For those following along with my previous actifit reports, I took a much needed nap ahead of what would be a long Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 23. I woke up at midnight to get ready for the Eric Prydz HOLO show.
Prydz would take the stage at 1.30 am, so I got as much rest as I could, since we would have to leave our apartment at 5.30 am to get in the queue at 6.30 am for our ticketed bleacher seats for the Thanksgiving Day Parade. Neither me nor my partner had been to the venue for the HOLO show, Brooklyn Navy Yard, so we were hoping to catch the bus down Myrtle Ave to get there. But when we got to the bus stop, a quick scan of the QR code showed the bus was well of its schedule and wouldn't be there until 1.03 am, too late to get us there for the start of Prydz's set.
Luckily, my partner has a rideshare app on her phone and lined up an Uber to get us there for a decent rate, only $18, considering it was late at night on a holiday evening. We got to the venue to catch the last song from Cristoph's set. The sold-out show was a madhouse, so we tried to sneak along the right side of the long dance area to get 3/4s of the way to the front.
But it was way too packed once we worked our way to the center of the dance floor, so we started moving back towards the middle of the room by the sound stage. Fortunately, we ran into some of our close friends who we camped with at Electric Forest and hung out with them for the full 2-hour set.
I shot a bunch of videos at the show, but when I went to look through my pictures, I had precious few to show in this post. The 3D lighting displays were amazing and exceeded my expectations. In one song, he showed a person pointing a TV remote at the crowd, and when he pressed the power button, a red lazer shot out into the air. Another effect had a person with a circular saw, and when he swung the saw down to make contact, real sparklers shot up from the ground to embellish the production.
We snuck out during his last song to get a jump start on our walk to the bus stop by the Williamsburg Bridge. It was about a mile, but the benefit of the bus was that it dropped us off at the corner of our apartment. Also, the bus stop was the very first stop on the bus route, so we were guaranteed that it would be leaving on time at 4 am. Just like clockwork, we got there about 5 minutes early and got home by 4.20 am.
That meant another quick power nap for yours truly, 40 minutes of shut eye before my alarm woke me up at 5.15 am. We were out the door about ten minutes late, 5.40 am. We had a 10 minute walk to the subway from our Brooklyn apartment and then transferred to an uptown train to get to the parade checkpoint at 75th street.
To our surprise, the queue to get into the bleacher section stretched three full blocks down to 72nd street. We phoned my sister (who was visiting for the holidays from Denver, Colorado) and were able to all get on line together. I got to meet her boyfriend for the first time, and he is a great guy. Lucky for him, he found a great girl, too.
Unlucky for us, we got a spot in the bleachers that was in the shade, so it felt even colder than the 40F degree temperature. We got to our seats at around 7.15 am, so we had to wait another 75 minutes for the parade to start. It was slow, cold torture.
But once the parade started, it was amazing to see these huge balloons flying down the street, complemented by marching bands and celebrities on floats. I hope you enjoy some parade spam. Check out these balloons and floats. How many can you recognize?
We also got to see Saturday Night Live legend Kenan Thompson on a float promoting his new movie Good Burger 2 as well as Late Night host Nimmy Fallon with ?uestlove and The Roots.
Once the parade ended, we rushed down to Columbus Circle to take refuge at the Time Warner Center. There is a Whole Foods down in the basement, so we freshened up and rested in some more comfortable chairs while waiting to meet my dad for our brunch reservation at 12.15 pm.
We went to this well-known brunch destination, Cafe Fiorello, that was a favorite spot for Tony Bennett. I even ordered the Tony Bennett french toast, made with cinnamon raisin bread, strawberries, and maple syrup. YUM!
The restaurant also had some nice holiday decorations and remarkable art.
After brunch, my partner and I went right back to my father's apartment to sneak in one more nap before our trip up to Westchester for the big family Thanksgiving meal. My dad has three brothers, and all four of them stayed in the New York City area to raise their family. We typically meet at different residences for different holidays, but it is always a rowdy crowd. Only one grandparent made it to the Thanksgiving meal, but all nine of us grandkids were there! For the record, I am the oldest of the nine grandkids spread over the four families, even though my dad does have one older brother.
Truffle honey was the star of the charcuterie board that features 5 different cheeses, 2 sliced salamis, and a variety of fruit and nuts. The star of the Thanksgiving meal was undoubtedly the smoked turkey! Unfortunately, there weren't any collard greens or green beans, so it was just turkey, stuffing, and gravy for me. Of course, I was saving space for dessert.
Here is just a small sampling of my dessert plate, which included biscotti, chocolate mousse, pumpkin pie, vegan coffee cake, and some butter cookies.
Stuffed from a big meal and tired from an insanely long and action-packed day, I melted into my pillow almost immediately upon getting back to my mom's condo. Today marked the most amount of steps I've recorded on the actifit so far, over 10K for the max bonus, although my Samsung Health app tracked me closer to double that total. I think it might be time to get a fitbit for the holidays so I can get a more accurate count of my steps and overall activity. Then I'm coming for you all on the leaderboards.
I'm sure the next few days will be filled with rest and relaxation, so my steps will be few and far between. I don't plan on doing any in-person shopping for Black Friday and Saturday I will commute back to Brooklyn from my mom's place in Westchester. Hopefully, I will have the time to write a few fantasy footie/football updates for Hive and play my Splinterlands account into Modern Champ 1 league. So long for now, it is time to rest. Let me know what you were up to for your holiday down in the comments. Cheers!
This report was published via Actifit app (Android | iOS). Check out the original version here on actifit.io
