11/04-11/06 - The Night is Back with More Friends and More Fun

Friday I headed home on the PATH and decided to walk crosstown instead of to the MTA train station. I was looking for a store that I could buy another set of sunglasses. The week without made me realize just how much I missed having the sunlight filtered from my eyeballs. Not exactly a vampire but not in need of a tan anytime soon either. I found myself at the Wendy's on Fulton St and Water St and after a few burgers I headed down the walk to the South Street Seaport. I bypassed the Sunglass hut (too small and expensive) and after stepping inside the main building I spotted a glasses rack in the Olympic Store. After poring over the rack for several minutes I finally settled on a nice pair that would tide me over till my new Fossil frames showed up in the mail from Amazon. I walked down Water St (saw the Sugarcube) and ended up walking all the way to the South Ferry train station. I headed home and enjoyed a quiet evening at home in preparation for heading out. Cleaned up, dressed up (Gecko and Eddie Bauer) I was ready to head out.

I headed down to the Car Service and the dispatcher immediately walked out and snagged a vehicle for me to take me into Manhat. The driver smiled and then took me into the city (sneezing all the way) over the Bklyn Bridge, past Park Row and over to the West Side and heading uptown to 14th Street. We turned in at 18th and made it over to 8th Ave easily. The driver let me out and I headed into

Gym. I missed Brett as he headed downstairs and went to the back to hang for a bit with DJ Smoky. We discussed some music, the crowd and I headed back to the bar for a drink. At the bar I saw Brett outside with his pack. I came up to them and he wondered how he missed me. I told him it was no biggie and we all walked over to Better Burger and they ordered up. I just had a lemonade myself but everyone dug into their sandwiches and the baked fries and we discussed city life, traveling, music CDs and real estate and taxes. Brett told us he had finished real estate classes and was preparing to go in as partner with his other half in the real estate biz. We wished him well and looked forward to the inevitable celebration. We then headed over to G bar where we all had a drink (2 of us and rest had 3 bottles of water) and we moved out of the rotating crowd around the bar and held court at the front window and discussed Madonna and bar hopping while traveling. The rest of the boys had to head uptown so we said goodnight out in front of the bar and they headed over to 8th avenue to hail a taxi while Brett and I headed towards 6th. I fielded a phone call from Russ who had just arrived at home from his coworker Birthday bash. I said g'nite to Brett as he headed uptown and I headed downtown towards 17th Street. I picked up a bottle of water and then waited in front of
Splash for a moment before heading inside. I picked up my Smirnoff Ice downstairs and hung out with the people on the dance floor for a bit before heading up to the DJ booth to wait behind the light guy for a bit. After a few minutes I approached DJ Steve Travolta and gave him a couple of gift CDs (Skyline Driveby and Groove Summ More). I danced a little on the stage and then I heard the familiar tones of the song that had haunted me since the beginning of the year. After it went off I went back to the DJ booth and asked for the song name (Shelter Anthem by Quentin Harris). I gave the stage back over to the flag boys and decided that after my next drink I was able to head home around 3am. Even though I found a taxi easily out on 17th Street he turned the corner and headed back towards 5th Avenue but listened to the garbagemen and drove on the sidewalk to get around the dump truck. Of course this was witnessed by the police who happily pulled us over on 5th avenue and grilled the cab driver. I sat in the back and listened to my Ipod and since the meter wasn't running I just took the opportunity to chill out. The driver stated the police would move faster if I stayed in the car so I waited with him for the cops to return and give him his ticket and we then continued on our way back to BK. The rest of the ride was thankfully uneventful and I was able to happily make my way into my building and turn in for the night. Nice nights move on to nicer nights asleep.

