3/24-3/27 - Crashing into the Black Wall and then Launching into the Party with your Friends Again.

So so happy to get off work on Friday Night 3/24. I got home, ate dinner, cut the hair and got myself ready to go out. I had been looking forward to seeing Manny Lehman in the confines of Splash and he definitely did not disappoint. I left the house at 11:20 and Russ dropped me off on 17th street at 11:45. I walked past the line that extended down the block and waved to the doorman and was ID'd and headed inside. Down at the coat check I saw Nole Marin (Americas Next Top Model) leaving as I arrived at 11:50 he said hello as I smiled. I checked my coat and picked up my first Smirnoff Ice and then headed upstairs. The place was nice and packed and Manny did not wait to get the energy lifted with plenty of tribal beats mixed in with old favorites. Early on we heard Mariah and moved on to some deep speedy beats that had the crowd moving and grooving. I saw Chris Wide (Wide Strokes) leaving at 12:30 (was performing the following night), and I was on the stage myself dancing in front of the tourists and answering questions of tourists who for some reason wanted a different kind of music. (Vocals and then House, what could they possibly want to dance to?). Anyway after giving them their choices (this or Krash) they decided to stay where they were and I continued dancing on the dance floor and taking breaks downstairs and in the back. I saw bartender Larry at the back bar and then when I got down to the bar did not see him. The tall one with the Xmen tatoo kind of made me think I had a mistaken identity thing going but my memory was exonerated later as I did in fact catch the Larry at the back bar and got my drink on. He reminded me that it was just like old times. At one point I had a guy come up and say hi and then ask for my name because he felt he had to know the names of the people dancing next to him and I told him and then proceeded to take off my shirt, light up my hands and squeeze down to the box in front of the stage and dance to "Stroke" which is always a crowd pleaser. I definitely felt that the music vibe was reminiscent of the golden days of Manny back when the whole gang used to go out every time he was at the Rox. I enjoyed myself immensely and even saw Ric Sena (Alegria) moving through the crowd at 2:20am. At first I was going to leave a little early but I decided to stay and see what was going to happen. I walked outside twice to get bottles of water and saw that the line was out front until after 2:30 and finally became manageable. The music stayed good, the crowd stayed energized (except for random tourists) and I stayed until I heard the Victor Calderone Mix of "8 Letters" which promptly brought me up to the big box in the front of the dance floor where I danced my final dance before stepping down and picking up my coat. The line was long but did move and I was able to pick up my coat and headed upstairs and waited all of 3 minutes before a car pulled up and I told him my destination and I was headed into Bklyn. The ride was quick the cab driver did not give me too much stress, (I would have a lot of practice this weekend) and I got home by 4am. The weekend is begun...

Saturday was mostly restful, glass of water with the Paranil and 40 min. later the Colonix Fiber, both from Dr Natura. I was definitely enjoying some more energy and more flexibility in the middle after my first week of my hi-fiber regimen (only 7 more weeks to go). 40 min after that it was time for breakfast (Fruit Loops) and I chilled out and watched TV waiting for the afternoon rush. Russ did his breakfast thing and then we headed into the city to go to the gym. Russ did the ski machine as I did the abbreviated weekend workout with big machines only rather than the big-little mix that I get to hit during the week. After the gym visit was over I picked up some blank CDs and CD cases at J&R Music World and we headed home to BK. Dinner was over with early and then it was on to the evening resting punctuated only by episodes of "Cops" and HD programming. We decided to head out later (so we could stay later) and even though it was a long time after dinner Russ decided on a TUMS before heading out i just made sure the mp3 player was in pocket and we headed into the city.

