Work was good this week, nothing too stressful. Just the normal range of things that we have come to expect. Definitely no lasting scars to show for it and plenty of time to think higher thoughts and come up with plans for the future. I have decided to pay off one of my credit cards. The one with the highest interest rate. To do this I have taken out a loan against my 401K. Since the loan is only for 18 months it is not really too bad and maybe I can hurry up and buy some cheap funds before it all goes up. Its really hard to save any money when you have a card charging you over a $100 dollars in interest every month. That is $1200 a year I would save just paying off that one card. Anyway I will just have to endure a few months of lower pay while the loan is repaid. I think I can do it. Its nice to have a plan.
I got off of work on Friday a little early. Terry had the office well in hand so I bid goodnight to my coworkers and headed out into the night. Thankfully the overpowering heat of earlier in the week had finally broke Wednesday night and we were now only feeling the heat into the low 80s rather than a sticky 96 degrees. I made it home easily with no holdups or distractions and got up the hill and into the house quickly. The dinner was already awaiting me but I made sure to put a few things away first and washed my hands before settling in and devouring my spinach and steak with a few forkfuls of cheesy mashed potatoes. Pais and I watched Dateline NBC and then 20/20, seeing stories of Lynda Carter and the strongest boy in the world (little kid must have did steroids but thankfully his father is in jail). I cut my hair and cleaned up and prepared to go out. Pais had to rest up for his family day on Saturday so I was heading into the city alone. A bid goodnight to Pais and after making sure I had everything I headed down the street to the car service.
I was greatly enjoying my iPod shuffle, which was compact enough to take anywhere and gave me a soundtrack to walk the streets and get into the pretty much silent car of the car service. After walking into the place and starting to tell my destination he waved me over to the available driver and I headed outside. After he opened the door for me I was greeted by the sight of a nice folded $20 bill sitting on my seat. At least my ride was paid for and I didn't even have to threaten anyone
Gym to say hi to John and Andrew. They had their shots and beers and I walked over to the corner and got Brett's attention once again. I handed him over the newest CD "Skyline Driveby" which was actually along the same groove as the other CD he liked so much. I then told him I was going to check out the DJ booth in the back and made it through the crowd to say hi to DJ Smokey. He was feeling in a good mood and playing some classics along with some pop remixes and saying hello to his various friends who stopped by and chatted a bit. He told me he had no other plans for the rest of the summer besides working with the music and listening to some more. I myself was very much looking forward to my West coast trip in a few weeks. I also talked to Carlos who told me he had to play 3 games of softball this weekend and finalize the season in his division. I picked up a can of Rockstar over ice and a Corona for Carlos and returned to the back. We hung out for a bit but then I left just as he began his game of pool with his friends and barman Brett returned from counting out downstairs. We all said our good nights along with owner Rick and then parted to our separate ways. I headed cross town and then down one block to the pizza place and picked myself a bottle of water. I drank down the bottle of water on the way across the street and then headed over to the front door to say hi to doorman Ray as well as the new security guy who recognized me even though I didn't recognize him. As I made my way inside of Splash I said hi to the cashier and then headed downstairs to get myself something to drink. Michelé was talking to the guy in coatcheck, Sergio and we all said hello and hung out for a sec before Michelé returned to work. I watched the counter for a sec while Sergio retrieved some bags from the back and then I headed over to the bar to get myself a drink. I meant to ask my bartender for his name but I am sure I will see him again. Between my trips upstairs to dance and look over the crowd I would head back downstairs to get a drink and who should I bump into but John and Andrew again. For some reason they were talking to the weatherbeaten redhead with the facial hair that the body nazi followed home in a drunken stupor. But besides that I gave over a copy of my "Forward Spring" CD to John who I had been meaning to give a CD for a while now. He thanked me and I headed back upstairs to listen to the sounds of DJ Joe D'Espinosa. For some reason he seemed familiar to me but I guess maybe I had either seen him doing DJ duty before or maybe as a bartender. But despite that I enjoyed his happy groove but got kind of lost as he played a lot of songs that I had not heard before that while they had nice beats seemed to go on too long. However when he played Mariah Carey and "We Belong Together" I saw that there were too many guys sitting on the box near the stage so I headed across the floor and danced on the steel box in front of the screens. I made sure not to