"How was it?"

"It was okay. Too much toilet humor."
"Well, you've seen it before."
"That's true. It just seemed like more of a mess this time."

Noel and I now have a running joke where we refer to going to the bathroom at a movie theater as seeing "Men's." Since we saw both "Tropic Thunder" and "The Dark Knight" (in IMAX) this weekend, we had plenty of opportunities to beat the joke to death.

When we last left our hero, he had just come back from "The Dark Knight" and excitedly noted the 68th and Broadway location of the theater.

I have now seen the following movies this summer:
Wall*E (dammit, where's the interpunct key?)
The Dark Knight
Journey to the Center of the Earth (stupid, stupid cousins)
The Dark Knight
Tropic Thunder
Tropic Thunder
Tropic Thunder
The Dark Knight (IMAX)

Well, at least I'm consistent.

Hanging out with Margot's 37-year-old boyfriend and his 36-year-old friend made me realize that I'm far more ready for the real world than I anticipated. If I'm capable of interacting with people who are twelve years younger than my parents (and charming the pants off them in the process), maybe the adult world isn't so scary. We did grown-up things like going to bars and complaining about the beer in a classy way. Trust me, it was totally in a classy way.

The taxi ride to the dessert place led to another revelation -- I can now visually recognize places in New York City, and navigate pretty flawlessly. As we passed by 64th and Park, I had a sudden flash of deja vu as I recalled blundering my way towards Marlena and the Central Park Zoo two weeks ago.

I guess what I'm saying is that to me, New York is no longer a Woody Allen or Noah Baumbach film; a collection of fuzzy "pop culture locations." New York is a place I've lived and (partially) understand. Grand Central isn't from "North by Northwest" or "Superman", it's the place I pass through on my way to work every day. The same goes for Times Square, the Village, Madison Square Garden, and a variety of other places. This was not a summer wasted.