04/21-04/23 - Wet Weekend, Family Fun and Friends till the End

I think I have missed the point of this opportunity. I have tried to keep my blog all happiness and spunk and I have not used it as the introspective piece that it should be. Very vacuous, very empty and not much substance. I think I will still keep the focus on my weekend and leave the rest of my lift to my other blogs. But I will be more honest about how I feel and what is really going on.

The weekend had much rain and darkness incoming so I really did not stress any Friday Night plans. Besides my brother wanted to come over and hang so I was all for the family time and opportunity to finally give him his Tetris game for the DS. After much competition and finding we both had our Tetris specialties we took a break and watched the season finale of the Teen Titans that Ian had missed. We then watched the first two episodes of "Yo Momma" on MTV (The DVR is a wonderful thing) It also finally let me clear those episodes off of the DVR. The late hour finally called and I let Ian go to bed watching TV in the 2nd BR and I went to bed myself. Russ had already gone to bed and commented on hearing me at 2am yelling at my DS as I played "Brain Age". I was able to get in a good nights sleep and wake up hale and hearty.

Saturday we ordered in breakfast from the bagel place, Ian and I had bacon and egg bagels and Russ had his usual repast. Ian had to return to Westchester and left midafternoon to arrive home around 6pm (he paged me on the phone to let me know of his arrival). I decided that my 3 gym visits through the week were enough and skipped the gym for my Saturday afternoon and just watched some more DVR programming and caught up on my music online. Lunch was picked up at KFC and munched on before I caught up on my Beatport and iTunes before falling asleep in the 2nd bedroom as I do seem to always get tired viewing multiple song lists in the late afternoon. I awoke 2½ hrs later and turned down the delivery dinner so I could prepare for my night out. Haircut, cleaned up and all set to go we awaited the arrival of The Jimmy who was a little late as he had to clean up the drain in his driveway to make sure his downstairs did not get flooded. He was only 20 min. late and we all said our hellos and then went goodbye and out into the rain. The ride in was very quick due to my bringing along my Nintendo DS and playing Tetris DS until we pulled into the parking spot. Once again the convenient space on 20th street and then walked down the street to the club.

We ducked under the awning and out of the rain and said hello to doorman Derek before heading inside of Roxy. Cashier and then coat check and then we were all inside and ready to party. Louis was at the back bar this night so we waited for him to return from the his errands before we were able to order our first round of drinks for the night. I was back on my party horse and doing my best to personify all that is good about the party and made sure to be there for all of my friends. Stephanie was celebrating her b'day so I made sure to get her a birthday cocktail (my very own Absolut Mandarin and Red Bull). Fresh from hanging with his parental units, Duane got in his time with the laser and met some new friends and I also did some work on finding out what his type was (asking pointed questions and also letting him know more about me as well). He started out with a red bull and moved on to the Coronas and we split out time between the two different sides of the front bar. He made me feel very special when he took out a moment in the midst of all of the party to tell me he was happy to know me as a friend and thought that I was very genuine. Especially since I am in the midst of finding myself I was happy that my "joie de vivre" was showing through and on my sleeve. My one slightly sad point of the eve was saying goodbye to Dave who was on to greener pastures after his times dancing at Roxy and was going to be performing in New England for a few months. I gave him a gift CD of "Diva Spring" as a going away gift and wished him well. I also hung out with Erica for a bit and we traded drinks and gifted her with the lounge CD "Lighter Dayze" before she left around 3am with her boyfriend. Russ and The Jimmy also seemed to be having a good time but I was sure to bring us all back some water and kept myself well setup with the Gatorade and Red Bull between drinks. Of course DJ Manny Lehman was there for us all the way through with one of the best Roxy sets he has layed on us in a while. Manny played everything from bookends of Mariah (We Belong Together at 12:40 and final song of Don't for Forget About Us at 4:40), MJB (Be Without You), Rihanna (SOS), Danny Tenaglia (Dibiza), 8 Letters vs Let the Music Use You Up, Pink (Stupid Girls), Donna Summer (Power of Love), Offer Nissim (On My Own), and Suzanne Palmer (Offer Nissim Mix of Fascinated). Despite people not moving from sitting on the front of boxes (weirdo tourists) I still made do with the available space and put on a good show for the friendlies. Lights flying from the stage to the usual boxes I felt the night was great all the way through. It was even fun to tell Russ at one point the only song that the DJ had not played was the one that was my FINAL song of the night before we bid good night to the boys and headed out into the night. The rain made it a little more desperate to pick up a taxi and Russ was happy for the baseball cap and me for my black rubber raincoat as we spent a few minutes to flag down a taxi on 9th ave. Once a driver finally pulled over for our very wet selves we were happy to kick back and finally head home and out of the wet. The fast and furious four hours under wraps, I was happy with my Saturday night.

