May 13-15 - Too many castmembers and not enough Play, well maybe the next day.

Friday night sneaks up on us again. Totally necessary, never enough time to get fully ready but always plenty of fun anyway. I broke out of work like it was the races but still far too late to be able to go to the gym. I instead came straight home and made it to the house. With nothing else on hand I returned outside and went to the chicken place down the lane. After looking over the menu I decided that the least greasy thing was the grilled chicken, which ended up being grilled to within an inch of its life, but still tasty and some rather average fries. Pais returned home shortly with his own crew in tow, Bruce and Phil who hung out watching sports, and then watching Deadwood on HBO so long that they all ordered pizza (half pepperoni and half mushroom) and then when it was finally time to say the goodbyes I caught a ride with Phil into the city. Dropped off Bruce and then got dropped off myself just as the first full drops of rain began to fall. Since it wasn't a full on downpour and I was wearing my jacket it was not all bad, but I still had to get to the ATM (4 blocks uptown) and then back again (4 blocks downtown) before heading into GYM. Hung out with the doorman and his fellow doorman for a bit talking about the week so far and work and then I headed inside to say hi to David who was on his way out and Barman Brett. Drink in hand I headed to the back bar and conversated with DJ Smoky and his friend Scott about the bar crowd and the upcoming summer. I split my time between the DJ area and the front bar before wishing everyone a goodnight and then heading over 2 blocks toward the dance club. I stopped for a bottled water at the pizza place, dodged the customers inside and then the taxis crossing the street. I was waved inside by the doorstaff and then paid off the cashier. Once inside Splash I headed downstairs and picked up my first Smirnoff Ice on ice. I headed upstairs walked up to the DJ booth and said hello to Liz and her gfriend. For some reason every time I tried to remember her name the next day I kept on thinking Liz which was not correct but I am sure I will remember the correct name shortly. However we did chat quite a bit about the music, the evening and looking forward to more of the same as coming attractions. I headed back outside to get myself another bottle of water and ran into Grace. We said hello and then began taking about the people out and about and the party animatedly enough that the doorstaff asked us to move over a bit. I continued onto get my water while she headed inside. I caught up with her upon my return inside and we then headed upstairs to dance to the music. As DJ Eliot Dehoyos put on the dub mix of "Lola's Theme" I took my turn up on the speakers, ignited the short light ribbons and danced on the speakerbox in-front of the screen. Afterwards I returned shortly to the DJ booth and proved to the girl in the booth that I did remember her name (at the time, silly me) and then returned to dancing on the stage. Around 3:15 I decided I had reached my limit and I said my goodnights and headed outside to the waiting taxi. I managed the getting home quite easily, enunciating my driving directions to the cabbie as clearly as I could manage and ended up back in BK fairly quickly. I made it upstairs and quickly asleep in short order too.

