Apr 22-25 - A Truly excellent Weekend (and a not to the lost weekend too)

The missing weekend and
The return of the truly excellent weekend.

I really wanted to write about my weekend, April 15-17. And I did have fun, Friday at Gym and then a quick run through of Splash before heading home and spending the Saturday cleaning up and then going to gym in Bklyn before heading into the city and going to to J&R to buy a PC Game (Neverwinter Nights Platinum) and some blank CDs for my continued distribution of mix CDs. I made it home in time to eat dinner and even had time to take a nap. The Jimmy came over but because of work Pais and the rest of us got out late and following some delays with parking we made it into Rox and were underway buy 12:30. However DJ Chris Cox really didn't keep up his end of the party help bargain and accept for some random remix that held our attention in the middle of the night most of what he served of was b-diva remixes of unknown people and some 2-3 year old tribal that did not excite over the length of the night. I spent the next day just hanging at home playing video games and falling asleep. The tent pole of Saturday night means a lot and with such a serious letdown I was feeling rather deflated after it was all over with.

Now for this past weekend: April 22-24 was highly anticipated. Despite a lot of work and staying at work late I was able to get over to the gym, have a good workout without only one back exercise skipped and make it home in time to have dinner. Followed quickly by a cleanup, a CD Mixing session, and a wardrobe change I was ready to have a night out.

We headed out around 11:45 and found a parking space right out front. The place was unusually crowded but the doorman was a true pal and let us in a few people early. Surprisingly despite the crowd in the front the back was relatively clear and Pais and myself were able to get our drinks and hang out without too much drama. I spoke with a few friends, had some nice drinks and promised Brett a new CD the following weekend. We watched arm-wrestling, strongest man competition, WWE wrestling and various highlights along with chatting with the DJ and the owner before we left the bar around 1:15. Pais dropped me off at
Splash and I quickly adapted to the heat and energy and checked out the sounds of DJ DeMarko as he gives the crowd a dose of some high energy and uptempo mixes and beats. The crowd seemed into it and I did enjoy the song selection as I split my attendance between the downstairs bar, the stage, the two boxes and even two trips outside for bottles of water as it drizzled rain in the late night. I had a good time decided to leave at 4am before I ran out of steam and made it home in one piece and all good.

Saturday I woke up at 11am because I forgot to clear the alerts from my pager and found I could not go back to sleep. I ended up watching cartoons, playing video games and finishing up the track separation on my newest compilation CD. Pais had left earlier in the morning to play softball and lost to the Cruisers but beat the Rage and one win was better than none. I called my siblings in mid-afternoon and was reminded that I had a kids b'day party to attend on the upper west side. Gigi and Ian showed up and we watched episodes 21-25 of Clone Wars (Star Wars) as Pais finished up his lunch. We then caravaned it over to downtown to pick up my new LG cellphone. The phone is smaller, lighter and faster than my old one and even has bluetooth and a camera so I am currently up to date on features and no longer have a rather old phone to use. I then climbed into the car with Gigi and we headed up the west side to meet up with Ana and the rest of her extended family and friends at my nephew's birthday party (Age 1) Various personages, bad music selection, lack of children and good food later I ended up staying up there until much later than I originally intended and finally asked Gigi to bring me back to Bklyn. Ian, Gigi and I got caught in the torrential downpour the way back to the car but after we made it into the car we were able to brave the elements and get back to Bklyn fairly quickly. Despite bad drivers, bad weather and bad streets I made it back in one peace and headed inside to get ready for the rest of my night. A hot shower, a nice outfit and all preparations completed I was ready to join Pais for another night out.

We had the new CD in the player, plenty of time to arrive and we were even able to find a parking spot not 15 min after midnight right around the corner from the Empire Diner. The light drizzle meant there was no line out front and we were ushered in and checked in fairly quickly so we could start to enjoy the event that was The Roxy. DJ Paulo was making his first Roxy appearance and I was highly excited since I had not heard him since last years Black Party. Upon entry we heard the high energy mixes and the excited buzz that was harbinger of what to expect later. We saw a roped off section across from the stage for the first time, which appeared to be for friends and family of the performer (Kelly Osbourne) and the stage itself was blocked off so that we could not crossover until after the performance. I said my first wave of hellos and how do's and hung with Pais and Duane while stopping in on Brett every once in a while to see how he was doing. I even took to the speaker next to the stage in muscle beach for one early eve dance when the beats peaked to a certain point. The pre-show check up of the environs of the stage queued me to come down and return to the area my friends were at and I took time to take in the mood of the crowd say hello to strangers when necessary and help out when I could (more on that later) and generally continually have a good time. When Kelly finally did take to the stage and perform 3 songs (sounded pretty good for rock/pop in the middle of a house/dance music night) and then released us back into the arms of the DJ for the rest of the night. I will say that I have not had that much fun in a very long time and DJ Paulo made sure to push the crowd and keep us interested well into the night and beyond. At one point when leaving the dancefloor with Pais I found a poor forlorn young man passed out with his face on the stage. I helped him over to the couches near the front bar and then left him to wake up on his own. Pais asked if I knew where he was from and I made it a special mission to at least find out that much, but the poor boy refused to wake up enough to be coherent and even though I saved him from being carried off of the dancefloor in disgrace he still ended up being removed from the club (at least not forcibly). Anyway I kept up the enjoyment of my night (despite the high vodka consumption) and ended up leaving the club around 4:30am. Despite the many patches of shady characters and interesting situations I made it through fairly unscathed and with much to think about when I finally settle down and start writing my book. A very good night indeed.

Sunday was spent playing video games and hanging with Pais before going shopping, picking up dinner and then napping on and off before closing out the night with watching 2 week old DVR programming and watching some Cartoon Network before going to bed.

Not too complicated but not too simple. All logistics plotted all contingencies planned for and new lessons learned and stored every time. I liked it a lot. Looking forward to a great summer here. Much to do, much to do

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?).