Sunday was spent relaxing and hanging at home before it was time to head out with Russ and handle some legal issues up in the Bronx. While Russ headed inside I stayed in the car and got in touch with my DS playing Tetris Touch and found I enjoyed the touch version just as much as the other versions on the cartridge. Before too long Russ returned with a cruller from Dunkin Donuts that I found too much after a few bites. Back home I set out to cook dinner and made one of my favorite dishes of fried chicken and macaroni salad with the "golden" can of tuna. The dinner was great and we sat back and watched the Sopranos for the silent NY hour before heading out and picking up our Sunday night treat of McFlurries at Mickey D's. The night came to a close with watching DVR programming of "Charmed" and "Ghost in a Shell 2nd Gig".

The weekend as always went too fast but that just means the next one comes up just as fast as well. As I get older I find the days run together so I look at the small moments and want to add them up so the whole is better than the individual parts. I don't think I have done all that I can do and I have GOT to be better with my attitude and stop waiting for my life to happen. I seem to do very badly with long rang plans but short range plans work out just great for me so breaking up my big tasks into small manageable parts is what I am now focused on doing. So much to do and no way to do it all is not a problem if I stop wasting time on stupid things and make sure I engage in at least one if not more things daily that work toward my goals of being self-sufficient, and able to have the means to help my friends and my family no matter what may come. I have always believed that if you can imagine the worst that can happen you can prepare for it and I am happy to say that despite many accidents the worst has not happened yet (or at least not the totally unexpected).

Future Author, Future DJ, Future Entertainer and center ring attraction. If I put my mind to it I know I can do all that I need to do and the wants and desires will surely fall into place. Beauty within and I will definitely enjoy beauty in the rest of my life as well. Remember, I am a force to be reckoned with, and a good one too. : )

4/14-4/16 - Day in the Sun and then the Night Comes (and the Music Stops too)

Friday I stayed in. No plans, no sickness, no club closures just staying in and resting up for a full Saturday.

Saturday I awoke and ran through the Fiber regimen and then had breakfast. At 12:20 we headed out of the house and made our
way to Randalls island for Softball Practice. We got to the fields an hour early so we ended up waiting around for an hour before everyone
else showed up. The weather was great and the sky though full of clouds had plenty of blue and not too much wind either. Our practice time actually started at 2:30. I made sure to load up at the blue truck that came through the park and picked up water, Gatorade and a diet coca-cola. I also had a hot dog and got a hamburger for Russ. The practice lasted until 4pm and everyone was warmed up nicely especially the 3 newest from the draft, Brook, Barbara and V. We had a little drama making sure everyone had rides back off the island but everything was sorted out shortly and we were headed back into the city and home to BK. We picked up an early dinner at Wendy's and after the long wait on the pick-up line we headed home ate dinner and rested up. I created a Diva Mix from the last 3 Dance Mix CDs I had made and then got myself ready with the haircut, clean up and dressing in the newest Akademiks shirt, red and white. The Jimmy arrived at the house at 10:30 and we all watched sports highlights while I made sure I had not forgotten any of the gift CDs and dressed warm enough to head out.

