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.

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.