Love, Theoretically—CV Très Magnifique

In which Valentine's Day "party favors" from work prove useful...and bring some color to Kindle Paperwhite cover —Taken with an iPhone 13

The journey outside of my literary comfort zone last year felt like a bumpy ride. I went from reviewing a supernatural romance novel in poetry, which I enjoyed, to struggling through a rom com that seemed to make light of mental health issues by using them as comedic hooks while leaving narrative-driving dialogue to sit on the kitchen counters of that house in Maine. It is very much like being in the throes of a reciprocated crush, where the enthusiasm and anticipation can make even the most pragmatic person forget to look up the reviews for a local restaurant. The decor might be stylish and ritzy, but when the food turns out to be cold, overly seasoned, or has the wrong toppings, the romance gets sucked right out of the atmosphere.  

Even if the place went south, the date never faltered down the same path.      

Ali Hazelwood's book, Love, Theortically lines up in parallel to said date where the usual fare of (potentially) cheap romance and rom com literature does not stop this love story from doing its own thing and, well, doing it brilliantly. The most interesting thing about Love, Theortically is the fact it does not start as a romance at all. It instead starts with recent PhD graduate and adjunct professor, Elsie Hannaway, applying for a tenured position at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the hopes of saying goodbye to both adjunct life and to playing the roles of multiple Elsies in the gig economy through the fake-dating app, Faux. 

The narrative properly gets rolling when MIT Physics Chair, Monica Salt, invites Elsie for an interview and dinner at the Miel as one of two candidates. There, she meets the bane of theoretical physics and possible threat to her career: Experimental Physicist Dr. Jonathan Smith-Turner or just Jack Smith-Turner. (Ironically enough, I imagined him being played by real-life theoretical physicist, Brian Wecht. More on comfort zone hooks shortly.)

It already goes without saying that I appreciate everyone who voted in last year's poll alongside my Mom and (by proxy) my sister who recommended alternative titles in the first place.

I mean it more so after reading Hazelwood's book and I do not regret spending around US $11.70 on the Kindle edition. The writing is smooth with both the dialogue and Hannaway's stream of consciousness driving the narrative forward. Every hook did not merely just made sense, but made it a book I looked forward to reading whether before bed or during the day. 

Love, Theoretically is also a romance novel which is partly steeped in my own comedy comfort zone: Elsie's gigs for Faux reminded me of Spaced's Tim and Daisy who faked being a couple in order to rent a flat from the landlady, Marsha. Brian Wecht, who I mentioned two paragraphs ago, playing another major role in making me close to home in an unfamiliar, literary landscape. It also helped that the book was unashamedly geeky across the board with references to Twilight, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and other obscure films among other iconic media...                   

...aside from being steeped in primarily physics and academe. Anyone who might be unfamiliar with the sciences will not be lost in the stacks—Hazelwood keeps the explanations about physics studies brief and simple.

There are some speed bumps near the end in the form of heavily intimate scenes that take up a couple chapters. I do not usually comment on these for books in general but here it felt like I was trying to get back to the plot, which for some reason, felt like it was almost wrapped up beforehand. At the same time—and much like Arthur Dent and Fenchurch's flying ritual in So Long and Thanks for All the Fish—it felt like it those scenes were supposed to be there to help develop character in a way that I do not think I can (or should) answer. Much like Adams in Dent's fourth adventure, Hazelwood anticipates this in a way which I thought was just as clever, if not more so, with a simple text message to Elsie. The format change was enough to get me to pay closer attention to the story again without telling me to skip chapters for the sake of character cameos. 

The more important result of that is something I will not spoil, but ultimately subverts Elsie's main challenge into one that was more personal and ongoing to begin with. In short, it made me appreciate the book not just as a mere romance novel, but a story in which its both Elsie versus the world and herself similar to something like Jaz Jazalyn's Rose: Future Heart from last year.   

Love, Theoretically did not start out as a love story, but both manages to meander into one while making it work in the most improbable ways...according to a reviewer properly unfamiliar with love stories en masse. It's not exactly a trek into daunting new ground thanks to the geekiness of both the setting and the characters themselves who helped make me feel comfortable on new literary ground. The story was not a shipwreck by any means, but a proper, ironclad vessel swiftly moving across the Atlantic with a galley that doles out the proper amount of spices and dressing for any salads or meals. A second trip might be in order...

