April 7-11 - Too much Vegas, It's all fun until somebody.. gets arrested...

Stayed at work until the absolute last minute. Too many phone calls, too many msgs and too much work drama but I was able to drag myself away 21 minutes late (4:21pm). Of course rushing to the train station means I just had longer to wait for the train to actually get there. I did however manage to get home before 5:30 and had enough time to turn off my computers, change my jacket, grab my duffel bag and lock the place up. The ride the airport was as quick as I thought it would be and we pulled up in front of Jetblue poste haste. We walked right in walked up to the kiosk and made sure the seats were together, then checked the bags and got IDd. Getting that over with we headed for the gate. For some reason (planning only 2 weeks or less) I was flagged for the full monty search, so my carryon laptop bag was thoroughly searched and I had to get fully wanded over and patted down (chest and back) to make sure I wasn't carrying airline contraband. The experience wasn't too invasive and the airport security people were very friendly so it was not so bad. We ate at the italian place (I had the baked chicken) and got ready for our flight by picking up magazines and newspapers. When the announcements for boarding was made we entered the plane and headed for the seats. Of course the guy near the window (Sneezy) actually had a magazine on the seat and I had to wait the few seconds for him to realize that I was not about to speak to him and ask for my own seat but he got the msg and moved his stuff so I could sit down. We arrived to the fanfare of vegas quite easily. The Jetblue flight disembarked both front and rear so we could get out sooner and they could clean up and get on their way even faster (works for me). The air had a slight chill on the tarmac but was manageable after the breezes in NYC. We made our way through the airport to the baggage check and waited with the crowds under the ads for the suitcases to return to their owners. After we both got our bags we headed out to the taxi stand to catch a car. Of course even though it was 11pm at night it seemed to be the time when everyone was arriving as the roped off waiting area had us looping back and forth for a 15 min wait before we reached the front of the line and assigned a number to pick our car. Of course in front of us the drunken arrivals at first overfilled their cab and then decided to give up on their own car and walk down the line to steal our assigned vehicle. Confronted at first by Pais and then by myself the drunken man and his arm candy decided they better retract their bag out of our cars trunk and move on. When you are right you better act like it. Anyway our driver then helped us with our bags and then we were off into the night. We chatted a bit with the driver on our way to the hotel and he told us that the good burgers were at In and Out Burger and Fatburger. He also gave us passes to club Ice that we ended up never having the time to use. We were dropped off at our hotel, the Paris, and walked right up to the front desk and checked in quickly. The room was on the 29th floor and we were at the end of our hallway but I didn't mind too much. The room was a nice size and had a great view of the Bellagio fountains. We headed right back out and met the rest of our crew downstairs at the bar not far from the elevators. Bruce, Jodi and Phil were all already started at the bar and we would have had to used a funnel to catch up on drinks but it was all fun and gambling. We ended the night around 2:30, Vegas Time and decided we needed to catch up on our rest and get over some jet lag.

Friday morning we woke up to the sounds of the Bellagio fountains (sounds like guns going off) as it was almost noon and we headed downstairs to meet the rest of the crew by the pool. After some hellos and meeting some more of our extended travel crew we headed over to the outside restaurant by the pool and ordered a late brunch. The turkery wrap was good but Pais did not like his sandwich much. Kinda generic but you kind of expect it to be washed out when its next to the pool. Afterwards went back to the room and napped before going back down and hanging in the casino for a bit before getting ready for dinner. All dressed and then we hopped into a taxi and rode up to Treasure Island to go out to dinner with the whole gang. We walked into the place and sat down at a nice long table. The staff extended it to fit our whole group and we ended up getting the appetizers that we ordered covered by the house as we ordered all different kinds of main dishes. The food was good but the portions were type small. We ended up with a bill of $40 each and settled out with no drama. Afterwards we headed out across the street to check out The Venetian. The weather had taken a turn for the chill and we had to hold our arms around ourselves and hug ourselves as we ran across the bridge and crossed the street. Of course nothing really great happened there and I was over the hotel fairly quickly. The inside was very much like all of the others. We soon took a taxi ride and returned to the Paris and ended our night before it was too late.

We awoke on Saturday and had a groupo breakfast in the restaurant near the casino floor. The breakfast was good and everybody left full up. We changed after breakfast and the group headed down the street for a walk down to Hotel New York, New York. Pais bought a cigar for the walk and we made it to the hotel fairly easily despite the weekend crowds. We got in and the group split up and checked out the different parts of the hotel casino floor. We regrouped a while later after some went on the hotel rollercoaster, checked out the shops and sampled the casino itself before deciding to head out and find something to eat. Following the recommendations of the taxi driver of the first night we took a taxi ride over to In and Out Burger and got dropped off to sample the burgers and fries. We thought the food was OK but we were told that the places in California are even better. We then walked out into the street and then over the bridge over the highway until we turned into the Excalibur hotel and caught a taxi ride over to the Paris hotel. It was then time for rest before meeting up with our friends in Bruce and Jodi's room and hanging out for a while before heading downstairs to the casino once again. I had looked up the surrounding clubs for the evening and saw that Jeffrey Sanker was hosting a party at Krave with DJ Tony Moran. At 11:45 we headed out and walked past the Aladdin and around the corner to club Krave. After waiting for the doorman and cashier for a few minutes we headed inside the club. The space was kind of small when used to the places in NY but the bar staff was friendly and the music was good for the small space. For some reason the dancers seemed to have all been cut from the same cloth and took stiff boy band dancing on a box to an extreme. The one standout dancer I noted I did go up and tip to show I appreciated what he was trying to do. My uncomfortable footwear however kept me from getting too boisterous myself. However when we tried an order of the "jungle juice" for 5 bucks Pais did not like it and I ended up finishing up that drink as well as my own. Pais decided to call it a night around 3:15am and I decided to stay and hang on my own. The night would have been ok but without the benefit of a drink cut off I ended up rather dazed and confused. I ended up walking back to the hotel (through a construction site, and past the Aladdin Hotel front and into the Paris with no shirt on. I made it upstairs but ended up choosing the wrong hallway out of the four available and picking the wrong door. When the light refused to turn green, the security guards that had followed me upstairs stepped in and decided to escort me downstairs. They led me to the secure area in the back of the hotel and had me empty my pockets and sit quietly while they asked who I was staying at the hotel with. At 7am Pais received a call. "Sir, Do you know...? Well he is downstairs here in security, half-dressed and highly intoxicated." After Pais came down to get me I was able to finally return to the correct room, clean up for bed and then go to clean sheet sleep.

Sunday I awoke in the early afternoon and we ate breakfast at the restaurant downstairs once again and then walked up the street across the bridges and headed over to the Caesar's Palace so that we could do a little shopping at Guess, A&F, Nike and Armani Exchange. Bags in hand we headed back over the bridges and dropped off the bags and chilled out for a while before heading out once again to get some dinner. We walked through the back of Paris and went through Bally's to get to the monorail. We bought tickets and headed up to the platform and waited for the next ride to come along. Of course when our car did arrive it was full of loud and boisterous partiers from further up the strip. We rode with the noisy bunch the one stop over to the MGM Grand and debarked and headed in the opposite direction that they were taking. We remembered the MGM Grand from our trip last year and the Sunday Night Party on the MGM backlot. This time we were just looking for dinner and walked through the MGM casino floor to settle on Wolfgang Puck for a little bite. The chicken wing appetizer was nice as was the main course steak and fries on a hot platter. We took in the ambience and I noted the waiter was wearing a blue Freedom wristband like myself and we headed out to the casino floor to hang a bit before stepping outside and walking back up the street to the Paris and putting the feet up for the night.

