half an inch of ice

today i went into the city early to meet a friend, nicola, that we met in rome thru micah and nikoma.
he's napoletano, and speaks with a pretty impressive napoletano accent. he's in new york for at least 3 years studying at a lab on the east side. it was the first time in a long time i got to speak italian. it felt really good. it was hard at first, i had a bad case of mouth constipation, but as the afternoon went on i felt better about it. we found a little italian deli on 46th street that really served the best espresso i've had in america. the owner is a short dude from calabria whose been here over 40 years, but unlike most of his fellow paesani he didn't forget how to make a good caffe.

nicola is heading back to italy next week for christmas, but i'm hoping we can start hanging out more often. aside from the fact that he's a lot of fun to hang with, it can also help my italian and his english.

i got to work early hoping to leave early and miss the impending transit strike. as it turns out i just caught the last bus back to jersey after rushing 10 blocks in the pouring rain. i had planned to take a car home, but seeing as the weather is shit, and people are nervous about the strike, and the ridiculous amounts of holiday parties happening (most at my building in the restaurant upstairs, providing me with tons of entertainment as i smoke outside) there was a two hour waiting time for a car. luckily the bus a tad late. the only problem once i got back to jersey was i had to walk 1/2 a mile through a complete sheet of ice. after about 2 blocks i realized it was better to walk in the left over snow, to save my ass from slipping a few times.

i suppose it could have been worse. after i have off tomorrow. and i'm really looking forward to the weekend. saturday especially. a whole day, just me and aubrey... a nice lunch, a few drinks, and conversation! and it's supposed to be sunny.

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i was reading nikoma's blog earlier and learned that thier 2 year old son nicolò has many italian words. he's going to day care a few days a week so he's learning from all the little roman kids. i was happy to hear that but it got me sad... i knew this would happen. had we stayed in rome a little longer luca would have become better in italian... he used to say acqua exclusively when he wanted a drink of water. now he just says water. he asked me for more water the other day and it freaked me out. i said "what happened to acqua?" and he shook his head, "no, daddy, water."

ah well. we'll just have to enroll him an italian school here, and pump his head full of battisti records.