipsis to help edit out large periods of inactivity or non-essential information; although grammatical, I've always used the ellipsis in my own writing to indicate a mental pause.  To make a long story short, I'm going to try to make a long story short.  That means that I will reprint highlights from my personal diaries without having to try to explain unexplained time periods.  There.  Next month's word will be announced at the end of this month.  Near the end of this month is the other ellipse; keep an eye out for it.

Saturday, January 1, 2000, so like, wow, I made it into the new millennium.  Although does it mean anything that we really have to wait a year before that’s true?  There is nothing that has to be done today, so not much is.  We don’t even get out of the apartment until 7 pm and that’s for a drink at Dick’s and dinner at Pangea although the weather has continued to be incredible.

Sunday, January 2,Pangea...  That's about it as not much else happens that day.  I have exactly the same food as the previous night – first a red pepper soup with crème fraiche followed by pappardelle in a tomato-based duck/shitake mushroom sauce.  Just superb specials.

Monday, January 3, I see Tony Jewiss+ ... this is the first time that I’ve seen him since his move here from Los Angeles where he was chaplain to Bishop Fred Borsch.

Bryan and I have dinner at Coppola’s.  This is the original location at 378 East Third Avenue, opened in 1986; they have a sequel on West 79th Street as well.  We often talk of going to restaurants in Murray Hill, we just never get to the area.

At dinner, Bryan only has the tri-color salad ($9) as he had a late lunch, while I have very good beef carpaccio over arugula ($10) followed by chicken alla sorrentino (breast covered with prosciutto and eggplant, tomato sauce and spaghetti side - $15).  What surprised me was how good the sorrentino was.  Although it looked very standard, the flavors were clean and fresh.  Very nice, although admittedly not cheap; each glass of red San Felice was $8 (though probably worth it) and the pinot grigio $6 - although in going over the bill, I realize that we weren't charged for Bryan's martini (although a $7 bottle of Panna water probably made up for it).  Total, $62 plus tip.

Tuesday, January 4, we get an UPS package from his father; it’s our Christmas presents – identical hooded, black Carhart jackets with Inberg-Miller Engineering logos on front and back.  For me, they’re way cool – for Bryan somewhat not as it's his father's company, a major civil and environmental engineering firm in Wyoming.  And I must say, the jackets are identical except for my name on mine and his on his.  Very modern thinking, wouldn’t you say?

Then, Bryan decided he needed Mexican food, so off we go to MaryAnn's on Second Avenue.  The food is exemplary this evening – I had the Karen’s quesadilla.  I say this particularly because, although a fun place, it's not the highest quality normally - and I want to remember that quesadilla!

Wednesday, January 5, lunch with B at Hamburger Heaven on Madison Avenue.  But it’s not – heaven, that is.  Actually, I’m surprised as most of these places that claim great burgers for fifty years actually deliver the goods.

Instead of dinner, on the way home we stop at the East Village Cheese Shop on Third Avenue near Tenth Street (salami rolled in herbs, marinated artichoke hearts, half a pound each of parmesan and a mild semi-soft spanish, two kinds of olives and stuffed grape leaves, rolls and Carr’s crackers for less than twenty dollars).

Thursday, January 6, Bryan and I join his friend Greg for dinner at La Balconata; although we love Vickie, the Greek owner who looks like Irene Pappas, my biggest complaint about this restaurant centers on its changing menu.  Not only do the items change, but the recipe as well – not a good thing; however, I can’t say anything is bad!

Friday, January 7, talk about a quiet day?  The only highlight is some sushi and sashimi at Mie.

Saturday, January 8, by noon I’m up and working on the diocesan newsletter; Bishop Herbert Donovan has been the assisting bishop of the Diocese of New Jersey for most of the last year and is now taking up a new position as an adjunct to the United Nations.

Danger and Susan join us for dinner; we’re all amenable to Spanish so it’s tapas at La Paella.  Quite intelligently, each of us orders two tapas plus sangria for the table.  They include some incredible stuffed mussels (yes, like clams), marinated artichokes, chorizo sausage, shrimp wrapped in bacon, ceviche, a plate of Spanish cured meats and olives and more.  And just a quick note to say again what wonderful dinner partners they are!

