Oct 29-31 - "Holla" Weekend and All the Scary people you can drink with

A great finish to a busy week. Much work and now much play. I arrived home to a delivery of a nice steak dinner from Jack's Fifth Avenue, with sides of mashed potatoes and spinach. Cleared off the steak, and the spinach, a few mouthfuls of the cheese covered mash and then it was time to change into our traveling clothes and prepare to step out. The weather was clear and the night was nice as we drove into town in the Murano and found a parking space one block over on 18th street. Because the time was before 12 mid we were able to cut through the parking lot and then cross the street to front of the line. Said hi to Ray at the head of the line and pick up an apple licorice string from Lisa to clear the palate before we stepped inside. Said hi the cashier and then headed down to coatcheck as I put away the coats while Pais picked up the first drinks. The crowd at Splash was not as big as the Frankie party from the week before but the boys kept streaming in for DJ Alex Lauterstein as his trademark hard party style kept the room moving. I ignored the siren song of the music for a while and then finally left Pais and Brett in the lounge to take a trip upstairs to dance on the stage. After the stage I went down to the dance floor and became one with the boys dancing to the beat of bass and the sound of the drums. On the dance floor I met one of my recurring party friends who was entertaining a friend from England. Our new friend Peter was over here in the US doing press for an english castle/hotel called Lumley Castle. The website was pretty cool, someday when I finally hit that island overseas I'll stop in and see the place. We traded numbers and websites and continued on imbibing Vodka redbulls and plenty of water. The boys stayed on well into the evening dancing to infectious sounds thrown out by the DJ and before I left I stopped by the booth to say thanks for the great time and even threw out a last request (suggestion?) for Cinderella's "Where's my Shoe?", of course the DJ was already searching through his box for that very song and even as I had prepared to step out the door in my leather jacket I handed it back over to Pais so I could have my last dance before leaving. Afterwards we picked up the mags at the door and stepped out into the night. The ride home was uneventful and the first night of the weekend was under wraps.

Saturday we awoke to a fresh new day and a trip into downtown Brooklyn to visit the newest neighborhood location for the Vitamin Shoppe. The Flatbush/Atlantic Ave location was big, the staff was friendly, and the selection well done as I picked up my latest vitamins and the supplements I was almost out of. We then trekked over to Wendy's and had that Biggie size lunch to make sure we had the energy to get through the rest of the afternoon. A quick stop at the best 99cent store I know (on Willoughby St) and a slight detour for a pair of scissors and we were headed back home to chill out and finally watch the second half of the movie "Underwold". Nothing like dark scenes, violence and mayhem and plenty of moody monsters to get a person in the mood for a night of Halloween weekend. Some working out, and some cartoons and then an italian dinner delivered and we were ready to clean up and prepare to pick out our wares for the eve to hang with the boys in the city. Paramedic pants, coaches shirt and wifebeater underneath topped off by an NYPD cap and my all blue outfit was completed. Pais went for an all camo-green look and army cap to complete his ensemble. Poor Jimmy was relegated to putting together a look at the last minute as laundry day had snuck up and denied one of all options. After some impromptu S&M (stand and model) an undercover cop look was picked out and we were ready to venture out into the night and drive up the West side as we headed up to 18th Street and the Sat Night Party they all go to. The place filled up early and the Roxy party goers were in full regalia as the costumed and the gawkers all filed in continuously for quite a lot of bodies in a hot space. The music was great as DJ Peter Rauhofer treated the boys to his trademark tribal beats and some new mashups as we watched the catman and the policeman dance on the speaker in the asian section. The hot lights (webs and skull projections) and the number of revelers combined to keep it heated inside. The smoking section outside reached capacity quite often and I found myself using my police gear to great effect as I played crossing guard, police captain and crowd control officer at three separate times during the night. (Respect my authoritah!) Besides all that leadership fun we enjoyed all the costumes, the great Barker drinks (thanks man) and the staff of the whole place making sure that despite all of the drama the vast majority of boys had a great time. We left the place at 5am (6am really) and had a great early morning breakfast at the diner up the street near 23rd street. Afterwards we flagged down a car and made our way back to BK for a well deserved rest.

Sunday blew in with a blast of warm air signaling the return of our Indian Summer and a great day to go out and see the town. The trick or treaters started early as we travelled up to 7th ave to pick up our lunch at the Italian Deli (and some strange coffee flavored soda from the makers of San Pellegrino). It was a good hearty lunch (dry bread but great smoked turkey) and we spent the afternoon relaxing. We finally got up and went out to go shopping for dinner fixings and more soda and ended up picking up a nice spread. I ended up making italian sausage and using it to add meat to my spaghetti sauce. The sausage was a hit and the dinner, while very filling, was very very good. After that I just lazed around watched The Wire and Family Bonds on HBO and looked up interesting blogs on the internet. The Halloween weekend was over and while the day was filled with 3 foot crazed killers with axes I found that these are the kind of things that make you laugh and know that you no longer have to be afraid of some of visuals that scared us in the past few years at the movies. If the kids don't have to be afraid and own that fear by wearing it down the street to get candy from strangers then us adults have nothing else to fear come nightfall if we just prepare for the worst and hope for the best. When you got it, you keep it and make it work for you.

Until next time.
Keep it scary.