Jan 6-9 - Family Made and The Family You Are Born With

Life changing stuff happens all the time. Decisions made and chances lost. Firm stands taken and stuff that you let slide. I think the year that I will have this time will have all that was good from before and I will work on filtering out what I no longer need and require. I have learned so much in this past year and have traveled and made new friends and thought about starting so many new things. I still have plans and now I have to choose the ones that make the most sense and go with the high points.

As it starts, Thursday was a work day, pulled it all together, tried to make it all work out and fall into place and got all my ideas across and in a timely fashion. Left work a little early because I had a lot to do with my weekend but then determined if I wasn't going to do my full weekend of hanging with friends and ripping and running around NYC I would at least go out on Thurs. night since I had Friday to use as a travel day. I did the ride into the city thing all by myself since everyone else had to get up early in the morning so I called up Castle and had the car out front in less than five. The driver said the hi and actually remembered me from the last drive into the city (his car smelled much better this time). He pulled out the cell phone and got onto the high speed chat on his headset and I brought out the Ipod and listened to music for the ride as we sped over the Brooklyn Bridge and up Church ave towards my destination. I forgot to take a Tums before I left the house since my dinner was kinda close to my going out. I stopped on 14th first and bought some at the store. The walk around the corner was quick and I said hi to the two doorman before heading inside. I went downstairs checked the coat and did a quick overlook of the downstairs before I headed up to the main floor by way of the back stairs. The dancefloor in Splash was just starting to fill with the usual college party crowd. The DJ for the eve was John Rizzo, who I have heard a few times before and was very happy with his high energy and continuous challenge to the people on the dancefloor to keep up. Across the dancefloor and right at the front bar was our barman Brett holding court and doing a great job of keeping the flow moving. It wasn't really busy to start with but his eyes brightened as he saw me and we said our hellos and how you do's. I told him I had the next day off so was making a special appearance but of course he still held it against me that I wasn't going to be there on Friday night. We let it go and just let the evening be as I started off on my first drink (Malibu Bay Breeze) and checked out the dancefloor. A whole lot of young people and a whole lot of girls and even pairs of girls and the place slowly got more and more filled up. Without a burning need to check out the downstairs I just went back and forth between the dancefloor and the front bar and even danced at the front bar as I had a few onlookers who appreciated the floorshow in front. (Only one trip downstairs during the night, regular Thursday night downstairs crowd, kinda lite). While at the front bar I met Tee who was the significant other of the DJ. She and the DJ had been together for 8 years and when I told her that I had a remix by John Rizzo in my ipod (That Look - (In Your Eyes)) she was able to remember the artist (De'Lacy). I like it when the other half pays attention to what one is doing. This was especially true since she stated that she was a DJ as well. She plays parties up in Connecticut but since I myself do not drive I could not make an appearance I could just wish her well with her outside of NY parties. She liked my upbeat energy and I liked the energy of the mixing and she stated that she thought it was a good thing too. No one could just stand still on the dancefloor as the beats kept coming at rapid fire and the songs changed before you could even think about getting bored. The mixing was done well and the hits kept coming from Destiny's Child, David Morales, Jeff Poirier (Take Me, Uh Huh) and a whole lot of other songs. The aggressive dancers were in full effect as well as poor Tee was set upon more than once by guys who wanted to dance with a girl even if she was not all that willing to be dancing with them. She ended up using her two friends as well as myself as blockers so she could stay on the dancefloor but she did take a few breaks up in the DJ booth with the DJ to get away from it all. During one of those breaks I took to the stage and danced to Shapeshifters and lit up my hands and made the most of it. I danced on the stage two more times throughout the night and had about 4 different drinks. I suggested a surfer-on-acid for Tee since she liked Jaegermeister in shots but she never got a chance to try one as her friends and the DJ made sure she had plenty of whatever she wanted as the night progressed. I had a good night and enjoyed the music until it was time to go. I stayed until 3:20 and then said goodnight and got it all together and snatched the first taxi in front to take me home. The ride home was easy and I got home nice and ready to turn in. The pillow came up to meet me and I slept.

Friday began my family weekend. Personal yet necessary, obligatory and yet welcome, I jumped into the ride with Pais , picked up my brother on Staten and we made the drive down to VA. The ride down was a little more scenic than was necessary as we went too far down route 1 and ended up driving through Ocean City. The road ended eventually and headed west. We went down route 113 and met up with route 13 which was the original objective but we still made it down safe and sound and despite not seeing the hotel right away after consulting the map we were able to make our way over to the Marriott and call it a night. Having a GPS in the car would probably be better as the old vaio laptop is no longer reliable when unplugged and the Powerbook does not have a readily compatible GPS (hint hint). So I need to make sure I do not have any more dramatic extra length trips that go on and on unnecessarily. If I have anything to say about it I will make sure that does not happen to me again. I will just have to be more proactive on the timing of directions and making sure I know exactly where I am. I so hate being lost. As long as I was going down south I did check out the Toy stores and see if I could find a DS. First place I looked I got the last one on the way down. Cool. Something to do during the rest of the ride. Me and my bro checked out the games and had fun with the functions.

The next day I spent with the family, aunts, uncles, cousins, mom and grandma too. Fun to start, serious in the middle and then fun again. Took some pictures and talked a lot. A little getting lost once again (so hate that) and then a quick change and then it was back to the house again to hang with the family. True life stories, a lot of fun, a little alcohol and talking late into the night and we all felt happy and glad we made the trip. I left the house at 1am and made it back to my hotel without getting lost (had already been on every street in the area so I had a good idea of where I was about now) and got back to the hotel good and ready to turn in. The night was not yet aged but when in VA you turn in when you have to. The bed was soft enough and I went to sleep and got that full weekend of rest in that I guess I have been missing. Change is good when it helps you to see what you could be missing. A nice night to rest up is not all that bad.

I awoke to the light streaming through the curtain and threw all of my stuff together and got my bag packed and left the hotel for the last time this trip. I picked up the second DS for my bro and we were able to try out the rest of the features on the way home (multiplayer). Headed over the family and hung out for a bit before saying the goodbyes, the so longs and farewells and then it was back on the road again. The trip back home was much faster and less stressful than the trip down. I found out that we should have turned off of route 1 at exit 2 and shifted over to 13 before it was too late. Ohh well, next time. We also found out that the high speed Route One would run right into the Delaware Mem. Bridge if you want to without stopping in the city at all (quick). We made it home in the time I had originally advertised and not the long time it took to go down. We made it back to the city safe and sound despite the jersey drivers and lack of light. The drive was quick and the way home was made.

Welcome back to NY. Unpacked and chilling. Good times.
But as stated at the beginning I have realized that I cannot continue as I was and have to endeavour to change my year and myself for the better as the years continue to advance. If I can't improve on myself then the forward motion stops and I go back. Since I cannot go back I will be better, stronger and smarter. Read even more, work out even more, be happy even more. I think it will be a good time.

You'll See.