Oct 8-11 - Oh Canada and some other stuff too (like dancing).

Awaken late, after spending the night burning CDs. (The new car does not wish to have CDs with paper labels in the CD Changer). Have breakfast, stop for sunglasses and a new shirt and then its on the road. Of course it is unbelievable how many people are on the FDR Drive and then later on the Palisades Parkway but eventually the trip is underway and the real driving is begun. Traffic around some of the out of the way cities and even Albany but we avoid the fuzz and get up without any real delays... until the border. Then comes the border guard from west bubble to give us a hard time. She tells us that we need more than just our NYS driver licenses to cross into Canada. She tells us that in her 16 years as a border person she has heard people say many times that they should know better. After we stated that we had no other forms of real ID beyond credit cards and work IDs she told us we could go but we might have problems again with just our NYS IDs. After that drama we decided that the delay was just to cover our background checks via computer as we crossed the border and the fact she was a slow reader and typist. Instead of the usual nice banter (we have crossed the canadian border by car a total of 9 times before this) we were treated evilly. She must have had some personal issues in her life to make her treat us that way. (really Paisley, she said nothing to me). I guess that they have the option of doing background checks if you seem suspicious. She was treating EVERYONE as suspicious and she read slowly so it took a long time. Poor us, that took up an entire hour of travel time waiting on line and then the hellish interview. Anyway once again underway without getting hit up by the fuzz and even without the benefits of printed maps (forgot them) We were able to find our way to our hotel and then to the host hotel to pick up our welcome gift bags. (The were giving away free CDs and cologne this year). We then checked into our hotel, dealt with someone doing the on floor fish fry and got into our room to chill for a minute. Since we got in so late, no disco nap for us. It was straight into the night after grabbing a quick snack around the corner. We arrived at 12:20 and heard the first pumping tribal sounds for the guys in Leather. This year the door check focus appeared to be on weaponry. I emptied my pockets, they waved a wand over me and then let me in. Kinda quick and kinda cool. The low alcohol level in the drinks had me waiting on inebriation well into the eve but the music however was good with DJs Norm Robert and DJ Chad Jack keeping the boys dancing. I eventually felt good enough and the music built to known point that I got up on a speaker with 3 guys. Eventually I worked it down to just the high boy with the belt (belt?) and myself with the speaker all to ourselves. He eventually left and I had the speaker for just me for a few songs. When the speaker eventually refilled and the the paid dancer returned I left the space and went back into the party crowd. Pais had to leave a little earlier due to fatigue (long drive) and I decided to save some energy for tomorrow. Besides they weren't serving alcohol anymore. : )

Woke up Saturday, fended off that persistently knocking cleaning lady and got up and out to eat brunch. We wandered down to the end of the strip and got ourselves a nice brunch. True, the food did take a long time to arrive, but as we have visited Montreal 4 times now I expected the wait, especially when the place was packed. The broccoli and bacon scrambled eggs was good and after plenty of cups of coffee we set out to get some stuff as we took an expedition up the street to buy some drinks and mixers for the room. The store in the mall was sold out of premium vodkas and as we turn our noses up to the Absolut and the Smirnoff we decided to keep looking. After a fruitless search and over a mile of walking up the strip we decided to head back to the hotel and even caught a taxi back so we would not have to totally retrace our steps and wear ourselves out even more. After we got back to the room I fell out and caught up on some more needed rest in preparation for later. Everybody was up and ready to go out and have dinner as soon as night fell. A quick jaunt over to Chinatown and we discovered a nice little place with some great Szechuan food to sample. I had the General Tsos while Pais decided to go with the squid in black bean sauce. Both dishes were extra spicy and while the chicken was good I finally decided that my tongue and lips could take no more and left the rest alone. Back at the room I chilled out some more and then showered, cleaned up and donned our military wear (my SWAT outfit and paisley in green fatigues) and headed out to Metropolis and the ever popular Military Ball. After the coat check the obligatory pat down and the searchlight search and then we walked past the guy making dog tags for those that forgot to bring with. We forgot to bring our own but we decided we didn't need to spend another 10 bucks just to get another set. DJ Joe Gauthreaux was keeping the boys dancing on their toes and we danced on until the BBCM Dancer performance (something about war) which was good but the song selection did not really match the party. Afterwards we danced some more and decided to stay away from the upstairs as the heat that rose off of the main floor made the balcony type-stifling to stay for any length of time. Staying away from the smokers, rabid dancers and the boys with the green lasers made for an interesting time. We enjoyed another show from Jeanie Tracy (cha cha heels) and then DJ James Anderson took over. The reins were passed effortlessly as the party vibe simply got even more energetic while still keeping away from the trance or too far out there feel. We enjoyed an even more tribal hi speed mix of V Calderone's The Drive and even had a few tempo changes while the boys just got hotter and the music stayed good. We saw our friend Keith from NY as well as a few other Military Ball regulars (Brian L. from SBNY and his BF) as well as the usual cast of boys and friends of such. I still had plenty of energy left for more but once again we decided to save ourselves for the main even and left before it got to late (around 3:45) once again undone because of the cutoff of drinks but I was a little peeved that my last drink ended up spilled by some senseless wastrel. Anyway the walk back around the corner to the hotel was quick and the bed looked good enough to sleep in so sleep I did. And we were only halfway through the weekend...

