Thom’s* Thursday Thoughts

I know I haven’t blogged since Thom’s thoughts from last Thursday, but trust me, this is in no way going to be the bulk of the content moving forward. In any case, *due to popular demand from various readers (including Tom’s mom), this series, updated weekly, is now called “Thom’s Thursday Thoughts.”

1. My cousin Michelle visited for a fun-and-food-filled week and left yesterday morning, which partly accounts for Tom making little progress in Alexander Hamilton. “I don’t want to have my page numbers scrutinized!” he says. Whatever. As of this writing, he is on page 244.
2. From his recent Netflix picks, Tom thought the following were “Alright,” which in Tom-speak as close to praise as anything could ever hope to get.
   • “Touching the Void,” which I watched with him and also recommend. It’s a harrowing documentary about two ambitious young mountain climbers who successfully reach a 21,000 ft. peak in the Andes, only to have one of them break his leg on the way down. The fact that the guy with the broken leg managed to make it down the crazy mountain and live to tell the tale and recommence his climbing career made me feel pretty crummy about getting winded when I climb stairs. 
   • “Antarctica: A Year on Ice,” which I did not watch with him, so I cannot say, but as I’ve mentioned, Tom thought it was “alright.”
   • “Columbo” – a detective/mystery series from the 70’s starring Peter Falk. Didn’t think I’d ever a.) agree with Tom on an entire TV series or b.) like anything from the 70’s – except of course, Ben and Jerry’s, but “Columbo” is fast becoming one of my favorite TV detectives (snuggling up with Sherlock, Mulder and Scully, Monk, Hercule Poirot and House).
3. Last week, we ate out almost Every. Single. Meal. but the fiore de carciofi at Bar Primi and the saddle lamb chop at St. Anselm in Brooklyn were Tom’s top picks.
4. Tom fears this series will just become another Internet listicle of things he reads and watches, except it won’t even go viral. “I’m more than just the TV shows I watch, you know.” So I’m including some of his best, most sharable thoughts from the past week, many of them inspired by long discussions with my cousin on dating and attraction:
   1. On a fat and rather unattractive guy my cousin came across on Hinge: “He’ll be single for a long time unless the manatees start dating.”
   2. On my cousin’s ex, who unfollowed him on Instagram: “I hope he gets fat.”
   3. On Asian girls aging: “Oh yeah, Asian girls age well. You guys look great and look great…until one day you just look like Kim Jong Il.”
   4. On my cousin leaving: “It’s too bad old what’s-her-name is gone. I had a good time.” (That’s your shoutout, Meeps).
5. Tom’s vegemite and cheese bagel count for the week: 7.