Woke up in the morning with plenty of time to pack the bags up and head downstairs to catch a car back to the airport. The ride back was quick and the driver gave us a few more talking points for silly tourists and tourist traps in vegas. A good restaurant wherever you stay and always a place to drop a quarter or a dollar or more. We checked in at the airline counter and found out that we had been selected for the thorough search once again. The good side of this was that our line was much shorter than the regular line which had like 250 people on it. Our line had like 25 people on it but we were in line for the thorough search. When one lady yelled "why are those people so special?" "I yelled loud enough for her to hear "Because we're gonna get strip searched". My comment made the older couple in front of us giggle and we made ourselves ready for another thorough patdown. Of course all of my stuff meant I actually took up 3 basins (laptop, computer bag, and fanny pack and shoes). After all of that I found I would volunteer again if it kept me from having to wait on the longer line. Anyway, I found that once through the check-in I could not locate the border's books I found on the way out and had to settle on the smaller magazine place near the Burger King in which we had our final meal before flying. The book I picked up was actually very good and I gave it to Tanya the next day at work to read after I finished it. The flight was good if not long since we came back across the 3 time zones and lost all of those hours before landing in NY. We got off of the plane nice enough but I actually picked up someone else's bag (looked just like mine) at the carousel. Thankfully it did not have my name or the bag I had tied to the top to mark my own bag. Of course when my bag did come off of the carousel I found the baggage check people had damaged my bag by breaking one of the elastic strings on the bag closure. At least it was not as bad as the people in front of me who had a bag of some kind of gel bust in their luggage and goo up the area inside their bag and out. We did have to wait a bit for the car service to pick us up but it was not too bad. Castle car service retrieved us fairly easily and we were able to get home in time to order Chinese Take Out from Uncle Liao's and have it delivered before their delivery cut off.

Another vacation over with and the jet lag set in to make the beginning of my week a little hazier than necessary. But I had such a good time I plan on going back again with my family, brother and sisters in June. I think I'm prepared for it. I guess it will all work out in the end.

Apr 1-3 - Energy to Burn and Nights to be Cool

It went by like a blur. I did not really take too much time out but again it all falls together nicely. For April 1 we had to do the normal April 1 stuff but no jokes on each other yet. I got home from work without having any time for the gym (stayed at work too late). Did however have time for dinner and though Pais had to work late I stopped on the way home and got myself an Angus Steak Burger at BK. Ate dinner while reading a novel "Seduced by Moonlight" by Laurell K. Hamilton. Hopped onto the R and rode the rest of the way home. Finished making a copy of "Fly Spanish" CD to bring as gift and said the Hello with Pais and then The Jimmy arrived. We hung out for just a bit before going on the road and heading into the city.

The ride in was without incident. Because our destination was 8th Ave we headed up Hudson street and dodged traffic. We then found parking just in front of the place just one address over. Arrival out of the way we found we had missed the line and we walked right in to the crowded space. Gym was just as crowded as the week before but the coat check was more organized, with a sign pointing me downstairs so I could hand our coats over to the coatcheck peoples. Headed back upstairs to hang with the boys and watch the many games on screen. We found Brett soon enough and pretty soon I was involved in many friendly conversations with different cool people. A round of shots later and a few nice Stoli Orange and Rockstar drinks later I was feeling the nice buzz and we hung out and mingled with the crowd. Later on, while discussing the future plans for the place with the open back balcony and the courtyard to look forward to in the summer months it was going all uphill from here. I also stopped to say hi to DJ Smoky on turntable duties and making sure that our quiet moments were still good moments. Pais had to take care of work duties in the morning so he did not plan to stay out too late. After saying goodnight to some friends we three headed out with our new friend Ty in tow. We drove over to Splash and found a parking spot just one block over. We said our goodnight to Pais after sending him home in a Taxi and then walked through the parking lot to the one block over at the front door. We got in easy enough but the cashier was not willing to cut us a break so even though I was able to get in the boys had to pay full price. We swallowed that bullet and then I headed down to check my coat and we scored some drinks. The DJ for the eve was Susan Morabito and even though I am not one of her greatest fans I did know that she was going to be doing her best to move the crowd. Very energetic but without Liz Liguori it was still a cool time and found a nice new bartender guy downstairs. Since earlier in the night I had saw like 4 different SBNY bartenders at Gym we only had 6 bartenders for all of Splash when we walked in around 2am. It was very strange but the crowd was still pretty good when I decided to take to the box in the back in front of the stage and start to dance. I also found out that my newest skill of moving two lights simultaneously while dancing was not a fluke skill but came back quicker than learning to ride a bike. I had many an adoring fan and plenty of friendly faces for encouragement as I lit up the box in the back and then crossed the floor to dance on the box in front of the screens. At one point when I walked outside to get myself a bottle of water it was raining out but not too bad but I still got wet enough so that when I arrived back over with The Jimmy and Ty they thought I was wet from dancing real hard but it was just the rain. I stayed at the party until just after 4 and got myself a ride home fairly quickly (right in front) and even though I was tired I was awake enough to get the cabby back into the Bklyn environs pretty quickly. Safely at home I quickly got all of myself in place and then went to a truly deserving sleep.

Saturday I awoke very energetic and ready to take on the day. The delivery breakfast was good and I finished up with putting the dishes in the dishwasher and clearing up the dining table and living room. Inbetween cleaning I enjoyed VH1 and "I Love the 90's" which served up one of my funniest quotes of the weekend with one comedienne saying that Jesus spoke ebonics when in he is quoted at John 13:19 saying "I be He". Pais had work to do in the city and so instead of going to the gym in Bklyn I decided to take the ride into the city and go to the NYSC right across from City Hall. The place was not crowded at all and I went on to do one of my most stress free and fast workouts in a long while. Of course the TVs in the place all start to turn into all Pope, all of the time but my iPod kept me entertained and gave me stuff to think about besides the papacy and the city of Rome. Listening to 2Pac and "I Wonder if Heaven's got a Ghetto" seemed very appropriate and put me in a good place away from any kind of depression or worry. Of course when the workout was over the weather decides to turn for the worse and I step out of the gym into the torrential rain. However before I can even walk a block, who drives up but Pais himself. I was picked up but brought right across the the street to JandR so I pick up some blank CDs and CD cases for the gift CDs. I also brought some printer ink cartridges for that inevitable day when I have to do the replacements.

We drove back over the bridge into Bklyn and made our way down 4th avenue and to pick up KFC before heading back home. After dinner was finally wrapped up we cleaned up the final bit and awaited the arrival of The Jimmy at 10:15. The new trance CD (Spring Release) was completed and playing the stereo as the costume change was begun and we had it all ready and out the door by 11:05.

We arrived right down the block and found parking right under the bridge and on 10th Ave. I headed in first as I wanted to get the night started as early as possible to avoid DST. Right after the door by Derek, The armband affixation, the cashier and line staff, and the drop off at the coat check I stepped up the stairs and into the party at Roxy. I caught the very tail end of the open bar but I went past that to go ahead and order my regular Stoli Orange and Red Bull. After that order they closed the open bar and everyone was ready to start to drink when I did. The DJ for the eve was Chad Jack and we were going to have a performance as well since the stage was roped off. The boys arrived shortly after and we got their Ketel One and Cran when it was their turn. Erica arrived shortly as well and I made sure that for her birthday weekend her first shot of tequila was ready and all good. The party vibe and music was at a high point from the very beginning. Before it was even 12:45 I found myself on the speaker in the asian section and dancing to Altar. Soon afterwards just after 1am I was back on the rear speaker across from the stage dancing to Suzanne Palmer vs Rosabel and "Show Me That Sound". As a matter of fact the theme for the evening did seem to be the Suzanne Palmer greatest hits as over the evening we heard "Home", "Luv 2 Luv" and "Hide U". Just when it was after 2:30am (or 3:30am if you were looking at the DST time) The performer of the eve Celeda herself made her appearance on the stage to singing "The Underground" "Be Yourself" and of course the Superchumbo smash of "DirtyFilthy" Celeda even told us how the beat had been sent over to him and he just had to write something to fit that groove over the dancefloor. The boys showed their appreciation and I watched the show from the speaker in the asian section and we all had a very good time. Of course with the end of the show the Last Call was announced and I made my way back over to the bar to pick up the last round for our little group before the cutoff. We were able to get that out of the way and continue in the party vein for quite a while as the beats kept staying just as lively and Chad Jack wore the soles of our feet out. At one point I took my dual light show up onto the stage and actually watched as all of the surrounding dancers cleared off and let me have the stage all to myself for the balance of the song. I finally stepped down at that point and danced and hung out near the front bar and edges of the front bar dancing and hanging with our friends. At 5am we stepped outside into the daylight and headed over to the BW Diner near 23rd and had the fabulous burger and fries to close out the night. We walked over to 9th street and caught a downtown headed taxi. The Bklyn headed taxi was very easily caught and we arrived back at environs of Park Slope around 6:15am. Another energetic and on point Saturday night was over and now we just have to wake up again.