Woke up Sunday before afternoon and decided that a nice breakfast was in order. Made our way down to St Catherine and had a nice brunch at Bisous. The Bronze pass entitled us to a free brunch so we had the brunch included in our VIP (cool deal). After a great breakfast of a ham and cheese omelette we made our way back to the hotel to pick up the car and drove around the city a bit. On the way we picked up some replacement water for the room (gotta stay hydrated) and some cough medicine. After seeing just how big the city was we drove back to the hotel (not as tired as the day before but still ready to chill) and laid low until the nightfall. When night actually fell we made our way out to Mike's and had ourselves a nice dinner of chicken parmesan and caesar salad. Earlier in the day on our drive around the city we had located the convention center that was housing the main event of the Black and Blue and saw that it was actually in walking distance from the hotel. Since it was cold and it was not too far (like the $20 rides to Olympic Stadium) we called the concierge to get us a car. However our first taxi was stolen by passing walkers who got to our car before we did. We asked the front desk to call us another car and after waiting in the lobby listening to some soothing classical refrains we met our driver in between the inner and outer doors and got the taxi to take us in. $5 cab ride later and we were right at the door ready to make our way to the head of the line. A few flashes of the VIP and we were up the escalator and saw this huge line to get into the place. Thankfully since we came in the VIP entrance that line was on the other side of the tape from us and we did not have to wait. The line was for the coat check and then the contraband/weapon search by security. The event is supposed to be about safety first after all. After we made our way into the space we saw that the center had been decorated very well with a writhing mass of locals and visitors from every corner of the globe. We figured there must have been around 20,000 people. Especially when viewed from the VIP area second level we could see out over the whole crowd and could make out the far edge of the crowd. The monitors hanging from the ceiling, the synchronized lights and the extra bright lightwall flashing high output bright yellow definitely set off the party atmosphere. The DJ choices were cool as well with Giles Masicotte spinning as we arrived playing "Dirty, Dirty". We made a complete circuit of the place and discovered the best place to get drinks was right in the middle of the dance floor right near the stage. I made do with double vodkas and cranberry and Base and Pais just had the doubles in small glasses with vodka cranberry. We saw a BBCM dancers put on show of a Louis XIV acted out with poor people playing drums all around the venue on platforms while the king and the court looked on. I didn't understand what the people being lifted up on harnesses and the dancing windows were for but it was an interesting distraction. Then we decided to go to the bathroom. After an incredible trek of about a quarter of a mile to the bathrooms off of the main floor and up one level we decided that maybe the portapotties weren't so bad back in the day. Anyway we soon discovered another VIP privilege, the VIP bathroom. Even though it appeared to have a line it moved rather quickly and the bathroom monitor quickly picked off those trying to jump the line or get on without the VIP band. Membership has its privileges. A few more circuits and trips to the boys room and then Pais stated he was going to call it a night and rest the legs. I walked him to the coat check entrance and said goodnight. I then went back in and made my way up to the VIP section. At 5:15 there was an announcement that two performers had flew up from Vegas where they were performing in Cirque du Soleil "Varekai" to perform here at the Black and Blue. They were two aeriel acrobats that rose up into the air hand in hand and then proceeded to morph from pose to pose while performing multiple acts of strength, fearlessness and a great many hours of training as they performed death defying stunts of holding onto each other with just their hands while suspended over a concrete floor. After that great show DJ Roger Sanchez took over the spinning reins around 5:30 am. Spinning some great beats mixed with a classic house vibe and then some truly energizing tribal energy the party continued well into the morning with barely a loss in the size of the crowd or the energy. I finally decided to call it a rap at 7:30 when the mood turned trancey and before I completely wore myself down. A quick pass through the coatcheck to get my wrap and then a nice exit on the main floor and I was outside into the brisk October morning. After walking in the wrong direction two times I finally found the correct street to make my way back to the hotel and after a good 20 minutes arrived back at my hotel room to rest up and recuperate and enjoy the fact that I had a very good time 3 nights in a row so far. These canadian kids really know how to throw a good party. I felt the smaller venue at the convention center worked better than the middle of the baseball field which seemed to suit the party much better and it was laid out much more practically than when at the stadium. I hated the VIP section last year but this year thought it was set up and executed pretty well. I could have said they needed a higher fence, especially in the back but it was a good spot to see everything and was cool to dance on. The video monitors were used very effectively to involve the crowd and even show pictures that had been taken of events not 1 hour beforehand, candid shots of posing partiers and action shots of the performances. It seemed planned very well and I was glad I attended. Sorry, no pictures but plenty of great memories.

