Happy Thanksgiving Gluttony!

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!! And may you gorge yourselves to heart's content on turkey, football, and whatever beverages you choose! I'll be gone on a roadtrip until probably Sunday, which might result in some adventures in trying to get around the flooding in central Texas.

Random Notes:

Sunday Night's Adventure was rather tame, involving (hopefully) talking my friend Robyn out of a stupid move. This is the Robyn from the Going Away Party that failed a couple of posts ago. The short story is that she is/was planning on making a big sacrifice for an even worse on/off/ex than I had, but I think we talked her out of it. We'll see, though.

However, at the bar we were at that night, the TV was playing something from the Nature channel or Animal Planet or something. I caught something really interesting...

I saw a Dachsund fucking a lioness. Yeah, one of the wiener dogs was literally fucking the Queen of the Jungle. You shoulda seen the dog's face after that! This, my friends, is the true spirit of an Alpha Male!

Oh, and Anonymous Comments are turned off until I get back, so no one (from California) shits on the carpet until I get back Sunday night.

My First Troglodyte + Sarah Update

My first troll! And not even online a week! How cute ;)...now time to publicly bash it:

Anonymous said...
Yeah, I wonder what *her* side of the story would be.

I actually have "her side" saved in an email. Basically, she use the excuse that she was "sick" and begs forgiveness. If you'd had the cojones to leave a name or email, I'd even send it. So we'll just call you "AnonymAss". Hmm, that could make an interesting post, actually.

If you read this blog, this is a guy who wants to bang a mother of two so badly (even though he's leaving town soon) that he's trying to wreck the woman's relationship with a friend who helps with childcare.

First, The Rev. Lick is never "desperate" to bang anyone. Ever. Getting laid is easy, I'm actually looking for more of a relationship, in general.

Second, this "friend that helps with childcare" also hits Sarah, burns her with cigarettes, won't let her use her own cell phone, won't let her have friends, and tries her best to keep Sarah helpless and dependent on her alone. Damn fucking straight I'm trying to wreck that relationship.

Nice going, Rev Dick.

Oh, wow, now that was clever! How much thought and creativity it required!

P.S. You may be an 'officer', but you are no 'gentleman'.

Yeah, that's why I'm trying to help this girl get out of an abusive relationship and into a decent, independent future of her own.

P.P.S. You and 'Iron Fist' really should hang out together. You're two of a
kind. (And you both post at LGF, the racist website. Nice).

Can't think of anyone I'd rather have with me in a fight ;). The website/weblog the troll is referring to is Little Green Footballs. .."racist"...feh! Islam isn't a race, it's a fucking religion, asswipe. And the hypocrisy, rabid Jew-hate, and women-oppression that goes on in Muslim countries, not to mention the prolific terrorist bombings, are FACTS.

To anyone intersted in visiting, "LGF" is a news/politics/weblog that is mostly quoted newsstories with a minor bit of commentary. Granted, there are some people who go a little over the edge in the comments section.

Sarah Update: Talked to her today, and the Lesbian Dildo-Blocking Bitch was, in fact, intercepting phone calls and doing more of her shit. The letter almost got through, Sarah managed to read the first paragraph before it was snatched away. Fortunately, I can at least contact her now as the Bitch is out of town. May be giving her a ride northwards for Thanksgiving. Decided that Sarah is definitely experiencing some kind of abuse trauma...she realizes that she's being brainwashed, but hasn't stomached the courage to really leave. We'll see what we can do. Given my experience with Evel Bitch, I can sympathize somewhat.

