Of limos and astronauts.

So, my new job comes with some cool perks: I do get invited to a lot of swanky dinners and such. It doesn't happen every week, but just often enough to still be really exciting: Last night, I went to the 50-year celebration of a Norwegian cheese brand at the amazing, Swedish-owned Aquavit restaurant, one of the absolute best restaurants in New York. The cheese people had flown in a heap of Norwegian chefs, who made the most amazing 6-course dinner ever, mostly using raw materials flown in from Norway. There were all kinds of guests, mostly from the press here in New York, but, randomly, there was also an Astronaut. I have never met an astronaut before, and I must say I was kind of amazed! I mean, yeah, you might have a pimped car or a big house or a busty girlfriend, but I mean, this lady has been to space! How do you top that?? Anyway, she was incredibly nice, pretty much what I expected an astronaut to be!

The highlight of the night, though, came as we were finishing up. First, we all got the most extravagant goodie bags, filled with tons of food and random stainless steel designer housewares.

But then, the M.C. said: "Yeah, we want all of our (couple of hundred) guests to get home safely, so there are limos lined up outside for all of you. Thank you for coming, and have a good night." I mean, I have never been in a stretch limo before, and I have never felt more like a crazy porn star as I did last night, when I was driven from Midtown up the west side of Manhattan to the Upper West Side in a pimped stretch limo.

So yeah, just another day. It was all very Manhattan.

(For the record: Today, I had to stand in a ridiculously crowded and mind-numbingly hot and humid D-train for Uptown and ate apples and bananas for dinner, so yeah.)