Paperback Champion

Ouch!

Those groans you kept hearing were coming from apartment 7S1. I haven't had a headache like this since my last girlfriend.

Baton helped things by fixing me a heaping serving of chocolate chip pancakes, despite a wretched hangover of her own. I guess I'll keep her around another week.

Yesterday, I'd walked past a salon, er, barber shop called Jack's, where they cut men's hair for $20, very cheap for the city. So I rolled down there this afternoon for a quick cut and midway through, a Russian cat named Arkaidy, who didn't speak much English, asked if I wanted what I'd never had before -- one of those old-style, hot shaves. I accepted the lovely invitation that went something like this: "Shave?"

His English got decidedly better when he rang me up. "Forty dollars," he barked, and I was only able to add $5 because I'm on such a budget. Next time I'll just get the silent haircut in half the time.

On the way back, not yet knowing there was dried blood all over my face from what looked like Arkaidy's first foray into the hot-shave procedure, I made several stops where other human beings had to talk to me -- the Sprint store, Circuit City, Burger King and a corner book sale. Fortunately, I'm in New York, where everybody looks weird.

Anyway, I bought four books on clearance for a total of $20. In the last several years, books have become like crack to me. I love being surrounded by them, and if I ever make some money in the news business, perhaps one day I'll own a house with a study, and can take most of them out of my storage locker still in Louisville. Unlike a junkie, however, I'm not reading many of these books, many of which are paperbacks.

RESTAURANT REVIEW: I ate lunch out today, which I've done the majority of the days I've been here. It was the first time I'd spent less than $10 on a meal. There's a charming little place on 86th between Lexington and 3rd that serves up a good cheeseburger and crispy fries. It's called Burger King.

On a serious note, I picked up the sausage-n-peppers with penne for lunch on Friday at a place called Le Gourmet at 68th and either 1st or 2nd. The menu has everything, and things are reasonably priced and made to order. Very busy, and understandably so.