On the way into Manhat I tasted my dinner and decided that we were going to make a stop for Tums at the drugstore once in Manhattan. The taxi driver took us all the way up to 52nd street and dropped us off right at the fast moving line. I headed down to the Duane Reade on 50th Street and picked up some TUMS and then was headed back up the street to meet up with Russ who nicely had made it halfway to the door. Once we handed over the Black Party tickets and were inside Russ headed to the bar and I headed to the coat check. There is where my nightmare began. For some reason the methbitches had torn down the ropes (poorly setup, simply looped over the poles instead of tied through the actual holes on the poles so they simply fell to the floor when people bumped them) and now 6 of the windows just had a mass in front of them while 3 of the lines appeared to have some order and a nice line snaking back and forth in front. Little did I know that the methbitches were not done with their single minded selfish endeavours. Ahead of me online I spotted Brian Landeche from Splash with his one black friend and one white friend. Meanwhile behind me the line collapsed into anarchy as bitches known and unknown decided they had waited long enough and knocked down the remaining ropes and proceeded to bum rush the only window I had in front of me (Window 10). It took me 20 minutes to get that final distance because I had to deal with people on my left and right trying to cut in front of me to get to the window. After I finally made it to the window and headed out I could see that the move would have been to go to the anarchy section from the very beginning as they decided (after I left) to go with single lines for each window to battle the rampant line-cutting. In all I spent 1 hour and 40 minutes at coat check before heading upstairs and catching up with Russ at 3:40am. We picked up a nice bunch of drinks stood at one of the tables off of the dance floor and proceeded to get our drink on with about 4 drinks each before we were cut off at 4am. I was still in a rather down place as I had dealt with such a large slice of my night (20% of the time in the building at the coatcheck) I decided to do something positive with our evening and get our pictures taken at the photo stand across from the coatcheck. They took our picture nice Black and White 8x10 that we could pick up later before we left. Back up on the dancefloor we began our usual groove and I headed up to the speaker for the first time but decided the speakers were not as high as last year (maybe?) and the crowd, while nicely spaced out was just as self centered as I would have thought before hand. We admired the new layout both upstairs and down and we walked the walks and met the different people that we knew (not too many maybe 4-5 different people that we usually talked to) and over at the bar I spotted Beto Sutter from Roxy with two different tall twink guys in tow and settled into the night of dancing and enjoying the beats and dancing. Russ then appeared to get addicted the red bulls for a bit before I finally got him his own can and I made do with my own as we danced on the dance floor really getting into the beats. The DJ for our party groove was Peter Rauhofer who made sure that the crowd stayed uplifted and entranced by the hard core beats. On my second appearance on the speaker I was distracted by the out of his mind partier who decided he could lay down on the speaker and take pictures with his friend who was on the dance floor. I did not know how he could lay his bare back against the speaker where spilled drinks and foot prints had been scant minutes before but eventually he tired enough to get off the box and I danced on that one corner of the box for a bit before I decided it was too unstable to sustain me and I got down. Russ and I then headed to the middle of the dancefloor under the lights and danced right in front of the stage for a bit where we got to hear Peter's peak hour mix of "Low Frequencies" and revel in the sound and fury right in front of the massive speakers on the dancefloor the crowd was definitely moving in time with all of the music and I decided we would leave while it had gotten as good as it was going to get. We headed downstairs for our coats at 7:30 am and after a fruitless wait by myself I asked Russ to get the photo stand people's attention and get our photo printout to take home. The picture came out very nice and despite all of the negativity and the drama we had something nice to take home with us. Russ felt I was in a bad mood all the way home and kept trying to get me to tell him what was wrong but at that moment I really didn't know myself. Our taxi driver that had picked us up right outside told us that someone had told him there were plenty of people to pick up at 52nd street and he was going to keep on going back and picking up fares for himself as Sunday mornings are usually dead. This reminded me that I should definitely do more planning for myself and everyone else instead of letting it just happen. I had actually fallen into the trap of allowing the good time of everyone else totally overwhelm my own. My politeness and innate do the right thing had caused me to be an attractor for everyone else's negative tones and feedback. If there was ever a party where I needed to go into the room like a soldier and be ready for whatever it was this one. I went in like a newbie and only thought of doing the good thing rather than what the moment actually called for. I never recovered from my horrid coat check experience and I second-guessed myself all night. I also found myself moving at a different speed than everyone else because there was no take-off moment (until the very end) and I was left feeling lower than when I arrived (which has never happened before). I got home and went to sleep and planned on my next day.

