Oct 14-16 - Out into the Dry and Getting Hot at Night

Friday evening. The week of the rains. I made my way home from work with the air cooler but no longer with the pouring rain that had depressed the start of the week. I got home and fixed myself a shake and busied myself looking over the music selection on iTunes and then cut the hair, cleaned up and picked out the outfit. I wanted to get into the city a little earlier so I called for a car service pick up just after 11pm and was headed into the city shortly afterwards. The driver took the route over the Bklyn Bridge and up Hudson Street (after my suggestion) and we were up to 8th Ave and 18th street in very good time. I made my way over to the bar, bid good eve to the doorman and then I was inside of Gym. Barman Brett was holding court at the front of the bar and I stopped next to crowd made up mostly of softball players (The Rage) and bar friends I had seen in the space before. David was there with a few friends and I said plenty of hellos all around as I also talked to Ty, whom I passed on my way inside. We chatted a bit before he said good night and headed outside into the city. I made my way to the back and talked about music and such with DJ Smoky for a while and watched the crowd in the place as they played pool, watched the games on TV (another win by White Sox) and generally just enjoyed a nice and dry evening. Some random reveler wandered in wearing a sportcoat and unbuttoned dress shirt and requested that the DJ play Madonna's newest single (Hung Up). DJ Smoky only had the song on vinyl and only has a CD rig at Gym so the song was not available. After gushing some more about how he loved that song the lost soul wandered blearily back into the night to search for other bars to make song demands in. I hung out for a bit more before heading back up to the front and bidding goodnight to the remaining softball players and then saying goodnight myself as I headed out to the street and then over 2 blocks to 6th ave to pick up my bottle of water. Slightly more hydrated after those two healthy drinks I had enjoyed back at Gym (A Stoli Orange and Rockstar as well as a Surfer on Acid) and I was ready to bypass the crowded door and head on into Splash. The new security guy at the door said I had to stand in line like everyone else who was handstamped so I acquiesced and then got IDd when I did get to the front of the line but of course I am legal to drink so I was then stamped and inside to enjoy the party. The DJ for the night was Eliot DeHoyos and after I had my first drink in hand I headed up to the DJ booth and said hello to light mistress Liz and showed her my new camera and even took some shots from the DJ Booth before being joined by Jen and hanging out some more in the booth and talking about the shorted out light board and the energy of the night. She gave me a drink ticket as well as asked me to pick up a drink for herself just before Jen returned to the booth and we said hello again. After we talked some more about the crowd I bid the girls adieu and headed back down into the crowd and danced a bit to the beats and even rehydrated one more time outside before heading back in and dancing some more. At around 2:50 am I had finally worked myself up to take to the stage and dance above the floor for a bit as earlier I had stayed to the dancefloor and watching from the stage. I then headed out to the street, waited a few moments for a taxi out front to make its way over from Fifth Avenue before climbing in and heading back to BK. I woke up twice on the way home and then made my way upstairs for a well deserved rest.

I awoke the next day and had some delivery breakfast before Russ and I headed over to the gym on 9th Street. The day was sunny and we were totally happy that the rains had ended. The NYSC was pretty full for so early an hour on the weekend but I was able to get through the workout after waiting for just the chest press and the assisted chin-up machine. After we were both through with the abbreviated workout we headed back up the street and chilled out at home. I was still lining up songs on the computer, Watching Kathy Griffin on DVD "Allegedly" and playing some video games to pass the time before we were invited out to dinner at around 7pm by Phil and Lydia. We headed out and up 5th Avenue to Old Homestead and arrived first but we were able to get a table after a short consultation with the hostess and a little bit of a wait. After the others arrived we all sat down at a table in the back and ordered up. The two appetizers of oysters and escargot were not in my taste but I did try the escargot to keep Lydia happy. It was kinda garlicky but not too bad. Our entrees finally arrived and I enjoyed my fried chicken while Phil and Lydia shared multiple orders of the ribs appetizer and Pais dug into the surf and turf. The food was good and we were all happy with the repast and headed out of the place after 9:30 and headed back down the street to other other end of Park Slope. We parked the car and watched some HD programming before Lydia enjoyed the UFC championships more than we did so we took a break and showed them the view from the roof before hanging out some more before the two of them told us goodnight and headed out. Pais rested for a bit while I watched some DVR programming before we were finally ready to pick out our wardrobe and get ready to head out. I called for the car service and they arrived pretty quickly and we were downstairs piled into the minivan and headed for the city.

