Sep 16-18 - Dancers, Watchers, Heat and then some

Only got to the gym on Thursday but have just started up with a more aerobic focus on the workout so the workout was still more than it has been in the past few months. Was my first workout after returning to the active list after having taken a week off because of a pulled back muscle. I had slightly changed my front pulldowns (for the bicep) but it was just a slight deviation at the bottom of the exercise that because it was an unfamiliar movement I ended up doing myself some damage. The pain had not hit until the next day but it stayed with me all the way until the prescribed pain-killers kicked in. I was able to recover fully and was now looking forward to my first weekend pain free.

I left work with Vy who lives in BK just like I do. After coming out of the WTC train station we headed for the Rector street station but Vy had the idea to take a side trip and visit the Pussycat lounge not a block off of church street. He ordered a Corona and I had a Bud Light while we watched 4 different girls in various states of undress dance to a few songs while getting tips that were handed across the bar to the outstretched fingers of the girls in short suits and skirts. The dancing was not very energetic but the girls were pretty enough and I tipped a few before we finished off our beers after our short stay and we headed back to Bklyn. Vy went his way further into Bklyn on the Q train and I headed down the local to my stop. After dinner delivery and then cleaning up I was ready to head out into the city. Russ was staying in as he was too tired to hang but I went down the hill and waited for a car at Castle to take me into the city. After waiting for 15 minutes the driver checked in and then I followed him back out and across the street as he took to the taxi and we drove into the city. He knew to avoid the BK bridge on the way back into BK (for some reason traffic was ridiculous) and we made our way into the city and then across town via Chambers street and then up the west side before the driver turned back into the city at 14th street and we braved the crowds. After he finally was able to turn on 8th street I told him that hudson would have been faster and when turning off of the West side hwy it is better to cross at 16th street to avoid the party crowds. He took the lessons to heart and dropped me off right at 17th Street as I headed up the street and into Gym. I made my way inside, had Stoli Orange and Rockstar in hand as I went to the back and hung out with DJ Smoky for a few minutes. The place had seemed nice and roomy from the front but was packed in the back near the pool table for some reason. As I looked over the crowd chatting and playing pool I say Brett return from the downstairs and head for the front. I followed him outside and onto the street and was not able to catch up to his fast moving self until he was across the street and about to head into Better Burger. He was picking up a late night meal and even asked me if I wanted anything but I knew I couldn't mix my food in the midst of my evening of drinking so we chatted while just Brett ate about music, drinking, the current NYC parties and upcoming vacation both this year and early next. I made sure to give him a gift CD of my latest "Entrancing Summ". We headed out of the burger joint and then over a block to the Chase ATM inside of Duane Reade and then on to his lobby of his place where we said goodnight as he headed home and I headed on to 6th Avenue and bought myself a bottle of water before I headed into Splash. I met up with Steve outside who was having a cigarette in the outside smoking area. We shortly headed inside and we crossed the floor to dance and meet up with his friends who had bought him a Bud. We stayed on the floor for a bit before I headed downstairs to the restroom for a short break and then I was out to buy a drink at the downstairs bar. On this eve I started off with just one Smirnoff Ice with a splash of Grenadine before switching over to just Absolut Mandarin and cranberry for the rest of the night when I needed a drink for myself. I headed back upstairs to hear the tunes that DJ Billy Caroll was dishing out on the turntables. The heat was definitely on as the floor was almost too hot to handle but I still took to the stage and listened to a few different songs from both the dancefloor and the stage. I found out from my bartender that one of the air conditioners had caused a smoke condition earlier in the day and was currently shut off so the remaining AC had to make do for the crowd of partiers that were more than ready to dance the night away no matter how hot the dancefloor got. I hung out a bit with Andre who was taking a break from trips up to the DJ booth with friends, back to the dancefloor and all through the club and listened to mixes of Lose Control, Hollaback Girl, and Its Like That. Over the course of the night my red Nike shirt was soaked through despite taking 2 more trips outside for more water and walking back to the front and downstairs to get cooled off but the siren song of the music called me up to the stage and I danced some even as I watched over the place and watched what everyone else was up to. On the way I said hello to Michelé as well as gave a gift CD (Pop Life) to the cashier guy at the front. I also helped out Robbie who while dancing on the box was accosted by an overenthused partyboy who stepped down on the box from the stage and danced behind him even though one is not supposed to share the box with the professionals. After I explained that some people get paid to dance on the box alone the boy finally gave up on impressing his BF and Robbie thanked me and I went back to dancing on the stage myself. The floor was a little wet (wonder why with all the sweating people around) but the judicious application of napkins took care of that. Before I decided to dance some more I stepped up to the DJ booth myself and saying hi to the DJ and gave the set of my late summer CDs ("Move Summ More" and Groove Summ More") At around 2:30 I had already gone shirtless and I lit up my hands to a mix of "Stupid Like You" by Deborah Cox and danced for a bit on the stage. As the night got later after 3am I stepped down onto the box myself and danced a bit with the lights in motion and got nice and wet before stepping down and heading back to the front for some air. I finally headed out at 3:45 and headed outside to catch myself a car. After a few minutes of drama waiting for a car I finally caught a car heading over from Park Avenue and made my way back into the BK. The trip was nice and easy and I was happy to get up stairs and into bed nice and easy.