Woke up Monday afternoon at 1:30pm. Yes, it was a very good party night. Anyway got dressed and Pais and I headed out to get us a lunch. We drove out to the other side of the city and found a St Huberts (Service Rapide!) and both ordered a combination platter. Mine with roast chicken and Pais got the chicken fillets (chicken fingers). It was a good lunch and very filling and the staff was pretty friendly too. However for the temperature that day I should have worn longer sleeves so I wouldn't have to wear my coat indoors. We watched the crowd outside the window in the neighborhood which reminded us of downtown Boston. After lunch we drove up the hill behind the city and found the lookout point and looked down. The city looked beautiful in the fall colors as well as seeing the river and the bridges at the end of town. The gaggle of tourists and the cold quickly wore thin however and we piled back into the ride and went back to the hotel. Caught up on some football highlights and then I took a nap. The brief rest did me good. After watching some baseball we decided to go out for dinner. This time we chose a restuarant based on location and found out that location means you don't have to serve as good a product. We ordered a combination dinner and ended up with chicken and vegatables which was mostly vegetables and a Orange Beef that was serviceable but was kinda dry. After the rather large servings of saturday night at the other place I guess I was spoiled especially when they charged more for this place. I learned my lesson that location means you are not always expected to have the best product, just the same, there is just no excuse for some things. Anyway, came back to the room and got ready to go out again for the last evenings festivities. The recovery party, where you recover party from all of the other parties. Before I got in however we had to go through security once again. This time I had the security girl who had just found somebody carrying so was now determined to do so again. After searching the battery compartments for my lights. The battery compartment for the laser and inside my wallet (even feeling my socks) and even calling for a second opinion of my Altoids I was finally allowed into the club itself. Club Soda was a nice space and DJ Manny Lehman manned the helm from the very beginning with a vibrant mix of dance classics like "Show Me" and his signature blend of good tribal. Nothing as high speed as Saturday night but then it was supposed to be about recovery and not burning oneself out. The show put on by Mistress Faroushka was cool too, using the nitrogen blasts and confetting machines and snow machine to give the act atmosphere and then floating over the audience in a harness and dancing in midair. Was a nice act to end out the parties and the boys seemed to enjoy it. Pais called it a night at 2am as I stayed and danced through the eve until around 3:30. The place was full of boys out to have their last night of partying and I even talked with a guy in front of the stage named Scott who was also from New York. I said I would see him around at the Roxy in NYC and then went to dance in the back of the club at the top of the stairs. When I finally decided it was time to go back to the room I was tired but happy I had come out and danced with the boys again.

I woke up at 9:59am and rush packed to get out of the hotel. Pais brought back up a nice selection of the continental breakfast but i just had part of the the muffin and the juice. After a quick check of the room status it was down to the lobby and waiting on the valet to bring the car up. A quick load up and then its on the road again. A ways down the road and we bought some canadian gas. That per liter price really adds up and $40 canadian dollars later we were further down the road to make a quick stop at the souvenir shop. This time crossing the border went more normally and there wasn't even a line. However an hour into NY we came upon another checkpoint right in the middle of the nowhere where we had to go through the questions all over again. After the questions done we were moving once again and moving towards New York at a good speed. We stopped at Mickey Ds for lunch and after returning a stale misorderd quarter pounder I thankfully received my Double Quarter pounder fresh off the grill (with the grease still on). After that quick repast we made good time back to the city and got back into Manhattan just in time to get in on the evening rush. Some wait time was spent on the FDR and the Brooklyn Bridge and then we were once again in Home Sweet Brooklyn. Another vacation weekend all wrapped up and living on in memory. I was happy to have been there and had al lot of fun. Somebody has to do it... why not me?

Oct 1-3 - Into the Night and In the Mix

Stayed at work late and had dinner on the way in. Was too late to cut the hair but figured I would have time for that on Saturday so no rush on that. Then we change the clothes and call for a car and its out into the night we go. Pais is out in Philly visiting with the fam so my regular running crew is starting even leaner than usual. Still, I arrived in time to get in before midnight and watched the place get more and more packed. This Friday night Splash was having DJ Elliot Dehoyos spinning on a Friday Night for the first time. The signs at the door even stated it was a tribal event and I will say that the party definitely shaped up to be a heavily tribal evening. I will say that the boys that came into the place, stayed in the place and continued their party until after 3am. I danced up on the stage twice enjoying the high energy of the place and the dark vibe that the DJ spun for the boys on the floor. This evening's drink of choice was a Melon Ball as the nice fruitiness balanced the level of alcohol nicely. My friend Rickey showed up and we hung out for a little while and he even talked me into dancing on the box when I really had no business dancing up there (tripped once but stepped backwards while dancing the long way on the speaker and then proceeded to keep with it like I meant to do that). Later while we were outside getting some air and water I even invited him to hang with me when I take my trip to Canada but he cited family and other issues and said he would actually be taking a break from hanging out for a while. I understood where he was coming from and I wished him well. Hopefully we will see each other again sooner than later (before too much time passes) as I have really enjoyed his hang out company over this past summer. For the evening as a whole I did end up enjoying myself a whole lot and found myself getting so into the music that I did not want to leave. Of course I decided that before I made too much of a fool of myself (as the drinks continued to digest) I would leave (at 4:30am) and live to party again another day.

I decided that a nice long walk would help my overcaffeinated (yet still highly drunk) self so I took the train home. Since I thought I might actually go shopping the next day I decided to buy a fun pass unstead of just a regular pay-per-ride. On the train ride home I read the one of the mags I picked up and the ride went by rather quickly. I fell out in front of the television watching cartoons and woke up with cartoons watching me. After breakfast I spent most the day chilling out, watching even more cartoons, taking my vitamins and napping again in the afternoon. I stepped out briefly to pick up some dinner and shop for beverages but I never really felt rested as the day came to a close. I tried to pick up some more shut eye but ended up just laying low before taking time to finally cut the hair and then clean up before heading out. Cursed by that 7 buck funpass I decided to use it to go into the city and have some time to gather my thoughts before I arrived where I was going. Having to ride 3 different trains and wait at west 4th for 15 min was not that great a time but hey, its public transportation at midnight, you can't ask for much.

