Sadly, it was all I had to just get this out to the webiste. I may do an update, but more likely than not, I'm up for waiting another week. Anyway, I actually sold one of the Ferry schedules on eBay and sent it out. So it was only for a dollar. That's one dollar closer to paying for my part of the tax burden! [I swear I'm not opposed to the ferry idea, but I think the ship was too large for our needs and there were too many shady deals involved which evaporated any hope of profitability.] I didn't think of it before but I should have advertised it more (hmm ... that gives me an idea). Anyway, since I have a spare schedule, I figure I'll put five more up again.

The second-to-last improv class went pretty bad for me. After weeks of improvement, this was my first setback. I just wasn't on-the-ball. I think I was paying too much attention to my classmates — I believe I'm toward the "top" of the class and I thought I'd put in some effort to give the hesitant and shy people in class a chance to shine, but it only tripped me up. Just as likely it could have been drinking too much at a friend's house the night before (and finally trying anchovies on pizza — not terrible, but about as appealing as ground beef in my opinion.)

Friday I raced around to get things done for the day early in case I was going to New York. In the afternoon I met with a friend of mine at George Eastman House (900 East Ave.) and we had a really nice time. As things wound down I actually had enough time to make it to New York. I picked up some beef jerky and Genny on the way home and met with a friend of mine and we were off by about 5:15 p.m. and we made it to Arrow's Birthday Party (Bedford Ave. and De Kalb Ave., Brooklyn, [or thereabouts]) around 11 or so.

Now, not to diss our generous hosts, but it was kind-of just-another-apartment-party. Well, it was just a birthday party, so I guess I was expecting too much. Sure, the DJ's were cool and all, but I felt a little silly having travelled all the way to New York for something so not-that-dissimilar to a decent night at TiLT Nightclub and Ultralounge (444 Central Ave.) right in town. Well, except that I was wearing a pink terry-cloth robe and an orange shirt (i.e. "pornj") and for a little while nothing else.

Nonetheless, they let us crash on their couches around 6 a.m. after the DJ's stopped at 4 and we helped clean up a bit in the morning before heading out. We stopped at J & W Restaurant (654 Myrtle Ave., Brooklyn) for breakfast before hitting the road. It was a peculiar little place. Bacon-and-eggs were as one might expect for a diner, and the hot sauce was as one might expect given that it was predominantly Mexican, but it was what we guessed were pieces of Kosher sausage that gave away its location in the heart of a neighborhood that was predominantly both Jewish and Mexican ... only in the City, I guess.

After bickering with my friends and effectively getting lost in New York (alas, without a detailed Brooklynm map and running on 4 hours of "sleep") for a while, we finally made it through Manhattan and out the way we came. I was much happier when we weren't lost and on a highway going in the right direction. We hit snow in Syracuse and made it home by 7 so it wasn't too bad at all.

I got back and realized that it was the night of an annual party back in Rochester from other friends of mine. Despite having had just a couple naps in the car, I headed out again.

I liked the ability to actually talk with other human beings without doing it screaming over the top of music (no matter how good.) [Weird, huh?: that I'd really prefer a relatively conventional party over a relatively wild one in the City.] Of course, it can only help a party if you end up talking to some woman [or man, depending on which gender you like-like] who's just the cat's meow (not to say that the women I met in NY didn't have their own variety of purr ... [P.S. I got my orange sunglasses back, adorable-woman-whose-name-I-don't-remember, but broke them on the way home].) Strangely and similarly, it also ran until 4 a.m.

On Sunday I watched the movie Happiness at home. Depending on who you ask and when, it's either a very black comedy or a slyly funny drama and probably both. If I'm counting correctly, there are six main characters: 3 sisters, a husband of one of them, a neighbor of another, the lover of the third. Maybe five because the last guy is not too "main," but if you don't count him, then you might be tempted to call it a movie about the three sisters.

Anyway, it was like all the characters were inside-out: everything that makes them beautifully imperfect (all their fears, insecurities, naiveté, perversions, less-than-optimal choices, and lies) is worn on their sleeves and faces and their façade is all but ignored. It's one of those "funny because it's so true" kind of things, only in a "true" in a punch-in-the-gut kind of way and retold again and again throughout the entire film (not in a tiring way but in a way that chips at you gradually and steadily until you finally empathise.)

In theory, everyone can relate to having some secret sexual fantasy they're afraid to admit, or an inability to see that the path they're following really doesn't go anywhere, or that behind success lies traumatic insecurity, or that the perfect life might not be so perfect if you scratch past the surface.

It sticks us in front of a cinematic mirror. If the nature of the audience is to empathise, they'll see themselves, and they'll need to empathise with the characters or relate to at least one of their problems to really appreciate the film.

To footnote this absurdly disjoint review, in the middle of watching, my best friend called and it took me a good two minutes to regain my ability to form sentences. I was that mired in the issues of the characters.

• Nochnoi Dozor (Night Watch, at The Little) - A Russian film about the battle between the forces of evil and the superhuman "Others" who guard the night.