I played Tetris DS once again on the way into the city and happily sat in the back seat and waited after we found parking on 19th street. I then finally lost my vs. game and headed inside at 11:47 and got on the line in front. After a short flash of drama with people who thought I was cutting, Doorman Derek let me in after saying Hi and I headed inside to be wrist banded and get my jacket checked. The girl in coatcheck got my Street Classic CD as a gift and held onto my coat for me as I headed inside. The guys took 20 minutes before they showed up but I could understand the place might have been a little hectic out front. Tonight the Roxy had DJ Brett Henrichsen who had already proven himself able to bring in the crowds. Just 3 weeks ago he had been here and showed the crowd a good time. I was still waiting to see what he would do for the crowd this eve. My first distraction was this totally drunk guy in a pink shirt who when approached by the bar back sat down on the couch and refused to leave. He returned later at the front bar near the door after having fell down the stairs at the front. John Blair even helped him off the floor and his so called "friend" instead of helping mr. pink drunk out he took him upstairs to the Crystal Room with the pop DJ. Soon afterwards he was back downstairs harassing Dave who was dancing on the front bar. I moved myself to block his forward progress and he turned and went up stairs next to the dance floor and stood looking out over the dance floor from the back of one of the lounge couches, with his face doing various contortions as if he was having a fit. I told a passing security guard who ended up chasing pink drunk to the back of the club and this time he did not return to sully our poor eyes and sensitivities. I made sure Russ and the Jimmy had their drinks and I then said hello to my friends Duane and Joseph who had not hung out with us since February. Duane even got a gift CD of my new Diva Mix since both Hal and Dave were not able to make it and I had a gift to give. We were all having fun until for some reason the music cut off for 10 seconds. The music would mysteriously jump or skip 3 more times over the course of the night and I was not sure if the cause was faulty equipment or too many visitors to the DJ booth. With the DJ trying hard to sound different than he had 3 weeks before I found his music choices very still constrained by the playing of himself and DJ Escape over the previous two weeks. The boys did enjoy Black Eyed Peas and "My Humps" but even I was surprised to hear "Stroke, the Percussion Mix" again and I am sure that even Manny will play it next week since it is on his "Freedom" album. He had already played Mariah Carey and "Say Something" and followed that up an hour or so later and played MC and "We Belong Together" but I sorely missed my Tony Moran mix of "Don't Forget..." but that's just me. I was happy with the night overall but hated the music skipping more than once (and even getting cut off for 15 seconds) and also except for Black Eyed Peas there was no other peaks to the night. A whole lot of unknown songs thrown on to be different and stuff that was just remixes of stuff we already heard (like Dreamer '06) Despite starting late (around 12:25 when the guys got inside) but I still was able to get my drink on, hang with all my friends (despite having to turn down a drink with Erica because I was waiting for the boys) and get my dance on from the box in the Asian section to the stage but I did not get to do my good night dance on the speaker near the door. We turned in early for once, leaving just after 4am and after retrieving my coat and picking up mags and invites outside we were on 9th ave and flagging down a taxi. The ride home was quick and easy and after much digging for funds we were paid up and heading upstairs to catch some sleep. Another Saturday Night under wraps.

Sunday was pretty laid back with watching DVR programming and movies on HD and contemplating my weekend and the coming summer. Russ was at his accountant wrapping up before all is due. I fell asleep around 6pm and woke up before the Sopranos and ate my delivery dinner of chicken teriyaki from Sushi Yama. The chicken was plentiful but the sauce was very generic and I only ate half of the food. The Sopranos was OK but after making a trip out at 10pm to Pathmark to pick up juice and soda, Mickey Ds to pick up 2 Mcflurry and then the final stop at Neergard Pharmacy to pick up the Icy Hot patches for Russ to use when he went to bed. The final part of the night for me was spent drinking Tea, eating Rice Krispies and watching Cartoon Network and episodes of Charmed from TNT HD. I was happy with the weekend overall but no real peaks and the weekend is over so soon. Back to work. We await the next coming.