Eve-l Bitch Watch

My ex-fiancee, Evel Bitch (<-pun), whom I have not spoken to in about 2 years, has started calling me again. The calls have been increasing with exponential frequency. I don't answer any number I don't know anymore, which has turned out to be a good idea. Here's the background...sold the ring to help fund the BMW X3 (aka, Der Pimpenwagen) back in July. Got an email from her then saying "Oh, lost my address book, need your info, moving again, etc." I was really pissed at the time, as when I was selling it, I found out that she'd chipped the diamond and I was therefore royally screwed on the deal. Restrained myself from contacting her at that point, because having her back in my life in any sort of capacity is just not worth a few thousand dollars. So when this email comes in, I'd sent her just the address, told her I'd sold the ring, and that I suspected she'd pulled something shady...figure that way, if she had, maybe I'd get a pre-emptive check so that I couldn't sue her. She hasn't emailed since.

About a month later, she calls me, and leaves a weird message about "Good to hear your voice, my cell is #". Sounded drunk. I was actually at my girlfriend (at the time)'s place getting laid :). Next call was day of Fla/Ga game, also suspect Drunk Courage was involved. Then last Saturday, she leaves a message in the afternoon that says, "Hey, I'm coming to Texas, and want to know where to stay, call me". Of course I don't ;). There's absolutely no reason for her to ever come here, aside from me. Then Tues night she calls from a landline I hadn't seen. Then Thurs afternoon (maybe Friday), I get a call from a strange number. It's her, leaving yet more insistent message that I call her, and gives me her cell #. I Google the strange number, and it's from a Sam's Club calling card. Now, as part of housecleaning, I've thrown out damn near everything she's ever given me, put a few old pics in the album (even bad history is worth rembering so you don't forget the lessons), recycled frames that had been sitting in a box, and have a huge stack of pics I was going to email her and offer to send b/c some had the kid in them. Also to ask BTW, what's with the calls? I am slightly curious, but now thinking that I'll hold off for awhile, and see just exactly what lengths she's going to go to ;). Danger is that she might show up on my doorstep someday...when I leave the house, I look for suspicious vehicles now. Funny thing is how she's being so completely inept at trying to talk to me. She only calls the landline number, but mostly it's forwarded to the cell, and my cell phone number is in the outgoing message!

What's the reason for this? Well, given her pathological dishonesty and manipulative behavior, I can't really believe everything (or anything) she's said in the few emails I've gotten in the last couple of years, but some of the data may be true. She's not the type who lies outright, but takes certain "elements" of the truth spins them so as to completely mislead you. Possibilities:

• She's gotten pregnant, learned lesson from last time, and wants to see me, seduce me, and frame me for it, since apparently I put up with her BS the longest. Yes, she really is that irrational and evil.
• I know more about her than anyone else, and she can't stand anyone with that level of knowledge not being under her thrall. Or just leaving and it not being on her terms.
• The moving was due to a second marriage/divorce happening within a year or so, and I'm being called for whatever reason in conjunction with that.
• Something too crazy and twisted for anyone else to really even begin to understand.

I doubt I'll ever go into detail on the relationship itself, but the two greatest analogies can be seen in the movies "Saving Silverman" and "Trainspotting". Dr. Judith is her, right down to profession. "Trainspotting" is what it was like to be with her. I'm the main guy, and she's heroin.

Random Info

• I fixed the blog settings to allow Anonymous comments, so you don't have to actually start your own blog in order to leave a comment.
• My intent is to make this blog, aside from whatever I feel like posting, a great place to leave stories of Drinking Adventures. My email is up in the profile section. If you want a great/good/interesting/completely fucked-up story posted, email it to me and I will. Otherwise, clutter the comments at will.
• Sadly enough, nothing to report from tonight. Despite all my temptations, Gorgeous Erin couldn't make it out, but there are plans for tomorrow. Have to actually attend church, not together, but it gets me in the right place at the right time. Looks to be a date more on the "wholesome" side, but that ain't always bad. And I plan to be on narcotics anyway ;). The going-away party fell through, the Black Cat party did not live up to any expectations ( last year, I got a girlfriend out of showing up), but back-up plans came through, and I at least ended up at a nice club in a suit, and met some very attractive women, aside from the ones I was with ;).
• Trisha from last night has volunteered her services as a booty call.
• No response as of yet from Sarah The Stripper. Operating theory is that she tried to work Thurs, was still too sick, and has been out Fri. and Sat. nights. Might try the phone again soon, as we're running out of time before I'm gone for Thanksgiving. Hey, we are in Final Dayz mode!
• The Georges DuBoeuf Beaujolais-Nouveau is quite good this year. I still hate the French on principle, but have rationalized this by assuming that the actual vintners hate their government as much as we do, and mostly I'm supporting the American distributors anyway.