Sunday was just too laid back and went by nice and easy. I watched DVR programming and On Demand from cable and let the afternoon go buy with snacks and popcorn. Around the time of dinner I defrosted the Turkey wings and continued playing PC video games while the dinner preparations were underway. Finally the baked Turkey Wings, buttery rice and the Green Giant corn was all fixed up and I jumped into a very messy (pulling the wings was a chore) but very good (so very juicy) and finished off dinner post haste. After that was out of the way and the TV programming of Punk'd was over with we headed out to the 24hr Baskin Robbins and got us some double scoop cups of ice cream. After heading back home and devouring the desserts the TV watching was finished up and it was time to finally turn in.

Another weekend over with and much was seen and done once again. I am looking forward to vacation next week however and another road trip (so soon?).

Mar 24-27 - Early starts, Late Endings and Nice Times

The week started a little earlier than usual. A Thursday of pizza dinner was not looking to inviting so an invitation to meet friends for dinner was on point. I got onto the E train, forgot to transfer and just took it all the way up to 14th Street. I was able to make my way out of the station and walk down the street until I joined the throngs at the corner of 14th and the 9th Ave in the always happening meatpacking district. I met my friends at Son Cubano, a nice and hip place that specialized in spanish cuisine. To fit the mood I had a Corona and chatted with new friends and my friends that had already had some appetizers. When the food came it was served family style and we had shrimp in a creamy bean sauce (not a shrimp person myself) and shredded steak in some sort of edible baked cup (which I was all over). I ended up having 2 of the little steak cups and sharing another half of one. Still hungry but the dinner was over and people were jocking our now food free table. We got the check and had the people in waiting nearly run us over to get into the table space. We got out of the place with our skin intact, picked up the girls of our group who were waiting outside after finishing cigarettes, and made our way across the street to Rare. Rare was below ground but plenty big and after making our way past the doorman and the party girls at the cash register we got in with the owner and picked up our complimentary drinks (something with mango, kinda sweet) and after making sure our friends were watching our coats and bags me and the girls headed into the main room, drinks in hand. We danced to cuts from Thrill kill cult and some random bands I knew nothing of but it had a beat. We found it each time and danced to it, making it seem easy. When our time was up we headed back to the guys at the bar and then left to our own separate homes. Pais and myself gave Jodi and Bruce a ride in the Murano back to their place in the village. After leaving them safe we headed over to Joe's Pizza and picked up a slice each so we would not need to eat after we got back to Bk. We headed for home after the pizza slice and made it back to Bk with no stress and little traffic. Went to bed a little earlier than usual and said I would save my energy for tomorrow.

Friday afterwork was a little rushed but I got to the gym in one piece and completed a slightly modified workout to finish the workout by 8:40pm. I then headed home to dinner. The Steak was good and it was finished off and I was doing the usual readiness routine in no time. Clothes, hair, and the general idea of where to go under wraps and we headed down to the car with the new CD in car (street beats vol1, my R&B mix) and made our way over to Gym even though at the time I was not sure where it was. We drove up 8th avenue and we were immediately eye caught by the line of people in front of a place with no name (yet). as well as projected images of swimmers that we could see on the inside wall from the street. After circling the block we ended up finding a parking spot just across the street right on the ave. We crossed over and ended up waiting on a line in front of the bar as the place was kinda crowded. We watched the guys in the smoking section (off of the street but behind a fence, like a little yard) and then waited as different people gave up on the line, passed by commenting or just waited. We finally got inside after waiting on line for like 21 minutes. And squeezed up to the bar to say hi to... Barman Brett in his new home. It was a nice hello and a nice space, a new sportsbar with a nice staff, plenty of tvs and a great looking plasma right over the bar showing the latest teams in the March Madness. We saw Ernesto, Billy, Tim, Molly and several more of our softball friends who were in for the grand opening. We watched the end of the Knicks game, much March Madness and finally grabbed some souvenir posters, picked up our coats from the coatcheck, who had to go downstairs for the coats, and made our way out to the car and drove around the corner to find parking so we could go to Splash. Better late than never. After showing up at 1am and checking our coats we headed up to see how DJ Alex Lauterstein was doing. The crowd was upbeat and the place was full of dancing bodies. I looked up to see a new light guy on the boards but I decided to go up top anyway and say hi. The new guy was a little defensive at first but I just told him I was there to say hi to Alex and he let me be. I waited until Alex had a free moment and then when he walked up I thanked him for spinning another great set and then I handed him 2 of my latest mixes (The Techno set and the Black Ice mix) and even the card for my blog. He took them and went back to his set and I headed back down into the crowd to do some dancing. Pais hung out at the front bar while I headed between the speakerbox and the front bar dancing on the box when the music was right (high energy rmx of "Tweakin") and having a drink with Pais when it was between beats. We finally headed out just after 3:30am and headed back for Bk. The night was good and weekend was well under way.

Saturday woke up early afternoon and enjoyed the breakfast delivery. Eggs and bacon was good and then I used my powers for good by cleaning up and generally doing enough housework to make sure I would be able to get a good nap later. In order to refill the cubbards we headed out to Pathmark and picked up all the essentials before heading down 4th ave to KFC and got us some meals for eating. The drive and music were all good and the dinner hit the spot. I finished working the on the office pc, did some web browsing and finally took a nap and rested up before cleaning up and setting up the outfit (new paramedic pants and worn once Ecko White/Orange reflective shirt) so we could head out in style. The Jimmy had already arrived and after making sure all was set we stepped out and down to the vehicle in waiting.

We rode in with some traffic on the bridge and it was all good until during the crossing of Chambers street we turned off onto Hudson. The summer months seem to mean that more and more traffic is on the streets and with a broken light on Canal St. and sheer volume going up Hudson street it seemed we had a bad travel night ahead of us. We made it all the way up to 15th St and turned onto 10th ave and after a quick look over we found the most excellent parking on 20th street right before the last 2 spots were taken. Happy with that outcome of the wild ride in we made our way down to the club and waited on the nonexistent line before going in. The door staff waved us in, the wristband set checked us over and the cashiers rang us up. I walked right over to the coat check, was wished a good night and then rushed in to see the eclectic decorating that the staff had done to the usually themed Roxy. From the hanging red shiny streamers, the white drapes in some sections and the black drape in other sections I was not set for any sort of expectation but I have always felt if you have no expectations you will not be disappointed. Well the DJ Hex Hector, (who I felt did us a great disservice when he spun at the White Party last year), was on the wheels tonight and I was still interested to see how he would see fit to entertain the boys. I was pleasantly surprised with the very consistent mixing, very smooth, that moved the crowd into a truly happy set. Just when I felt that the moment was due for myself to go out to the speaker in the asian section he shocked me and the crowd with a nice trip back into clubbing with "Muzikizum Pt 2" which we had not heard in 5 years and it was like it had never left. Me and Pais waxed poetic about having heard it but it was before my Roxy time and I had never heard it played in the space before. With barman Barker making sure our drinks were on point and the place getting truly packed at some points we hung out with the Jimmy, Duane, Keith and several more of the guys hanging out both inside and out but the moments just kept getting better. We were all in the black section right in front of the stage while he played a Michael Jackson dub of "Who's Bad" when he then launched into a totally on point remix of "They Don't Really Care About Us". We thought that was fun, but upon my return to the speaker the DJ made sure we remembered his greatest Remix past hits from "I Learned From the Best" with Whitney and then segued flawlessly into "Waiting for Tonight" from JLo. For songs that I had heard endlessly and not danced to at Roxy in a truly long time it was as if I had a whole choreographed routine just waiting to be unfurled. I was happy even when new people came up onto the speaker to dance (having chased off the obsessive and downtrodden), and all was well after the girl gave me props on my look from the back. All that gym going gives the viewers what they want. (Yeah!) From that point on it was as if the DJ could do no wrong as I continued far into the night and even warned Pais that there was no way we were leaving anytime around 4am. I ended up dancing on every speaker except for two, as well as the stage and found myself coordinated enough at 4:30am to be able to dance with both hands lit and and both lights in motion (not just the right hand, but truly ambidextrous light spinning). I watched many smiling faces in the crowd and even though we ended up leaving the space around 5:40 am the place was still plenty full of a dancing crowd. Plus when we went out it was just starting to brighten outside but I was not about to go home without refreshing the calories up at the diner. We tore into a greatly done breakfast and made the repast disappear faster than it was prepared. Despite the fact Pais believed we would never find a taxi at this hour we wandered over to the corner of 23rd and immediately got a car that was ready to take us back to BK. A nice restful ride back towards the house and once again the night drew to a close. I think I had finally enjoyed a 5 for 5 night and have no idea how I could have topped it. (Maybe more friends and better lighting) Personally if the party was just how much fun I had by myself I was all over it and could not have done it better myself (well maybe..)

