01/20 - 01/22 - Funny Friends and Fun with Friends Too

Friday I got home from work and just chilled out. I had a pretty busy Saturday planned and did not think I could reserve enough energy to carry over to both days. Watching TV sports (basketball) and DVR programming I finished up the night early so I could get a good start on my Saturday.

Saturday I awoke early and prepared for the day ahead by taking all of my vitamins and then getting out to the gym. Russ had already gotten his breakfast at the bagel place so we were ready to head up the street and get to the gym. My weekend workout was nice and to the point and I only had to wait for two of the machines and I got through the workout fairly quickly and headed back home and made myself some breakfast. After the bowl of strawberry and banana cheerios was finished I felt good enough to get through the rest of my afternoon. We rested some and watched television before cleaning up, outfitting and heading into the city around 5:30pm to see a comedy show at Gotham Improv. As part of the train of comics that came onto the small stage every 10 minutes, one of our friends Bob was performing that night. He was all dressed up in his wine colored suit and said hello to us shortly after we arrived. We got there a little later than expected because we had to look for parking and ended up parking 3 blocks farther away than we needed to. However after greeting all of our other friends in attendance we sat down, got our drinks and watched the show. The crowd liked funny and the funny was there for the crowd. It wasn't all professional but it was definitely funny enough and we were glad we went. Afterwards we said goodnight to everyone and even though we were invited to dinner we knew we had to head home. We had dinner delivered soon after we were inside and it was time to prepare for the night out. A quick change and a clean up and we were set. First to arrive was the Jimmy who once again liked the candles and glass sculpture in the window. Monika and Tanya arrived just before 11pm and we hung out for a bit discussing topics such as laptops and dinner before it was time for us all to pile out.

After all 5 of us were in the Explorer we rolled on into the city with hardly any traffic at all. We kept running conversations in the back seat and the front before arriving on the west side and looking for a parking space. After looping around the block twice we decided the search was over and headed into the lot and then walked around the corner to the Roxy. The line wait was short and after saying hi to Doorman Derek we were inside and onto cashier and coatcheck. We then walked inside to see that the crowd was just starting to make an appearance and the space around the bar was empty enough to walk up and get a drink from Barman Matt (Barman Barker was away visiting back home). The DJ for the eve was Manny Lehman and the music vibe was definitely ! good and getting better. He turned back between vocal and tribal early in the evening and the music only got better as the night progressed. I was called up to the speaker in the asian section first by Mariah Carey (We Belong Together) but always found the beats compelling as we progressed through evening with the sounds getting more up to date. In between conversations with dancing boy Dave, trips to see Barman Matt and hanging with Monika and Tanya we were all over the club. We danced next to the stage and I took to the box next to the stage and the stage itself and both boxes in the front near the bar as we heard mixes from Offer Nissim (Suzanne Palmer - Fascinated), Tony Moran (Mariah Carey - Don't Forget About Us) and Victor Calderone (Let the Music Use You Up 2005). I was definitely feeling it and totally appreciating all of the great songs that I both recognized and felt moved to dance to. My final stop was in the speakerbox closest to the door wi! th Tanya sitting on the box facing the dancefloor and Monika dancing n ext to the box. We finally called it a night at 5am and left to go home happy. I was able to pick up both magazines and an invite to the following weekend. Everyone got home safely and we look forward to the next time.

Sunday was definitely a lazy day. I had delivery breakfast and watched AFC and NFC championship football before we finally made our way out of the house to pick up some Wendy's and then returned to watch the usual evening of TV Fare. I was relaxed and happy with the weekend and was sure to get my snack on with a bag of ACT II microwave popcorn (kettle corn) and watching some DVR programming before it was time for bed.

Until next weekend. May the fun keep on rolling in.

