Friday Night I got home and enjoyed delivery dinner from Friends Cafe, Russ decided on the Steak, I had the Pot Roast myself. Nice juicy chunks of meat, not too greasy or undercooked. I would dip them in the mashed potatoes and enjoyed my dinner nicely. Afterwards I finished up setting up my CDs to give out later that night and moved on to cleanup. After the haircut and shower were over I checked to see if Russ was ready and after finishing up the last CD printout we headed down to the Murano and took off for the city. The night was particularly balmy with no jacket required. We headed up Hudson street and dodged all of the Cinco de Mayo revelers and made our way up to eight ave. Russ found a spot just 2 blocks up from the club and we parked and made our way over to the bar. Gym was nice and full with plenty of people watching the NBA playoffs, MLB games for NY teams and UFC cage match playback on the screen in the rear. I said hello to the bartender in the front and moved through the crowd inside before saying hello to a few friends inside. Ernesto even stopped by briefly and said hello before him and his posse headed back out to Long Island. I made my way to the back and said hello to DJ Smoky and gave him the "Lighter Dayze" lounge mix along with the "Pop and Ride". Ty wasn't working tonight so one or our other friends got a gift CD of R&B/Rap music. We stayed until around 1:20am and after telling everyone good night we headed back to BK to rest up for the next day.

I had to wake up early, just before 8am so I could be out of the house and arrive at my bus over in Flatbush, BK on time. Russ had a late afternoon game so he was able to sleep in a little longer. I walked down to the taxi stand and was directed right back outside so that I could get into a white livery car that the driver had just finished getting cleaned. I had printed out directions just in case but after telling the driver the cross streets he had a pretty good idea. He brought me over by way of Atlantic Ave but he had driven down too many streets and had to come back like 4 blocks after turning onto the right street. We pulled over not too far from where the bus was and I said hello to Shamika's Aunts and a few others shortly before Shamika arrived herself. We took a short trip to the store to pick up some orange juice before we all boarded the bus and waited a few minutes before Lynda arrived. After all of the supplies were packed into the bus overheads and the front seats and everyone was on board we were on our way. We drove through Flatbush and then Borough Park and I watched all of the Jewish men and women walking out in the streets in their black finery. Before the speed of the bus picked up too much they handed out food and juice to all on board and everyone got their breakfast underway before we were even on the highway. We made good time until we got onto the BQE before the Manhattan Bridge and drove in moderate traffic until we passed the Battery Tunnel which put us into a nice little plug of cars that all appeared to be heading out towards Staten Island. After we got to Staten Island we made pretty good time and headed over the Outerbridge Crossing and into NJ and then the Garden State Pkwy before heading down the road deep into NJ and the shore points. The in bus movie for the trip down was "Madea's Family Reunion" The movie was good despite the DVD being a bootleg which had its own laugh track and people getting up and walking in front of the screen. I liked the movie and it put me in a good mood before we arrived in Atlantic City. We arrived and disembarked from the bus at 12:25pm and I met up with Shamika, her cousins and friend and the five of us headed over towards the outdoor mall and shopping strip not too far away. The shopping jaunt ended up being not as fun as we originally had expected as none of us found too much to get excited over and did not buy too much (which might be a good thing, but anyway). We all did like the guess store and I ended up picking up a T-Shirt to wear the following weekend. With all of us with bags in hand from the various shoe stores, Sephora and Guess we headed over to Ruby Tuesday to have ourselves a nice sit down lunch. After a 20 minute wait for a table we ordered our food and waited another 20 minutes before it arrived. When it did come the food was actually very good and we were all happy with our meals. We commented on the oddities in the various pictures as well as the fact the bill was automatically split up by seat so we did not all have to guess what we needed to pay. The meal was not that expensive and was a nice size for the individual dishes we had ordered (I had a bacon cheeseburger that was very good). From salads to chicken everyone enjoyed what they ordered. After that was over we headed back to the Sands casino and after some problems with using our cards we gambled away our various $20 in different machines. I won $13 at first but quickly spent it back in the machine. After that was over I found a seat to sit outside for a bit and then went to the CVS and picked up a Milky Way candy bar to eat when I got back on the bus. I then waited for a bit with the old people in the lounge before our bus finally came up. Everyone piled in pretty easily and we were underway after a much shorter wait then when we started out and we were rolling out and on the way back to NYC. The on bus movie on the way back was "Scarface" which was quite a change from the movie on the way down but since no one else complained I guess it was OK. The movie was a little loud though so I kept on waking up when someone was shot or a particularly loud argument broke out on screen. After the movie was over we sat in traffic in Staten Island for a bit heading into the city and then we were in Brooklyn and quickly back to the neighborhood we started in. After we all got off of the bus the 5 of us in our little shopping clique walked down to the corner and waited for a bus for a bit before the first bus came the one girl riding by bus home said goodnight and headed home. The rest of us flagged down a taxi in the sudden night chill to take us over to Shamika's neighborhood several blocks away. The ride was not too smooshed despite the 5 people in the car and we had a nice cab driver. After Shamika and the girls got out and said good night I asked the driver to take me back over to Park Slope, He drove down Vanderbilt and then over to Grand Army Plaza and down Prospect Park West to get over to my neck of the woods but we made good time and I was out of the car and saying thanks after just a $15 dollar cab ride. I was upstairs and in the house by 10:15. Russ was resting but I cleaned myself and re-outfitted as he called and made sure that the Jimmy was also going out and we hung out for a bit before Jimmy came around 10:45pm. We headed out at 11:10pm and made our way into the city.

