Nov 12-14 - Two Fridays and the Two New Girls in NY

Veteran's Day this year on a Thursday means that with no work the next day I actually endeavoured and succeded in having a midweek Friday on Wednesday Night. Worked the queue at work to a manageable level and left work to get home to have my dinner. Delivery of chinese food and an outfit change and we were ready to step out right after 11pm and travel into the city to hang. Despite the fact that it was a day off on Thursday for most it was not a legal holiday so with the courts still open the next day and all traffic signs still in effect I was surprised at how light the crowd was. I went downstairs first and after coat check I said hi to barman Brett. He was surprised to see us midweek but then he always works the same days anyway and did not realize holiday hours were in effect. I went upstairs to see how the crowd was doing on the dancefloor and noticed that the floor was not too full and the drunk girl vibe was in full effect. I was approached by two aggressively dancing skinny girls in less than 5 minutes and after being rescued from their attentions by the male friends they came with, I stayed out on the floor as DJ Mike Rizzo played what seemed to be a peak our mix of tunes that kept the energy going at an unsustainable pitch and even when the song changed to a remix of Destiny's Child and "Lose my Breath" I left before the song was over to get another drink and check on Pais. Dowstairs we watched music videos mixed by VJ Max Rodriguez and even caught a rare mixthru of ONJ and "Xanadu". Also while I was downstairs I talked to and was introduced to one of the club managers that I had already met at a distance but now met in person. Manager Ron and I exchanged cards and I got a few more drinks and danced some more but for a little while was just going through the motions. Then the Superchumbo tune of "DirtyFilthy" came on and I got to dance some more near the front bar. After finishing off our last drinks we left the space at 1:55am and made it back to BK to rest up the following day. Thursday was spent just relaxing and catching up on some missed programming. Pais had to go to handle court but made it back before too late in the evening. Thursday night was a pizza night and the shows were taped so we could watch at leisure. One more workday ahead so it was not too late a night before bed.

Friday was another day of work but not too bad as most people had either taken the day off or knew somebody that did. I made the debut of my Super Mario mushroom hoody at work and put in another long day on a rainy Friday. A brief sojourn for lunch with a trip to the bank (make that two) and then a trip to Journeys for a new pair of kicks and some more shopping at Bath and Body Works. Finished out the work day by 9pm and even caught a ride home with Monica who had driven in to work that day. Arrived at home by 9:40 and finished off dinner from Jack's Fifth Ave while watching 20/20. Once the local news came on I had already changed and cleaned up and was ready to head out for another Friday out and headed into the city once again to see what was up. This night Splash was hosting their monthly party Tribalism and DJ Elliot DeHoyos was doing his best to make sure we knew the theme from the moment we stepped in. Downstairs was much more busy than 2 days earlier as the regular Friday night crowd made an appearance and watched the distract on the screens over the bar as a better sounding mix of the music upstairs came in from above. The midrange was tweaked a little better than before so the music did not sound so muffled as usual as we hung out in the lounge. Brett signaled that he heard the change of the music right before I did and I made a trip upstairs to dance on the stage to a customized version of "Lola's Theme" that removed most of the vocals but left all of the parts that had the chorus and replayed the whole until it seemed like a full length song. After that and some more high energy beats I went back downstairs to get another drink and found Pais sitting one seat over from "friar Tuck". The strange bowl cut hair do on the otherwise normally dressed man was continously distracting and Pais stated that even Brett had noticed and wrote him a note on a napkin. I can't understand what some people come out for if they just sit and nurse drinks except that its more fun to drink around other people than to drink alone, something I can totally understand myself. After making sure I gave Brett a copy of my newest mix CD (workout music) I went back upstairs to dance some more and noticed two girls in front of the stage while I was dancing. They were on the dancefloor having fun and I could see it even from the stage and I could see their smiles from where I was. When I saw them getting their coats and readying to leave I came down and said hi and wished them a good time. They introduced themselves as Lillian and Rocio. They said they were having a very good time and they were visiting from Mexico. I walked them over to the front door and gave them each a set of the magazines that were in the front. I showed them where the Roxy ad was so they would be able to find it and then we said our goodbyes and see you tomorrows. After walking back over to Pais I found out that the Jimmy and two more were coming into the city and were looking to go clubbing as well. I made my way down to the coatcheck and after waiting on a very slow coatcheck line I was able to pick up my coat and head outside to meet our crew at 2am.

Jimmy, Steve and Jeff were waiting in the car outside and we drove around the corner and up the block and found a parking space pretty easily. We walked up the street and made our way to club Deep which was hosting the Krash party. The rain and the hour meant there was no line at all outside and we walked in and waited to have the full body pat down by security before making it over to the cashier line and paying our $15 to get in. The cashier complimented me (agewise) after Pais drew her attention to myself and we made it in to go downstairs to the $3 coat check. The crowd was in effect downstairs and the partyers were enjoying the tunes from Missy, Jay-Z, Usher and more as we grooved to the R&B booming in the narrow padded room. The crowd was showing its raggedness due to the hour as they spilled drinks, bumped each other and generally carried on in the confined space of the downstairs dancefloor. Then we found out that the drinks were $10 each. I was not amused and not impressed by the cheap plastic cups of drinks that were in no way worth the price. Despite all that on our trip upstairs on our way to the bathrooms we took in the high ceiling, the third level lounge and the boy and girl dancers on the platforms near the DJ Booth. The music upstairs was generic late hour music that was about 2 years out of date with anything out now. The MC with the mike upstairs was distracted by any drunk person who got his attention and was distracting as the impromptu speeches did not seem to have much to do with what was going on. I made it to the front dancefloor but was put off by the small dance space and the random cigarette smokers one of which burned my knuckes before I was able to move away and off the floor. Even after one more drink which surprised everyone at its price and size (same little plastic backyard bbq cup) we wandered through the space and checked out the third floor lounge before heading back downstairs. After a quick pass through to check how everyone was doing and then decide the night was old enough and we went for the coat check. We said goodnight to the boys and headed outside. We walked back down the street to our car and then made our way back home to BK. Another Friday Night over and Saturday morning begun.