Sunday afternoon I awoke to delivery breakfast and went ahead and ate my eggs and bacon and discussed with Russ what I felt went wrong with my Black Party experience. At least I could look forward to one more chance to let the weekend finish on a high note. I spent the afternoon watching television and hydrating. The fiber regimen meant that I had plenty of water already in my system and was planning on plenty more so that I had no worries regarding feeling tired or having clear skin when the night was on to begin. I watched Simpsons and flipped channels before watching Tony wake up on Sopranos at 9 and then Footballer's Wives at 10pm. The night was young and I was not wasting my youth anytime soon. I cleaned up and proceeded to get outfitted and then just hung out for a bit for the appointed time. Russ headed to bed early as he had to work on Monday. I on the other hand had off until Tuesday and I watched television for a bit before I walked down to the taxi stand listening to Avant (4 Minutes) and the dispatcher waved me over to a car waiting right out front.

The driver woke up, unlocked the doors and I got into the sliding door of the minivan and told him my city destination. The driver rode up according to my directions and headed up 10th ave and let me off on 27th and we bid each other a good night. I had checked the address ahead of time and walked up to the address I was supposed to arrive at and made my way inside. I handed over my passes, got my armband and got my first drink of the night at 2:30am. The coat check took me all of 3 minutes with me taking more time to talk to the people at the check-in table for longer than it took me at the coat check. I headed inside and upstairs to look over the floor and saw that the rollercoaster theme on the advertisements held up in the decor hanging from the ceiling. The stage was full of the Alegria dancers who I promptly ignored (seen them, dance better than that) and headed across the upstairs and over to the VIP section that I intended to enjoy to the fullest. Once in section I picked up my first red bull and danced with the guys in the section before heading back across and downstairs to cross to the dancefloor. Never staying in one space for too long I headed back upstairs to the VIP section and bumped into Brett and Reid. We had not seen each other in months and we chatted a bit (I chatted, Brett listened) and we proceeded to hang in each others vicinity for the rest of the night. I headed out at one moment and talked for a bit with the people at the check-in desk as they had liked my outfit upon arrival (the black pants, backpack suspenders and lit up leg and left chest were working it) Back inside the crowd was going wild over Mary J. Blige and "Be Without You". The same mix I had heard from the first time but I still did not have that particular mix yet :o( . After saying hello to Raymond Dragon and then directing him to his friend from the store who he was hanging with for the eve I followed Brett and Reid to the other side of the club and we danced for a bit in the lounge which was the Prop Room where I got another drink on at 3:40. Brett and I went to coat check so I could finally give him his gift CDs "Ice Pop", Snow Dance and Technical Ice 2". With that mission accomplished we headed back inside and I back upstairs I ran into Quincy and his 2 man posse. We took pictures next to the dancefloor and I got Quincy a Gatorade before I headed back across the room. When Suzanne Palmer was on stage singing "Fascinated" I headed down to the middle of the dancefloor and took some digi-pics before heading back upstairs and spotting bartender Larry at the main bar on the dancefloor. I headed back downstairs and took his digi-pic before saying hi and then heading back upstairs. When I wasn't headed all the way near the main entrance and the practically private bathroom (only 3 other people seen inside in 3 visits). The rest of the night I spent dancing with the different peoples in attendance, several Splash bartenders, Chris Wide, and Ric Sena were all upstairs and I also got to see the cake brought in for B'day boy Abel. Despite the high energy and great beats I decided to leave while I was still having fun and before my legs gave out. I got my coat at 7am and I headed outside right next to the main entrance and walked over to 9th ave so I could get myself a taxi home. After just 2 minutes I had flagged down a ride home and I was able to get back to Bklyn without too much stress (I hope the driver was able to get back into the city easily) but I am sure the nice tip I gave him was make-up enough.) I then was able to get some rest as I closed out my 3 party weekend. When I am more focused and better at going with the flow I will enjoy myself more. I will also endeavor to do my best to make sure my good time depends upon no one else. Only I can guarantee myself a good damn time. My next big day out will probably not be until the continuous celebrations during the month of June. At least on my days off before going back to work I got to watch some DVDs I had been looking forward to. War of the Worlds I had seen but not on my own home theater and Kung Fu Shuffle was down right funny and well done. I liked the movie enough to recommend it to Candi at work. Anyway until next time, may all of your parties be tight. And may you enjoy all of your days as the darkness bleeds into your night.