Jan 13-16 - I'm Down with the King Weekend

Friday we were actually convinced to go out. Passes in hand and long weekend ahead it seemed like a good idea. Besides we did not plan on staying all night or anything. The Jimmy arrived around 10:30 and we all left around 11:30 to head into the city and begin the search for parking. We actually found a nice parking space on 18th Street and then walked up the block. Despite the fact that both Russ and the Jimmy forgot which block Deep was on, I did not and led the way over to 22nd street (past Avalon and the McDonalds on 6th Ave) and began our 15 minute wait on the line outside. The weather was downright balmy but I was glad anyway that I wore my coat as it kept me comfortable and patient. The security out front was confusing, first squeezing us into a single line and then a heaving mass. Eventually we made our way inside, past the pat down and ready to make our way to the bar. The place! filled up quickly and despite the only average music, mostly a throwback vibe with a few new tunes by Madonna thrown in we had a good time. I said hello to Sam Champion, Anthony Lamont and our favorite bartender. We watched a show put on by Laritza Dumont (a lipsynch to Kristine W and "Fly Again"). Despite the urging from the Jimmy we leveled off on the drinks and Russ and I left at 3:10am to catch a taxi right out front and head back to Bklyn. The ride was accomplished with no worries and no issues and we arrived alive.

Saturday I woke up before noon but had a nice delivery breakfast before it as time to head into the city and workout. The gym had a fire drill at 3pm so we had some time pressure since we arrived at 2pm but my Saturday workout is somewhat condensed anyway so I was able to get the whole thing finished before they threw us out. We then retrieved the car over on Park Place and Russ ran up to the office to pick up some files. It was fortunate I was in the car as the police came up the block giving out tickets. I moved the car a foot closer to the curb once the space opened up and blasted the CD Player while waiting for Russ to hurry back down. After his return it was time to head back to Brooklyn and pick up some groceries at Pathmark. Some chicken breasts, diet soda, juice and eggs and we were ready to head back home and chill for the afternoon. I had a half a tuna sandwich and promptly passed out on t! he couch. In between waking up at intervals to see what was happening in the NFL I had myself a nice little nap. Once dinner time rolled around about 8pm it was time to order up some Chicken Ceasar Salad and dig in before I had to get ready for the evening. I had put off the haircut until Saturday so it was the full makeover before it was time to clean up and get the outfit on and be ready to step out.

We headed into the city around 11:30 and after finding a nice parking space on 19th street we headed on down and met the crowd waiting at the door of Roxy. After our quick hello to Doorman Derek we were headed on inside and on to cashier and coatcheck. After taking care of the necessary we were greeted by a nicely developing crowd and surprise appearance by our "former" Barman Brett. He was doing well with work and the usual busy stuff and was very happy to see me too. I told him I would have brough my newest CD for him if I had only known but all was forgiven and we headed off in different directions as we prepared to dive into the evening. We also received a surprise visit from Bob who while telling us he was not going to be in to see Junior spin he still ended up coming to tell his friends about his upcoming comedy gig. We talked to him for a bit before I told Russ that it was time for me to go and d! ance. I had a pretty good time up on the speaker before returning back to the bar and picked up some refreshment from Barman Barker. The energy was not as high beat as New Years Eve but Junior made sure we were very happy as the night progressed and despite the absence of all recognizable from previous nights of dancing the beats were nice and tasty. I was dancing on stage and speaker far into the evening and had to rescue Russ from admirers on more than one occasion. We also hung out in the middle of the dancefloor with Andrew before I pulled Russ back out to the crowd periphery. On my final speaker appearances on the two boxes near the front bar I said goodnight to Brett before he headed back out into the crowd and I put on my final dance of the evening before stepping down and letting Russ know it was time to go. I needed something to calm me down though so instead of heading all of the way home we stopped off at the 24 hr Mickey D's and picked up! breakfast sandwiches before heading home. Mmm. Bacon.

Sunday was spent being nice and lazy, watching more football shockers (Patriots lose Saturday, Colts lose on Sunday) and heading out to pick up lunch at Wendy's. I almost forgot to cook dinner but it was all cool as the oven baked herb chicken and the macaroni in garlic sauce came out very nice. I had excess energy but two nights in a row in the city was fine with me and I watched DVR programming and movies and put myself to bed at the weekend reasonable hour of 4am.

Monday was just like Sunday all over again. This time we were free from the clutches of football and instead took the time to visit the storage facility and retrieve the final part to my Moms computer, the CPU and keyboard and mouse. After we picked it up and called to ask her did she want me to bring it we received notice that the fam had cooked chicken parmesan and eggplant parmesan. We were over my mothers house in like 45 minutes. Anyway the dinner was good and we watched episodes of "King of Queeens" in the middle of assembling the hardware and doing the site survey to determine if she could upgrade to XP (inconclusive, I will mail the specs for XP setup to moms tmw). We said our goodnights and headed back to BK around 8:30 and it was time to bring our last long weekend of the month of January to a close.