Sunday, January 9, a gray day so a good one to ‘cancel all plans.’  Indeed, our original thought is to have delivery for dinner but instead it's a drink at Dick’s before eating at Pangea.

Monday, January 10, it’s my brother Mario’s 43rd birthday.

Tuesday, January 11, I have dinner with Tony Jewiss+.  We both arrive at Pangea at 7 pm and I take a moment to introduce him to the ‘regulars’ – it’s a good evening to show off the restaurant as a neighborhood hangout.

During dinner, I find out the Fr. Gary Erb has died; and it happened just as he planned really - he became executor and then finally heir of a large gay estate.  When that happened, he gave up the rectorship of St. Clement’s in San Clemente (not a good situation to start with, considering how he bull-dozed his way into it); but heart disease followed soon after.  I’ll have to find out the details, although most of the estate went to his sister and her son, on whom he doted.

Other than that piece of bad news, I thought dinner was splendid.  Tony had the Moroccan fish soup followed by their not-traditional-but-really-tasty crab cakes; I had a regular order of steamed mussels and spaghetti bolognese.  But the best part was the company; Tony+ is in touch with so many of the people that I find interesting.  For example, I reminded him of the time he graciously had the Archbishop of Canterbury sign some certificates for my church's youth group.  Many of the kids still valued them and Tony told me he'd have to tell that to Dr. Carey the next time he spoke to him!

Wednesday, January 12 and I’m at St. Mark’s in-the-Bowery meeting Tony Jewiss+ again.  He’s taking a look at the rectory space the church wants to rent out; it was recently restored.  Well, I love seeing the inside of people’s houses and this one was quite special – the first two floors are taken up by offices, mainly of the restoration society that took care of the building; the third floor is a two-bedroom apartment.  Just wonderful.

Thursday, January 13, Bryan suggested Mie for dinner so that’s what we did.

Friday, January 14, a quiet morning and the coldest of the season so far at 14 degrees; I have lunch with my father in New Jersey.   Returning to the warmth of our apartment in the evening, laziness and the cold weather overcome us.

Saturday, January 15, I drive to Hoboken, and being hungry have lunch at Johnny Rocket’s – that’s right, the famous California burger joint.  So I have a St. Louis burger (fatty patty with Swiss, fried onions, etc), fries and a vanilla shake – all for ten bucks.  And the waiter (who could have been a double for Harry Kim on Star Trek: Voyager) was certainly from SoCal with his totally upbeat attitude – can I take him home?

My music over the last two days has been Philip Glass’s orchestral score for Jean Cocteau’s silent classic ‘La Belle et la Bete’ (he created one for Dracula with the Kronos Quartet last Halloween); the vocal score is in French.  Edith Piaf ne regrette rien.

Bryan and I had dinner at Pangea, tonight's specials included spaghetti squash which Bryan had along with the Moroccan chicken (now served in a crock pot to give it a more traditional feel).  I ate lightly with a nice orrechiette pasta ('little ears') with broccoli rabe and red pepper flakes.

Sunday, January 16, just some quick sushi/sashimi at Mie.

Monday, January 17,Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday ... a before going off to bowl, Bryan and I make our introductory foray into the land of Destino.  For quite awhile, Bryan has opined the lack of a good, fast food, Italian eatery; finally, one has opened around the corner at 81 Third Avenue. Strictly take out and delivery (with some minor counter space while waiting), the menu is simple and reasonably priced.  Nonetheless, for some reason they had to have a gimmick and having one in each part of the menu just doesn't work.  Tonight, for our first experiment, we have a 'pizza bolognese' and a 'fusilli pasta' with 'bolognese' sauce - an extra fifty cents over the standard marinara.  We also try an 'Italian poppers' appetizer - ravioli, stuffed with cheese and jalapeno, then breaded and fried.  See - just take out the gimmick.  The pizza's?  Your char-grilled pizza is cooked to order in just 2 minutes!  How do they do it?  The base is about the texture of Chinese scallion pancakes and pre-baked.  No.  The pasta's problem?  The sauce is ok, but although we are only a half block from home, the pasta is a lump.  And since it's around the corner, I'm sure we'll try it again, perhaps with some forethought.