3/17-3/19 - Classic Alone, and Return of a Friend for the Anniversary

I left work after getting my delivery from Dr Natura. A handy Target bag allowed me to bring the 4 boxes home without too much stress. I was looking forward to a good purification with the fiber and the tea and the anti-parasite pills but I would start all that tomorrow. Tonight I just had to go home and have dinner and prepare for my night out. Russ had left for Atlantic City earlier in the day and was in the midst hanging with his buds down in AC. Unbeknownst to me his phone was dead so we were not in any kind of telephone contact until the next day. I ordered a dinner from Jack's 5th Ave and enjoyed my dinner of pot roast and mashed potatoes before my sisters arrived around 9:30. They hung out for a bit and Ana picked up her 2 boxes of the fiber while Gigi finally took the two books she had wanted to borrow for her breaks at work. They brought over one of their friends and we all watched TV for a! bit before finally I had to rush them out so I could cut my hair and get ready to go out. I was actually able to complete all of my scheduled tasks before heading out and actually was able to remember pretty much everything. I just kept quoting Avant (I only have "4 minutes"). I headed out of the house at 11:15 and actually the train was on time and I was able to head into the city on the D train with no issues. The ride was uneventful except I forgot to change at West 4th and ended up at 34th Street. I had to then take the F train back down to 14th street but it was not too bad. Despite the cold weather I was dressed warm enough and was able to pick up a bottle of water before heading inside. Inside of
Splash it was very packed, plenty of out of towners and many of the usual crowd as well. I headed downstairs and checked my coat and was able to pick up a drink from my bartender downstairs in the back pretty easily! . I headed upstairs to check out the crowd and saw the place was pretty full. The DJ for the eve was Max Rodriguez who did a good job of keeping the crowds interest as he played vocal hit after vocal hit (his specialty). By staying more current than he has in the past it was a much better mood than I had heard him play in a while. I danced as he played a Mary J Blige vs. Kelly Clarkson mix of "No More Drama vs Behind These Hazel Eyes" that was cool along with some old favorites like "Planets of the Universe". I even took my shirt off for "Don't Forget About Us" and danced on the stage and then crossed around the back of the club to the box in front of the screens to put on a short show for the peoples before I stepped down and moved on with my night. I stayed on at the party for a bit and had more fun between upstairs and down and seeing the Dancers get mistreated a bit before they finally convinced their tormentors to move on. I myself stepped onto the stage again and the! n down onto the box in front of the stage to dance once more to the mix of "Mr Brightside" that I had never had a chance to dance to in the club before. After that I figured I had done enough and despite the many happy faces I headed downstairs to retrieve my coat from coatcheck. Despite the slightly earlier hour everyone else appeared to be leaving at the same time and I had to wait on a bit of a line. I did help out one wayward guy who seemed lost on his way to his coat. I let him get on the line in front of me despite the protestors behind me. I inspired so much controversy that the two people behind me ended up cutting in front in their rush to get out but it was no real stress to me. I still got out pretty easily and was able to get a taxi right out front. The driver took me home by way of Broadway and I saw a guy laying in the street next to his moped, facedown and with his hands at his sides, like he fell asleep. Anyway St Patricks was not going to have me in any kind of accident and I was very happy to get home safe and sound and fairly quickly. I was up to my house and all ready to turn in within short order. Friday out.