I awoke Saturday feeling tired yet I dug into my delivery breakfast and watched various sports programming with Russ as the afternoon rolled in and I checked out some new tunes from online and and on the different DJ sites. I had just the slightest headache because I probably over did the water at first but finally it all settled in and I stayed in watching the end of "Daddy Day Care" and some other DVR programming and prepared for the oncoming night. I had waited too long to decide to go to the gym so I just stayed home and awaited the delivery dinner from a new italian place. When the food came at first it seemed like they just gave us the salad for the Chicken Caesar salad without the chicken. But after calling the place and asking they told us the chicken was wrapped separately from the salad and was still warm and seasoned. The food was good (if a little pricey) and after dinner I went back to using the computer and setting up different CDs but I already decided that this was going to be a one CD night. Stephen and the Jimmy arrived around 10pm and we hung out for a bit and talked sports for a while before heading out into the city at 11:05.

We tried to avoid the traffic on the BQE by going through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel but ended up getting caught in a different backup because one of the tunnels was closed and all the traffic was going through one tunnel. The traffic backup was enough that by the time that the police actually closed the traffic coming into Bklyn and they were about to make both lanes straight into Manhattan. After we came out the other side we saw the backup that was developing on the other side but by then we were headed uptown on the west side and moving fast. We were able to get up and past 14th street nicely and then we were looking for parking for a bit but the hordes of people made it more difficult than usual. After a full loop through the area, over to 9th ave and back up and all the way to 24th street and finally found parking right next to the corner. After that little stop and drop we headed down the street and onto the line in front of the place. The line moved quickly and after talking to Doorman Derek briefly we were headed inside of
Roxy. We made our way to the bar in the front and started off with water and drinks at the bar from barman Barker. The DJ for the eve was DJ Tony Moran and the beats were on a high point right from the beginning with a re-rub of "Lola's Theme" remixed with itself. The sound was fresh but was just a taste of what was to come. We did like the music though the general tone remained unchanged until around 2am where there was a slight variance to a more thoughtful tone but I was too busy dancing with the crowd and hanging with Russ, the Jimmy and Stephen we were having a great time. My first dance was in the asian section speaker and later moved on to the rear stage and then the speaker over the muscle beach dance floor near the steps. The energy was soon back up as I welcomed back the blonde dancer who had been away from a month (temporarily forgot his name) and our usual cast of friendly partygoers who kept the party going. We ended up staying until 4:30 and dancing virtually the whole time. After my final appearance on the front speaker near the bar we said goodnight and headed out into the night. A car was rather easy to come by right on 10th Avenue. The ride home, like buttah. Another Saturday enjoyed and off the chain.

Sunday was pretty dull, mostly football watching and then heading out late looking for late day eats. We ended up settling on Chicken Teriyaki from a sushi place we had not visited before. Mine was without the bento box but pais had the side of sushi. After that it was the slow decline down and into sleep and another weekend was over with. Keep it hot.