Tuesday, January 18, it’s a very cold walk down Second Avenue for Mexican food at MaryAnn’s.  Once again, I have the Karen’s quesadillas – I must repeat to myself how good this chicken and eggplant combination is.

Wednesday, January 19, lunch at Tad’s Steak House.  They have a t-bone lunch special for $6.50; how is it so cheap?  This is the thinnest slice of steak I’ve ever seen!  But it’s just right for lunch, particularly the baked potato, all for under ten bucks including tax.  Then it’s off to Mie for dinner.

Thursday, January 20, it’s the first real snow day of the season.

Friday, January 21, I’m hungry for Italian, although unfortunately there really isn’t a good old-fashioned Neapolitan one in the East Village (although places like Lanzo’s and John’s try).  In addition, it’s not much more than ten degrees outside; thus, it’s Café CentoSette (on the corner of Third Avenue and 13th Street).  We haven’t been there in awhile as their menu isn’t that great; indeed the best thing on it is the chicken breast l’antica (a pounded breast in a creamy mustard sauce with steamed veggies on the side).  So what happens when we place our order?  It’s not on the menu anymore!  But the waitress graciously asks the cook to make it for me while B has the chicken parmigiana.  Verdict?  So-so on both, although my steamed mussels appetizer (in a light tomato broth) is superb.

Saturday, January 22, it’s my friend Tom Lane's birthday and here's his birthday card.  Who knew that all these years he's actually been Tomas, the revolutionary twin brother of Che.

Then up Sixth Avenue to T.J. Maxx; my housekeeper had a great puffy down coat that he got there for forty dollars and I’m hoping they’ll have more.  Unfortunately, it’s a day after a no-tax week in NYC so there’s absolutely nothing left.  Disappointed, we go over to the Burlington Coat Factory across the street and up a couple of blocks.  And there’s the coat!  Luckily, the only reason there was one there is because obviously someone had put it in a different department, possibly to come back for it later.  Too late, it’s mine!

But this means we will have to skip the 3 pm showing of Hitchock's restored ‘Rear Window’ that we were planning on.  [Editor's Note:  it wouldn't be until June 18 and a broadcast on American Movie Classics that we see it.]

Bryan suggests walking towards the West Village anyway, to see what’s playing at the Greenwich; our choices turn out to be ‘An Ideal Husband’ (I think B has had enough of Victorian England) or ‘Galaxy Quest’ (the new Tim Allen take-off on Star Trek conventions) which is about to start in a minute.  In we go, although the ticket person was honest enough to tell us that it would never really warm up in the theater.  It doesn’t but at least it’s not cold.

The movie itself is much more fun than we expected; Tim Allen is very good in it as a William Shatner-like tv actor who is picked by real aliens to save their world (they had been receiving tv signals from our planet; they called them ‘historical documents’ – you get the picture).  Joining him is Sigourney Weaver, in a surprisingly comedic turn, along with Alan Rickman (if ever I were to want to be an actor, it would be a character actor – and he’s one of my faves), Tony Shalhoub (loved him in the movie, hate him on Thursday nights) and a great group of supporting actors.  Plus some nice writing and very good special effects.

Tim Allen said in his Amazon.com interview,

“I think [the story] is really interesting.  It could have gone in so many other directions, and I’m glad it didn’t.  There’s some real emotion in this thing, and some real threat.  It could have been Spaceballs, but the director  went for the reality of the situation, not just comedy.”