I started out my Saturday Morning having the Fiber shake (mixed with Soda) and the pills. The soda made it messy but I cleaned it up and was satisfied that I had at least started out the plan and would continue for the next 25 days. The hot wings I had ordered for dinner the previous night just for lunch on Saturday were what I ate while I watched Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on DVD. The movie was good and I was glad that the stupid blogger - Joe. My. God. was just lying when he said Hermione died (she didn't) since some of us do not read the books and only watch the movies on DVD. I had actually stopped reading his Blog after he said that because I found it thoughtless and cruel. I have since looked up his blog and read posts from the past two months but I find myself kind of jaded on his blog now. Especially when there are so many other blogs that I read regularly now too. I mean Gothamist! for my NY news and Gawker for celebrity news, Towleroad for news on gay issues in America and various pop culture and photo sites. I read a lot of news sites as well so not reading one site was not really causing any kind of void in my reading material. Especially when I can catch up whenever I want to. Russ returned to NY late in the afternoon and promptly went to bed, tired from his drive back from AC. I continued watching TV and was chilling out for a while myself when dinner time rolled around. We ordered in from Friends where I enjoyed my chicken caesar salad and was able to calmly prepare for the rest of my night by creating my latest CD compilations (Technical Ice 2 and Street Classic, my newest Trance and R&B mixes). With that completed I then was ready to clean up and head out. My outfit had been ready for days so I just had to shower and then put all of the rest of the ensemble together. Russ was still resting when it was time for me to head out so we planned to meet up again around 1am at the place 2B.

I took the train into the city once again but for some reason the D train was late and I had a few minutes wait in the station before the train came to take me into the city. I changed over at West 4th and took the E train to 14th Street. I walked up and over to 18th ave and 10th and waited on the line a moment before saying hi to returning Derek at the door and then heading inside after the ID was verified. I made my way to the cashier and coat check and said hello to my friendly coat check girl. She checked my coat for me and I headed on inside. I was surprised how many people were already inside Roxy and it was only 12:05 and I stopped next to the bar and the well lit spot on the floor to tie my shoe. I was touched on the shoulder as I stood back up and there was Erica who I had not seen since late last year. We said our hellos and caught up on what we had missed not seeing each other in a while then spent a while looking for the rest of her fr! iends since she had come in alone. Her BF arrived later around 1pm but I had already headed off to dance while listening DJ Brett Heinrichsen. His sound reminded me of a more eclectic mix than Manny Lehman but with well placed vocals and a lot of the same songs for the NY crowd. He even played familiar favorites such as "Stroke" and "Oh Yeah" and familiar hits from Suzanne Palmer and even the 2005 Remix of "Dreamer" from Janice Robinson. Russ and The Jimmy arrived around 1am and we all hung out until after 4am. At 4:30pm I was ready to head out so I retrieved the coats and then headed outside. Russ easily flagged down a taxi on 9th Ave and we were headed home very easily. Another Saturday Night under wraps.

Sunday I spentjust chilling out and resting. Delivery Breakfast and a start to my fiber regimen with real juice. We started watching the DVD of Hustle and Flow at some point but Russ fell asleep halfway through so I will have to see the rest of that movie at a later date. We left the house later in the day to buy some groceries: milk, juice and soda and picking up a dinner at KFC before heading home to watch the Simpsons and then the Sopranos. I then flipped the station to BBC America and "Footballer's Wives" which is funny and racy. That European programming is always interesting. Well the weekend is over but I anxiously await next weekend... But if it gets here too fast does that mean it will go just as fast. I hope not. I will try and remember every moment, indelibly and with much interest in what happens next.

3/10-3/12 - The Cold, The Fog, The Sopranos

Sorry for the delays and the shortened recaps but hey a person has been busy.

So much to do and so much to look forward to. I hurried home and did the usual dinner setup and clean-up and awaited the arrival of the Jimmy and Steven. They had been hanging out earlier in the eve and wanted to continue with Russ and I so they arrived around 10:30 and we watched TV and HD programming until it was time to head out around 11:30. We headed into the city and made our way up Lafayette and crossed over until we were able to park right on 21st street not too far from the club. We made our way up the street to Krash and waited on the short side, said hi to Lisa and made our way inside. The coatcheck at this hour was moderate and I only had to wait behind 3 people. I then headed back upstairs and saw how busy it was getting so early. A flagger at the door, plenty of illegal smokers and it was only 12:20. Our bartender Dave was there for us to order our round of drinks but of course was upset with me for missing the party that he was promoting at Lavender Tweeds. Wednesday's are usually busy for me and getting to the gym and then crossing town to go to the East Village is not my usual idea of a plan. I apologized and continued with my night. The music starting out with Glenn Friscia and segueing into DJ DeMarko was OK but not prize winning. The usual Krash mix of oldies but favorites and over hard bass making you move no matter what. We stayed until around 3am and I happily retrieved the coats and said good night to everyone. The conversations had been good and the talking about new cars, new houses, and the plenty of people in attendance. Russ and I headed outside and picked up some sandwiches at the Mickey D's. Russ did the whole combo but I just stayed with the rather dry Big Mac. While inside the restaurant we talked to the other denizens of the drunk tank who were also trying to fill their stomachs while fighting to remain coherent enough toplace orders and get all of their condiments and fixin's. After the food was quickly devoured we headed out to the street and Russ was able to quickly get us a car home. Always nice.

