Dec 31-Jan2 - Happy New Year and You Will Never Party Alone

Despite upheavals in the world, grand discoveries and more news than you can shake a stick at there are many contstants in my life. If I am in NYC, I will enjoy my weekend and I will enjoy my weekend with my friends and be out and about the town. There are so many choices and so much to do but the tried and true seems to do the trick every time. So it goes...

Despite a midweek hang with my coworkers (I only had one drink, a Blue Angel and got home by 9:20) I was full on set for a full fledged hang out throwdown come New Years Eve and Weekend. Everyone let out of work early on Friday and I headed for home. I actually got home by 6:15pm and was so psyched I mixed my new high speed (bordering on rave music) mix for the guy who sits next to me at work. This was just to prove that I could mix something so fast and chaotic but sound of it does make for great driving music for the city. I then trimmed the hair, broke out the CK tee and Black Ecko shirt with red and white piping and the ever useful cargo pants, Nike black sneaks and we were ready to head into the city. The Jimmy showed up at 10:15 we hung out in the house and after first saying we were going to head into the city with car service we decided to drive in (had to send the cab lady on her way, she didn't get the msg). The roads were pretty clear but the revelers were out in force as we entered into downtown and made our way through Union Square and then across 17th Avenue. We parked the car one block over and then walked over. Thankfully we did not have to wait on the line, which stretched down the block, and we were at the cash register and checked into Splash at 11:30pm. We made our way downstairs, checked the leather coats and Pais picked up our first round of drinks from barman Brett. The place was packed and I decided to do my first bathroom break after the initial rush at 11:50. I was in and out (thanks to the well timed bathroom attendant) and back in front of the screens so that we could see all of the TV screens downstairs awaken at 11:58 and we watched the final countdown of the last minutes of the year. We watched the green tinted ball descend and then the lights ignite to light up the year 2005. Kisses and hugs all around and pictures of Brett in his tutu, like all of the downstairs bartenders (Pourquoi?). And music by DJ Max Rodriguez. The guest performer sang some unrecognizable hits (except for the last one, some radio hit from 2 yrs ago). We had fun, we hung out and I avoided drinking any gift drinks from strangers. I went upstairs hung out with the crowd, danced to a whole gaggle of feel good hits from the past year and before as we danced to Deborah Cox, Whitney Houston and dance remixes of "Auld Lang Syne". I presented Brett with a copy of my new mix CD "Technorati" and traveled outside to walk to the pizza place for a bottle of water 3 times. Of course I was entertained by the various inebriated revelers, especially the black girl in the packed car who yelled "Happy Motherf...N New Year", twice. While dancing on the stage I tried wearing the lights on my wrists but ended up losing them when I wasn't holding them in my hands. At least the person they fell on was nice enough to give it back. We did not stay long enough to truly enjoy the extended liquor license but we did get our last drink just after the usual cut-off and enjoyed the new larger drink cups and well mixed drinks. We said our final goodnights at 4:50 and made our way back home to BK. Everyone turned in and tuned out and caught their next 40 winks with much need and longing. Nighty Night.

Saturday morning we awoke to the brand new day. We called down the street to inquire if Lindos was open (it was and busy too) and we then ordered a delivery of burgers so we could get our lunch on. The weather outside was excellent but we stayed in for most of the day, watching football and watching Hellboy on DVD. We finally headed out early evening and picked up some faux mexican from uncle moe's. I was not a fan of the mystery meat and the unseasoned mixture that was their idea of a platter and despite not finishing the meal it stuck to the ribs and made me feel full for a while. I dozed off and then got a call from Mom. Said hi, caught up on work stuff, family stuff and talked about all kinds of stuff. After the phone call was over, I dug into the closet and found the blue pants, pulled out the Ecko white reflective shirt and the white shiny sneaks and the outfit was laid out. We then did the face, the teeth and then showered, deodorized and scented before suiting up and preparing to step out. We watched the greatest hits of "Help Me Howard" on channel 11 and then prepared to head out after making sure of the nightttime temperatures.