Saturday I awoke to an arriving breakfast delivery and enjoyed some bacon and eggs. I watched some MTV, played some video games on the PC and then cleaned up to prepare to go out. Pais had already left to go play softball and I had to do my athletic upkeep as well, at the gym. Instead of going to the always busy NYSC in Park slope I endeavored to take the train. However, that did not work out too well as station was closed. I figured the station at 9th would be fine so I set off walking down 4th ave until I got to the next station. Of course that one was closed to but since I was at 9th I lined up the alternate route of the F train and took that instead of the R. I switched at J street to the A train and then headed into the city until I got off at the Chambers street station. I walked out of the station at Park Place and headed over to J&R to buy a replacement set of headphones, as the ones I had picked up at fye were substandard, (liable to crackle when moved). I settled on a nice pair of $20 Sony with the little earnub on the in-ear design that actually worked out well and so far have been most gorgeous to listen to. Before I could go to the gym however I had to pick up another locker lock as I had forgotten my lock at home once again. A detour to Duane Reade and then a few minutes spent outside on the sidewalk figuring out how to set it and then I was ready to head into the gym and start the working out. I locked away my stuff and made it upstairs and was able to accomplish a nice little workout in just over an hour. Feeling good about myself I walked out of the gym ready to do some more shopping and headed over to Wendy's to get something to eat. I picked up a single, fries and a soda and was even offered a free shake but turned the lady down as I had just come from the gym. After lunch I walked over to the Vitamin Shoppe and picked up my next month or so supply of various supplements. As the day was warm I left the gym pants in my shopping bag and made do with just the shorts. After the short but necessary shop, I walked down to the train station and caught the subway back home with far less drama than the trip in. I made it home easily and chilled out the rest of the afternoon messing with the computer and watching TV. Pais returned from softball, having won both games, and had picked himself up some McD on the way home. After a little more TV I settled down for a nap and chilled out a while. I woke up with plenty still to do so I headed into the bathroom did the obligatory hair trim and then showered up so I could put on the evenings fresh wardrobe. I had to rip apart the laundry delivery bags to get out the freshly cleaned pants but it was worth it to put on freshly laundered pants and rip the tag off the shirt to complete the outfit. Jimmy arrived with Chris and we chilled for a bit watching sports on TV before heading out into the night and jumped into the Ford Explorer for the ride into the city. Dodging potholes and bridge traffic we made it into the city in short order. We even crossed over to the West side with little drama besides dodging raised potholes and we were heading up the West side of West St in no time. We were able to find a parking spot right next to the construction site and then we headed over to wait on line in front of Roxy. There was a small line and doorman Derek was not even in attendance but the stand in was still nice and made sure we were all ready for entry before we headed in and made our way past the cashiers. I was the only one who had worn a jacket but once inside I ended up buying a copy of Manny's Freedom CD set and had to put it with my coat anyway. It was all good and evening was started nicely. After we said our hello's to barman Barker we headed around to the back to look over the place and watched it slowly fill as the boys all wanted to see who could get there later. Of course it was no where near as late as the boys get when they go to Spirit but that was another story. The place was plenty full in short order and I walked the boys up to the front as they went to go outside to smoke. The front area was closed as they were fixing some kind of collapse from the neighboring parking lot but we were able to go to the back of the club and go down the stairs and hang out outside. Thankfully it was not raining or the boys would have been downright bedraggled but it was a lot different than that narrow hallway and the awning on the other side, this was right on the street! Anyway we hung out all around the place and I missed seeing JB himself as I guess i was just in a different part of the club than he was for most of the early night. I did see Beto though but since he was not the one who had replied to my email I decided to wait until next time. DJ Manny Lehman definitely gave the boys plenty of vocals to keep the boys interested but the evening was missing a little bit of the spark until later in the evening when he Jamie Sanchez and "Stroke" and then later the obligatory full on remix of Shape:UK. I was on the stage for that one with plenty of competition for space but with no competition for energy and usage of that space. Anyway I ended up dancing not just on the stage but on 4 of the boxes around the club, including the one across from the stage and the one right near the door. I was having far too much fun and the energy really picked up later as I had to make sure the boys kept up and did their fun to stay in the fun as well. Finally around 4am we grabbed up Chris and myself and Pais headed out and into the night. The two of them quickly flagged down a taxi and we headed home with no stress whatsoever. Back in Bk we made sure everyone was bedded down comfortably and called it a night.

I awoke the next morning to give Chris driving directions back to the highway and the environs of LI and then promptly went back to sleep. Pais ordered breakfast while I was sleeping and it was waiting for me when I finally dragged myself out. We spend the afternoon watching basketball and DVR programming (Sat Night Live) and late in the afternoon picked up some KFC to munch on. Early evening found me napping but I woke up later on to watch the Simpsons and then Family guy and American Dad. I spent the rest of the eve playing Neverwinter nights (finally finished it, but now its Shadows of Undretide to keep my busy, oh well). Anyway the weekend wasn't half bad and it finally seems to be warming up enough. Soon to be shorts and sleeveless weather I guess. Anyway I think I am going to have to start taking notes in my phone. Or at least use it for audio msgs. I am carrying the thing around I might as well act brainy with it.

Until next weekend, esp since I do not want to go to another party with DJ C. Cox. We will see...