I awoke on Saturday, a little earlier than I expected but still within reason. I looked up some music online shopping and watched some toons before cleaning up and preparing to go out for some time in NJ. Russ confirmed the directions by map and by phone and we piled into the Murano and headed through Manhattan up the west side and through the Lincoln Tunnel on our trip past Giants Stadium and into the environs of Jersey. After a quick confirmation of direction we were arrived and piled out of the car and directed to go upstairs. Emily came out of the building to let us in as there was no one else inside who could open the buzzer. Shortly after we arrived the rest of the party people arrived and the house warming party was begun. Sangria, quiche, icey sodas and Munchkins and plenty of finger foods and sandwiches and the spread was set. Everyone enjoyed the opening of the house gifts and we all had a good time. We even listened to one of the gift CDs "The Pop Life". Before it was too late however we said our goodnights to all and headed up the the GW bridge to cross over into the Bronx for a quick stop and then it was back down into BK for some decompression before the start of the night. All prepared to head out around 11:30 and after waiting for Russ to find his phone we were able to get into the city pretty easily.

Traffic wasn't too bad for a non-event weekend. We looked around for a parking space for a little bit but leaving later meant that all of the easy spaces were gone. We ended up parking at the second lot and then walking back down the street from the car to the Roxy. The line was not too long and doorman Derek kept it moving. We got our IDs scanned in some machine by the Security guy and we read all of the signs posted that EVERYONE had to show ID and everyone needed to be 21 and older. We saw two guys who could not get in because one did not have his ID with him (just silly) and soon after we were inside and into the club. The place had filled early because everyone who got in before 12 was free but it was still a nice group of people in recovery of the previous weekend of stress. The Roxy DJ for the eve was DJ Tony Moran and he made sure the get the energy started early with plenty of beats to get the crowd into the party and keep everyone dancing. Russ and I were soon joined by Chris and his friends who had came came into town one from Ohio and another from further out on LI. We hung out at the front bar some and I greeted last weeks contest winner, Erica who was still very happy with the contest and was there with her entourage of friends of course too. I danced on the speaker in the back across from the stage and then walked across and danced on the speaker in the Asian section before heading back to the front and hanging with the guys some more. We then walked back to the smoking section where Chris escorted his friends down to the smoking area outside and I watched their drinks. Later on in the night I was dancing on the speakerbox in the front and got down to get another drink and asked barman Barker if he could see me from the bar when I was up there dancing. He said yes of course but was more interested in throwing lemon slices and napkins at me to see if him or Russ could hit a moving target. I actually caught them once but since it was a non-life threatening attack I let it go. Soon after it was time to head out and back to BK. We even stopped for a snack at Mickey D's but things were rather hazy at that point but I was just happy to make it home in one piece once again and with lots of fun stuff accomplished.

Sunday I awoke and watched football and read news stories before Russ suggested we do some shopping so it was out into the streets we headed. Pathmark was not that crowded but I still had issues finding the stove top stuffing for the chicken dinner. Of course I never cook it stove top but put the stuffing in the same pan as the chicken breasts. Before heading home to cook however we stopped off at White Castle and picked up a sack of burgers for lunch. Once back in the house it was time to munch on the burgers and take a short break before cooking up the dinner. Of course the chicken came out great with the stuffing on the side and the 90 second rice was good too. After dinner it was time to tune into HBO to watch "Curb". After watching the News it was time to watch DVR programming from Cartoon Network and "The Boondocks". The Boondocks is definitely not what I expected and one of the most original and funny things I have seen on TV in the long time. I laughed so hard and will definitely say that those boys use the "N" word as much as I the word "b!tch", at least when I mention random b's who get on my last nerve on the weekend and sometimes during the week. But hopefully those random B's will learn there lesson and stop getting on my nerves. The rest of the night was just DVR programming and preparing to go to sleep.

The weekend was good and the even though the weather is getting colder there is still plenty of good times to look forward to throughout the rest of the year. The present hangout era seems to be coming to a close but thats not to say there will not be a new era to take its place. I plan on having a lot of things in the pipeline waiting to happen and I will be making sure that I stay focused on my goals to make my own story continue to happen.

I can't just rely on stuff at work to keep me going as it has been shown that the job doesn't always love back, so you better look out for your own best interests.

Things can only get better.