UPDATE: If you leave an anonymous comment, please "sign" it with a nick at least.

Final Dayz Rules Friday Night

In order to satisfactorily explain what happened tonight, I need to remind everyone that Final Dayz Rules are in effect. Final Dayz Rules may be declared when your living-period in some particular geographic location is almost over, your time left is definitely finite, and you will not be returning (to live) there again. Ideally, this should be within 2-3 months of your move date. Situations may vary. However, the basic premise behind Final Dayz Rules is that you can do whatever or whomever you want, and no matter how bad you fuck up your social life, or shit in your social "pool", in the very near future it just won't matter.

Highlights of this evening's adventures were all pre-date. First, my note to call Erin was definitely the right call. After a truly great first date, she stood me up for the second. I'll spare y'all the details, but the stand-up turned out to be basically for logistics, then her phone got turned off for a few days, and she was out of town. Re-establishing contact was a great move. Hopefully, she's not working tomorrow and I can get her over for "Robyn's Going Away Party", a nicely alcoholic affair starting early, and not ending until they kick us out of the bars. Also, I got a random call from Krystle, a pretty 20-yr-old I met at an Election Night party. Supposedly she's got a boyfriend, but this other dude in the College Republicans* says she's a slut. And her old roommate Melanie is a borderline-5. Oh, the possibilities ;).

Downside of the evening was the date itself. Went out with Trisha, from yesterday's posts. For all my high-hopes, pic-speculation, and phone-phun, in person she turns out to be a 2.9. Point-5 of that is for cleavage, and the other .4 is for "other abilities". Don't get me wrong, she's not ugly
at all or anything like that, it's that she's just not "cute". Having considered this eventuality, though, the plan for the evening was to take her to a local festival downtown, for cheap food and entertainment, and then to a dive bar a few blocks over. This was a VERY good call. So after the first beer is about half-gone at the dive bar, and I've warmed up the possibility of an "early evening", I decided it was time to slip off to the bathroom and check out the back-up plans. Dammit. But thank the gods for cell phones and doorgirls, as I was able to find out that Sarah The Stripper was not working, and thus my back-up plans were nixed and pointless. What to do now? Of course I went back more relaxed, and started drinking in earnest. Also the right call ;).
Y'all can figure things out from there for yourselves ;).

Tomorrow: The Anti-Lesbian Dildo-Blocker Letter gets delivered, and we have Robyn's Going Away Party, i.e. getting drunk with a bunch of hot women. And the Black Cat party, for which I have a personal invite, somewhere in the middle. Will Erin be available? Will drama ensue with Sarah? Will Krystle give in to the booty call? Will Trisha come after me with weaponry?

I'd better start drinking now.

*FYI politically: Ideologically I'm a Libertarian, my voter card says "Democrat" because I wanted to vote for Al Sharpton in the TX Dem Primaries (and did), but if you want to meet hot chicks who eat meat and shave their legs, the C-Reps are where it's at ;)!

Thursday Night Drinking Expedition-Abject Failure!!!

This is NOT how I wanted my first official Drinking Adventure post to turn out, but hey, for this place it's about par for the course. Disclaimers: 1) The narcotics didn't wear off until approximately 8pm, 2) Final Dayz Rules have been in effect for over a month now.

