{"id":1802,"date":"2007-11-29T09:09:42","date_gmt":"2007-11-29T14:09:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/a-gala-night-is-about-all-i-can-handle\/"},"modified":"2007-11-29T09:09:42","modified_gmt":"2007-11-29T14:09:42","slug":"a-gala-night-is-about-all-i-can-handle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/a-gala-night-is-about-all-i-can-handle","title":{"rendered":"A Gala Night is About All I Can Handle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last night’s “black tie optional” event turned out to be pretty slanted toward tuxedos. Rocking the black suit, white shirt and silver tie, I feared that I’d be mistaken for a waiter. Fortunately, the waitstaff wore Nehru jackets<\/p>\n

Even so, I felt pretty out of place among the tuxes and bespoke suits. I thought that it’d be nice to get suits made sometime, but realized that I’d prefer to blow my money on high-end gin, too many books, and the NFL’s HD package.<\/p>\n

Anyway, the drive into NYC was smooth, even though the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting was going on that evening. Figuring that traffic would build close to my Columbus Circle destination, I decided to get off the West Side Highway at 79th, park at a garage near West End Ave., and walk the 19 blocks down to the Mandarin.<\/p>\n

On the way, I passed Lincoln Center, which had its own (much smaller) tree on display. I liked the colors, so I insist you must, too!<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

And while we’re at it, here’s a photo of the sunset in NJ, as I cruised down the West Side. The view was absolutely spectacular as I came off the George Washington Bridge, but taking a picture from that ramp would’ve been impossible:<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last night’s “black tie optional” event turned out to be pretty slanted toward tuxedos. Rocking the black suit, white shirt and silver tie, I feared that I’d be mistaken for a waiter. Fortunately, the waitstaff wore Nehru jackets Even so, I felt pretty out of place among the tuxes and bespoke suits. I thought that … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “A Gala Night is About All I Can Handle”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-urban-issues"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-t4","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":906,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/what-20-will-get-you","url_meta":{"origin":1802,"position":0},"title":"What $20 will get you","author":"Gil","date":"April 10, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"The first day of the conference was good, but I did a bunch of running around and interviewing, punctuated by a long lunch with a client who revealed that his first marriage ended because his wife was making it with the landscaper. He is not very happy that his second\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Pharmaceuticals"","block_context":{"text":"Pharmaceuticals","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/big-business\/pharmaceuticals"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4663,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/what-it-is-111609","url_meta":{"origin":1802,"position":1},"title":"What It Is: 11\/16\/09","author":"Gil","date":"November 16, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"What I'm reading: Same stuff as last week \u00e2\u20ac\u201d When the Shooting Stops, The Book of Basketball \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and a ton of stories that I'd been saving in my RSS reader. What I'm listening to: Graceland (Paul Simon), Boxer (The National; boy I really adore this record), In Our Nature\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "travel"","block_context":{"text":"travel","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/travel"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=virtualmemories-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B001PR13NK","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15596,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-509-darryl-pinckney","url_meta":{"origin":1802,"position":2},"title":"Episode 509 – Darryl Pinckney","author":"Gil","date":"October 25, 2022","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 509: Darryl Pinckney \"It's meant to be funny, but it makes me sad to remember it, because it's a lost time.\" Literary & cultural critic Darryl Pinckney rejoins the show to celebrate his new memoir\/memorial, Come Back In September: A Literary Education on West Sixty-Seventh Street, Manhattan\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/art"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/pinckney2022comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C523&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/pinckney2022comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C523&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/pinckney2022comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C523&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/pinckney2022comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C523&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/pinckney2022comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C523&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3900,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/art-virtue-and-dogs-in-sailor-suits","url_meta":{"origin":1802,"position":3},"title":"Art, virtue, and dogs in sailor suits","author":"Gil","date":"May 6, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Nine biographies into his work, Plutarch explains what he's up to! See, each of the Plutarch so far has essentially dived into the biography itself. But with Pericles' section, Plutarch instead begins by, um, decrying people who love their pets too much: Caesar once, seeing some wealthy strangers at Rome,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "literature"","block_context":{"text":"literature","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/literature"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=virtualmemories-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0679600086","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1775,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/givin-him-the-business","url_meta":{"origin":1802,"position":4},"title":"Givin’ him the business","author":"Gil","date":"November 11, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Last business-trip of the year, dear readers! I'm off to San Diego for the AAPS conference! I managed to get two suits, a second pair of shoes, and a third day's business attire in my carryon case! Sure, they'll be a bit compressed by the time I get to my\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "California"","block_context":{"text":"California","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/travel\/california"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5290,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/weakly-may-4-skokie-the-germans-and-the-lost-ugandan","url_meta":{"origin":1802,"position":5},"title":"Weakly – May 4: Skokie, the Germans, and the Lost Ugandan","author":"Gil","date":"May 15, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"[This is the second in a series of long-ass rambling posts about my travels from May 3-9. Part 1 is over here.] I woke up earlyish on Tuesday (6:30 a.m. constitutes 'sleeping in' for me), took care of a little work, ironed my suits and shirts, and made an early\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Business"","block_context":{"text":"Big Business","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/big-business"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1802\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}