smack anyone in the face with the lights and finished out that song well before picking up the remains of my frozen daiquiri and headed back across the floor. Back near the front who should I spot but Grace who had just arrived and told me she was missing one of the dancers who she had met the previous week but was not in attendance tonight. She decided to hang out some more and we danced over near the stage before I headed back downstairs to get another Smirnoff Ice over ice (with a splash of Grenadine). I watched the floor from up on the stage, and retrieved some napkins to clean up a wet spot that made me slip a bit, before spotting Grace once again. She had handed her flags over to another boy who was dancing in front of the DJ booth. After she lit him with a blue flashlight I pulled out my own from my keychain and we gave him two-point spotlighting as the floor lights were cooled down for a bit. After I was over that I prepared to dance again myself but was still waiting for the DJ to play something I recognized so I would be able to really dance without fear of a misstep or overreach. Finally when it was about 3:25 am he graced us with the Victor Calderone Remix of "Low Frequencies" and I took to the box in front of the stage to light up my hands and move the lights as I watched the crowd move to the song. I got active enough for a bit that I actually gave my shoulders a bit of a workout and felt the burn as I had to control the swing of the lights to keep them in synch as well as not hitting myself or any bystanders. As that song wound down the DJ went into Shauna Solomon and "You Can Get Over". I danced with just my hands lit but without the lights in motion and finished out the set without falling off the speaker or even tripping so late into the evening. The crowd was finally winding down but the DJ was still into giving them some more music but I felt it was time to finally step out into the night. I made it over to the DJ Booth and thanked him for the good night and then made my way to the back, retrieved the magazines from the racks and then headed outside. I said goodnight to Grace who was taking a cigarette break outside and then turned and picked up the next taxi to pull up out front. I got inside and got comfortable and after giving the cabbie directions I mentioned that he knew the way but he didn't get the reference until later. I got home with ease with very little traffic on the roads and as I pulled up in front of my building the cabbie finally recognized that he had been there before. I smiled and told him that yes that was what I meant when I first climbed inside the backseat and he smiled back and wished me a goodnight. I made sure to check the seat as I got out and then made my way upstairs and bid my night goodnight as well.
I awoke on Saturday earlier than I expected and ended up watching some DVR programming before seeing Pais off. He was off to Westchester to visit family. I had to take a walking trip over to the Post Office to retrieve my newest copy of Bottom Line Personal yearbook for 2005. The day was pleasant and the walk was shorter than I thought before I was inside the office and waiting on line. A surprising number of people were there to conduct various sorts of business both sending and receiving. After waiting for like 10 min I was sighted by the greeter and as the place was about to close in 20 min she asked me what I was in for. Once I told her I was there to pick up a package she told me I was on the wrong line and mine was the much shorter one in the corner underneath the TV showing the latest iteration of the Power Rangers. After a much shorter wait and a flash of the passport I had my boxed book in hand and was off and back up the street. I stopped for a Vitamin Water at a bodega on the way and then made my way back home. After making sure everything was in order and minor outfit change I was off to the gym in the city. Even though I had just missed a train another one cam shortly and I rode into the city with the regulars. Once I arrived at Church St I was surprised once again by the enormous number of tourists and the bag sellers and DVD salesmen who populated almost every inch of the sidewalk. After I squeezed past the crowds I was finally able to get over to Vesey street and headed for the gym. The packed sidewalks gave way to the sparse indoors of the gym. After micro-locking my articles in the locker I made my towel in hand way up to the gym floor and proceeded to work out. The usual suspects were there doing their stretches, workouts and poses and I got through my own routine with no interruption and plenty of time to get on with the rest of my day. I had time for a bite at Wendy's, picked up cable for the video camera from J&R and then did some back to work shopping at Century 21. Bag in hand it was down to the hot train station for me and I rode back to Bklyn half asleep but happy I had did the chores I had planned on. Sorry to say I did not hear from Nadia but Pais called and let me know he would be returning to BK in the early eve so I just chilled out and rested up some for the coming night. After checking that all of my gift CDs were in place I cleaned up and got dressed and prepared to step out and have some fun. The Jimmy arrived at 10:50 and after some drinks they were ready to go and I was there to rush them out.
