The Seventh Date

After a week long hiatus and some media flurries, I met Saturday back to my regular dating self. Avi and I started chatting online way back in February and now that he'd moved back to the city of dreams we decided to get together, blogosphere and all. Thus, I bring you date seven!

The Time: Saturday, June 26th, 5: 50pm (I was on time! Victory!)
The Guy: Avi, 29.
The Place: Cabinet Magazine, 300 Nevins Street, Brooklyn
What Creative Time Says: A door lets you come in, a window lets you look in, and a cabinet lets you share.

I knew from the get go that Avi was quite the ambitious guy. He wasn't content playing backseat to the planning of this date, oh no. He suggested visiting a site, THEN grabbing dinner, THEN hanging in a park, all topped off with a secret underground party that I had to SWEAR not to blog about in Brooklyn. I was nervous (one never knows if you'll even hit it off over one drink, let alone an entire night!I brought bananagrams just in case) but my sense of adventure and the fact that I would be able to incorporate a tutu into the evening's attire made me dive right in!

We decided to meet right outside the gates to Cabinet magazine and I walked on my way from watching the US lose to Ghana in the world cup (was anyone else kinda excited for Ghana?!) in park slope. One of the things I love most about NYC is how the neighborhoods blend and change without you noticing when the switch occurred. I started walking in overly cute, kids playing in fire hydrants, gentrified but in a hipster co-op way Park Slope and ended up in industrialist-art town with unfilled pools and rockin' block parties area-whose-name-I-don't-know on Nevins by Union Street. Avi and I had near perfect timing, a fitting beginning for a date that clicked like.... well, a key opening a lock.

Before opening the cabinet placed on a metal grate, I wanted to explore the alley. The falling lines of rusted fire escape stairs, leading up to broken windows and green-metaled frames, was like a city-made kaleidoscope and I wanted to lay on the pavement and stare up all day long. Either that or spider-man crawl up the structures, banging them down in my parkouring feat! Sadly, I'm 5'1" and webs don't shoot out of my arms and I stayed content imagining the placement of potted plants in the nooks.

Avi, of course, was awarded the privilege of unlocking the ominous gray-black box perched inside the alleyway and I love the pictures of him doing so because he didn't yet allow me to photograph his face! (See guys, I CAN keep you a secret, all you have to do is ask!) Wonderful cotton-candy fairground music filled the air and the words "look up" lay inside the box. We immediately did so to find...a small black contraption waving bubble-less wands in the air. Oh well, we danced to the music regardless and strolled on our way.

Exploring the area before dinner, Avi and I passed by the Gowanus Canal featuring bright green bat houses and heavy pollution, I dove into an artist's garden to snap photos of flowers made of beads and Cupie doll gnomes, and discussed Avi's avid love of bridges. We saw kids playing an elaborate game of tag, camels in a playground desert, spiky troll-headed flowers, and one fantastic art space called Littlefield. Because there wasn't anyone around every new site we came upon felt like a secret we had stepped upon. Avi and I got into some pretty heavy conversation (we've both worked with abused kids) but it only enhanced the contrasts of the warehouses to stained glass embedded in the concrete.

The rest of the date was just as wonderful and unpredictable. Due to the fact Avi had a car (though it had been broken into that morning and rode holding down a bike seat cover over the window, thieves be damned!) We went from Oaxaca Tacos (251 Smith Street) where the tortillas were fresh and tacos cheap, to Sunset Park (I swear if I take in another gorgeous Manhattan skyline I may have a heart attack) where there were real-alive fireflies and handstand contests in Chinese, to Quarter Bar Brooklyn where I had QUITE the delicious cucumber-infused beverage. Finally, we were off to the uber-secret get together which I am not allowed to share with you lovelies but my tutu-inspired outfit is in the collage. There are MANY magical spots in Manhattan worth exploring, let me tell you.

Truth be told, by the end I was thrilled with the date itself and even more warm and fuzzy to have made what I thought was a real connection with Avi. I was still beaming about it not two hours ago when I began writing this post and then, (literally, in the past five minutes!!!)  I found out from Avi that he has begun seeing someone else seriously. We were literally talking just as I had gotten to the part where I was going to share how excited I was for the next date! He was wonderful and sweet and kind as he told me but my body still had that horrible reaction you feel when you realize you're going to be disappointed (stomach plunge, tingling limbs). And it felt very very sad. I've had a lot of fun on the dates, and definitely like some of the guys, but with Avi it just seemed like smooth sailing from the get go. But what can you do except hope that this is a sign that something even more magical is on its way with an old or new adventure...

So, my dear readers, it's heartbreak (or at least momentary sadness) number one here on key to the city. Somehow the Cabinet Magazine excursion fits to the end, however, as it turns out I was excitedly looking up for something that wasn't even there. Or, as Avi just put it over G-chat, "you still got to hear a song that you never would've heard, even if there were no bubbles."

With new notes,        L.A.