I awoke Saturday to cereal and then prepared to go the gym. Russ and I headed into the city and the NYSC near city hall which was nice and empty on Saturday. Nathan joined us at the gym as we worked out for a bit before Russ and I headed out to the Wendy's and picked up lunch and then piled back into the car and headed back to Bklyn to shop for Sunday dinner and then rest up and prepare for a night out. Russ decided the party from the night before tired him out too much and decided to sleep in while I headed out alone. I left the house too late to take the train but was able to get a car service car into the city easily and was headed into the city in the full comfort of the car. The driver was nice and easy and the trip was nice and quick and I got out of the car on 18th street and walked on into the club.

After checking my coat and walking inside Roxy I noted the place filled at a normal pace and The first DJ of the eve Drew G played pretty much all vocals. However his transitions weren't as smooth as I was used to and tended to be sudden (memories of back in the day James Anderson). The song selection seemed OK but a lot of songs were unknown to the NY audience but he brought the crowd back with something familiar often enough. I danced on the stage to Veronica and "Someone to Hold" and enjoyed a few other dances around the club as the place slowly filled up. By the time James Anderson took to the decks at 2:30am the place was packed and welcomed the dark beats... at first. When he segued into some unknown vocals the crowd broke up a bit. He never fully recovered and it was around 4am that for some reason he put on "Someone To Hold" for the second time that evening. It was great to hear but I felt it showed a lack of planning on both DJs to play the same 6 ye! ar old song. My bartender Louis made sure I stayed well setup with drinks, red bull and Gatorade. He was also thankful to receive the 2 Cool 2 Ice Pop CD I gave him. I headed out at 4:15 am and for some reason I could not get a taxi. I ended up walking to 14th street and taking a train back to Bklyn to switch to the F train at Jay street. I then walked home from 9th ave. and got home around 5:20am just a little tired but happy with the majority of my night.

Sunday we spent making the house a little more presentable and after delivery breakfast and watching TV we prepared for later by cooking. The fried chicken and macaroni and cheese were all done by 7pm and we awaited our houseguests. Gary and friend arrived around 8:20 and we took them up to the roof to see the cloudy view. The low lying fog took the fun out of the view but it was still impressive enough before we headed back inside. The food was eaten and we settled in to watch the premiere of The Soprano's. We missed having Nathan who was still at work but the we still enjoyed the violence and surprises of the first episode. At 10 pm we told Gary goodnight and Russ and I headed out to pick up a McFlurry for each of us at Mickey D's and then we caught the remainder of "Footballer's Wives" my new 10pm Sunday program. Russ then got ready for bed and I settled in watching DVR programming and preparing for my week ahead. Looking forward to it.

03/03-03/05 - Full Saturday and Dark Days Ahead

This Friday night there were no plans to go out so it was pretty much just stay home. Have a steak dinner, watch some television and go to bed at a reasonable hour (to have energy for tomorrow). I actually went to bed just after 1am on a Friday Night (the shame!) But it was a good rest and I was happy with it.