I walked up the two blocks and over the two blocks and arrived to wait on a fast moving line and get into the place with very little drama. I stepped into Roxy said hi to a few friends and got myself a drink. After guzzling the first and hurrying through the second I made my way over to the stage and danced to Peter's mix of Janet's "Dance All Night". I wish I could buy it somewhere but I guess I am supposed to make do with the Sander K or the Deep something mix. Anyway with my first no-light, shirt-on, first stage dance taken care of (much better than last weeks first stage dance) I endeavored I would try and have as much fun as I could squeeze out of my night especially hanging out once again with a very lean crew. I danced in the asian section but for some reason there were no asians IN the asian section (I guess because Peter did not arrive until 1:15am) but after I had claimed that speaker for myself and livened up the area a bit I returned later in the evening to find it looking a lot more like its usual multicultural high-bandwidth area. Soon after that appearance I had one high speed dance on the speakerbox in front of the DJ booth and discovered that a walkthrough of the chillout area at the back cooled us off very nicely. I returned to the front bar to get myself a drink and a gatorade and then lo and behold a caught a visit from our fellow softball alum Chris and his own crew. I treated him to a drink and the nicely toasted spectacle of myself talking about anything and everything until it was time for him to leave so he could catch the train back to LI (that darn infrequent LI Railroad) so he could hang with the Fall league in LI. Anyway I invited him out one weekend so that he could hang out with the guys in BK since there's plenty of space and always something on the itinerary for the guys to go and do. After Chris left I dived back into the party headfirst and proceeded to dance myself into a frenzy more than once in the dancefloor back lounge area. The first time I was asked by one young black woman who was hanging with her friends if they sold the light I had on my leg somewhere in the club. Of course I told her no and headed out onto the dancefloor to dance in front of the stage and get highly sweated all over again. Just when I thought the dancing was over I returned to the lounge and in the midst of my own knot of onlookers once again enjoyed my 4am Victor mix of "Lola's Theme". I decided to end my night while it was still going good and after saying good night to barman Barker and wishing him well I headed home without even finishing my last drink (there was just no way it would have fit). Once outside and with the Next magazine in hand I headed over to 9th Ave and caught myself a nice taxi ride home. I got home quickly cleaned up for bed and poured my tired self onto the mattress and fell out. Thank goodness for beds.

Sunday I got out of bed around 1pm and after cleaning up headed out to have a lunch at Quiznos with Pais. The sandwich was kinda good and I ate the whole thing for once. Spent the rest of the afternoon moving music between my PC and my Powerbook while giving Pais a run-on account of my fun packed weekend. After a dual decision to not go to the supermarkedt, Sunday dinner was ordered in. A nice italian dinner parmesan and we spent the eve watching football, The Wire and Family Bonds. After midnight some more Adult Swim on Cartoon Network and the weekend was finally through.

Hopefully these two past weekends packed with too much dancing, too loud music and a lot of being in a happy place will carry over and survive at least one more weekend as all my planning comes to together for a nice long hang out weekend. Plenty of time to rest, plenty of places to dance, some good DJs and a great place to be and meet and just wondering whats going to happen next. Much preparation once again, we do the road trip to fun and frolic in another country, this time with an honest to goodness drive in a lux vehicle as we see fall roll in with full living color. All I can say is, ... it better be good.

Sept 24-26 - Summers End... Lazy Days and Party Nights

Discussions about movies, books and traveling, all on the trainride home. And I still got home in time to go to the gym. A slightly abbreviated workout and then time to have dinner. A nice steak from Jack's and then preparations to go out for the night. Pants by Ecko, Nike kicks, Nike shirt and some no name socks made up the outfit. A nice evening to go out after first picking Altoids at the Neergard (got to keep the breath minty fresh). We left a little later than usual but the traffic (lane closures on the bridge) and the hour would not keep us away for long as we arrived at 12:20 and parked on the street next to Old Navy. The parking lot attendant closed the fence just as we were driving up so no shortcut through to 17th street on this night. A quick walk around the corner and then it was straight to the front of the line. Splash was loud and packed with the usual mix of Friday night boys in town to visit and the locals there to watch them and show them what to do. DJ Billy Carroll hosted a packed house of boys that was into the party from the start and with a vibe this upbeat I joined the fun with both feet in motion. I missed my bartender Brett most terribly and ended up trying out a few new guys and settling on the two poor bartenders at the front bar forced to share a register. They were both cool guys, one had been there for a while with his neat goatee, ready smile and high level of focus, the other a little taller leaner and new for this year, but smiling, eager, blond,and ready to serve. I did get the wave from the tall smooth dome dark bartender but I was not ready to switch over to his area like he had it like that and he ended up leaving his corner unattended after 2:30am anyway (guess he had something to do) a thing I considered unprecedented not a good thing on such a busy night. When I heard the beat rising to a crescendo and took off for the stage and ended up dancing up there for two songs I had never heard before but I surely liked the beats. I was surprised at how many boys stayed well into the evening and how the line to get in was consistently healthy for a good portion of the night. I will definitely say that even with the downstairs partially open and the fact it was not a holiday weekend that was one of the more populous crowds I have hung with on a Friday in a nice long while. Of course the night was not over until I went returned to the stage once again when I heard the familiar beats of Victor's mix of Shapeshifters. I went back up to a wet stage and used a napkin under my foot to clean my area of the stage before dancing. The club light guy nicely used a flashlight to help me see what I was doing and I giggled at the absurdity of it like I was featured entertainment. I proceeded to dance the song out and then nicely rejoined Pais to finish out another great night (marred by my missing bartender) in the place to be on Friday Nights.