Sunday, January 23, due to the wonderful nature of the weather, we’re in for the day.  Thus, dinner must be delivery so we try Five Roses on First Avenue again; Bryan has really enjoyed their sausage parm sandwiches so we order one of those to split and a large pizza, half plain, half pepperoni/fresh mushroom.  Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem to be one of their better nights; the sub is so-so, with only one sausage in the middle of it, and the pizza’s consistency seemed to result from being in a steamer too long (and the crust a bit too thick for my taste).  Even another fifteen minutes in the oven did nothing to help.

Oh, well.  By 9 pm, we ditched the Golden Globe Awards for the DVD of Adam Sandler’s The Wedding Singer.  And yes, Bryan, it wasn’t bad at all!

Monday, January 24, around noon, I try Destino again but again am very disappointed.  I was going to have the chicken parmesan plate, but it’s only the chicken, no pasta (it comes with a couple of slices of their garlic bread).  For half the price, I ordered the fettucine with vodka sauce and the garlic bread.  Back at the apartment, the pasta has suffered the same fate as the last time – it’s a glutinous mess.  They must figure a different way of packing, I think.  And the garlic bread suffers again as well, even though I put it in the oven to try to crisp it up.  If only it weren’t so close!

In the evening, we walk to the St. Mark’s Bookstore.  B wants to start reading the fiction works of the Pulitzer Prize winners, in order, but they don’t have the first one so it’s just a copy of Q for me.  And another reminder from Bryan that we’d be better subscribing to that mag than ten of any other related ones.

Then down St. Mark’s Place, window shopping for an Airwalk coat he has seen.  By then it was 6 pm and we were down near La Casalinga on First Avenue near 7th Street; we hadn’t eaten there in probably more than a year but it was still very good.  We had a couple of glasses of wine each; B had the pesto bread appetizer and penne with mushroom sauce while I had a mesclun salad (with a very smooth raspberry vinaigrette) and spaghetti bolognese.

Tuesday, January 25, a major snowstorm and totally unpredicted; we wake up to beautiful snow falling for most of the morning.  But it soon turns to sleet for the rest of the day.  Yuk.

Wednesday, January 26 and I pick up my new shirts at the Custom Shop - they look great.  Bryan and I have lunch around noon at a very cute coffee shop on 38th Street near Sixth Avenue, the Wolf's Bay P.S Restaurant.  And no, I have no idea what the P.S is all about.

After changing, we walked down to MaryAnn’s for Mexican (and a very good raspberry margarita I must say); I had a particularly hot chicken borracho (chipotle peppers, more by my request, and orange in a mole sauce – wow).

I watched a new episode of Star Trek: Voyager – I really do like how Seven of Nine has become a good Russian Communist crossed with Doctor Zhivago!  But they really shouldn't let Robert Picardo (playing the Doctor) sing; there's definitely too much pandering to individual actors on the show.  In a related note, former Commander Will Ryker (Jonathan Frakes) appears totally out of character as a suburban neighbor on the previous evening's episode of 3rd Rock from the Sun.

Thursday, January 27, and dinner at British pub styled Telephone Bar + Grill.  The food really isn't too bad there, it's just that the decorations are probably more accurate than the food!

Friday, January 28, three years ago to the day (it was Super Bowl Sunday that year), I met Bryan at a brunch for members of the Crix-list.  Who would’ve thought it would lead to this?  Our relationship moved rather quickly and we will actually celebrate three years as a couple this coming Valentine's Day!

At Barnes + Noble,I find a new (and autographed) copy of comedian Bob Smith’s new book.  Bryan really enjoyed the last one (and wants to stalk Smith after he’s done with columnist Dan Savage) and is excited to have it.  Also a raft of magazines including Art in America [Richard Serra’s Torqued Ellipse IV - on loan from the MOMA and currently on display at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao - is on the cover], I.D. [International Design], Mixmag [from England with a Pete Tong mix cd attached], and the Gay & Lesbian Review – Worldwide [with an interview with Gore Vidal]; the apartment really needed a fresher group of titles.

And speaking of which, when I was at B+N on Saturday, I noticed a new non-fiction work by Michael Wolff.  Couldn’t be the same guy with whom I graduated Montclair Academy in 1971?  It is!  I recognize him by his lips, as his hair seems to have receeded.  But it seems that he’s been a major player in the Internet field for awhile.  Married with children in Manhattan.