The driver was one I had ridden into the city with before so I passed the time with a few conversations about current sports (who is going to go all the way in the World Series, how is the traffic moving compare to most nights and the like). We got dropped off at 18th on the right side which was convenient for getting out of the minivan side door and made our way down the block to the rather long but fast moving line. We were inside fairly quickly and after arrival at 12:30 the place was a little more busy around the bar than usual. The problem may have been the music which kept up a good beat but kept pulling back from anything recognizable. I even had the random guy wander up and ask me (me?) what was the DJ waiting for. I didn't know but I did see the place slowly filling up more and more and by 1am when the place was downright packed we finally heard some music we wanted to hear. We also saw Phil who told us the rest of the crew was at the back bar. After I picked up another drink myself from Barman Barker at the front bar I headed back and caught up with Russ and the rest where I had just missed Phil and Kevin on their way to the dancefloor because a classic hit by Kim English came on. I still said hello to Joseph and Duane and some more of our friends before we headed back to front. The Roxy was nicely packed even before our friends Ernesto and Mike from Boston showed up (he's moving to NYC) and they even brought their own entourages. We discussed old friends and hanging out and future good times. Reggie had called me on Friday night on my taxi ride in to see if I was hanging out on Saturday but I did not see him at the party. By the time Amanda Lapore took to the stage and they threw out passes to John Barton gym the place was definitely on a high note and everyone was having a downright great time. I had taken some great pics with my new dig camera including all the boys and Angelique Ali who was nice enough when I recognized her at the back bar and saw her again at the front bar (had picture taken the second time). She told me that she was supposed to perform but due to scheduling and timiing mixup they had only stopped for the one performance by Quentin Elias (I have heard that "So What" song far too much, like 3 times since the beginning of the year and twice at the Roxy). I missed going to see her on Monday because I was at work too long but I def look forward to the next time and hope I can show up with some friends so they know what I am all excited about. The DJ Manny Lehman made sure we stayed dancing to mixes by Paulo, Peter, and more until we were finally ready to clear out around 5am. We picked up a few flyers and headed over to 9th Ave headed downtown and Russ flagged down a taxi pretty easily. The ride home was nice and quick and we didn't leave behind any electronics or currency in the back seat.

The next day I awoke around 1pm and after some football we walked down the street and picked up some bagels at the bagel place. The cinnamon raisin bagel with butter was pretty good and I continued the rest of the afternoon just chillin and relaxing after all the energy expended earlier in the weekend. Finally around 5pm we headed out and picked up some KFC to have something to munch on while we finished watching some of the games. We verified the movie times then headed out to see "Domino" at the theater in downtown Manhattan. We found parking pretty easily (after cutting off a truck and pulling across two lanes) and made it over to the theater with time to find a good seat in the mostly empty theater and pick up some popcorn and soda ($10.50 for one med soda and med popcorn, wow.) And settled in to watch a movie that was surprisingly more about the story rather than the action. The movie reminded us of the backwards story telling of "Pulp Fiction" but without the complex verbal interchanges. The movie did have its moments and we did enjoy it but it ended very suddenly and we wished it had contained just a little more substance to the 2 hr length. Was definitely something to think on the way back to BK. It was only much later in the evening that I realized I had neglected to tape my Saturday Night cartoon programming and so had missed a whole bunch of shows so now I have missed a few key episodes of several shows I have been watching but I guess I will just have to catch them on da replay.

I have been getting better at time management and have some nice plans for the upcoming weeks. We shall see if I can really knuckle down and follow through with all the of the big things coming down the pipe. We shall see. Until the next appearance of the party monster. See it then.