No Nintendo DS for me this night as I had killed the battery in all of my Tetris play earlier in the day. The ride wasn't that bad and we found a parking spot over on 20th St. and after some backing up into another spot we were ready to head out.

I walked down to the Roxy and waited a brief moment on the short line before heading inside. I said hello to doorman Derek and then headed inside to the cashier and coatcheck. I gave the girl at coatcheck my latest "Listen 2 The Street" R&B mix and took the rest of the CDs inside to be handed out shortly. I did not want to have to carry them all night so I walked up to the DJ booth and got Mitch Amtrak's attention and he came down and opened the door. I told him the top CD was a gift for him and the other 3 were for DJ Chad Jack. He seemed a little reluctant at first like I was handing out devil music CDs but he said thanks and took them back inside the booth and I headed to the back bar with barman Louis. We exhanged hellos and talked for a bit before I brough back Russ and the Jimmy to get their drinks. We started the eve with the same mood as always with a lot of expectation and I liked the energy and familiarity of the beats as we heard the very familiar "The Lover That You Are" which had been out 10 yrs ago but was still appropriate with the right beat behind it. The music moved on and we moved around the club. I stopped and talked with Sean and Rick for a while and discussed where they were from and how long they had been in NYC before telling the same about myself. I decided not to monopolize their time before heading to the front and bumping into T.J. at the front bar. He picked up a bottle water for me and I went out to dance with the crowd. I was on the dance floor for a bit with Russ, the Jimmy the rest of the dancefloor crowd before I danced on the stage for "Dibiza". As usual Chad did some great preparations and gave us a very good set and kept the crowd dancing and feeling the groove. The electro heavy beats were held together than the last few sets by Merritt and had enough familiar tunes thrown in that we were happy and I stayed until 4:30am and danced my last dance on the box near the front bar to "Someone to Hold". The extended version was unnecessary as it has a long slow interlude in the middle but I hoped my gift CDs give him some new musical ideas for the next time he visited. I even had given out my new business cards with my email address on them and not just the phone #s and blog address. We said goodnight to the Jimmy and I picked up my coat at coat check and headed out into the night. Having picked up the magazines the previous night at Gym Bar I was able to just head out, pick up random flyers from the glad hand guys and get Russ to flag us down a taxi on 10th Ave. The ride home was quick and uneventful. Goodnight Saturday Night.

Sunday I woke up around 12pm and got my delivery breakfast and began to clean house. Rug vacuumed and bathroom cleaned I sat down and watched some tv and web surfed. Russ and I watched NBA Playoff games before we got our call from Cherie telling us she would be over soon. Cherie arrived around 3:30 and we hugged hello and then sat on the couch and talked about all the stuff we needed to catch up on since we had seen her last. She was looking nice and big entering her 7th Month of baby carrying but she was looking nice and maternal and looking forward to July when it would be over. We headed out for dinner around 5;30 and Russ called ahead before we picked up our dinner at The Good Fork. I stuck with the burger while he picked up something else. Cherie wanted chinese food so we stopped at Uncle Liao's on the way home. Once back inside we all chowed down and Cherie enjoyed the first good chinese food she's had since she moved to her new neighborhood. She took the leftovers home with her along with the food we had picked up at Pathmark and we said our good nights before she left and headed back home. I chilled out for a bit and took a short nap before watching the Sopranos. The episode was good but not great and afterwards Russ cleaned up some more before heading to bed. I watched DVR programming and had a nice big bowl of rice krispies watching TV before turning in myself before it got too late. Always hate starting off the week in a sleep deficit.

I was able to hangout and meet some nice new people while with Shamika. Had fun telling jokes and seeing the sights while in AC. I also was able to navigate my way back home afterwards and had plenty of energy to hang out and do the usual do. I am feeling a little more upbeat despite the struggles with allergy season and have big plans for the rest of the year. Stresses at work mean that I am really going to have to get serious on either writing my novel or starting up my DJ gig. What to do, what to do. Anyway keep up the good work and do something serious though not work related every day. All is as it should be. But not as good as it could be. We'll see.

Another full weekend to look forward to next week and a good time will be had by all.