The women involved, and The Plan:

Primary Date: Trisha,32, pharmacy tech. Met her off the 'Net last week, she sent me her phone number, and since Tuesday we've spent a good 6+ hrs on the phone. She's been in town about 3 mos, and knows nothing. Given the "old" pic I've seen, and the fact that she's got an ex-boyfriend & NFL QB who's still calling her, rating her looks at minimum Class 3.5. Also have reason to believe she's got a good half-$mil in liquid assets. That doesn't really matter, but it doesn't hurt. ;) Verbal chemistry so far is awesome...assuming we like each other decently enough in person, this could be extremely fun and serious.

Secondary Date: Sarah The Stripper, 20, 2 kids. I've known Sarah through a couple of gentlemans' clubs here for about a year and half. We've always had this intense mutual chemistry, but she's never been available. I hadn't seen her in about 6 months, when I ran into her at Her Club on Halloween night. [note: this club is literally 3 blocks from my house, and is the 2nd "best" in town. So I'm a regular-irregular, esp. when the Real World sucks and they have no cover after 0130.] We catch up, she tells me she's now got a fiance, but takes my card anyway. The next day she calls me, tells me she's broken up with him, and we start dating. This lasted about two weeks, until she got really sick. She was living with friends, but Lindsey, her lesbian ex-girlfriend, was always over and would babysit for the kids while I took her out, then to work, then to my place, then back home. FYI, things have been physical, but not "all the way" yet. This is not a bad thing. Then a week ago she got sick. So Lindsey was always over "helping". While trying to call Sarah, I ended up talking to Lindsey a couple of times, and am pretty damn sure that Lindsey has been intercepting all my calls, and not relaying the messages.
This was really evident this afternoon when I tried to call Sarah, and Lindsey was trying to spoof me as "yeah, this is Sarah, and no, I don't remember you." I'm being lesbian dildo-blocked. Thought about sending flowers, but instead sent a letter to her friend's place that looks innocuous and might actually get to Sarah, telling her what's up. Cost: about 38 cents.

Plan for the evening: Mailed letter to Sarah on my way to meet up with Trisha, for our first date of "drinks". Theoretically, the letter could get to her on Friday, or Sat. at the latest. Meanwhile, I have "other plans". Talked to Trisha about 7:30pm, arranged to leave my place about 9:30 to pick her up en route. Called her then, got the "Call Waiting" dialtone, left a message, and departed. Got down to around where Trisha lives, waited. While waiting, called Sarah's club to see if she would be in...she was!!! Plan for Trisha was an early night anyway, at which point I would head back to The Club and confront Sarah, in person. We now switch over to a military timeline:

2230 - after several calls and waiting 45 mins, no word from Trisha. Proceed on to destination: Irish pub and Guinness. They have the real Nitrogen taps, so should not negatively impact my oral surgery.

2355- Trisha finally calls. I do not answer. Then she text messages me. She had mentioned she was going to take a "quick nap", so not unduly surprised by being stood up. But I have other plans.

0015- Arrive at Sarah's Club, sit down, order beer.

0019- Beer arrives, still have not seen Sarah out on the floor, inquire of waitress.

0023- Waitress comes back, Sarah has already left. This is Not Good. I've already paid the cover and have a beer, want to get my money's worth, but this is a bad situation to be in. Being stood up in a strip club is one thing, but when you're dating one of the dancers, it can lead to all sorts of trouble. When you're there with her, it's fine for you to drink and tip other girls, but when you're left all alone...you get the idea. And girls talk. It's not so much that she would care about me getting a lap dance per se, but that I spent money on someone else. [FYI, she usually buys me drinks if we're together] And now, dammit, another girl is sitting with me.

0030- Consider Tertiary plans, excuse self to bathroom. Inquire about Xelena, another hot Greek girl I know at another club, but she's not in. I have her #, but never quite got around to really pursuing things. Would have made an opportunity to salvage things on a positive note, and safely in another location where there would be no possible repercussions. The night is now a failure.

0035 - Realize I'm stuck, order more drinks, and make the best of it with girl sitting with me. She's actually really nice, and very cute. And using her real name. We have more drinks. I am then saved from the lap dance by her getting on stage, and the evening running out of time around 0155. Not that I didn't want one, but now I retain the moral high ground with Sarah. Who is way hotter anyway. And I save $20.