We drove into the city with the Jimmy being a little more aggressive than usual on the roadways but nothing too dangerous and we dodged aggressive travelers and taxi drivers to get over to the west side with no scratches and plenty of time to find parking. We couldn't fit into the first two spots we sighted but the third time was the charm as we parked behind another aggressive parker (taking up two spaces) but we were able to squeeze in and then head over to the place to be. We said hello to Reggie on our way over and then turned the corner and stepped up to the front. The line moved quickly and after a hello to Derek and the stern faced glasses security guard we were in there like athletes foot. A wristband and a cashier later we were inside of Roxy and feeling fine. The first round of drinks was bought, the first copies of gift CDs were given to Matt and Barker (B4 AfterParty) and after a few scattered hellos, our night was seriously underway. Reggie arrived inside shortly but was looking for his friends. After we recollected we took to the dancefloor right at the front where there still space after stepping down from the bar. Of course after we had the space for only one song there was a rush of people onto the floor as DJ Merritt threw on our summer anthem of "Don't Cha". An impromptu danceoff with the new guy up on the box was an intermittent sidebar to our representation of our space on the dancefloor. This was followed up by an extraordinary mix of "Solid Textures" cross-referenced with DirtyFilthy which had us all sweated up and ready to find the rest of our crowd. Instead of performing watchman duty of the drinks when the boys went outside to smoke I made sure they finished off their drinks instead and I filled up the time and took to the stage for Suzanne Palmer and "Home" as the flavor of music turned more tribal and introspective. Reggie and I took over the stage and truly worked it out in spite of the boys that tried to sabotage me with spilled drinks and outflung hands. I dodged them like bullets and eventually cleared out my space and took to the front watching the crowd watching me and watching the boys watching Reggie. After we had that bit of fun I found the boys back at the front and had myself a red bull before taking to the stage once again. I waxed between high energy and too much to drink and let the music take us far into the night. I wrested the speaker in the asian section from some drunk boys and then introduced Erica to the crowd before she to moved on to the dancefloor and I moved back to the front. Before it was time to go I climbed up on the speaker near the front door and danced lightless but with full footwork in effect while admiring the mass of the onlookers as the hours grew later. We finally fulfilled the night at around 4:30 and bid goodnight to the Jimmy and Reggie too before heading out and catching a cab over on 10th ave. The driver took us back to BK without too much fuss but once he was around the corner from the building he pulled over too soon and gave us some unclear message that he couldn't take us any further we climbed out and then of course he took off and drove right in front of our house before heading into the city. We don't know why he couldn't take us up to the front but its not like a walk from the corner was too much even after such a long night as we had. We had arrived safely, had left nothing behind and were ready to turn in. Goodnight moon.
Sunday of course was the morning I had to get up at all kind of inconvenient hours like 9:45am because the painters were arriving at 10 to paint the walls of the bathroom. I stumbled out of one room to go to sleep in the other just to have some peace. The took forever to leave but not before I stumbled back across the house and laid down some more before they were finally done and out. Breakfast had already been delivered and I enjoyed the eggs and bacon before settling to watch some DVR programming in between mixing my latest CD "Dance Summ More". I was taking a break from the loungey vibe and moving back over to the harder dance beats. I have one more CD to make in the 2 CD set and then its on to the lounge mix and rave mix (of course a Pop Mix and an R&B Mix could be thrown in too). I finished up the CD and then watched some Kathy Griffin on Trio before switching over to Worlds Wildest Videos on Spike TV. I decided to DVR it so I could watch it later with Pais and without commercials and then it was time to head out and pick up some dinner. We had waited too long to go to the supermarket so there was no time for anything else besides Dallas BBQ. We drove over while listening to the new CD and found a spot right across the street. I did the walk-in and braved the crowds before placing my order and waiting around a bit. I finally retrieved the food and listened to some more music during the return trip. After making it back upstairs (noticed the elevator finally got fixed) we ate dinner while watching Wildest Videos before I took my Sunday Eve nap and passed out on the couch. After I awoke (no more Dallas BBQ for a while, too greasy) we decided to catch up on our Six Feet Under and finally watch an episode on the night it was playing. Thankfully Pais had DVRd it so I didn't miss it and we started it when we wanted. Shocking stuff, as usual (that cat scared me to death at the beginning) and we have much wild mess to look forward to next week. I ended the eve watching more DVR programming (Encore Action) before finally calling it an evening and wishing the weekend well.
It is a great thing to have friends there to push you on to do more than you would by yourself. Friends to be inspiration, friends to have fun with, friends to share the fun times with so you can talk about it later. I have reached the downward slide of the summer with all guns blazing. Hopefully we will take out all of the bad days before we run out of bullets. I will enjoy myself and make sure my friends have fun along with me. The fun that is shared is not added to but multiplied. So break out the calculator and lets multi-play.
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