Friday, September 23, 2005

Sweat Bands and Leg Warmers

Cool Thing About New York City # 5,360: www.ricetoriches.com Danny and I went there last night for dessert and it is FABULOUS. Rice pudding has always been one of those foods that I could either take or leave, but this stuff is GOOD. I got two flavors – Chocolate Chip and Sex, Drugs, and Rocky Road. Go there. Go now!

Let’s see, I have rejoined Netflix, one of the top 5 best things in the entire world. We watched Born Into Brothels last night, and it was very moving. I’ve got the 3rd disc in the series of Dead Like Me coming tomorrow, so I’ll be getting my Netflix on this weekend for sure.

In about 20 minutes, I will hopefully be getting a membership at Bally’s (I refuse to call it by its full name, “Bally’s Total Fitness” because it is lame…much like calling Ross, “Ross – Dress For Less.” Lame.). It is from this day forward that I will embark on my goal to be all “in shape” and shit. I can’t wait. Danny is coming with me and hopefully he can use his big muscles to convince them to give me a good deal.

Doing all sorts of fun stuff this weekend, so I’ll fill you in, dear blog, when I return.

Adios!

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

pickled liver.

When I woke up on Sunday morning, my liver kicked me in the face and said, “What have I ever done to you?”

I learned something this weekend. As wonderful as New York City is, a drunken house party is almost exactly the same in Arlington, VA as it is in Brooklyn, NY.

Considering that I spent entirely too much money last week at bars watching Christian rappers, a band called “Holy Fuck,” and drinking tequila shots, it was decided by Andrea, AMC and me, that when we got together on Saturday night, we’d just hang out at my apartment, play a little Cranium, and drink some wine. Sounds like fun, huh? Oh my goodness. Mothers, cover your children’s eyes, ‘cuz they wasn’t no Cranium played at my house Saturday night. Matt and I began drinking around 8:00pm, in anticipation of a 9:30pm arrival of my two friends. Well, the girls didn’t get to our apartment until 10:30 or so, and when they arrived, they were already sloshed and had brought another 7 people with them. So, for future reference, the recipe for an impromptu, drunk-ass dance party at 3:00am: 9 drunk people, add 3 bottles of wine (1 decent, 2 GOD AWFUL), vodka and cream soda, Coronas, Heineken, and little girlie wine coolers. Stir.

It was a blasty-blast. We blasted Missy Elliot (we are the only occupied apartment in the building), poured drinks into people’s mouths while they were lying upside down on the couch, and discovered that Andrea may have the superpower that all women wish they had: the ability to turn a gay man straight, if only for one night.

Needless to say, Sunday morning was not as much fun. I was hungover until at least 4pm Sunday. The headache dissipated just in time for me to play my first softball game of the season. I got two base hits, none of which resulted in a run, and we lost 24-6. Ouch. I attribute this loss solely to the fact that at the last minute, they decided to name our team “The Wonderbats” rather than the significantly cooler, “Vote for Pedro.”

Also, Friday night, Danny took me out on a date! I think it’s really sweet that he still occasionally takes me out, even though we’ve been dating for a while and see each other all the time. We went to dinner at this GREAT Mexican restaurant with an outdoor patio and then saw “The 40 Year Old Virgin,” which was freaking hilarious.

In two weeks, Danny and I will fly to Ft. Lauderdale to attend his grandmother’s 90th birthday party. Let’s hope she doesn’t have a heart attack when she meets her grandson’s gentile girlfriend. Oy!

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

I'm back.

I’m back, I’m tan, and I’ve got a place to live.

It doesn’t get any better than that.

I’ve been on vacation at the Outer Banks, N.C. for the last week with the Eiswerths and the NYC crowd. It was great. The weather was amazing, 80 degrees and sunny almost every single day. There was sailing and kayaking and drinking before noon. We cleaned the local grocery store out of their stock of Yuengling. That’s what I call a successful vacation. Unfortunately, the rest of the vacationers had to evacuate the island because of Hurricane Ophelia. Sucks.

So now I’m back in NYC and detoxing, getting back into the groove of things. I am fully moved into my new apartment with Matt, and I LOVE IT. The neighborhood is a bit sketchy (less though, I think, than the place I was living before), but the apartment is beautiful. Newly renovated, hardwood floors, clean walls, minimalist furniture, lots of closet space, and a room that is almost 3 times the size of my old room in Ghetto, Brooklyn. There’s a great taco place down the street which doubles as an all-night diner, and a kick-ass place to get a slice (something I couldn’t find in my old neighborhood). I’ve had a few guys do the whole cat calling, “hey sweetie” thing as I walk down the street, but other than that, it’s not so bad. We’re getting cable soon and internet, and it’s fabulous.

Let’s see, what else is going on in fabulous New York City?

This weekend, some girls from work and I are going to a burlesque show at The Slipper Room. I can’t wait.

Tonight, I’m going with these same girls to Pianos to see a band and drink free beer. FREE BEER!

And this coming Sunday, ladies and gentlemen, my softball team, VOTE FOR PEDRO, will be playing our first game. Come one, come all, come see Colleen shame her former softball training by throwing like a girl.

Also, and most importantly, Sunday morning when I woke up and walked outside, I got that first hint that it is almost autumn in New York. Crappy movie, great time to be in this city.

Thursday, September 01, 2005

Frightening.

Some tragedies bring out the best in human nature, and some bring out the worst. Unfortunately, it looks like this one is the latter.

I’m getting a sadly familiar feeling in my stomach. For at least a few days after 9/11, I had this strange numb feeling and my mind had a very hard time wrapping itself around the tragedy that had occurred. I’m getting that feeling again about what’s going on with Katrina right now. To read the reports and see the news coverage, I can’t even imagine what it must be like down there right now. The idea that some officials were attempting to defy the Constitution of the United States and declare Marshal Law is what really drove it home for me. It’s not because I think that they shouldn’t, it’s just that the situation has indeed reached a critical point when law enforcement suggests the idea of Marshall Law as a viable solution to the problem.

My coworker has friends in New Orleans who just were evacuated today and wrote her an email from Baton Rouge. They said that the situation in the Superdome is worse than people think…that there have been reports of rapes and people getting shot in the head. They also say that the looting and lawlessness are reaching a point where large gangs of men are walking through neighborhoods in broad daylight, casing houses by simply looking in the windows while the people are inside looking back. They then are coming back at night and robbing those houses. Who is going to stop them? These friends of hers also said that they guess that if the National Guard doesn’t show up en masse by this evening, the violence will reach new heights as those robberies continue.