I awoke to the headache to end all headaches that reminded me of a 40 pound eagle claw perched on the side of my head, the steady pressure made it impossible to stay in bed. After an excedrin and two ibuprofen I felt a little more like myself (after 20 min). I wandered about the house in my post party daze doing my best to rehydrate and take my mega-man vitamins to help replace those essential nutrients and readied up to head into Jersey for a nice day of shopping. Our target place was of course Target (tar-J) land of the excellently low price. I finally bought the stuff I needed at the price I wanted to pay. I have sworn off going to several other stores because found out I was paying far too much for everyday stuff. We ended up buying a nice cart full of stuff to bring back home, stuff I needed and stuff I just wanted. It was a good day out in Jersey and the traffic going out was rather light. The return home however was packed with people returning from their various errands and it took a little longer to make it back. The cursed CD player in the car appears to have given up the ghost and pauses and then reads ERR on my favorite car tunes. For our trip soundtrack we listened to the radio, I termed it KTU lite, the new NEW which sounds just like the other station but without the commercial sellout and limited playlist and kinda like KTU did 4 years ago too. After we got back home and rested up some more we called up for some chicken parm for dinner and freshened ourselves up for another night out.

The Jimmy arrived at 10:30 and we all hung out a bit before heading into the city. We avoided the construction on the bridge by taking the tunnel into the city and got into the city kinda quickly and located a parking spot on 23rd street. We watched the crowds enjoying the great weather night and then made our way back down to the club and waited on the line. Our doorman Derek got us in smoothly (and quickly for such a long line) and we waited for the single armband girl to give is the drinkband and then we entered the party. DJ Manny Lehman was our host at Roxy for the night and he made sure the boys got into the party early. The crowd was nice and in the moment. I walked in as he was playing Janet and before my first drink was even finished I went up to the stage to dance to "Lola's theme" before my first alcohol even had time to be fully appreciated. I danced right in front of the booth and worked up a nice burn to start off the evening. I returned to the front bar and got a refill of my Stoli Orange and Red Bull from barman Barker as I realized that I can only truly work up a great danceburn when I have a few drinks already thrown back. After one break outside with the guys in the smoking section I decided to head back in and catch up on the beats. I proceeded to put on a show in the lounge with my own lighted backup (a stick juggler that was putting on a show for his girlfriend) where I managed to pull in the crowds attention with my lit hands and my total apparent lack of regard for such things as my legs as I danced down low, up high and all of the spaces in between. I let the crowd squeeze by when it was necessary but definitely represented my space having a full 360 of onlookers and well wishers before I moved on. My only lowpoint for the evening was when some angry goth boy kicked a half full drink off the stage and caught my side with the overspill as I was dancing in the black section. I stood stunned a moment and then found another half full glass and threw it back onto the stage and hit him in the middle of his chest with it. He might not have known why he needed the blowback from his actions but I could not in good conscience allow such things to happen to me when I was out there having fun. I felt much better afterwards and felt nicely pumped to dance some more. When I finally thought it late enough took off my Tommy shirt and proceeded to dance hard enough to become a nicely glistening boy more than once while my friends made sure that I had a drink available whenever one was required. I even re-decided to get just one more drink before the cutoff because I was channeling all kinds of energy before the night was over. I danced to Sheila E "Glamourous Life" and so many high energy instrumental tribal explosions I don't know how I lasted through it all. Maybe I just had the music in me (or something cold with a kick in it). I did my final nights appearance on the box in muscle beach and gave the crowd that final push of energy before we ended our party and left the space spent but happy. We got into a car outside in which the cab driver had the audacity to tell us that he could not take us to BK but he's the one that lost out on 3 dollars in his meter for driving us a block and I told him that I spit on him and his taxi and wished him a nice accident. We then walked a nice long block over to eighth ave and caught a nice taxi home with a taxi driver that had no problem getting us back to BK nice and easy.

I woke up with a layer of alcohol resting on my gums and I was still a little tired from all of the excitement of the night before but I eventually worked up the energy to go out and have ourselves a nice brunch at Quiznos with a spicy angus steak sandwich. That spicy mustard got to be a little bit much after a while and I decided I would try something else next visit. Pais bought a melon on the way back home and we chilled the rest of the afternoon until we decided it was time to go out food shopping. After picking up fixings for dinner we returned home, where I cooked up a nice meal of baked seasoned chicken breasts and Stove Top stuffing with a side of Green Giant sweet shoepeg corn. We ended the eve watching football, Dateline NBC, The Wire, Family Bonds and Da Ali G show. Definitely one of the best party weekends I have had in a while and hopefully not the anywhere near the final, of what has shaped up to be one of my favorite years ever. Writing this blog has helped me with expressing myself and remembering all of the cool times I get to have with my friends. After my truly reflective time spent last weekend I thought I was sliding into a nice plateau of partying with nothing really new to see or do. I guess I was wrong. I still got plenty of party left in me and as long as the party needs me and I can still represent and have fun, the party will have me with both hands in the air and both feet moving over the floor. Keep it coming... I have a lot of dancing left to do. Another drink for me and mine please, you know what I like.