04/07-04/09 - Closure and Return of the Escape

Friday was spent at home, watching DVR programming and resting up (all bars closed anyway). I slept in on Saturday Morning and woke up had the juice and the breakfast and went to the gym on. After the workout we headed over to Century 21 to pick up gifts for the fam in NJ. The wrapping of the gifts I felt was unnecessary but Russ and I waited until both gifts were fully prepared and then headed back to BK. I spent the remainder of the afternoon and early eve finishing the setup of not one but 2 CDs (Storm X and Lighter Dayze) and then cleaned up to prepare to go out. Shaved, Showered and shoved out the door we rode into the city with The Jimmy. I played Tetris DS on the way into the city and whiled away the time in our parking spot on West St. with my new travel choice.

I headed over to the club about 11:45 to walk in before it got too hectic. Good thing too because the boys told me the line got out of hand before they were able to get in. I gave my bartender Louis my latest Trance CD (Technical Ice 2) and began my evening with the sounds of DJ Escape. The
Roxy had not heard him spin in quite a while and I was interested in seeing what he would do. His specialty is playing two songs at once that you do not expect to hear together. Around 12:35 a group of girls made their way inside with their own camera crew and two moving light sources (like Chinese light globes) held overhead as they parted the crowd. They went first to the DJ booth, said hi and then headed onto the stage and danced for a song before heading back to the DJ booth and then out of the club. Interesting, but not enough to make me get off of my speaker watching the whole episode from the asian section. Over the course of the night we heard quite a few new tunes as well as some beats we just could not wait to hear. From "Say Something by Mariah Carey", songs by Mad8 and Danny Tenaglia. I made sure to stay well hydrated throughout, say hi to Thomas, Sean and my other friends and even cool off outside when I felt the dancing got me a little heated. I stayed until the final dance on the speaker that lasted until 4:45pm and then jumped down past one of my stalkers from Splash, got the attention of Russ and we retrieved my coat from the coatcheck and we headed home in our friendly neighborhood 9th Ave Taxicab. Another night all wrapped up.

Sunday I got up, did the fiber regimen and then had delivery breakfast. We hung out for a bit before 2pm and then headed over to NJ and the dual B'day celebration for Emily and Sylvia. The traffic was surprisingly light and we made very good time, arriving in about 45 minutes. Gifts in hand we made our way inside and said hello to everyone. I helped them with burning some wedding photos of Emily's friend onto a gift-ready CD and then it was about time for our meal. I took the wine despite the fact I was already alcohol full from the night before (but I spilled half the glass during our meal so I really didn't have the whole thing anyway). That will teach me to demonstrate a softball pitch while at the table. But anyway minor disasters aside the food was very good (stuffed pork chops), and we settled into conversations about the movies we had seen over the past few months. Many movies and personal conversations later we said goodnight around 7 and headed back to BK. The traffic was only slightly heavier than when we came out and we got back home post haste. I fell asleep almost immediately but woke up to watch The Sopranos and put Footballer's Wives on the DVR to watch later in the week. The rest of the night was spent resting some more until bedtime and I was ready for another week at work. (Calgon Take Me Away).

Invited some friends out for next weekend and will see what occurs for my next Saturday will bring. Keep it coming.

03/31-04/02 - So Low and back again and Saving the Day

Friday was bad. I thought Russ was sick on Thursday and he was but my own experience was the icing on that cake. It kind of snuck up on me.
The Fiber and all that water in the Dr Natura supplements meant my system let the food go a long way and had relatively little to impede its progress until it had gotten much farther in the digestive process. I ate no solid food on Friday and was still sick beyond all that was reasonable. I had to leave work early, around 1pm and got home and promptly stayed glued to the coach in total discomfort and melancholy until deep into the night. I could not get comfortable, could not stand the smell or sight of food and would upchuck even if all I drank was water. By the time 1am rolled around I was finally able to eat cookies and milk before bed but the cup of tea that was supposed to get my stomach moving along moved it too much and it was back to the bathroom but I was able to recover enough to have a drink of water and then go to bed safe in the knowledge that tomorrow was another day.

