Hey hey hey on this glorious Friday, when I’m finding it impossible to focus on anything other than the perfect weather and the fact that the CDC says I can 86 the mask! Sorry, work meetings, but today I’ve got better things to do, like fantasizing about air travel and bars and yoga classes and pedicures and music festivals!
I talk a big game but of course this is all counterbalanced against some intense mental health fallout from the past year, so I am also realizing that I’m actually terrified to be maskless indoors. And I’m not sure if I still have friends left to do all those aforementioned activities with—this is gonna be an interesting reentry for sure.
At any rate, Sunday is my birthday and, although I’m firmly of the belief that we should not have to recognize getting older during a year in which time had no meaning, I can’t deny that I’m in the mood to celebrate, so this weekend is gonna be banger, y’all. I seriously don’t even know what that looks like anymore, but I’m going to give it the old college try so please keep this old girl in your thoughts and prayers as you yourself are (hopefully) cavorting about town over the next few days.
Given the suddenness of the CDC’s big update to its guidelines regarding fully vaxxed people yesterday, it’s not clear if or how quickly businesses currently requiring masks will turn things around. But luckily, there were already a lot of great options to while away the sunny days ahead while we wait for further instructions, including a Cajun Creole music festival on Governors Island; the opening of a new exhibition of portraits of Brooklyn residents at The Old Stone House called We’re Still Here. . .; and rooftop standup comedy at The Tiny Cupboard in Bushwick tomorrow night.
To be honest though, I might just take the opportunity to hit up a beloved restaurant for some indoor dining (!) or finally go to a museum again, like for example to see this Alice Neel show at the Met that I’ve been putting off for a month.
On Sunday, I’d like to visit the new brick and mortar location of King David Tacos in Prospect Heights to get some of those delicious Austin-style breakfast tacos that have, in the past, been the entire underlying reason for a Grand Army Plaze farmers’ market run. Then, I may follow it up with a mellow pop-up performance by the Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra in Brooklyn Museum Plaza.
On the other hand, you could head out to the beach to soak up some rays before things get too crazy post-Memorial Day, or take a quick, heart-stopping ride on Thunderbolt at Coney Island, as I did last Saturday, before rewarding your courage with some fried clams and a beer on the boardwalk afterwards. Speaking of Coney, the Cyclones’ season opener against the Hudson Valley Renegades is on Tuesday night, and you may as well buy tickets now to get out to MCU Park at some point this summer.
While you’re in the mindset of planning ahead, consider securing free tickets to see a new production of Tartuffe in Prospect Park at the end of May, or committing to see Fran Lebowitz when she appears live at Town Hall in April 2022. (Tickets went on sale this morning and are selling out fast.)
Whatever you end up doing this week(end), I hope you are feeling a surge of hope and energy, albeit one that may be tempered by anxiety, inertia, and reluctance. Based on my very extensive research involving random text chains with the few people I still manage to keep in touch with, feeling a little strange and unsure about all of this is totally expected and normal behavior! We’ve come so so far, friends, and we are so tough, this next bit is going to be a lot easier than it might feel right now.
Failing all else, may I recommend a takeaway outdoor cocktail (which is legitimately the only thing I hope remains from this hellish time in our lives), and a walk through wherever you are in Brooklyn this evening while the sun sets? In my humble experience, it is a failsafe cure for almost anything that ails you. Peace and happy weekend!
SOURCE: Brooklyn Based – Read entire story here.