Analysis: G-d is trying to tell me it's way past time for me to just move to Austin. Or Manhattan. At least get out of this place ASAP.

Silver Lining: Just listend to the voice message from Trisha...extremely apologetic. She'd left her ringer turned off from work. Her text message: ' I'm so sorry. It was wrong of me to fall asleep. If you can forgive me, I owe you.' Of course I'm going to make the most of this ;)!

Solicitations: The letter to Sarah...good idea, or bad? It basically said "Hey, I have been trying to contact you, and do actually care about you, but believe I'm being dildo-blocked." Strategy from here? Not that I don't have one, but inputs would be interesting!

Lick's Famous 5-Point Scale

I developed this new Female Rating System while in college, after finding the standard 10-Point Scale, and Beer Scale, to be inadequate for getting any real information on exactly how objectively attractive a woman is.

The reason these other scales don't work well is that there's very little actual meaning attached to any of the numbers. Really now, what's the difference between a 4 and a 6? Is a "5" merely average looking? And who the hell ever uses "3"? All you ever hear is something like 'Dude, she was at least an 8!' The other problem is that people's tastes are so wildly divergent that one guy's 6 is another's 8, and so forth.

While this is also a great system for discussing women with your buddies, the true practicality comes from Blind Setup situations, where you really want a good idea of what you're getting yourself into.

Think of this more as a Class based system, rather than a numerical scale. Without further ado:

Class 5 - HOT! No further explanation should really be necessary. True Class-5s are extremely rare. Think Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy), Eliza Dushku, Kirsten Dunst, etc.

Class 4 - Unqualified Attractive. All the explanation necessary is "She's cute." No major flaws or reasons to think of her as unattractive in any way. If you were walking past this girl, or saw her in a bar, she would definitely be worth checking out. Your buddies will be impressed with you for hooking up or being seen with this girl.

Class 3 - Qualified Attractive. The key description of this girl is that 'She's cute, but...' There is some obvious, but overall relatively minor, flaw that keeps her from being 'just cute'. Typically it's a either a little overweight, or rather plainlooking. Keep in mind, though that she is still 'cute'. A Class 3 usually rates a second glance when passing her on the street. There's great room for variety in the 3s. In general, your buddies would not make fun of you for hooking up with a Class 3, and you would not mind being seen in public with her.

Class 2 - Does Not Show Up On Radar. You're in the mall, or bar, or other crowded place. While you're scanning the hotties, this is the girl that doesn't even show up on your radar. You don't notice her at all. She is not attractive. You don't even think about giving her a second glance, because you don't even notice that she's there. This is the girl your buddies WILL make fun of you for hooking up with after a 6-pack and/or some tequila.

Class 1 - Hideous! She is both fat AND ugly. She shows up on radar only because after you see her, you have to avert your eyes and never look her way again. Hooking up with a girl like this almost always requires tequila, even after you've finished the 12-pack on your own. Your buddies will still make fun of you years later for hooking up with this girl.

Theoretically, there is also a Class Zero, but I can't even fathom the depths it would require. My best guess would be knowingly hooking up with a Class 1 who also has some sort of severe STD.

Acceptable Modifiers: Since further clarification is sometimes warranted, for the 3 and 4 classes, you can also add in a ".5", ".9", or a plus/minus (e.g, a 3+). [Note: there is no use for a "3.2" or anything other than .5/.9] These are to indicate that a particular woman is definitely far above the minimum requirements of her class, but just does not quite meet the requirements of the higher class.

Now go forth and spread the word*, and hopefully send me some readers.

*that word being "legs".

Experimenting With Blogger

Drinking with my drinking-friend Karen. Don't worry ladies, I am available. (Trying out Image hosting and other stuff like that...attempting to figure out how to make this all work.)