In Sum: Evening dinner for two at a restaurant with soothing aesthetics and delicious food with a coffeehouse poetry reading followed by a band playing at 8pm. Minor scheduling conflicts pending—4 out of 5

...and yes, the title is also a nod to Brian Wecht in his new venture as jazz musician, Trey Magnifique. His debut album, Mature Situations is lovely and, well, fitting. Do give it a listen!           

Another Journey to Boston: A Ticket to the Common, Newbury Street, and the Library

Church of the Covenant on Newbury Street —Taken with an iPhone 8 

I talked about going back to Boston by train at the end of the first travel blog, and then again in the following post where I highlighted some of the sights that I missed. Much like with the summer water taxi, I mulled over taking a solo train journey and ended up forgetting to do so.

In truth: There was already a train journey planned for my 33rd birthday for a couple months and last year, on September 29th (Birthday Eve), I headed back there for a day with my Mom and sister.        

Top: The Amtrak Sign above the ticket booth.
Bottom: The Entrance to Union Station featuring some artwork and a couple of shelves filled with pamphlets —Both taken with an iPhone 8 

This trip begins on an overcast morning in New London's Union Station where Mom and I sat waiting for an Amtrak commuter train (a Northeast Regional) that was slated to arrive at around 7:45am. The red brick exterior may seem plain and unremarkable, but the ticket office and waiting room exuded artistic flair with classical music playing over the loudspeakers. Much of it sounded like choir hymns, making the station feel more like a church or cathedral than just one stop out of many.  

Nothing eventful happened—I ended up scrolling through Mastodon on decent Wi-Fi with an app that I love called IceCubes. I initially didn't have any goals or challenges for this trip, but I had a very brief conversation with ThetaSigma who recommended a couple of books by Iain Banks—Crow Road and Complicity—in a thread where they talked about how they were enjoying their read of Dead Air. 

Ideally, I wanted to find both of those books if we ended up in a bookstore. Possibly The Quarry as well.

The train ended up being delayed for an additional fifteen minutes before arriving at the station at ten past eight. 

Top: The Amtrak train arrives at Union Station
Bottom: Nostalgic by means of Simon Pegg and Spaced...without having watched the film proper until late October —Both taken with an iPhone 8

The passenger cars were just as quiet as the station, but Mom and I ended up getting separated since there wasn't an empty set of seats for the both of us. Not a big deal in the slightest since I decided to start reading a book I brought with me—Chris Collis's You've Got Red on You—that was recommended by Paul Gannon in either a past CheapShow episode or on one of their Patreon exclusive Crapbook pods. I already mentioned how much I'm enjoying this book in an earlier post, but those early chapters truly gave me a nostalgic kick for Spaced during the course of the ride there.

There are some really cool coincidences that coincide with my birthday—there's International Podcast Day which I mentioned previously, and a couple of Doctor Who serials started airing around the same day with both of them being written by Douglas Adams. Those stories being "The Pirate Planet" which started airing on the 30th in 1978 and "City of Death" which broadcasted the following year on the 29th. 

This year brought another visitor to that group in the form of an Nintendo Switch Online trial for the game Eastward in North America between the 28th and the 2nd of October. This was my Game of the Year for 2021, even beating Samus's comeback with Metroid Dread. It's become one of my comfort games with each full playthrough to the point where I decided to buy myself a plushie of Sam from Fangamer a couple months before this trip alongside pre-ordering the game physically as a Collector's Edition two years prior.    

The number of stops between New London and Boston almost lined up perfectly with the areas in Eastward: New London and my hometown would make up Potcrock Isle, then Kingston as Greenberg, Providence as New Dam City, the Route 128 station took the place of Monkollywood, and Boston's South Station...I'll come to that one shortly.

For now though, we arrived in Boston at around ten o'clock!          

A Federal Railroad Administration Car across from where our train stopped. —Taken with an iPhone 8   

We met my sister in South Station's central terminal which felt like a little bit of a parking garage mixed in with an food court in a shopping mall or an airport. There wasn't anything out of the ordinary—I fully expected the hustle, bustle, and ephemeral grit from the state of the restrooms. There was also ongoing construction work taking place around the hub which, upon exiting South Station, shocked me after we crossed the street and looked back at the historic edifice.  