At least next weekend is in just 4 more days. I will be setting up web hosting for my party pics soon and hope to be able to start posting.

Until next time. Will be staying warm and being cool. Or at least as cool as I wanna be, until the heat starts to rise again..

01/06-01/08 - Into the New Year and happy to Be Here and There

I had received an email invite and was told I could get into Pacha if I arrived before midnight. I still had the same preparations before heading out as usual. I got back home and had dinner (chicken caesar salad), finished off the hair and cleaned up. I had finished with my music setup earlier in the week so once the time rolled around Russ and I left BK and headed to midtown and 46th Street.

The traffic was heavier than usual but after looping the blocks twice we found a spot one block up and one long block over. The weather was colder than an icicles armpit but we braved the winds and stood on the line in front of the club. The tourist crowd was in full effect along with the promoter wannabes from all over acting like VIPs. The Beeyatch in front asking if anyone was requesting table service was not much help either. After freezing on the line for almost 15 minutes we finally were headed inside to verify with the event guy inside we were on the list and get our passes to head on in. After dealing with the coat check downstairs we headed back up through the club and ordered drinks on the entry level. The glasses were nice, some sort of composite that resembled a glass but was unbreakable. We watched the DJ booth from the stairs and looked out over the dancefloor. We even took a few pictures in the place but the mood never lifted above and beyond the initial entry point. DJ Merritt who was promised on the invite never materialized and the two caribbean guys mixed some ok songs but there was a whole lot of filler and tweaking of the sonic soundboard, and unnecessary foghorns and too much strobe. The girls dancing in red bathing suits inside the showers were OK but nothing more exciting than I had seen at other places. We had a couple of drinks and then we left around 1:30 so that we would not get home too late. I was disappointed but glad I had came and saw and now knew what it was all about. No reason to go back unless I was on a particular persons list and was with a bigger group and a sure thing DJ.

I awoke Saturday ready to go to the gym. After breakfast and watching a little TV we were ready to head into the city. The BK gym had been crowded lately and we wanted to stop into Century 21 on Church St. We were able to find parking a few blocks up Broadway and then made our way down to the gym to work out. The gym was nice and empty and I only had to wait for one machine. I was in and out with no problem and then we were headed over to Century 21. After Russ picked up a few more things we made our way over to Wendy's 2 blocks over. The lunchfare was good as usual. Afterwards we found our way back to the car and back to BK. I watched DVR programming and chilled out for a while re-hydrating and making sure all was prepared for my night out. Tanya had dropped an email and called to state that she was not feeling well enough to hang out but we wished her well and finished up our own plans for the night. All cleaned up and dressed up we hung out for a bit before Monika arrived at 10:45. We watched some HD football for a bit and then we all piled into the Murano and headed into the city.

The traffic was light and we found a parking space right on 19th street before heading back down to stand on the short line in front of the club. After saying hello to Doorman Derek we made our way inside and through to the coat check. We had arrived at 11:50 and there was still a crowd around the Roxy bar before midnight. I got myself a bottle of water and we hung out for a bit for the rush to taper off and then I ordered our first round. The music was originally supposed to be by DJ Paulo but we saw notice inside that the replacement for the evening was none other than DJ Merritt (whom we had missed hearing the night before). I was expecting a great evening myself and tried to control my excitement a little. We took a couple of pictures with Steve, Russ and a few more of our friends before the call of the music pulled me over to the speaker. That Victor Calderone Mix of Celeda and "Let the Music Use You Up" was just the thing after getting the crowd out onto the floor around 1:00am. We came, we saw, we danced until late into the night. The music was just as good as I expected as we heard songs from Mariah Carey and multiple mixes from Offer Nissim. (Alas, no Suzanne Palmer but enough Nissim to keep one happy). We split our time between the stage, the dancefloor and the bar in front before finally deciding the night should end on a high note. We said goodnight to The Jimmy and the rest of our friends and headed back out to the car. The ride back to BK was without incident and we dropped Monika off on her block before heading over to our side of The Slope and calling it a night.

Sunday was spent mostly inside watching football and hanging out at home for a bit as I noshed on a PBJ sandwich for breakfast and watched TV and web-browsed for most of the afternoon before taking a late-day nap. We finally headed outside around 7:30 to pick up a dinner at KFC. The meal we ate while watching The Simpsons and continued on with watching ESPN and Family Guy. The rest of the night we finished up watch Football and I was able to head to bed before it got too late. The weekend was over but I still had another 3 day weekend for MLK to look forward to. Keep it Hot.