Sep 17-19 A Play in the Rain and Then We Dance

Arrived at home Friday Night at 9:10 and warmed myself up for a night out. A new set of black and blue kicks, a new outfit, a steak and spinach dinner and a quick cleanup and we were ready to start the night out. The Jimmy showed at 10:30 in the BK and we soon headed out after catching the final scores on some late baseball games. The journey into the city was more traffic ridden than usual as the last gasps of summer night were enjoyed by the downtown NY populace. The backstreet traffic cleared out around Houston street and we arrived in club vicinity about 11:50. My mission to say hello to Brett was begun. I walked in the place got my hand stamped and spotted too many bartenders at the front bar. It was interesting but eventually the extra bartender cleared out but poor barman Brett still had to share a register. Of course, he loved the new mix CD especially, the tracks by Shapeshifters, DJ Paolo, and David Morales. After my first drink, a Surfer on Acid I knew was ready to take on the rest of my night. Splash had as DJ Susan Morabito for what seems to be turning into a monthly residency. The DJs mix of off all over the place tribal beats, snatches of once-upon-a-time hit songs, and endless tempo changes usually leaves me feeling empty so I determined to try and see if I could find someplace else to try and find a party I could get a good dance too. Heaven of course is full of lesbi-ladies and Discotheque is cute but small and early night Junior is not usually my cup of tea anyway. So after some earlier planning and checking what other parties were in the neighborhood, I walked up the block to see if I could check out what Krash was like. I remember visiting the place out in Queens and remember a decent sized space, loud music and a lot of people in the space dancing to Hip Hop and Salsa music. After I determining that I had reached my quota of merengue that night I decided I was not going to journey out to Queens to party anytime soon. Recently the Krash party has taken over Club Deep and seem to be doing their best to fill up the three level space. When I got to the block there was a line that massed 4 people across and went a third of the way up the street. After verifying with the line security guy that I was in fact looking at the right space I determined that instead of waiting on line with a whole lot of girls (genetic girls not the "You go girl kind") I decided I would go to the party I knew instead of the great unknown. After making my way back to Splash I came back inside and said hi to everyone all over again and decided to make a go of it. After a while I determined that in order to enjoy the party I just had to give up and just be drunk enough and guess what... after awhile the drinks kicked in and I started dancing like all of the other boys in the place after just deciding to be in the moment and just have fun. We finally left around 2:30 and got a cab outside rather quickly. Gave the driver directions and arrived home safe and sound.

Woke up the next day at 8am with a thunderstorm rolling through soaking the streets. Of course this was far too early to wake up on a Saturday so I went back to bed. I finally made it out of the bed around 11am and found that the rain had stopped and we were going to be going out to a ball game. The final game in the in the league division The Titans were in still needed to be finished for the playoffs to be complete. The date had arrived and the fields were waiting so we got dressed and went out to Randalls Island. Despite the many accidents on the road and random flooding all over the city we made our way up the east side and got out to the fields.

The whole team was in attendance with a few arriving later and we said hi to all of our friends on the team while commenting on the field looking like China beach. The river running close by gave us a sense of scale while the dreary skies and rather cold day (62 degrees) made us wish we had came out to the field with long pants. We did not feel the full force of the wind and light rain until we arrived out on the field but the game must go on so I pulled out my directors chair, found a nice spot to watch from and watched the boys go at it. The game started right were it left off and was good right from the beginning. It stayed pretty close all the way till the end even as the rain got harder and harder but at the end the Cruisers beat the Titans by one point with a home run at the end.

Some of the many highlights of the game were:

• A catch at right center by Rob with a fall and back roll catch that surprised the runner at 2nd base by keeping ahold of the ball for the final out of the inning.

• 2 tag out plays at home plate by Demetrius

• Back to Back Home runs by Jeff and Chris (who almost died rounding the bases at 2nd)

• A triple from Kevin even after he ran back to 1st base to tag, after a missed catch in right field.

• A bunch of dramatic ball fumbles to keep several people safe at 1st, 2nd and 3rd and keep the game close.

• 2 great come backs in the last inning by both teams to wrap up an exciting game.
  

Despite the weather I was glad I was there to see it. The whole game definitely entertained and had some really great plays by players on both teams. But after it was over we hightailed it back to the car and closed the doors and we were very happy we were out of the rain. It got kind of shocking cold there at the end. We got to back into BK and picked up a nice lunch at Quiznos. Got back home and chilled out. I did the weekly haircut, rehydrated, rested and watched some early evening television and filled up on some feel good visuals (cartoons and Itunes visualizations) and took myself some megaman vitamins to help the metabolism snap back. By 11pm we were ready to go out and hit the town once again.

This time we were going to hit up the Roxy and rock with DJ Peter Rauhofer and all the grooving boys of the city. Of course when we first arrived Peter did not appear to be in attendance but I felt we were still in good hands with DJ James Anderson who kept up a nice groove for the boys with a hip uptempo groove and a few new songs we had not heard before but still appreciated the cool beats. Barman Barker had us from the very beginning and made sure we had the drinks going good and the water and gatorade too. The party fun kept rising as the night progressed and I even saw my SBNY friend Grace in attendance sporting a nice leather showoff top and a cute baby blue fan flag to dance on the stage with the boys. I lit up the stage for a few songs but truly lifted when my man Pais brought me back my last drink of the night just when I was about to go to the bar myself, along with a bottle of water for the road and the moment of 3:45am hit and Peter threw on Shapeshifters at full throttle that I got truly happy and threw myself into the dance. We hung tough until around 4:30am and proceeded to make our way out the place without too much trouble and caught a car back to BK after walking over one block to the next downtown traffic avenue. Another night in the city worked out and done for.