Top: South Station from the other side of Atlantic Avenue, including the tower that's currently under construction.
Bottom: The view from South Station with One Financial Center on the left. —Both taken with an iPhone 8 

Background research led me to an article written by Boston.com's Nik DeCosta-Kilpa alongside another one by Abby Martin who both report that South Stations new tower will be a mixed-use property for both businesses and residents alike.  But, for now, all I could think about was Ester City and the Eternal Tower from Eastward—it felt uncannily similar, but in reverse. 

What went through my mind was what Adam Savidan said during the second episode of RoadQuest, in which he points to a mountain and says, "That's the big mountain where those, uh, screamy dudes are in Skyrim" (4:05-4:08).   

Put simply: British Columbia gets High Hrothgar while Massachusetts becomes a part of the land called Eastward.      

Enough video game allusions though! Let's get back into the city!        

Where Winter Street intersects Winter Place with a Starbucks in the distance. —Taken with an iPhone 8 

We didn't really have a set plan—which was more or less due to me thinking of any particular place of interest to stop by—so I trusted my sister to give me brief guided tour. Unlike the last trip, where we briefly went up and down the Seaport District, this one took a more westward turn away from one of the poshest places in the city. 

There was some distance to walk before we reached the Boston Commons, Public Garden, and Newbury Street, but there were still sights to see. The streets we walked down to get there, including the above photographed Winter Street, had a sort of fantasy or steampunk-like feel to them. I know the notion of pedestrian-oriented cities is more of a thing overseas than here in the states, but this compromise seemed interesting to me. I'd love to see pedestrian-oriented becoming more of a thing on this side of the Atlantic, or at least having smaller towns and cities becoming more walker-friendly than they currently are—alongside having more robust pubic transport.    

Top: The Brewer Fountain with a few nearby food stands. 
Middle: The Embrace monument in the Boston Common shot in what I believe is the view the artist intended.   
Bottom: The Parkman Bandstand drenched in rain. —All taken with an iPhone8

We hit the Commons shortly after and I took the opportunity to snap quite a few photographs of everything we passed by. The rain was my biggest concern that day and it began to pick up as we walked through the park. I initially thought that it only be a drizzle compared to back home, but I still managed to take quite a few shots.

The Boston Common has a huge history—from being a part of the Freedom Trail to the place where Carole Scott and Martin Luther King met alongside other historic events—and these photos don't really do said history justice. Not for a travel blog, anyway.    

Still, I'm glad that I managed to take pictures of most of the Common's most prominent landmarks while keeping my phone mostly dry. Some additional photos will be in an future blog post as a supplemental entry to this travel blog—much like last time.   

Top: A gate marking the start of the Haffenreffer Walk.
Middle: A view of the Public Garden's lake.  
Bottom: A lone island as seen from the Foot Bridge. —All taken with an iPhone 8

Right next to the Boston Common and right past the Haffenreffer Walk gates is the Boston Public Garden where the flora goes from refined to dignified and flush. It might not be historically significant as the Common, but was still a lovely place to walk through before we finally reached Newbury Street. 

The Haffenreffer Walk went over a suspension bridge—properly named the Boston Public Gardens Foot Bridge—where I was able to snap a picture of the lone island out in the Garden's lake. (Admittedly, I thought of Islanders when I saw it.)

My sister said that there are many tourists who take selfies and pictures off the Foot Bridge. Sadly, I ended up with only the one above...and I'm not usually one for selfies. The rain was more or less to blame on that front since it picked up from a steady drizzle to barely tropical. Much like with the Common, I did take other pictures around the Garden before we crossed the bridge so look forward to some of those in a later post.   

For now, we head down Newbury Street and straight to lunch!   

Top: The restaurant's namesake painted out on a brick wall, motto and all. 
Bottom: A hibiscus margarita rimmed with sugar and nachos almost out of shot. —Both taken with an iPhone 8 

My sister took us to a local Mexican restaurant called La Neta, which was halfway down Newbury Street next to mochi donut shop we would visit on the way out. We might have been the only customers in the building, but the food was delicious and the decor gave the place a good dose of artistic flair. I personally opted for a chorizo quesadilla that just had the right amount of spice and was very filling. This was marked the first time I ever had a margarita with the one pictured above being hibiscus flavored and rimmed with sugar.

