David’s/Dovid [דוד]’s birthday dinner and party, Dish, Manhattan, Saturday, 20–Sunday, 21 March

Before I tell the story of David’s/Dovid’s dinner, I should recount my experience in the deli and convenience store near Lucky Cheng’s before work: A woman entered with her dog on a leash that was too short for the close confines of the store. Often, she was on one side of the store while the dog was wandering on the other, the leash taut like a barrier preventing anyone from passing them. The cashier at the store could see my avoidance of this dog because of my having no idea if it were dangerous. After the dog and its owner left, I approached the cash register to pay for my sandwich, and the cashier seemed to sympathize with me. He was however under the impression I had avoided the dog because I couldn’t pray if the dog touched me.

After work, I made the short walk from Lucky Cheng’s and Waikiki Wally’s to Dish Restaurant. I was of course the first to arrive and sat in the waiting area reading the menu. A taxi eventually pulled up in front of the restaurant, and all I noticed was the sexy South Asian driver. A lady I didn’t recognize stepped out of the taxi, but David came out after her; when they entered, I was introduced to David’s friend, Cynthia. We sat in the waiting area, and I presented David with a birthday gift: a statuette of “heretic phara‘oh” Akhen’atun. (I felt it an appropriate gift because [a] Akhen’atun was a political reformer who promoted equality between the sexes, [b] he was a religious reformer who attempted to abolish all the old gods, [c] he was usually portrayed in an almost intersexual manner with both masculine and feminine features, [d] he was usually portrayed with a cat by his feet, and [e] I wanted to remind Dovid of his Near Eastern roots.)