It wasn’t a good end of week. Bogdi and Roxana’s grandma passed away on Thursday night after a long battle with cancer. The funeral was today. Had to skip work to attend it – which is sure to get me in trouble with HR – but I wouldn’t have thought of missing it.

I usually don’t get overly personal on my blog – especially about somebody else’s personal problems – but I knew her for a good while and it’s because of her family that I am here today. During my last years in Romania I was the link she had with the loved ones here and I always used to visit her before and after each of my trips to the US. I was very happy when she finally came here and got reunited with the rest of the family, I only wish it would have been for longer. She was a wonderful, loving person and always treated me like one of her grandchildren.

Rest in peace grandma, you will be missed.

Many months ago I found out about an upcoming concert: the music from Lord of the Rings performed live to film by an orchestra and chorus. I’m a big fan of movie scores and soundtracks – I have quite a collection of them, especially by composers like Hans Zimmer, Mateo Pascual, John Williams and Howard Shore. All three Lord of the Rings movies are in there, so going to see this live was a no-brainer.

I had two tickets – figured I would have someone to accompany me by now – but when that fell through I invited a friend to join me. Some colorful characters were in front of the theatre, including a Gandalf (who had to leave his staff at the coat check ) and some hobbits. I read that even Stephen Colbert was there.

The concert was absolutely great. They played the whole first movie (theatrical edition) with only the voice and fx tracks – the latter wasn’t very loud, so the music and voice was always over it. The solo parts were especially beautiful, as well as the chorus. The only disappointment was that people kept clapping when the credits started – at the names of the actors – while “May It Be” was being played. I understand you like the actors – I do too – but we went there tonight for the music. Clap after that finishes.

Anyway, it was a great experience. I’ll go next year when they’ll do the same thing for the second movie.

They say you should try anything once. Well, most things anyway. Which is why I ended up this evening at a speed dating event. A good friend pushed me to try it (she met her bf that way) so I signed up for one that sounded… interesting. An event for “Asian women and the men who love them” said the description, and that fits me pretty well In my hurry to register I failed to notice the age range (28-45), which might have saved some raised eyebrows later. Alas, I realized my omission earlier today, but decided to still go through with it, just for fun.

Now this type of thing can go only two ways: either very good, or horribly (= hilariously) wrong. And because I love laughing at my misadventures, take a guess which one it is

Here are my notes, scribbled down on the phone while waiting for the event to start:

• man, everybody’s so old. 3 women so far, clearly close to 40s
• some men are wearing suits. some are in jeans and sneakers. one asian, the rest white
• ok, more women came. they seem younger, but it’s hard to tell for sure
• they’re playing songs with Asian-themed lyrics. and by that I mean gems like “me love you long time”. I’m not making this shit up
• can’t stop laughing, probably because of the lyrics
• a dude started a convo with the woman waiting next to me. he blabbers about soulmates. I can’t stop laughing
• “so are you gonna be sober?” best pickup line so far
• apparently they’re 6 women short (out of 15 or so). the host apologized and said us men will get a free booking for next time. hahaha
• I have never felt so young
• more women came. looks like we’re ready to start
• [those was added after the event ended] here’s how it went down, with each:
  1. japanese, lives in astoria. translator. not my type. also, old
  2. works for the city. born and raised here. way over my age
  3. coworker of #2. same background. same age
  4. this one actually looked younger. until she spoke
  5. young looking and stacked. showing lots of cleavage . first q she asks me: “how old are you?” “28.” “i’m 40.”
  6. chinese, worked in Japan a lot. old
  7. filipino. might not look too bad in optimal lighting conditions. still, old
  8. mom???
  9. this one was so old it wasn’t even funny. she tells me I’m the youngest one there. “I know.” not much else to say after
• the event is done. the host explains how we can get in touch with our “matches” and invites us to stay at the place for drinks and more conversation. I’m the first out the door.