Not exactly a night off for the liver

I'm currently missing Dollar Pint Night, and not because I am getting laid or otherwise engaged in something even more fun.

This would normally really upset me, except that I am currently under the influence of heavy narcotics, and Lord of the G-Strings is playing on one of the movie channels.

Explanation: expect something of a rant tomorrow about the evils of government health care, specifically dentistry.

NYC Trip Recap

For my first offical post as a blogger, wanted to make it Drinking Relevant. Believe me, there was a hell of a lot of drinking on this little vacation!


NYC Trip Journal:
Friday (27 Aug) - made it to the airport OK, got into LGA on time, got out of the car at Ed's place (Upper East Side, near Cornell Med and Sloan/Kettering) just as we was walking in. Got a couch and a hi-speed internet connexion, so was in business from that end. We started in on the Glenlivet, caught up, and started gathering the boys for going out that night. Had dinner up there at a nice Italian pizza place, then cabbed it to "GStaad", a trendy bar in Midtown, and then to "The Gaslight", another yuppie-bar on the edge of the West Village, aka The Meat Packing District. Got home around 5am.

Saturday - woke up very late, cleaned up, and had a late brunch at the Starlite Diner (think Seinfeld), near Ed's place, where we had lots of coffee and exchanged witty banter with Carolina The Fiesty Cute Greek Waitress. After that, Ed's "friend" Dorothea came over, and we took the subway to Queens to go to PS1. PS One is an old public school that's been renovated into an add-on of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). On Saturday afternoons, they have a huge party outside in the courtyard. So we had drinks at an Irish pub on the way, then more drinks there, then we went in to check out the art. There's some pretty cool things, but mainly it's stuff they don't want to show much at the main MoMAs. Caught the train back to Manhattan around 9ish, got a quick dinner of Pizza By The Slice, and headed down to a punk rock concert at Arlene's Grocery in Greenwich Village. The guys playing were all friends of Ed, and all dressed up to play the part of early-80s British punk stars...but by day, they're all doctors. Also met up with his sister and a few other guys there...they were having a Jamesons promotion there that night, so we scored some free drinks, and I snagged a 3-ft tall inflatable Jamesons bottle which I then used as a pillow for the rest of my stay ;). After that, we went to this other bar for an after-hours party with the band.

Sunday - Struggled to the Starlite again, but had a low key day of doing some shopping around the upper east side, and laundry. We met up with my old friend Sarah and her husband for dinner. Went to bed early ;).

Monday - Wandered Midtown while the fam was busy getting to town. Went to the wrong subway station, took the wrong train, and walked out in the Diamond District. Which was just fine as it got me to the part of town I was going to just wander around in anyway. The Diamond district was kinda interesting, wandered East and happened across the Kabbalah Center. They've got all these free paper boxes all over the city, so I wandered in out of curiosity and air conditioning. Looked interesting, got a book, and wandered back out, towards Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, which turned out to be right across the street from the UN. Nothing much there usually, but I got "lucky" and happened up on a protest. They were a pretty lame bunch, and only a few hundred of them at most. I wandered into the crowd a bit, but there wasn't anything really interesting, and they *stank*. I couldn't penetrate very far into the crowd because of the sheer stench. The "Billionaires for Bush" crowd was kinda funny in a "Mad Hatter's Tea Party" kind of way, but their costumes were more "construction paper and glitter" than "thrift store creative". Wandered back to chat with the line of police cops, they were nice guys. Funny thing was there were a couple of protestors who would go and talk to the cops, but they were pretty far out there. Mainly what I saw was some people earnestly trying to prop up their paranoia of living in some kind of "police state". After that, I scoped out Times Square for the half price Broadway tickets, and dropped by the Cornell Club building for a drink, some more air conditioning, and to get a window-sticker for the new car. Had dinner down in Union Square with my old friend Leda, who also happens to be Ed's ex-girlfriend of a good 4.5 years. She still hates him ;), but we had a great time. After dinner, I took the subway up to the Upper West Side and met up with my parents & cousin for a few drinks that night, as they'd just got into town earlier in the evening.