Sunday I got up in the early afternoon once again and settled in before the TV to just chill and decompress. Thank goodness we had gone shopping the day before so I just had to sit about and veg. A lot of web browsing, watching of basketball and nice serving of delivery breakfast. (They stiffed me on the fries and got me hash browns instead-so nasty spicy) However I still enjoyed the fries and bacon (oh to have one of the bad boy BK sandwiches about now).
The rest of the afternoon was just spent chilling until I got it into my head to start playing Neverwinter Nights on my PC once again. I picked up the game where I left off (right in the middle) and kinda whiled away the time until I had to cook dinner. We settled on spaghetti with red sauce with sweet sausages. The end result had plenty of sausage but the sauce ended up being not as thick as the last time I cooked it a few months ago and was not as good I thought. I will definitely have to do better next time. It was good enough for dinner though. Afterwards I watched "Punk'd" and then the strange shows that come on MTV latenight sunday like "Wondershozen" which was totally twisted and somewhat shocking at some points and definitely should come on after 11pm with the total puppets who do bad things and strange skits and songs (White People, oppressed people and all kinds of interviews where someone should just beat the puppet or the kid-the puppet interviewer did get cursed out a few times).
I went to bed much later than I should have. Guess I just did not the weekend to be over with.

If only they were all this good. Very busy but all good. Thank goodness for friends, good music and good times. We will do this again. Keep it hot.

Mar 18-20 - Into the Black, Into the Day, and All Beats you can Eat.

And so it begins, a 4 day weekend for me (vacation on Monday and Tuesday) giving me time to have fun and then recovery time from said fun. Work was well in hand on Friday and we were able to escape the confines of the office with enough time to hit the gym. Slightly modified the workout so I would be able to finish up before they closed (they close early on Fridays). The train ride home was without incident even though I caught a W train for the first time from City Hall, it looked kinda empty and I had just missed an R train, but the W still brought me all the way home. Gotta love that timing. Anyway dinner was already ordered and waiting when I got home. Finished off the steak, spinach and some tasting of the mashed potatoes, (avoid it when I can but try not to let the whole meal be just about the meat, just mostly). And then I went and did the haircut and cleaned up before settling on an outfit of black Plugg pants and G-Unit black shirt with red and white short sleeves. No CDs to bring just me and mine and I was all ready to go. We headed out of the house at 11:35 and got just a little bit of traffic on the BK bridge. The drive in had a nice soundtrack of chillout music (Spring Breaks) and the city had plenty of people out and enjoying the nice change in the weather (above 40 degrees for once). We dodged a fire truck, avoided the late night garbage pickup and found a nice spot right up the street from the place. Locked up the car and walked up to Splash and lo and behold... an honest to goodness line out front. The equinox weekend seemed to have definitely brought out the crowd. We said hi to the trio of doormen and made our way inside and past the cashier, Despite the people who seemed to be leaving just as we were coming in the place was packed. The coatcheck line stretched all the way back to the back of the downstairs bar. However once I checked my coat I looked over the downstairs bar and saw that the bartenders they had working the downstairs were kinda lacking. I immediately snared Pais and we headed upstairs. The space upstairs was packed from the ATM to back bar and the boys were feeling it for DJ Frankie Knuckles. We had missed the earlier warmup by Steve Travolta but the boys that stayed for the main DJ got a great treat. John caught up to us just after we found barman Brett at the back bar. He was occupying the same space where I first found him, behind the pillar, right off the dance floor. I got a surfer to start and Brett told me he loved the trance CD of the three he got last week. We grooved to the sounds of the DJ and pretty soon John and I got to talking and found out that we share a lot of common interests and outlooks. Pais was able to tolerate the lights slightly removed from the dancefloor and we were out of the direct line of sight of the speakers as Frankie was pushing the bass out onto the floor with a vengeance. On the floor I bumped into Styles who was hanging with Steve Travolta on the dance floor. I hugged them both hello and told Pais they were both in attendance at the far side of the room. After some chatting and drinking I told the boys I had to go say hi to Liz Ligouri who was doing lightboard duties for the eve with her usual flair and intensity. When I first walked up she waved but appeared to be busy so I let her be for a moment and then told her I should have brought her some CDs (especially since I have mixed 5 more since the last one that I gave her). She looked at me again and then she said she did not recognize me at first and we kissed hello. I told her I would let her get back to work, smiled over at Frankie and went back downstairs to the boys on the floor. After a brief stint on the dancefloor and enough drinks I decided to head out into the cool outside for a bottle of water. Again I noted the high amount of people out and about and looked over the traffic coming and going before heading back inside. With enough water in my system I headed downstairs to the bathroom and Pais and I waited on an extremely long line. The owner Brian L. was downstairs trying to help with the bathroom crush by directing a select few into the dancer's area behind the frosted glass wall to use the exra bathroom. I let Pais go since I knew he would would give the place a lookover and a nice report after he returned, and I was more able to deal with the bathoom crush anyway. After braving the crowd and then helping the touristes to understand the workings of the light-sensor sink I made it back out and circled the entire downstairs bar before finding Pais just returning from the out of the way bathroom. He stated that there was a line inside there too and the person in front of him took a long time. By the time we walked away the line for the bathroom stretched the length of the downstairs bar. I was glad that was out of the way and we headed back upstairs to get another drink and talk some more with John. Lisa from the front door made a rare appearance inside, (I had not seen her with the guestlist out front for a few months). She had come through the crowd with Ric Sena, who was checking out the vibe of the party before he did his own on special get together on Sunday night. Finally Pais decided he had to turn in early enough to make softball practice the next morning. I decided to stay but I still walked him outside after finishing off our latest drinks at the front door and heading out. Right outside we ran into Andrew and his BF who had decided to make the trip over to the club with DJ Abel in tow. I said hi to Abel and was grilled by the boys on what were our plans for the weekend. Abel went on and headed in while we chatted some and then we parted ways and I walked Pais to his car before getting myself another bottle of water at the pizza place. On the way back inside I ran into Drew all over again as they seemed to have decided against hanging out at Splash after all. Oh well, I went back inside with my handstamp and walked up to the speaker box and danced right between two other boys who also vied for some speaker time. I could not find John right away so I drank the other bottle of water I brought in and then settled on another drink. When we did meet up again we hung out and chatted up with Brett and discussed what outfits we would be wearing to the rest of the parties this weekend. After a while the blazing conversations had to come to an end and I had to head home. At 3:30am I bid the boys goodnight picked up my coat and headed outside. I said goodnight to the doorguys and grabbed a taxi right out front. I settled into the seat and told him my destination. He noted it down and brought me home most quickly. It was another great night out, lots of people and places discussed and I was very happy I had come out. I got inside, checked all my pockets then emptied them at the appropriate spots and then brushed my teeth and went to bed. It was all good in the neighborhood.

I woke up the next morning, (well late morning) and had a vicious headache, well only when I stood up anyway. Something about the blood rushing to the head when I stood up. Anyway I tried to avoid taking anything for it and just hydrated but eventually I gave in and over the course of the afternoon took 2 ibuprofen and an excedrin before the headache left me alone. A bowl of cereal and an orange and I was just chilling watching power rangers and some MTV programming before settling on MTV2 and watching "Video Mods". The video game music videos were a great visual feed and had me feeling very happy while I tried to find enough tunes on the PC to mix another CD. I found I did not have enough for a Hispanic flavoured CD but was pretty sure in another week or so I would be able to start building a new mix for Spring. Pais returned home and we headed down the street to Quiznos to pick up some sandwiches and bring them back to the house to eat while we watched the continuing saga of March Madness on CBS. A lot of upsets this year but college has never been that predictable anyway. We both opted for a late afternoon nap which actually worked for me this time as I usually am never tired enough to go to sleep on a Sat. afternoon. I woke up and checked on the DVR settings to make sure all of the toon and comedy programming was set to be taped when I went out for the eve and did a status check of the lights and the cash for the wallet so I would be good for the evening. We ordered in a nice italian dinner and finished it off before Steve arrived a little late but better late than never. The 4.5 hour drive from VA had left him a little tired out so he power-napped while I went and laid out the outfit for the evening and showered up before donning my accoutrements. I settled on the newest pair of black paramedic pants, the CK black lycra undershirt, and since we were going to a club-hop this eve, a red button down shirt to give the outfit some color. Jimmy showed up just after 10 and we hung out watching TV before Steve woke up and then got himself ready to go as I made sure I had everything all packed and ready to step out myself. I gave Steve a copy of the Diva CD and one the chillout CD so he would have some riding music when he made his return trip and we all put on the coats and headed outside at 11:10.