Sunday was spent just chilling at home. Had a nice brunch at the Greek diner down the block. Picked up a new cable for the Cable box and discovered the prob appears to be the box and not the cable wire (maybe). We also shopped for dinner and enjoyed a quiet time watching 60 Minutes and then watching the season premiere of The Wire. Seems like it is shaping up to be a cool season on one our favorite HBO series. The first episode of Family Bonds was cool too with some pretty interesting people out there, both criminal and the ones bailing them out. Another weekend completed and a cool time had by all. Till next time... Same days... same friends... even more fun.

Sept 10-12 - Return of the Pack... and Dancing Too.

Another week of work, blah blah blah. Too much stuff to do and never enough time. I try and try and its like a hill that never peaks. But enough about that. Now it is time for the weekend and all that comes with. Loud sounds, bright lights, driving over bridges and moving too fast to be believed. I popped the newest CD (Sneaker Peak) into the car stereo and listened to the fast beats on the way into the city with Pais. After being apart for one weekend it was beaucoup fun to have my number one party partner back. Found a spot on the Old Navy block and walked through the lot across the street to the place. Said hello to the doorman and doorwoman (very nice lady) and made my way inside. The place was dark but jumping and the music was nice and loud. I'm not sure where Splash is going with the be all things to all people vibe but I guess it keeps the boys coming back to see whats next. The DJ for the evening was Joe Gauthreaux. He is supposed to be a circuit fave at different events but I think he tried too hard at this party. The music was too much, too high strung and sustained a kind of twisted, dark quality. The drinks were good and there were plenty of spaces to dance but there were too many songs that went no where and the mood was too tweaker for me to truly relax into it and have fun. We said hi to a few people, I finally met the famous stalker "Just Jack" and took up my bathroom directing duties once again. The lower level renovations are still underway and the boys are still getting used to the new layout but I think I see where its going. We stayed until 3:05 when I knew the party just wasn't getting any better and decided to hit the high road. Got home and got some well needed beauty rest.

I woke up well rested and happy and of course, hungry. I went down the street and breakfasted at the Greek diner on 5th Ave just a block away from my house. The bacon and egg on a roll was good but then it was back to the place to rest up for my gym workout. As usual the energy was not as up as when I do the workouts at night but it was still a good workout. The Harbor Fitness keeps me fit and the routine works well. Now if only I could do the workout more on the regular with my crazy work schedule then I would get to see some real results. Not that I got the softies bad or anything I just need to be my best coming into the end of the party season. Afterwards a delivery of chicken in garlic sauce and some late afternoon cartoons and it was into the evening for me. The night was started with a dinner for the evening of brick oven pizza for which I thought it was early enough that the two slices I ate would be long gone (digested) before my night out. But of course little did I know. I tend to forget that large amounts of bread tend to sit and percolate before an evening out but I was feeling alright by 11pm and after the arrival of the Jimmy we prepared to go out. For some reason the city was extremely crowded with disparate elements of a post 9 Eleven crowd and everybody seemed to have some place to go. There was traffic on the the Brooklyn Bridge, traffic on Chambers Street and traffic on 14th Street. The meatpacking district was really hopping. I had not been through the area at night recently but was surprised with the crowds of people. It reminded me of some of the club neighborhoods I have visited in other cities like Boston and Miami Beach but with even more people. After turning onto 10th avenue we found someone pulling out so we got the miracle parking space (across from the Mobil station) once again. The walk up to the Rox was uneventful but still plenty of people waiting outside The Park. I will have to go there one Sunday to see what its like. Anyway the line moved quickly into the place, said hi to Doorman Derek and the handstamp/armband guys and made my way inside to the party. The Jimmy got his comp once again and our boy Steve met us at the door with two drinks and the night was underway. The DJ for the evening was Chad Jack who immediately immersed us with some rapid fire beats and feel good music. The Roxy prides itself on a pretty diverse selection of guys who frequent the place and the place was full of all kinds nice and early. I visited with my barman Barker at the back bar and proceeded to the dancefloor to jump into the party with both feet. The groove kind of snuck up on me but I was well into the night and during my conversation with Troy and Steve when I decided to light up the walking light on my leg. I was feeling good and the party was happy (except for the silly drink arguments) but as the night progressed my drinks (and the ones I failed to give away) crept up on me. Around 3:30 am I (yes I) ceased to enjoy the party to my fullest faculties but with the help of my friends I stayed in there till it was time to go. I even decided to dance on a speaker box in my highly inebriated state. Thankfully I didn't fall off and disgrace myself any further (with the help of my friendly ground crew). Eventually I was corralled up and led out and had a nice trip back to BK. After making sure to expel the remains of my doughy pizza dinner I had a nice rock sleep and woke up tasting Stoli and Red Bull. At least it wasn't the taste of corona which is absolutely the worst taste to wake up to. By the time I worked my way out of the house it was time for lunch so with a nice double Bacon Melt at Wendys I was well on my way to recovery. After a quick 30 minute shop at Pathmark it was into the city and our favorite downtown movie theater to catch the 4:50 showing of Resident Evil Apocalypse. The movie kept my interest and showed the requisite shocking moments but I thought the editing was too choppy and steadicam in some parts to be recognizable. The movie tried to hard to be stylish in some parts and then scary at other times that it ended up being kind of messy. And it left the watcher with even more questions left over than the last movie. Oh well, I was entertained and left the theater knowing I'll probably see the next one too. Anyway, great previews at least. We picked up some chicken cutlets on the way home and I was able to whip up some Chicken Parmesan and spaghettini as we watched Lawrence Taylor on 60 minutes crying and then watched the season finale of Six Feet Under. Some shocking stuff with the guy killing himself after confessing to killing the lady who died last season. The noise made me jump. Was just as bad as the guy who died in the elevator. But at least there was the pool guy eyecandy with the tattoo on his back. Another weekend comes to a close but at least there are plenty more where that came from and hopefully some more new friends to bring out and see the bright lights in the big city.