Tuesday (31 Aug) - James Beard House Dinner Night. Met the parents early in the day at Battery Park, we rode the Staten Island Ferry (as good as a harbor cruise, but free), then went up to South Street Seaport for lunch and to get cheap Broadway tickets. Walked through Lower Manhattan to the WTC site, went in St. Paul's church there, which is now a 9/11 memorial. Then stopped by the Village to find the James Beard House, then split off to go change. That night was Jon's (my brother-in-law) big dinner. Getting to cook at this place is like the Academy Awards of the chef world. Six courses, a minimum of 6 glasses of various wines, and 10 dead animals on the menu ;)! So good that at least half-a-dozen Texas delegates skipped the RNC to come, including a US Rep and the governor's sister. Sometime before dessert we decided that the next morning's activities were cancelled ;). After the dinner, Ed and I went back to the Gaslight for a bit more partying, then went down the street to the Hotel Gansvoort, where we used our We're Wearing Suits power to walk past the line and right in to this great 19-th floor penthouse bar.

Wednesday - Slept in (shock). Got food and coffee early enough to get changed and meet up with the family down in Times Square. Went to the matinee performance of "The Producers", a really funny Mel Brooks musical. Then we got tickets to "Avenue Q" that night, which I thought was hilarious, but the parents weren't thrilled about. It's a bit raunchy, and very much for the college or 20-somethings crowd. Half the characters are Muppets, but they sing songs like "The Internet is for Porn!". And there's full puppet nudity/sex. Mostly, it's a bit edgy and full of mid-20s angst. I loved it ;). In between, Sis and I made a quick run through the Guggenheim.

Thursday - Met up with the family for a late breakfast, went off with sis and bro-in-law to hit the museums. Spent half a day in the Met, and a couple hours at the M.o.Science and Natural History. Then met the parents, and we went out to Yankee Stadium to see the Yankees beat Cleveland (...after losing 22-0 the night before). Met up with everyone later on the Upper West side for drinks later that evening.

Friday - Family leaves, return to "party mode" ;). Morning mission was to get tickets to "Wicked", so I went directly to the theater and scored 4th Row Center for less than the scalper was charging for balcony seats :)!! Went over to this huge art & antiques mall nearby, but didn't find anything I liked and in my price range. Saw some nice 16th century Japanese swords, for around $10K though ;). That took most of the day, walked all the way back to Ed's place from there. Then we hit Wicked, which was by far the best show I'd seen there. Great seats probably helped ;). Met up with some of the guys at this dingy bar where they had PBR on special...great guys, but sometimes they have no taste ;).

Saturday - Slow recovery throughout the morning, then we picked up Ed's Mom's ghetto-van on Roosevelt Island, and went to this afternoon/evening BBQ with some of his old friends out on Long Island. I lounged, and it was good. Later that evening we headed down to the West Village for some more partying...met up with the guys again, but this time at a happening dive bar with $3 drinks-anything in the house. I put a dent in their single malt Scotch collection. For NYC, any drink under $7 is a steal. Funny incident--our huge group gets split up, so a bit later we make the attempt to regroup by cell phone. So my party (the late-stayers) head off to this other place to meet up with everyone else. There was one guy (EBret) we were still trying to contact, with no luck, since he'd wussed out the previous weekend. On the way to our rendezvous, we stopped at another bar for bladder relief...standing outside a beer later, I call him, he picks up, we start figuring out where everyone is...and I look to my left and he's standing about 3 doors down. Turns out the bar/pit-stop we were at was directly underneath the apt. he's moving in to. So we carried his stuff up and resumed the party ;). Another 5am night out in The City.

Sunday - Recovery, packing, and a really great dinner, with equally lousy service, in Little Italy. And desert/coffee later. Realized I don't care for Italian-style cheesecake.

Monday (Labor Day)- Wonder why I'm coming back to Corpus the whole flight(s).