The ride in was slowed down on the BQE as trucks in the left lane were doing some kind of road work but once past the slowdown the rest of the ride was as expected. We caught a lot of red lights on the west side drive but just rode it down until we made our way up and into the club district. We turned on 20th Street and found an immediate parking space on the left side. Locked up and happily piled out and made our way around the corner and down the block to the club. There was a bit of a line outside but it moved OK. Doorman Derek said hello to all of us and waved us in. After we were handstamped and wristbanded we made our way up to the cashier and got inside quickly. The always happy coatcheck people took our wraps and we walked inside past the statue rapped in black (it's usually placed near the back bar but was part of the decor for the evening). Giant cutouts of ropes and placards proclaimed the party name of "domination" as Roxy did their part to join in the Black Party weekend festivities and darkened the room accordingly The laser machine right at the front of the dancefloor added some new spark to the dark mood and scattered throughout the crowd were some boys who went along with the theme and wore leather and different black outfits to fit the theme. Despite the fact that we were only staying for a little while we did not the place got packed rather quickly as there were plenty of people in town for the weekend and ready to make a show of it. Very few of the die hard dancers were in attendance however as my first appearance in the asian section speaker was fun for the tourists but the usual denizens of the section were not dancing and not even sitting around the area. I had forgotten to take some ibuprofen before heading out but the bathroom attendant had some aspirin which while it was good for the strains of a headache coming on, probably did my legs in later with some swelling in my legs hitting later as the night went on. I felt the call of the music once again as DJ Tony Moran pulled out a remix of C&Cs "Boriqua Anthem" that had the boys truly living it up on the dancefloor. Back in the party I ran into Ricky who we had not seen out and about since early winter. We were so happy we had stopped by at Roxy as we would have missed him totally if we had just headed over to the second party. On the way back to the front I introduced him to Erica and we hung out at the front bar for a bit before I walked outside to catch a breeze and retrieve The Jimmy and Pais. As it rolled up on 1:35 I circulated the club twice looking for Steve (I had his ticket) and finally Pais rang him up on the cell before we all met up at the front entrance. He actually thought we were already out front when we stopped him at the front door and then all said our good nights to The Jimmy. After retrieving our coats and well wishes from the coatcheck staff and pledges to be careful we headed out into the street and over to the Ave to pick up an uptown taxi.

Because of the relatively early hour for us (yes, 2am is kinda early for me) it seemed to take a little bit to pick up a taxi but after about 6 minutes we walked over and got into a car headed uptown. We forgot the destination address of course so I had to pull out the event ticket and read the address printed on it to the cabbie. After a 12 dollar cab ride uptown (I guess because of the cargo of 3) we stepped out on the corner of 8th ave and 52nd street and stood on what looked like the longest line ever for the party. I decided to use the time to buy a soda and an Aleve from the bodega (as the 24hr Duane Reade did not sell single packets of pain-killers) and got back to the line to find that Pais and Steve had made it half way up the street on the rather fast moving line. We avoided the scalpers selling tickets at double-price and swigged soda as we waited. At least I swigged, as Pais and Steve were set to get inside and use the facilities Asap. There was a nice police presence out front and some other rather loud club-goers across the street but we made it inside rather painlessly and with our actual tickets (mailed cross-country) just handed them over to the twin who had ticket collecting duty and stepped inside. The heat coming off of the crowd was highly palpable and I shed my wrap and held coats for the boys as they went off and then returned before I got to the velvet ropes of the coatcheck line. Pais headed up for drinks and I waited on the coatcheck with Steve as we chatted with other people on the line, checked out some of the costumes and outfits and I even said hi to Steve (from back-in-the-day and Jonathan). His new squeeze was kinda short and generic so I did not even notice him at first until later when I said hi to Steve later upstairs. While on the coatcheck I recognized Bob H. who had followed us over to the party from Roxy even though he had on a green and yellow wrestling mask but his tattoos and body language (and mouth) gave him away. The window director at the end of the coat check line re-directed me over to the same window as Bob H. after our loud greetings, I kinda figured that window # 10 would be easy to remember and it all worked out as a goodthing. My coatcheck person was decked out in shiny shorts, vest and a pretty pair of grey leather cowboy boots that I gave him props on. He hung both mine and Pais's coats on the same hangar, which worked well for me and after I was done with the check retrieved Steve and we headed upstairs it was time to check out the party. Diet fuel ingested and and first drink in hand we took in the crowd that had come from all around and around the world. Yes it was the Black Party that we had waited for with baited breath, the first real big NYC party of the year. We walked upstairs and there we walked into Q himself whom we had not seen out in a long while (last year). We got our drinks at the upstairs bar and then walked around to see the various goings on around and about the dark areas of the upstairs. We also ran into John and Andrew and said hello before I headed into the bathroom and with Steve in the lead ended up in the all stall bathroom. The line moved quickly however and I got a surprisingly clean stall, despite the drinks on the back of the seat and got out with no muss and no fuss. I stayed away from the frothing activity across the hall (that mysterious room that no body talks about but everybody knows about) and instead looked for the boys downstairs. DJs Chus and Ceballos were working the tribal beats very heavy but played some songs I expected to hear like "Wicked Fortress" and their personal take on the dark beats of "DirtyFilthy". I found myself on the tall speakers at the front of the room, gazing across at the hordes of people shirtless all the way across the room with the marvelous geodesic screen dome in the center of the room reflecting special effects projected up from a marvelous light installation that made the room seem to ignite and burn with an energy you could see. The party energy was reflected on all the heads and faces of the people from one side of the room to the other. After Pais went off to go get a drink I followed him down and we did another circuit of the room. I marvelled at the size of some of the people and one mountain of a man who I thumped in the chest as he lumbered by and he barely registered the impact. Its always nice to acknowledge what we like. Anyway after my second appearance on the front speaker I came down off the speaker and made sure I had my last drink in hand and made sure Pais was ok as well Pais and I entertained Ayinde C for a while who was another one who had come to the Black Party for the first time and was taking it all in as a newbie. We chatted a bit and then as myself and Pais made a bathroom run and then returned I felt the call to dance up on the speaker again as the second set DJ Victor Calderone was turning out the dancefloor with the big room beats of Barry Gilbey and "Plastic Man" I decided I was going to dance on a different speaker this time and settled on the less busy but harder to negotiate up to speakers on the side of the floor closer to the bar. I figured out the easiest way to get up (the back) and settled in for a nice set of dancing while gazing at the mega-crowd on the dancefloor, enjoying the light installation and making sure Pais was OK from my higher than thou vantage point, 8 feet in the air, on top of the speaker. I drank my red bull at the low points and wore out the soles of my shoes and rubber banded my legs as I danced like had no sense at all. One of the lights in my hand dimmed and there was no replacement in my wallet so I just settled on dancing with one and kept it up until it was time to step down and move on. Me and Pais chilled next to the bar drinking some water and then I decided to make a run to the center of the dancefloor to see the view from right under the dome and see if it was as impressive up close. Of course the sight overhead was as amazing as I thought it would be with the fiery and vibrant visuals helping to move the energy of the crowd but it illuminated a truly cracked-up mash of people up close who appeared to have stayed in one place for too long. I hurried myself and Pais through the crush as quickly as I could and ended up at the far side near the stage set up that held a lot of the electronics. It sat an an angle to the DJ Booth that had been moved from upstairs to closer to the crowd level and within view of the dome (so the lighting techs and the DJ could appreciate the lightshow with the crowd and not have their view blocked by the dome itself when viewed from above. After saying bye to Andrew and his friends and not finding Steve anywhere I headed downstairs for our coats and waited at the window with the tweakers who were leaving as we did. I knew that leaving at 7am was kind of early for me but hey I was going out Sunday night too so had no reason to burn myself out, despite the fact I was having the ONLY time. I did not want the night to end but end they all must do. We walked out through the door with only a slight delay by Pais and we headed into the morning awaiting us outside. Of course there was a taxi right out front and Pais held the door for me as I slid over and then we took turns giving the cabbie directions back to our Bklyn environs. The ride downtown through Times square, down 7th Ave and all the way to canal with a running commentary from the squeaky cab door and the radio in the cab. My overwrought sensorium could only tolerate so much from the noisy car but there was n0thing I could do but grin and bear it. We rode all the way back to BK with no ill effects and the ride was only $5 dollars more than our usual fare from Roxy. We paid the driver, checked the seat for leftovers and then headed upstairs and into the quiet bliss of the house. Of course on our way in Steve called and told us he had finally left the party too so Pais texted him directs back to BK so he could tell his cabbie the way back and he arrived 35 min later. I took all of the sleeptime supplements (calcium, valerian, and some milk thistle) and waited for Steve to ring the bell beore I settled in for some hard sleep. I wasn't able to fall asleep at first after all of that energy buildup so I came back out and took some Target branded PM and finally drowsed out enough to catch some winks.