We stepped out at 11:35 and headed into the city once again. Once again the traffic was light but we took no chances as we headed up Hudson street and past the different lights and places. We dodged the few slow pedestrians and found our way through the mostly clear streets. We found a spot fairly easy as most drivers had braved the city the day before and were sleeping it off, or just hunkering down for the beginning of the year. The club line grew some but since it was not too cold but we didnt mind the short wait. Talk of Paris Hilton and the tau creating a the line outside the club to garner passerby interest were spoke of as we stood there and then as the line moved we said hi to doorman Derek and wished the staffers we passed Happy New Year as we made our way inside. (The holiday amounts to an automatic conversation starter with all staff and new friends). We stepped inside Roxy and took in the look of the crowd. A lot of new people in town for the holiday and some extremely shiny decorations from the party from the previous night. A giant white 2005 over the front bar reminded everybody of what year it was and barman Barker regaled us of stories from the night before. (The party was busy but not too busy but got hectic as different bartenders ended their shifts and the extended liqour license meant he was busy for a long time. The party ended at 4:30pm. He just had time for a nap and was back at the club for our Saturday night hangout). The first DJ of the eve was Steve Travolta and he was happily spinning the same flavor of uptempo house music that hearkened back to the days of classic Roxy. I stated to Pais that the music would be perfect for the main floor of the black clubs that we go to and it would really have the boys moving. The crowd was already on the dance floor at 12:10 am and the place only got more full as the night progressed. Some of the tourist crowd were not into the music at first but the DJ gradually won them over as he kept the boys totally into the music and peaked his set as I took to my first speaker of the night over in muscle beach as I danced to the hard mix of "Pass that Dutch" by Missy E. I took over the space from a slower moving big guy but he didnt seem to mind too much as I danced for the boys right next to the stage and enjoyed the lightshow over the floor as the whole packed place erupted to the music. We couldn't cross the stage space but ended up pretty much staying in the front as you could not see the dance floor from the back bar due to a strange layout of the draped material around the dancefloor. We bumped into our friend Dwayne (my friend from my Roxy rollerblading days) whom we had not seen in a few years (a couple of black parties ago) and said our hi's and how you do's. We will hopefully see him again soon. We also saw our friend Duane from NJ who just got a new place just outside of the city near the Lincoln tunnel. Another new HomeOwner. We congratulated and bought our drinks at the front and discussed. I eventually heard the change in the DJ that signalled that DJ Peter Rauhofer had taken over the decks and a quick glance over to the booth told me it was true. He was supposed to premiere 10 different Peter flavoured remixes this eve and the beats came out hard and fast. We met up with Darren and after checking out the scene and we were inbetween good tunes we headed upstairs to the crystal room to see what DJ Danny Echi was doing. We walked through the room to tunes of Madonna and "Holiday" but went out the balcony to see the crowd below. Just then the live performer of the eve, Lea Lorien took to the stage and sang "Can't Forget You". I was practically accosted by a tweaker person who wanted to know who was performing and when I told him who it was he didn't know who I meant so I told him the name of her hit song, to which his response was "I love her!" He disappeared as quickly as I had been accosted and I decided to take Pais downstairs also as I wanted to see her from downstairs as well as hear her. We headed back downstairs just as she launched into her hit "How Would You Feel" and I stepped up and over to the speaker in the asian section, right in front of the stage and stood in front of the boys on the box and sang along and danced as she performed. She was a very gracious performer, thanked us all and wished us home safely. I finished off my drink and I started to dance as DJ Peter Rauhofer picked up the pace of the beats once again. After a nice turn on the speaker I stepped back down and made my way back to the front. I spotted the first half of the night DJ hanging in the front and he seemed a little depressed that he only was doing a short set this eve. I introduced myself and told him that I loved his set and had especially enjoyed the set from the week before when I had one of my truly enjoyable moments dancing before the crowd. He hugged me twice and thanked me for my appreciation and I hopefully left him happier than before. Pais and myself enjoyed plenty of bottles of water as well as our always well made drinks and saw the party well into the night. We prepared to leave at 4:15 but the call of Destiny's Child and "Lose My Breath" called me back up to one more speakerbox appearance near the front door. I finally stepped down and we bid our goodnight to the Rox. Our poor coatcheck girl was dealing with left item drama so we got the attention of one of the other checkers and dressed for our trip outside. We picked up the car and made it up to the diner. In through the door and sat at an empty seat and waited for our food. The table next to us was filled with the entourage of some drama queen who told the story of how some boy in the club did her wrong. Anyway, back to the burger, we enjoyed each truly juicy bite and finished off the very necessary meal and headed back home. The drive home was uneventful and we pulled into the parking spot and called it a night. I had stated that I was guaranteeing myself a good time this weekend. I guess I made true on my promise to myself. It was a definitely a great time.

We woke up to a phone call from Pais sister but were able to fall back asleep and finally rise up around noon to clean up and dress up so we could head out and visit with the family in NJ and see the family and exchange gifts. We headed over to Atlantic center and Target and made sure that the gift card and the pillow for Amy were picked up before our trip out to NJ. After that stop and picking up Amy at the train we headed through the city and then up the west side. The only traffic we ran into was in crossing Canal street which is the usual state of things in the daytime, and headed up the West Side and 10 Ave without any issues. There was the usual volume going through the Lincoln Tunnel and then we made it over to NJ with no other problems. The family welcomed us in and we finished up making various recipes and then settled in for lunch. The steaks, salad and pasta shrimp salad were all good and we settled down for some interesting afternoon conversation. We later exchanged gifts and enjoyed the traded outfits and books but finally had to leave to make sure we beat the stadium traffic as well as the returning vacationers. After our goodnights we were on the road again and headed back into the city. The trip back over to the NJ turnpike was okay even with the traffic approacing the exit toll (made better by the new high speed express lane) and we were up to the GW Bridge rather quickly. However the traffic turned for the worse once on the bridge as we stayed in the same place for 10 minutes before finally moving over 2 lanes and heading up the west side and a drive past the cloisters rather than brave the awfully backed up cross- bronx. We drove up into the Bx and then up the Moshulu taking the round about way but were glad we were out of the traffic. We dropped off Amy and then then headed back to BK over the Triborough and over the BQE and back towards the Prospect Expwy and Park Slope. After arriving at home we watched the Sunday Night football on channel 7 and watched the come from behind win by the Giants.

The New Year is here and we will await what the times have for us as the days grow longer and the nights keep coming. Have to take care of some family issues next weekend so we take another road trip. So we begin a year again. I welcome the challenge. That is to push the feeling on and keep it fun. When the fun changes to something else, we'll see what to do when that happens. But until then.. We continue to bring it.