Saturday, January 29, no, I don’t have a cold, could not possibly have a cold, particularly because I had a cold at exactly the same time last year and I refuse to do it again, particularly as I recall how little there was to do around the apartment, particularly how I remember suffering through Kenneth Branagh in “Peter’s Friends” – oh no!

So anyway, I’ve had this miserable cold for a week but at least it hasn’t been as bad as last year; this just feels like a cold.

Which reminds me that I really should continue reading Felice Picano’s book the book of lies; at least I confirmed that it’s set in the very near future (and that Felice just wishes he looked as buff as his first person narrator).  Why?  Because in the future they won’t call it typing anymore; it will be inputting.  Whatever.  The book needed better writing of which, from the example of ‘Like People in History’, we know he is capable.

Around 6 pm we’re off for dinner at Brunetta’s at 190 First Avenue between 11th and 12th Streets.  This must be our week for revisiting old stomping grounds but we’re sorely disappointed this evening as everything we liked about the place has gone downhill.

First off, the staff that we liked is gone; one of the original owners took his share and is involved in gay bars like Barracuda and the revamping of Leshko’s on Tompkins Square Park and it looks like the fun staff went with him.  Second, the wine has changed; what used to be a very serviceable red for me and a dry pinot grigio for Bryan has turned to the flavors of cheap box wine.  Then, the food, which has always been somewhat hit and miss but generally good, just really isn’t very good this evening.

And to add a ‘just something wrong’ to the whole thing is a not very politically-correct view of veal.  Both the bolognese sauce and their sausages both contain veal, somewhat unusual for this area of the world and doubly odd considering it takes two central items off the menu for many people around here.  Sorry to give it the bad review.

Sunday, January 30,we meet Danger and Susan for dinner.  Interestingly, they suggest going to Leshko’s so we readily agree and immediately see one of the old staff of Brunetta’s.  He confirms what I already suspected, particularly about the food.  Ah, well – our area of the East Village continues to be Italian free, or at least free of high quality, traditional Neapolitan dishes.

As for Leshko’s, what was once an old-fashioned Polish diner on the corner of Avenue A and 7th Street has been freshened by gay hands.  This means that there are still some standard items (I think I saw a pirogi or perhaps some cabbage) in addition to meatloaf, stuffed turkey, steak and pork chops.  But the onion rings that come with many dishes are buttermilk battered and calamari and salmon cakes make their appearance as well.  Plus the décor is much nattier than before while retaining a Fifties feeling.

And a snow storm starts just before we meet and continues to provide a beautiful backdrop over Tompkins Square while we eat.  And here's a trivia note:  Julian Schnabel's 1993 screenplay for 'Basquiat' has scenes set at Leshko's (oh, my, Bowie as Warhol).  So there you go.

Monday, January 31, Bryan and I go to Lavo on Third Avenue for Thai food.  And although I have a fondness for the place as one of the first places to eat after I met Bryan, the food is just so-so.  And considering the quality of at least three others within a few blocks and it just isn’t worth coming back.  A shame really.

After dinner, we listen to two new records that Bryan has brought home.  The first is the new album by the Pet Shop Boys and the second is 69 Love Songs by the Magnetic Fields.  Now I'm sure he won't like this, but Stephin Merritt (who is, in essence, Magnetic Fields) is a regular patron at Dick's and painfully shy.  I'm not sure if any of us ever really speak with him.

But the album, consisting of three discs, is quite diverse and quite interesting.  And it's gotten an A+ from virtually every news source in the country!

We spend the rest of the evening working on our computers and closing out the month.  Still no job or prospects really; just a faith in the continuance of life.

Did I drink some poison
that I don't remember now?
Is there blood on my hands?
No, my hands are clean.
Did I do something in another lifetime
that was really really mean?

A small bullet, a piece of glass
And your heart just grows around it.

'Poison' from Laurie Anderson's album Bright Red