We got up early afternoon and ordered in breakfast. The appetite was somewhat depressed but I was feeling no really ill effects from the night and was very upbeat and happy with myself. The bacon and eggs went down well but I was in no mood for the coffee or the homefries and did away with them. Water and juice however were very welcome and I then settled in for an afternoon of web browsing and more March Madness. Now I just settled into the downhill of the weekend since it was half over for me. Pais decided on Dallas BBQ takeout, which in fact is much more convenient than eating in because the kitchen seems very fast but their capacity does not meet the demand inside. For some reason it is a little more expensive than the BBQ in NYC, esp when not even getting drinks, but the food was good and we got it back to the house and devoured it like the last supper. It was still early enough in the eve that I chilled out on the couch and in between shows I fell asleep for a bit before waking up for the 9pm episode of the Simpsons. We then switched to MTVsDamage Control and then watched Punk'd. It was a funny episode with Serena and the girl from his movie and the boy from Scrubs but after watching the episode that he hosted of Saturday Night Live you can see that his brand of comedy works better in your face or when someone writes just for him. He did not seem to fit into his SNL skits like he should have, even when he played Julia Roberts on Oprah he was much better with Demi at the beginning and when he was just background window dressing. Most of the skits just didn't make you laugh. Gwen Stefani and Eve however were very good and put on a nice live performance. Anyway I showered, picked out the clothes and then suited up. The camo-print shirt, the backpack padded suspenders, black emt shorts and the SWAT boots and baseball cap. The outfit looked good and the suspenders fit even better than last year. I then sat down on the couch, made sure the pillow was protecting the back of the couch from the backpack clips in the back of the suspenders and watched DVR programming from cartoon network as well as the Venture Bros. I decided to tape Home Movies so I could watch it the next day and then I put on the coat, pulled on the gym pants and headed out of the house at 1am over to the car service and walked over to Castle and ordered up a ride into the city. The driver was right outside and I made it into the city in record time. The combination of the day and the hour and the driver and I was at 28th street in like 18 min.

I got dropped off and walked up to the Crobar and waited on the line of about 6 people. All of the stuff in my pockets meant that I had a fun time at the security checkpoint but once he realized I just had a lot of accoutrements (and a firm warning not to use my laser) I was allowed inside. Surprisingly the coat check was no problem and after waiting behind like 7 people I checked the coat and gym pants and was ready to head into the party. The decorations were definitely on point as Ric Sena had gone above and beyond with the full size helicopter hanging from the ceiling headed for the dancefloor and the full squad of camo-suited soldiers hanging from the cargo netting hanging from the ceiling. The lighting really worked to make the illusion of the soldiers being real. Of course the dancers for the evening were also suited much the same as the decorations and despite the fact that not many of the people on the floor went beyond the normal fashions of jeans or khakis I liked the look of the place as a whole. The Alegria party was going full swing when I walked onto the floor at 1:50am and around and up to the upper floors. I had already settled on a nice bartender for the eve (even though he did give me one more beer than I originally intended, and charged me the exorbitant $13 a drink for Stoli redbulls when I was not even getting the can). Anyway the music by DJ Abel was good as was the prop room DJ Alyson Calagna who mixed a nice counterpoint to not try and overshadow the big room beats next door but complemented the main party and had the boys dancing when they wandered in. A performance by Zhana Saunders the singer for "The Alegria Song" caught the guys attention early on. I saw plenty of friends from earlier in the weekend but the crowd was definitely no where near as plentiful as my last appearance at the party in June of last year. The number of parties appearing to work against the party as people can't travel in the hordes they have before when there are 9 parties over the course of the year. I caught up with Brett downstairs between the exit door and the dancefloor and downstairs from the VIP. He liked the outfit and told me he would see me at his new environs next friday as he has left his gig at Splash. I was happy for him and hoped that the boys follow suit and give us some more places to go when we are ready to get out and go on our weekends. DJ Abel was giving us a few strains of classic Rauhofer with some "My House is Your House" and then fast forwarded it to some remix beats of hard house and jungle beats. We were treated to another show with all of the dancers on the stage and on the rising window washer platforms behind the stage (10 dancers in all), some that I recognized from before at other venues and some brand new and dancing for the party for the first time. Anyway my continuous parties for the past few days had finally caught up to me and I took a break in the room with the pipes and hungout on the low couches for a moment and wondered if I should leave. But since I had not really had a chance to cut loose yet I decided to go and dance some more before I headed out. Back into the main room and in the middle of the stairs and right over the dance floor I lit up both hands and danced over the dance floor. A few songs later a whole lot of dance steps and a lot of smiles and smooth moves and I was finally past the party peak. I stepped away from the railing and headed upstairs to the coatcheck. I got the coat put on the gym overpants and headed downstairs and out. I thought at first that I would get a cab but did not think that anyone would want to take me to BK and have to deal with the traffic on the way back. So I began the long walk down to 23rd street and all the way over to 5th Ave where I could catch the R train and not have to transfer. I picked up a doughnut bowtie at a vendor before heading into the train station but it was too sweet to eat so I just saved it for later and settled into my book on the train. The ride home was mostly uneventful except for the long wait in Whitehall station for no apparent reason (train spacing?) I finally got home and wandered up the street at 7:50am. I didn't head to bed right away but just decompressed watching TV until my eyes got heavy. Pais was just getting up for work and I was ready for bed. Thank goodness I didn't have to go to work until Wednesday.

So the fun part of the weekend is over. Now we rest and recover. Its all good. The fun times will come again I'm sure. Anyway for once I didn't burn myself out or cause myself too overstress on the joints or bones. The controls appear to be in place that I haven't burned myself out focusing on too much fun and not enough body. I myself enjoyed the Black Party the most out of all of the parties and felt the scale of the beats and the general mix of the crowd was a far better cross section of party goers, with the Alegria crowd being more a gathering of aesthetes. Much more two dimensional and not as much fun to hang with. I definitely will go to another Black but not sure if I will do another Extreme.