Saturday started nice and slow with even breakfast being delivered and dealt with while hanging indoors watching the news and seeing what was going on with the world. Once sufficient recovery time had passed we rode out to downtown Bklyn and made a few stops. After a lunch at Wendy's we headed over to Lowes to pick up some housewares. We ended up buying a new grill (bigger and two-level) and a table to use for when no convenient flat surface is available. We picked up some more small items and made our way back outside into the chill and packed all of the stuff into the car. After the short ride home we chilled out and took a nice disco nap to rest up for later. Out of the bed by 9 so I could get a nice italian dinner in and then it was time to clean up before our trip out. The Jimmy originally was not intending to head out for a second day in a row and Pais had a football game to attend the next day in NJ but the whole crew was together and ready to head out at 11:10 and it was into the city once more. The city was hosting a multitude of parties this eve as all of the parking appeared to be spoken for and multiple lines outside of venues were in evidence all through the neighborhood. After finally going for a spot in the lot we headed in and waited on the line out in front of the Roxy. A brief wait and then we were inside past the armband persons at the front door, the cashiers and the coat check and we were into the party. The crowd seemed a little aimless at first but being a veteran of the last time we had DJ Steve Travolta in attendance I knew to expect a slow build through classic feel house and then a trip into harder house beats as the night progressed. I caught up to barman Barker at the back bar as he was talking to his co-workers but he was stationed up in the front tonight so we quickly headed back to the front and to his regular place at the front bar. I picked up a drink for me and mine and then left them at the bar to retrieve the boys who had set up a chat session near the front bathroom. After pulling them over to their drinks we hung out at the front bar and I said hello to Tom who showed me movies on his phone of his trip out to Krash and a previous weekend at Roxy. We talked about the crowd and the music and then I went back to my boys and got another drink. I circulated the bar looking for Lil and Rocio from Mexico I had spoken to the night before but after not finding them I hung out at the front eating strawberries and talking to friends at the front bar. Several inebriated and body nazi (totally ab-conscious) sightings later I went back over to Pais and Jimmy who had their sweaters tucked into their back pockets and were talking to some friends at the front stairs near the stairs to the upstairs lounge. At just that point the music changed and I headed for the first speaker over in Asian section that I had already scoped out and knew it to be empty. As soon as I stepped onto the speaker, with the band on my leg already lit, I saw the two girls from the night before right there looking up and smiling as I started to dance. I finished out the song and then came down off the speaker to say hi. They laughed and said they had been there for a bit hanging out in the lounge as they had been through a long day walking around the city and seeing the sights. I handed them a drink ticket and told them to pick themselves up something to drink while I checked on my boys wandering the place. After picking up something more to drink myself I headed back over to the front speaker to check on the girls. After making sure they were OK I then headed back up for another speaker appearance. When I went back over to the girls I discovered they had been corralled in to watch some seemingly overcome person whose friend had went up to the front to get a drink. I told her she did not have to watch him but she waited and as we ate Altoids and danced near the seats eventually he became lucid enough to offer a mint and as he finally started to wake up his friend returned and took over the babysitter duties. As payment the girls handed over both of their cameras and I took both of their pictures alone and then joined them for another picture taken by the returned friend. After that the girls bid a good night and a thanks for hanging with them and I saw them one last time at the front as the stepped out into the night. Me and the boys however stayed on and danced until 4am at which time Pais and myself stepped out into the night and made our way back in to BK so he could rest up for his game Sunday Afternoon.

Of course when the alarm went off he had forgotten why and it wasnt until he received a phone call asking what was his location did he get everything in order and rush out to pick up his posse in the city before heading over to the Jets at stadium in NJ. I stayed in got up around midday and watched cartoons and and picked up some chicken and rice and watched movies (Phone Booth) before watching the regular programming of The Simpsons, Arrested Development on Fox and then Day of Destruction on CBS. At first just viewing it as the popcorn TV it really was it turned into upsetting TV as I realized too late that it was part of a two-part movie that would end on Wednesday night. I really did not want to wait that long to see part two but of course have no choice. Maybe I'll just let the DVR watch and do something else. That way I don't have to suffer through the commercials all over again. Sounds like a plan. Got through the rest of the night watching the last of news and highlights until it was time to turn in.

Another weekend over and filed under good fun. One more NY weekend ahead and then its on the road to head down to FL and the people who party in the sun. Keep it burning up dudes (and ladies). We'll see you soon.