And sits down next to us.

This was our Saturday evening. We went out for dinner at a place about 30 minutes north just to get out of Edgewater for the evening. I wanted to watch the Rangers vs. Devils game and enjoy a cold beer on a bar stool.

This man sits down and the first hour we chat with him, he tells us all about his kids (one of them is a fairly famous actor.) He tells us about his younger days growing up in Astoria. He had some great stories. He told us the story behind a screenplay he wrote. The conversation was quite interesting. He misses his children a lot and they are all around our age, so he was so happy to chat.

We ask him about his Easter plans and he informs us that he practices Scientology and also follows the Greek Orthodox calendar which celebrates Easter next weekend. It took my brain a second to catch up. Here I was in the presence of someone that could answer so many questions for me. I had to approach it carefully. How did he get into it? Does he think Tom Cruise is crazy? What level are you on and how much money have you paid?

OK fine, I only actually asked the first question, but he did say that he is friends with Jim Vatrola (sorry, I mean John Travolta.) He told us the basics and was happy to allow our beer fueled curiosity to run a little wild.

I think I’m going to watch that documentary everyone has been talking about. Also, I want to read the book by Jenna Miscaviage about her escape from Scientology. I laugh at my brother for his weird obsessive research, but here I am getting weird. Don’t mind me.

In other news from my weekend, we explored Harlem this weekend. It is such a beautiful part of the city. Most of the blocks we walked were quiet and residential, but with beautiful homes. So many churches filled with people singing Easter hymns.

125th Street was a little more lively. You started to see tourists again and people selling perfume and incense and VHS tapes. We met an aspiring rapper and he suckered Justin into buying his CD by telling him that he looked like he could be a rapper. Then because he didn’t want us to fight over our new CD, he gave us a second one for free. We listened to it on the way home and it wasn’t too bad. Maybe I’ll give our extra copy to Ice-T when we see him at the grocery store. You never know.

And we went to the Orchard show and I didn’t love it as much as last year. But it was still beautiful.

What I learned this weekend:

  • I want to live in Harlem.
  • Everyone has a story they are want to share and you should listen. Bonus points if it happens at a bar and you learn a few new things.
  • There are so many interesting books, websites, movies, etc about Scientology.
  • Falafel wraps are my jam.
  • Dream big, you never know who grocery shops at the same place as Ice-T.

How was your weekend? Have you ever been to Harlem? Do you know anyone that practices Scientology?