Hopefully the fun will remain a little longer until I start getting serious about writing not just party details and pastimes but some good fiction that makes people think and enjoy and want to adventure. Until next time. Keep it hot

March 11-13 - Its Snowing Men and then it got Nice

Some weeks seem longer than others. Some almost fly by. This past week was not that bad even though I had to take off from work on Tuesday due to out of control allergies, tender sinuses and a sore throat to beat all getout. But later in the week all healed up, cold free and allergies under control I was able close out the week on a high note and get out and about. I got to the gym early enough so my workout wasn't cut off 2 soon this time. Nice results every time. Rushed home to dig into the dinner, used the low-budget steak sauce I found in my fridge since we were out of ketchup and then clean up, cut the hair and suit up. The cargo pants loaded with the gift CDs and the soundtrack in the car set up we were ready to go out and do the do. We arrived just after midnight party beats in full swing. After the coat check boy stressing me over the baseball cap that Pais took off (folded and stuck in the pocket) I was able to make my way over to the bar and get our drinks. Of course barman Brett got me a Surfer for my first drink because he knows I knows I handle my liquor roughly . But I did have to warn everyone that I would be having no more as they kinda do the stomach in if left unchecked. The beats we were hearing sounded good and because of our sketchy internet connection I had no idea who was mixing. My first quick trip upstairs through the cloudy dancefloor yielded a bad viewing and my first thought of the DJ was Joe G. Later on I heard Brett tell another clubgoer that the DJ was Eddie Elias. The sounds of the middle of the party from 12:15 to 1:15 was kind of all over the place with a truly tribal feel but I could not tell where it was going. However by 1am the music was truly cooking and I had long since handed out gift CDs to BB and to David. Then Reggie arrived and the rest of the gift CDs were spoken for so I told him I would hold them until it was time to go since of course he had no pockets to hold a CD in. We both danced in the back when we were actually challenged for floor space by some crazed dancer but after that was over I retired to the other side of the floor only to follow the beats up onto the speakerbox and dance overlooking the crowd with my hands lit up. Afterwards I headed downstairs to hang with Pais. He was away from the bar so I figured he had headed for the mens room so I caught up to him on line and played bathroom director telling the people waiting when there was a free stall. Of course my bathroom drama continued as I was trying to direct some drunk person to a stall. Of course the rampant cutting meant one was supposed to be on top of their game and move like they meant it. I pointed out the opening and patted the next guy on line in the general direction and saw that he was not moving fast enough to secure the space. He felt I was rushing him and said that he did not like people pushing him. I thought he really wanted to pee and was trying to be helpful. I apologized for trying to assist and then moved on to find Pais and get the heck out of the bathroom. Earlier that evening when I myself was in the bathroom I put my drink down over the sink and the glass knocked someones ring into the sink. I was accused of all kinds of stankness before the owner dredged his precious costume jewelry from the drain at the back of the sink. If I had to take off jewelry in the bathroom I would be sure to put it someplace safe, like my pocket and not have the nearly invisible ring sitting where anyone could touch it and possibly cause it to fall. Anyway he recovered his jewelry and I got out of the bathroom and told Pais that the night was just too full of Drama for me. Splash was chock full of people both upstairs and downstairs and even Grace stopped in and said hi. She told us she had been sick and then got into a whole conversation with DJ DeMarko about flagging. He did not like flaggers. I told her that he probably found them a distraction and maybe had an attention issue. He just stated he did not see their purpose and made sure there were none at any of the venues that he DJd at. She went upstairs to flag and I headed outside to get myself a bottle of water. On my way outside I asked Reggie if he wanted me to bring him back a bottle of water (can't beat those $1 bottles) and I headed outside. Outside it was actually snowing but since it was above freezing and there was no wind I was actually outside, in shorts sleeves and a baseball cap while viewing snowflakes. It was a truly next top model moment and I only wished I had thought to have Pais carry the digital so that he could take pictures. Anyway I got to the store picked up the bottles of water and guzzled mine before heading back in. I told everybody about the snow but after all of the snowfall we had received this winter already it was only shocking for a moment and then we moved on. We ended up staying until 3:30 and after I picked up our coats (a slight mixup caused a short wait) I made sure to stop at both sides of the back to pick up the magazines and then gave Reggie his CDs which he was sure would keep him in the music until summertime. Anyway I could not find Pais on the way out when he said he would meet me at the front and actually ended up going all the way to the car and then returning to the bar and calling Pais on the phone. He was on his way out as I was I was viewing the front of the bar. After we settled our differences we piled into the Murano and headed back to BK. A trip of a few minutes and then it was time to rest up for the next day. Well it was the next day already but not quite daylight. I hit the sheets pulled the covers over my head and lights out.

I got up on Saturday around noon and came out to an already delivered breakfast of eggs and bacon. They actually delivered twice as the first time the eggs were delivered instead of scrambed I received sunny side up eggs which entailed a plate of runny eggs and bacon on top. I ate the scrambled eggs in the styrofoam container and then ate the bacon that had come with the runny eggs. It added some flavor but I was glad I didn't have to eat the liquid eggs. Thoughtful Pais. Anyway after breakfast we watched some TV and scanned the days news stories. Since we were out of soda and a few other essentials like orange juice we headed out to do some shopping. Downstairs and into the car and then we headed down 4th ave to the mall at Atlantic Center and Atlantic Terminal. We parked down in the lot underneath Pathmark and headed upstairs so we could make it across the bridge and over to Target. Once inside Target we made our way to the front to get a shopping cart and discovered that the lines at the checkout were out of control. I did not know what sale brought all of these people in but I knew there was no way we were going to wait on those lines. We headed back downstairs and across the street to the Vitamin Shoppe even though the traffic on Atlantic Ave was out of control and some lady in a white truck tried to take me out (run a brother down). I saw her in the peripheral and made sure to stay on the curb until she passed. Inside the Shoppe we took some time to find all of the supplements and then dodged cars getting back across the street and headed into Old Navy. One pair of cargo pants and a new summer shirt for me and Pais picked up some new shirt wares for himself as well. I came down to the front just in time to wait behind just one person. Of course after me the line exploded and because Pais didn't see me until after I had made my purchase and of course he had to wait on the full length line. I watched the movement of the line until it was the turn for Pais and then we were finally able to get out of the store and head back to the car. Down the elevator one level and we packed the bags into the car and headed for the exit. The lot was only $2 because we didn't take too long but because we didn't get to pick up anything at Target we still had to do some shopping. We headed over to Wendy's for some pre-shopping lunch first and found nice parking with no meter in sight not 2 blocks away. We walked up and around the corner and ordered our lunch. We sat for lunch upstairs and listened to the offbeat music while munching our burgers. We finished that off, retrieved the car and then dodged pedestrians on our way over to Pathmark. We did the shop picking up enough juice, milk and soda along with decent selection of foodstuffs so that we could live another week. Back home we chilled for a bit. Pais napped while I downloaded songs from Beatport and iTunes and completed my newest chill CD Mix. Around 9pm we ordered in italian from Friends Cafe and I enjoyed a nice penne ala vodka with grilled chicken. I watched tv and finished up the mixing before going to clean myself up. The Jimmy arrived and they hung out while I cleaned up and outfitted and then went back to finishing up the mixing. Stephen K arrived at 11pm and we soon headed out in the new Range Rover.

The drive into the city was quick and we dodged all kinds of pot holes to find a nice parking spot on 10th ave (after crossing 3 lanes of traffic and beating out a car full of spanish girls for the parking spot). We walked down from 22nd street the 4 blocks to the club and then stood in front. This week the line moved fairly quickly and I shook hands with doorman Derek and headed inside. This week the party crowd was kinda split because DJ Rauhofer was over at Spirit and we were hearing the first night of DJ Chris Cox tonight at Roxy. We headed into some strange mix of retro house music and the crowd around the bar made the place look real busy until you looked at the dancefloor and saw that only the truly brave were out there on the floor. I hoped for the best as we said hello to barman Barker and checked out the bar from front to back. We even checked out the chill out room but I myself found it a bit too chill and told Pais I was getting cold and needed to head back out to the bar. We couldn't walk in front of the DJ booth because of the performance later and the stage was velvet roped off but we could walk around far side of the floor and hang out and wait for party to get started. In the meantime we talked and chilled and bumped elbows with John Norris and Pstars Tag Eriksson and J. The music finally took a turn for the better around 1:10 and I was actually pulled by the beats out the speaker to dance. I was dancing behind some boys that had been thrown off by the earlier strange tunes and now could only sit on the speaker and wave their heads to the beat. The beats reached a sort of crescendo and I suddenly recognized the beat and sounds of a remix Ciara and "One-Two Step". Since the DJ was one-half of the former remixing duo of Thunderpuss we were hearing some new mixes and I suddenly had some hope for the rest of the night. I actually pulled off my shirt with one hand and my hat with the other (at the same time) for a wild speaker moment that I did not actually pre -rehearse but looked and felt kinda cool. Back from the speaker and looking for the boys outside I actually reshirted but headed back in to find them walking towards me near the front bar. The scheduled performer of the eve was Kristine W. and as the hour crawled ever later despite the energy of the curly, dark maned DJ the boys were getting restless. I was dancing on the speaker right near the stage when they began preparing the stage and doing final checks to make sure all was clear. Her own personal stage hand came out and laid tape at all the marks for the dancers and also put out water bottles for when it was time for the performers to leave when it was over. I wandered away for a second and then stepped back over to the spot next to the stage speaker to watch them come out. At 3:08am they finally came out on the stage and began singing, Kristine and 2 backup singers with the song from QAF "Some Luvin". She then proceeded to go into a medley of every number one hit she ever had. It was good at first but then seemed to go on for far too long. I left the side of the stage when she was singing "One More Try" to find Pais and found him two songs later as we stood near the bar and ordered something more to drink. Even our friends were saying that they could not wait for the show to stop as it was kind of a severe length break in the party. Finally she thanked the crowd and left the stage and it was back to the music. We stayed and danced and hung out until 4:45 and picked up our coats to head for home. We walked over one avenue and Pais flagged down a taxi for us to take back to BK. Another Saturday night under wraps and well enjoyed.