Until next time, and next weekend stay tuned...

Sept. 3-5 - Not So Hard Labor and Three Days of Fun

The first weekend in September and it is still warm outside. I left work and got home fairly quickly. A dinner of Chinese food fried chicken and fried rice was enough to get dinner out of the way. Then I finished up my new mix CD playlist for my peak-hour mix. I was able to get all of the songs down and ready to mix and then I finished off evening preparations with a haircut and a shower. I then called up the car service and got my ride into the city. I arrived at
Splash around 12:10am and made my way past the doorman and into the club. My barman Brett had been moved but I did not know yet so I had two drinks at the front bar before I found him serving drinks at the second bar. I then moved my base of operations to the back bar and proceeded to dance on the dancefloor and hang with friends. DJ Alex Lauterstein kept the boys moving to some hard tribal beats well into the night and I stayed there dancing and having a grand old time until around 4am. I got home safely and slept in Saturday morning.

I woke up late and proceeded to finalize my Peak Hour dance mix CD and watched some of the programs I had saved on my DVR. I left late in the afternoon to take advantage to one of the final days of Tax-Free week. I went down to Bay Ridge Brooklyn to complete some shopping for both clothes and hit up the Vitamin Shoppe for some supplements. I made my way back home and finished my dinner while listening to the finalized mix placed on CD. Finally the stir -crazy built up enough I decided to leave the house and head into the city. I could not easily locate club G so I instead went to SBNY first. The place was ridiculously dark and the mood was there to match. A lot of boys standing around and some dancing on the dance floor waiting for something to happen. After speaking with my friends on the phone I decided I had waited long enough and made my way over to the Roxy. It was around 11:30pm and the open bar was still underway. I decided to wait until I was going to get my normal drink and just chill out listening to DJ Peter Rauhofer get the crowd into the evening. Once 12:01 hit I made my way up to the front bar and said hello to barman Barker. I ordered up my normal cocktail of Stoli Orange and Red Bull and proceeded to get my dance evening underway. I noticed that some of the more enterprising party goers had stockpiled free drinks on the rear speaker but wrote them off as amateurs as anyone more ready to party would either be taking something so they would not have to stockpile those bottom shelf free drinks to continue to drink all night. I may not be ready to pay for Grey Goose and Cranberry all night but I can deal with a Stoli and since I got there early enough I did not have to pay the full price that people pay coming in later. With plenty of drinks served up in a timely fashion, I was able to hang with my friends all over the place and not have to worry about my good time or that of my friends. Rickey did his part to keep the party going by saving a large group of people from certain injury when the stage separated and began to sway back and forth towards the middle of the dance floor. Due to his timely warning and a quick motion to the security we were able to clear the stage and have a crew in to fix the faulty stage before anyone got hurt. Later on the night it was all well and good to have more people dancing on it once again. I even met friends (from yesterday), Mageara and Matt and right before 4am and managed to buy them a drink before the cut-off. I then put down my final drink of the evening and proceeded to dance in lounge area. At 4:20 the DJ proceeded to play "Lola's Theme"by Shapeshifters the remix by Victor Calderone. I proceeded to find the widest spot, light up both my hands and put on a full-speed floorshow for 5 solid minutes. That Saturday night was one of my all out highest level danceathons having danced with my own asian backup dancers in the asian section, having danced on the stage with the crowd screaming for the DJs attention, danced on the dancefloor in front of the stage and in the middle of the dancefloor and even saw the spitting image of Fresh Prince era Will Smith dressed in a skirt and a pale blue dashiki. I made my way out of the club around 4:45 and caught a taxi home fairly easy. Even though I had to argue my taxi route with the taxi driver that I had to go over the Manhattan Bridge and not the Brooklyn Bridge, the ride was uneventful and speedy and I was able to give the driver a nice tip because of it.

Sunday was a day spent resting up and just hanging out at home. I wandered out the house once to buy food but realized I had brought the wrong wallet and ended up with just enough money to buy a bottle of soda. I was too tired to go back out and buy something to eat so I settled for a meal of hot dogs on bread and a dessert of popcorn. I went out at around 11:30 and arrived in the city around midnight. I decided to stop in on my barman Brett and drop off a copy of my new mix cd. The party that night was with DJ Frankie Knuckles and the place was packed. I had never been to a Sunday party at Splash that was so well attended and the door-woman stated that all of the parties for Frankie Knuckles were usually well attended and this one was good because it was a holiday weekend as well. I ended up staying at the party until 4am and left after dancing on the stage to David Morales "How Would You Feel".

Despite being very tired and bleary eyed after my 3 days of hanging out I was very happy with my weekend and hope that the coming weeks bring a party and a vibe that are at least almost as entertaining if not more so.

Hope all the boys don't burn themselves out and the new kids keep coming as the parties seem to be just getting better after such a long lull in the vibe. Gotta go to work in the meantime but until next time. Keep the party bumpin.