12/31-01/02 - New Days, New Years, New Friends

The week flew by nicely and we were now at my final 3 Day weekend before the New Year. It was decided that we were not going out on Friday Night to save all of the partying for the New Years Eve. I must say I have enjoyed watching DVD episodes of the Josh Whedon show "Firefly - The Complete Series on DVD". I finally watched the last of the episodes and was looking forward to my "reward" of getting to watch the movie that was made after the series was cancelled. The dearth of Friday Night programming meant my reward actually got started on Friday Night. I was psyched to finally watch the movie, which started well but then Russ got too tired to watch anymore so I shut off the movie and watched regular TV programming and web browsed and then fell asleep at an unreasonably early hour for a Friday Night (before 1am).

I awoke on Saturday and watched some Saturday Morning cartoons and then after breakfast made my way over to the gym. The place was busy but I made it through the workout quickly and was back home for the early afternoon. My reward was fulfilled as I finally finished watching "Serenity". All I can say is WOW. That movie was sooo good. Even more so since I had seen the series and knew all of the subtle backgrounds of the characters. But again, even though I was a total fan of the genre and was able to dissect the story even while watching and totally was riding the wave of movie entertainment to the last frame. That movie made me happy... and ready to kick mad butt. Anyway the rest of the day went quickly between phone calls, buying new music for my collection and making sure my Saturday night plans were all set up. Delivery dinner and then it was time to clean up and prepare the outfit for the nighttime.

The fun began as Donnie arrived at the house at 9:45. As he admired the HDTV and made us drinks I was busy changing the time on my Nintendo DS so that I could see the New Year celebration in my little town in Animal Crossing-Wild World. It was very cute, fireworks and all. I then powered the system off and we prepared to leave around 10:30pm to head into the city. The roads were mostly empty and we arrived in downtown Manhattan pretty quickly. After finding some parking near the Battery Tunnel and Rector St. we made our way over to West St. and visited MIke and Benny who were already entertaining a few friends. We met 3 new friends, two of which lived right up the street from myself in Park Slope not 1½ blocks from where I live. We watched the Dick Clark rockin eve put on a show with the frenzy of crowds in Times Square. Poor Dick Clark looked like he was finally showing his age but the show itself was good with plenty of good perfermances from artists like Mary J. Blige. They were also nice enough to pop in one of my gift CDs and we listed to "Groove Summ More" as we chatted and hung out had a nice time. Russ and I had to say goodnight to the others in attendance as we had tickets to attend a party further uptown from where we were. Downstairs a taxi dropping off passengers was able to pick us up and take us up to 18th street and 10th Ave and drop us off.

The line in front of the Roxy was nice and short and after a quick hello to doorman Derek we were headed inside to hand our tickets to the velvet rope security and on to the fully utilized coat check. With the busy coatcheck letting us know it was crowded inside we were definitely not surprised to see the place jumping. Matt and Barker were on opposite ends of the bar but all other party pieces were in place as DJ Junior Vasquez was whipping the crowd up into a frenzy. I made my first speaker appearance at 2am and after a quick question was asked of me told one of the partygoers where to find a green laser (Amazon). I enjoyed many a drink and a whole lot of dancing as Russ and I hung out with Bob. My only low moment of the evening was breaking the snap on my pants (They weren't even that old), I guess I will have to go with the rip stop fabric as they do seem to last longer. We stayed at the party until 5:30am and made our way back to BK with relative ease.

Sunday was spent watching more college football and then organizing my music and creating my newest Dance CD "Snow Dance" and making a copy to play in the car. We drove down to Dallas BBQ for dinner and I spent the evening watching TV and them movies and then Movies on cable. I finally went to sleep sometime in the AM.

Monday was spent once again in the house and on the internet before heading out for a drive uptown with Russ. After the round trip was over we went to lunch back in BK and brought the Wendy's and White Castle back home and watched "Elektra" on DVD. Of course it was no where near as good as "Serenity" or even "Aeon Flux" but it passed the time without having to resort to college football. The last day of my three day weekend was over and it was back to work tomorrow. At least I can look forward another weekend in just 4 days. Cool enough for me.