I awoke early Sunday afternoon and once again had a breakfast delivery waiting to be eaten at the dining room table. After breakfast we watched basketball, optimized the home network and increased the encryption rate transmissions and made a spring chill out mix CD. After 5:15 we piled into the Murano and drove over to Quiznos and ordered some sandwiches. After eating in and saying hi to the owner that stopped in to check on the store. After lunch we walked over to Footlocker and looked over the selection. I found it kinda limited and overpriced when I consider what I would pay over in NJ. Pais did not see anything in sneakers or clothes that looked worthwhile either. We drove back home and watched TV and hung out until it was time for me to defrost the meat for dinner and cook up some chicken wingettes and some microwave rice and Green Giant Corn niblets. The microwave Zatarains was not all that but I guess for rice in 60 seconds you could not ask for too much. We watched two different episodes of The Simpsons and some more tv until around 11pm when we decided to go out and pick up some ice cream from the 24 hour Baskin Robbins. We listened to the new chill mix CD and drove over to the place fairly quickly and parked right next to the place before walking in to order. Of course the same ice cream guy who looks as if he has some sort of anger simmering under the surface took our orders for ice cream and of course got mine wrong. I got one scoop instead of two but did not feel like going to get it corrected and plus I probably did not need the extra ice cream anyway. Pais laughed it off but I never could shake the feeling that the ice cream man was just waiting for an excuse to curse us out or worse. Anyway we got back home and I just chilled as Pais went to sleep. I watched cartoon network and DVR programming until it was time to finally turn in and go to sleep and end my weekend as nicely as it began.

It was another cool weekend, well planned, well executed and well enjoyed. And now the countdown to the Black begins... Where to go, check. How to prepare, check. What to wear, hmm. we are still finalizing but the preliminaries are in and it looks nice so far. Now if only I work well at staying hydrated, amino acid supplemented and have all of our tickets in line. Now its time for the show.

Mar 4-6 - 2 Lazy Days, 2 Crazy Nights

I ended work a little later than I wanted but was able to make it to the gym. Worked out but had to leave before closing so missed out on the last two machines I planned on. But with most of the workout done I felt good and made it home to have dinner. The steak dinner from Jacks was good and after I cleared that out I cleaned up and picked out the outfit. The Jimmy was in attendance already and we all watched tv and hung out until it was time to rollout at 11:10. A little more prepared this week in terms of rest and hydration I was confident I was stepping out into the night more upbeat. The ride into the city was fast and we made it up 6th ave with no trouble. A quick loop around the block and we found parking right on 17th Street. The doorman held open the door into Splash and we paid the cashier and made our way downstairs. Once the coatcheck was out the way we made our way over to the downstairs bar and picked up our first drinks of the night. Pais staked out a nice space and we checked out the scene. There were plenty of people in attendance lounging and hanging downstairs. But I had to go up and see what the dancefloor was about. Even while I was downstairs I could see the screens synched up with the beats. The pictures changing as fast as the music but so on point meant I had to go up and see for myself. Yes, Ms Liz Ligouri was on lights and it was the Tribe party hosted by DJ Eliot Dehoyos. Pais and The Jimmy felt that they wanted to hang some more downstairs where the lights were not so overbearing and I headed across the floor and said hi to Liz and checked out the crowd. It was not so crowded at 11:45 but by 12:25 the place was plenty packed and the dancing boys were up on the front bar and behind the back bar and on the speakerbox. We sighted them many times over the course of the evening going back and forth between the downstairs and their various posts upstairs. We were without a specific bartender downstairs or upstairs but we still got some good drinks in. At some points of the evening the music kind of meandered but it would soon get back on track and definitely kept the crowd interested. Since I had plenty of drink buzz and the temp was not too bad out I actually made two invigorating walks outside to buy $1 bottles of water. No worse for the wear I took the opportunity to wake up and bring my coolness with me onto the hot dance floor. At one point I noticed 3 young black girls on the stage just sitting and sometimes waving their hands to the beat. I asked them what brought them in tonight and they said they were just looking for something different and wanted to have fun. I told them that the music is usually a little more varied but since it was the night of the Tribe party they pretty much had already heard the gamut of the beats and vibe for the evening was pretty much set. They thanked me and I moved on, back to the dancefloor. I saw plenty of girls on the dancefloor and even had a nice girl audience when I danced up on the speakerbox. We ended up staying until 3:20 and then picking up the coats and heading out for the evening. The coatcheck staff was much nicer and all business when it was time to go. They gave me a hard time when I checked in and pretty much had fun at my expense to liven up the early evening. I let them have their fun and then went and had mine. Fun all around for everyone. I was able to get to bed before 5am and night out moved on to lights out. Good times.

Saturday morning I got up to delivery breakfast and not much to do. No touristy plans for the day so I pretty much spent the afternoon CD Mixing and burning the final cuts. By the end of the day my Diva mix and Party Mix were both complete (even though after a few trial listen throughs I want the ending to be a little more distinctive, it kind of ends up as too much of the same). Anyway I was happy with the end results and we settled in with the evening by having Japanese delivered. Sushi Yama was pretty good and my chicken teriyaki was very good. I caught up on some DVR programming, cleaned up and made sure that the outfit was selected well in advance. We headed out at 11:35 and listened to the soundtrack of the remixed Ice Cool Diva CD.

I stopped at a corner store on the way in to pick up some ibuprofen (Motrin IB) and a bottle of Dasani before heading over to 10th ave and finding a space. The late hour meant all of the street parking was taken so we lot parked and then walked the 2 blocks down to the club. The line was short but once again drama on line as people with no ID were discussed at length before the gold card member was able to bring their entourage of one white girl inside. After the short wait we made our way inside and past the armbands and cashier and ticket taker and then the coat check. I now know a nice section of the coatcheck and can pretty much count on good service from all the guys down at the end of the line. I headed inside of Roxy and took in the crowd. The dancefloor already had plenty of people happily dancing at 12:20am and the music was not moody but very upbeat. The party vibe just kept on coming and I jumped in with both feet. Barman barker told us there was a new manager upstairs so the place was handled a little different but he still made sure we had fun and plenty of nice drinks. Over the course of the night I danced on the asian section speaker, the dance floor, the box next to the stage near muscle beach and ended the night on the box next to the door. We partied with our new best girlfriend Erica, Bob H, Dwayne and Reggie. Over the course of the night we heard Destiny's Child, Suzanne Palmer and of course the high energy (since late last year) beat of "Solid Textures" (on next party CD of course). We stayed until around 4:30 and even gave Reggie a ride home who lived down in Dyker heights in the BK not too far from us. I was very happy with the night and was totally energized from the floor up. Pais had a fridge pizza before bed and I locked up. The bed was nice and comfy when it was time to turn in. Yes and yes.

Despite the nice weather I felt the need to rest and restore so I stayed in and watched tv and hung out with Pais just chilling and watching TV. Cartoon network and episodes of Angel on
the WB. I had already taken care of the shopping last weekend so this night I put the on sale macaroni and the chicken breast along with some stuffing to make a nice dinner of macaroni and cheese and some roast chicken and stuffing, with a side of corn. The dinner was excellent and I was snacking on leftovers well into the night. I watched episodes of It Takes A Thief and of course cartoon network. The allergies were really kicking it up this weekend and if it wasn't for loratadine (quick dissolve on Sat Night) I would have imploded in a vicious fit of sneezes. This season is shaping up to be a real doozy. Hopefully my nose will survive. Anyway I already have tickets to my first event of the season and look forward to many more. Hope the weather gets warmer soon, I don't want it to break off just to stop itching.