I sadly couldn't get any other pictures of the restaurant itself outside of a blurry shot of the "Tacos, yes. You, maybe" neon sign, which you can also see on their webpage. When you're as tall as I am (6'2'' in Imperial) you tend to stand out in trying to get the closest thing to an immaculate picture with the subject being a shelf of sauces or a bathroom door that wouldn't look out of place in a Douglas Adams novel.

Then, the shopping portion of the trip began...with a brief stop in the future...        

The webpage for Anime Zakka shown on the iPad's DuckDuckGo browser. Neither plush came from their, but the Wobbuffet would be an example of something you'd see in the store —Taken with an iPhone 8 (and one of the last photos to have this honor)

There were a few locations we visited that I did not get photos of: With Levain Bakery, I blamed the rain. In the case of the Japanese multi-purpose store Muji, I didn't find anything interesting to add to the haul. Anime Zakka on the other hand had the opposite problem of having a lot of neat items I could have bought—an unboxed figurine of Teddie from Persona 4, Pokemon plush keychains of Gengar and Dragonite, shirts and hats from the myriad JoJo's Bizarre Adventure arcs—but I decided not to because, well, I don't think they'd remain unscathed in my tiny backpack. 

Also: I was spoiled by Arisu Anime over in Mystic with their back shelf entirely dedicate to manga and was surprised that Zakka didn't have a dedicated section.

This would be easily be alleviated as we go back into the past and across the street to where the haul begins to form...         

Top: The sign and awning for Newbury Comics. 
Bottom: The storefront for Trident Booksellers & Cafe with a sign above the off-camera door, but with tables, chairs, and the window logo in shot. —Both taken with an iPhone 8

Newbury Comics was a place where, for some reason, I did not believe would have a dedicated manga section. I was wrong. There were a few sets of shelves near the front of the store containing droves of Japanese graphic novels to the point where I found myself overwhelmed and indecisive. I eventually managed to choose a few volumes to buy that I knew I would enjoy and, ultimately, keep in my collection. 

The store itself is a New England-centered chain that I remember occasionally walking by in the Providence Place Mall when my parents, sister, and I would go over there during the late-2000s and early-2010s for the Apple Store and a few other places for, clothes, cookware, and furniture. Next time I find one in the wild, I'm definitely going back in to shop there again.

Down the street from Newbury Comics was the Trident Booksellers & Cafe where I would figure out whether or not I could find those specific Iain Banks novels—if not them, then any books from him in particular.

We skipped on the food since we already had lunch, but the cafe portion seemed busy and somewhat packed. Many of the shelves were packed with literature as expected, but the walkable spaces in-between them were tight, making the store somewhat difficult to navigate. I did walk out of there with a good haul, but I'm saving the full results for the end of the post.

Top: The mural for Ten One with a squirrel at the center.
Bottom: Boba tea consisting of royal jelly and blue boba beads. —Both taken with an iPhone 8 

The next stop was a brief respite at the tea shop, Ten One, that my sister said makes the best boba. She also said that it was proper boba compared to that one place in the Olde Mistick Village that she heard about—I don't remember if she went there though. 

This was an neat little place where you ordered the tea from a self-serve kiosk, choosing whether or not to include jelly or boba beads in your drink, and wait by window giving a nice view of Newbury Street.        

The view from inside Ten One of Gloucester and Newbury Street. —Taken with an iPhone 8  

I personally opted for an Osmanthus pineapple green tea with royal jelly and blue butterfly boba, which I nursed for the next leg of the trip. 

The view above is essentially what most of Newbury Street looks like—a lot of red brick buildings, trees and shrubbery. There are still many high end stores on this street, especially near the Boston Public Garden, but the further we went the more homely it felt. There were more shops that I could personally scour on this road alone compared to the sole bookstore down on the pier—even if it made up for all the other expensive stores and restaurants surrounding it. Compared to the the Seaport District most of Newbury Street felt way more welcoming overall with the nice mix of local businesses and recognized chains.

Even if that's partly my bias for the architecture speaking, I think I'm personally sold on Boston. Thing is, I've barely explored the city. The next half of our journey will help rectify that a bit, but first a detour...