Saturday I was able to eat breakfast and then even go to the gym in the afternoon. Russ had some errands to run and picked me up at the gym and brought us back to BK where we both had Caesar salad for dinner from Friends Cafe. I knew that I was recovering from being ill but instead of just thanking the heavens for my good fortune I decided it was time to celebrate my wellness and go out. I cut my hair and got all cleaned up to head out Saturday Night. Their had been police sponsored closures of several places in Chelsea on Friday Night but the Rox was not one of them. I dressed in the blue pants, white Akademiks shirt with blue trim and the NYPD cap. The Jimmy arrived at the house at 10:35 and we all hung out for a bit watching TV and discussing the Final Four before we headed out at 11:05.

We cruised into the city and made it across the Bklyn Bridge and over to the West side with no stress. We even found parking a soon as we turned onto 19th street. I let them converse while I read my Laurell K Hamilton Novell (Incubus Dreams) I was so into the book that the guys had to call me when they walked away from the car and headed down the street. I caught up quickly and we made our way down to the front of the club. Doorman Derek waved us in and we headed on inside of Roxy. Armbands once again and onto the cashier and coatcheck (just for me, Russ and the Jimmy were going with shirts tonight). I then headed inside to the already busy inside. For some reason everyone seemed to have come out earlier than usual and there were already around 25 people dancing on the dancefloor that was usually empty before midnight. I caught up with Barman Louis at the back bar and then after retrieving the guys I ! had to wait until he had returned from having dinner. It was no biggie however and the night was still young. The DJ for the eve was Chad Jack who got the crowd into the beats with a nice energetic blend of classic vocals and brought us into the more current vocals with a lot of interesting twists thrown in. Instead of letting the beats try too hard he caught the crowd with the well known vocals and had them hooked by the time the meat of the music was thrown in and we were dancing to music that segued right into the tried and true. I was already on the speaker in the asian section, having chased over some guy who was just up there standing while he drank his drink, and heard the first strains of Mary J and "Be Without You" when the DJ mixed in the unexpected but perfectly blended "Stand Up" from Thunderpuss w/ Latanza Waters ("Throw Your Hands in the Air" cross mixed with "Everybody put your Hands up"). The crowd ju! st ate it up and since it was 1am I knew it was time to finally light my hands and just dance over the crowd with everyone putting their hands up like they were supposed to. By the time I finally stepped off of the speaker around 10 min later I was very warm and needed to take a break near the front doors with the guys. I stood out there and chatted for a minute and then it was back over to the bar. The armbands meant I could not take the drinks away from the bar and had to wait for Russ and the Jimmy to show up to claim their glasses. No biggie tho since the back bar was busy but not full like the front bar. I proceeded to continue with my night, with high energy and much fun despite the drink cut off at 3am-4am for Daylight Savings Time. Despite the early drink cutoff I still had 4 drinks and after the last I climbed onto the speaker around 4:30 and danced until after 5am (really 4am on my body clock) but the long wait was worth it as I was able to due a full choreagraph routine when I know the song to &qu! ot;8 Letters". I stepped down from the box, waved over to Russ and headed out to coatcheck to retrieve my rap. We headed outside and Russ flagged down a taxi on 9th ave and we headed home to Bklyn. No problems with the ride and we got home nice and fast. Another Saturday Night nicely done.

Sunday afternoon (after 12) I awoke to delivery breakfast and we proceeded to find out that I need vacuum cleaner bags. I decided to pick them up during the week after work. I settled into the afternoon and watrched TV with Russ until it was lunchtime when we headed out to Wendy's and picked up a Double for each of us. We headed back home and we watched more late day programming until the energy I expended had caught up with me and I passed out. I slept on the couch until after 8:30 and woke up to watch "The Soprano's". After that episode was over I recorded "Footballer's Wives" and we headed out to pick up ice cream at Mickey D's. When that didn't work out because the ice cream machine was broken we headed over to 9th Street and Baskin Robbins and got ourselves some double scoops. Back home we watched Footballer's wives and then I caught up on some DVR programming before finall! y calling it a night and turning in my Sunday.

I hope I never get food poisoning like that again, but at least the fairly clean colon means the stress of it did not last except for one day. I am still feeling nicely energetic and have a lot to look forward to this summer. I will endeavor to due my part to guarantee its success. We shall see.