Moms called and so we headed out to Staten to pick her up and take a trip out to the SI Mall to pick up a PC. An AMD Processor, photo printer, flat screen monitor and plenty of RAM and hard drive space. Mom's should be set for a while. She can finally run XP on her home machine. We also made arrangements so that she would watch the little ones while Sis 1 and Sis 2 hung out with me on Saturday Night. I cleaned up at home and got ready for the night. Gigi picked up Ana and they made their way back to this side of BK. The Jimmy arrived at 10pm and hung out for a bit watching HD programming and sports. The girls arrived at 10:30 and I quickly showed Ana the Time Warner karaoke on the We On-Demand channel. We laughed along with MJ and "Beat It" and then prepared to step out into the night.

The night was breezy but not over cold but still icy from the previous weekend and we sung along with the radio as we headed into the city. We circled the block a few times and found a parking space on 9th Ave. We walked a few blocks down and one block over and headed on inside of the Roxy. We said hello to the coat check staff and headed inside to get the girls their first round of drinks at the open bar before midnight. The DJ of the eve of was Merritt who seemed relaxed and slowly built the energy of the night. None of the dancers were guys that I knew so I pretty much just hung out with the girls and watched Ana sing along with "We Belong Together" while we were hanging near the back bar. We still could not settle on a new bartender since Barker and Matt were gone but Russ and The Jimmy settled on the short guy in the front and I stayed with Cathy and Louis. I brought the girls to the upstairs Martini Lounge and Ana sung along with "I Want to Dance with Somebody" by Whitney. She became the fave of the crowd upstairs as he headed back up there a few times to take a break from the lights. I took my turn on the box to dance to "8 Letter vs Let the Music Use You Up" and after I was nice and warmed up I walked outside with the girls so Gigi could smoke a cig and we all cooled down a bit. We headed back to the dance floor and listened to the sounds of Electro and House that the DJ was putting out but I failed to hear anything I recognized and really made me want to get on the stage or box again. It ended up being a pretty good night as the non holiday weekend crowd did stay (there were no other parties that night at places like Crobar) and despite the fact I like me some DJ Merritt he decided to get experimental a bit too early for us this night. We headed home just after 4am and Russ was able to get us a taxi pretty quickly. We gave the driver directions and got home with no issues. Immediately after we arrived at home we went to the Murano and drove over to the 24 hour Mickey Ds and picked up some breakfast. Gigi didn't want anything to eat but the rest of us had breakfast sandwiches and ate hash browns on the way back home. I finished off the breakfast and the cleaned up and made ready for bed. Another Sat Nite handled and respectably closed.

Sunday morning I awoke to the sounds of the phone ringing and I answered to speak to Moms. The girls jumped out of bed quickly and made ready to head back to SI and the little ones. Gigi of course forgot the books she wanted to read AGAIN but the books are still here for the next time. The rest of the day was spent hanging out a bit before making a trip into the city while Russ picked up his gym bag from his office. After that we called into Dallas BBQ and we were able to actually stop outside, head in and pay for the food and walk out with the ready made meal. The roast chicken and ribs were all very good as we had not eaten at Dallas BBQ in a while. The rest of the night we spent watching DVR programming and bringing a close to the weekend in a nice quiet space.

Black Party in 3 weeks. I am so looking forward to it...

02/24 - 02/26 - Dinner with the Guys and the loss of two Roxy Friends

I left work and met Russ in the city. I waited inside Century 21, out of the cold while he came over from BK and he picked me up and drove me up to the Village where we were having dinner with the Softball Team. The dinner was at Cowgirl Hall of Fame on Hudson Street and we arrived first and waited at the bar for everyone else to arrive. After everyone came we hung out a bit and then went to our table and everyone had a great dinner. It wasn't too expensive and we had fun just seeing the guys for the first time since the end of last season. We finished up dinner and decided to head uptown and visit with Dave in Hellsea (Chelsea-Hells Kitchen). Those of us who had traveled uptown, Donnie, Hal, Mike, The Jimmy, Russ and I hung out at Dave's place with Dave and his San Diego friend before deciding to move the party out to the club. The Jimmy was expecting to go to Krash and we talked it up enough so that it seemed interesting enough to bring the whole crew. Dave left his friend behind but the rest of us took the two vehicles and showed up at Krash. Lisa was able to get us in without too much drama even though the boys still had to pay full price. Once inside though everyone was entertained to the fullest and DJ Superdave made sure to keep us dancing. Dave, Hal and I headed downstairs to see how the Reggaeton and R&B crowd was moving. After Dave said hello to one of his friends in attendance we escaped the smoky downstairs and returned to the rest of the gang upstairs. After splitting our time between the back bar with Barman Davey and the dancefloor where the DJ played my current fave "Don't Forget About Us". I promised both Dave and Hal that the next time Manny Lehman played at Roxy I would invite them out for a night of vocal house music. Russ and I stayed at Krash until around 3am when we told the rest of the gang goodnight and good luck. We picked up a late night snack at Mickey Ds and then flagged down a taxi to head back to BK.

