LAST SEINFELD

Thursday, May 14, 1998

The other day a correspondent described me as "bohemian." I was a little startled, and amused, to see myself characterized that way.

The Bookshelf definition: A person with artistic or literary interests who disregards conventional standards of behavior.

I suppose that's true! but I don't think of myself in that light. I must be so oblivious that I don't know what I'm disregarding. To me, the word has a connotation of rebelliousness that I don't feel. The thesaurus connects it to nonconformity and independence, which are certainly positive values to me. But I never pictured myself as a beatnik, and I'm not anti-society.

In many ways I'm quite sedate. I don't drink (it makes me sneeze), have never smoked or tried drugs, and my life-style isn't that wild.

Well, isn't Bohemia a place where everyone is as good as everyone else -- and must not a waiter be a little less than a waiter to be a good Bohemian?
-- Djuna Barnes

It is not my fault that certain so-called bohemian elements have found in my writings something to hang their peculiar beatnik theories on.
-- Jack Kerouac

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This evening I was at a Seinfeld party hosted by my friend Jon Newman and Andy, another friend of his. It was held at Andy's house, because Jon foresaw that the party would be too big to be held at his place. I stopped at the Overlake Safeway on the way to pick up my food contribution. They had the delicious Athenos feta cheese spread that I like, and can never find at my local grocery stores, so I got two of them!

I was one of the first to arrive, of course, due to my N.P.S. (neurotic promptness syndrome), and pulled up just after Jon did. I said hi to Andy and his housemate, and to their adolescent Rottweiler dog. At first I found the dog very undisciplined, but this became understandable when I found out that they had only acquired the dog a week and a half ago.

Lots of other folks arrived, none of whom I knew, which was fine. I'd known in advance that it would be this way. Jon had told me about the party last week, and I really invited myself. Most were from Jon's Jewish hiking group or singles group, I think. We did have food that had been featured in Seinfeld episodes: Muligatawny soup from the soup nazi, a candy spread of Junior Mints and Snickers bars, and a big salad.

I've always enjoyed Seinfeld, and watched it from the earliest episodes, when it was The Seinfeld Chronicles. It was one of our weekly topics of conversation at the legal publishing firm that I worked at in the early nineties.

I liked the finale! It really did meet my expectations in regard to humor, and I was successful in not finding out too much ahead of time. There's been talk in the Seinfeld newsgroup for years about bringing Babu back, so I'm glad they did that, along with all the other characters from past episodes.

I was suprised that I knew so much Seinfeld trivia. Jon was reading trivia questions from a magazine, and after a while I didn't bother answering unless no one else got it. It wouldn't have been fair or fun for anyone else if I had blurted out the answer every time.

It's not a series you like because of the characters giving you warm fuzzies. It's the quality of the writing. A sentimental ending, with everybody hugging, would have been entirely inappropriate!