The night of drinking so soon after eating my big burger dinner meant I did not feel like working out the next day but I did entertain my sister and my Mom when they came over to pick up their tax information. We ended up taking a road trip to Staples in Bklyn and then Staples in downtown NY to pick up printer Ink and a Fax-Scanner, Copier Printer for the office. We returned home and I was able to finish printing while Russ went back into the city for work. After Moms and my sister headed back to Staten Island I fell out for a few minutes before Russ returned and it was time for dinner delivery. I had my chicken caesar salad and then began the preparation for the evening. Once I was haircut, clean shaven and cleaned up I was ready to head out. Russ decided to stay in the for evening as he was still recovering from our Friday Night out but I was interested in seeing what the night had ahead of me for Saturday Night. So I headed down the block and walked into the Car Service and received my driver for the evening so I could head into the city.

I was dropped off on 18th Street and 10th street and headed over to Roxy to step onto the line and head inside. A few random people did not have their IDs and a few other guys needed directions to go smoke their cigs (in the front, in the cold). I headed inside and was surprised at how not full the place was at 12:15. The $1 drink bar before midnight was not enough to pull in the boys (the same lushes get all the drinks) and I made 2 circuits of the place trying to find my two bartenders. (Alas, tragedy had struck, with management issues causing both of my barguys Barker and Matt to be let go, I hope they can bring them back somehow before the summer). Anyway I settled on mistress Cathy as my bartender for the eve and dodged the 10 Cane Rum pushers to get my drink on. DJ Paulo was spinning for the crowd this eve but it seemed that he was still keeping his best beats for later on in the night. The crowd was not willing to dance until they heard the best beats. It was some kind of mexican standoff with no one having a really good time. I said hi to Steve and his bud and also hung out with the usual crowd in attendance but it wasn't until after 1:30 am that I felt the energy was sufficient enough to go and dance on the speaker in the asian section and then stay on the speaker and go shirtless for the DJ Paulo Mix of "My Humps". The crowd ate it up and I was happier with the turnout despite the late start. Even dancer Dave commented on the lax crowd but enjoyed the slowly filling place as it was really busy around 2:30. But the crowd did not seem to want to stay. I liked the tribal beats and energy music myself and even went on the stage and danced on the stage solo while the light guy Mitch kept the lights in the place out. Just me and my lit up hands on stage until I felt the crowd had gotten the point and I stepped away to get myself something else to drink (gatorade or red-bull). Of course the crazy glowstick guy in black took over the stage space but by then the crowd seemed to have found something else interesting to do and the place began to lose coherence. By 4am the crowd seemed restless and so the DJ teased us with bits of music mixed in with tribal beats from songs we recognized and I was already on the speaker over muscle beach when I stepped down crossed over to the speaker near the door and awaited the song to come. I did my final dance to "Someone to Hold" fully on beat and hands ignited and stepped down and returned to coat check to reclaim my wrap and head home. Even the coat check made a point to tell me that a lot of people had left early and it ended up being a kind of off night. I still enjoyed and looked forward to the next time. I flagged down a taxi on Tenth avenue and got the driver to bring me back to BK with no issues. I paid for my ride an headed upstairs, another night over and under wraps.

Sunday I just hung out inside watching TV and newswires until it as time to pick up dinner from KFC. Thank goodness the Olympics were over and I would start having more programming choices soon. DVR programming and movies before going to sleep. A weekend of change, surprises and new directions. And March has not even started yet.