Kitty Power

Invigorate

I'm back in the saddle.

First things first before the freaking novella to follow: I met him! *cue fangirl screaming* He was nice and all, but we don't have to get married anymore. He's got a doppleganger (or at least did Friday wandering around the party) that was just more. Would it be really ballsy of me to put a missed connection on Craig's List all "you looked like my fave musician was supposed to look but didn't. Holla back." I'm pretty tempted.

I spent Thursday night after work at the gym after finding no one who wanted to do anything more than watch the debates (Fizzie, Ant), sleep (Lina), or be M.I.A. (everyone else). On the bikes, I watched bits of Joey (what the hell happened to Paulo Costanzo? He used to be all proto-Seth on the O.C. dorky yet cute in things like Road Trip, now he looks about 15 and blah. Regrow the white man 'fro, Paulo!) and Veronica Mars (which is such a shameless blend of Buffy and Nancy Drew. She even talks like Buffy. Paris Hilton cameod and is a strange plastic afghan looking giant with no intonation in her voice. And it was so annoying how everyone addressed the title character by first and last name. "Oh, Veronica Mars, what do you think?" "Get out of here, Veronica Mars!" "Veronica Mars, you so crazy girl!" It drove me nuts!). I dropped by Sapph where tumbleweeds were blowing through and showed off my Zen, chatted some, played guinea pig, the usual. I was actually in the house by midnight...on Thursday! You know I had to do something about that the next night.

I'd heard about this show early in the week and wild horses weren't keeping me away from my man. I've managed to miss all of his New York appearances for years and I was determined to rectify that -- especially since this place was mere blocks away from my job and I'm all about open bars. Talking with Ant as the work day wound down allowed me to draft him up for party duty.

I went first to make sure I didn't miss the bargain and was confront with a major pet peeve of mine. Don't you love it when people willfully are skipping you on a line and then want to chat with you as if you don't notice? This bitch was pretty obnoxious about it too. The colder weather has ushered in the return of the kicky stil boots, so I was tall enough to shoot withering looks down at her. She stepped aside when we hit the bar at the same time because I'm sure she could see in my face I would've swatted her down like a fly.

The party itself was great. I was really stunned. I've learned to accept that at an art event, it's pushed to the background while people mill about practicing cool faces. The $5 cover must've brought out the serious folks because not only were the pieces given a prominent role but people were actually looking at them too. The space was cool and had a massive terrace outside adjacent to the High Line. Ant and I milled about until I spotted a Wes head that I run into a fair amount but usually get semi-ghosted by. We weren't unfriendly back at school and worked at the radio station together. I bitterly noted that fact to Ant and said I could probably go up to where he was get zero response. Oh, did I mention yet that the party bars were only serving beer (not an option) and Red Bull and Vodkas? Whoever made up that drink needs to be shot. I'm the worst handler of caffeine in history. When I was younger, it used to put me to sleep and now it has an effect which I can equate (based on observing other people) to Ellen Burstyn's diet pill dementia in Requiem For A Dream. I start to twitch. My eyes get wide. I turn ON GODDAMMIT! It's really sick. So, when I had this brilliant idea, I was on V&RB #1.

I stroll over to him and look him in the face about to pass him and he's all "hey, Candice!" all happy fake. "What's up, D," I said neutrally. "How are you?" And we go on some long drawn out reunion convo that was strangely not painful, though I had to be all "I see you all the time and you never say hi. I saw you at The Sea and Cake concert!" (almost a year and a half ago. I do believe heavily in holding grudges) His reply was that he'd never seen them. Liar! As if he's not totally distinctive looking. He says he works in the music industry nowadays which brought me to wonder that who -- besides me -- doesn't have their hands in that, especially guys. Every NYC guy I seem to meet are in graphics, music, and/or journalism. But where I hang out might have a lot to do with that, natch. Anyways, he was all "doing a CMJ showcase, I'll give you a call to check it out" blah blah. I'll believe that when I see it.

I was off back to Ant with V&RB #2 and we were chatting when I turned to him and said suddenly, "ohmigod, that's him!" And replied, "future husband, etc." I motioned over to this tallish, thin guy all in black, slightly scruff with hair pulled back. I thought that something was slightly off about him compared to the pics I'd seen, but I chalked that up to photogenic issues. He was still hot though, but in a way I hadn't expected. Ant was amused as I stalked him with my eyes before getting up to follow him inside. He went to the bathroom line and I waited on the female equivalent occasionally looking over and trying to think of an opening. I was about to speak when he went into the bathroom and I just frowned instead and took my turn. When I got out, he was gone. I was pan and scanning on my way back out to the terrace when I almost ran into another guy. Equally tallish, scuff, and thin but his hair was beyond and he looked like he'd just rolled out of bed and come over. His face clicked in my head and I was all "oh shit, that's him! Prefuse has a bizarro!"

Newly scared to talk to him (again), I ran back outside to tell Ant that we had a case of dopplegangers on our hands. We went back inside to meet the newly arrived Fizzie and brief him on the haps. We stood within sight both inside and out as I worked on V&RB #3. Finally, as he stood alone over by the DJ area, I just walked over and blurted out, "you're Scott, right? I'm a major major fan of all your work. I love your site. The commentary is so funny. I love that story of getting barred from APT that you wrote before it got taken down. I'm such a fan" and he was all "bless you bless you" and I walked off, grinning. Woo!

After all this, we settled down into the corner of the roof and chilled out. I dragged out my Zen to let Ant hear the song Fizzie and I are beating into the ground about a year too late. "Fire in the disco! Fire in the...Taco Bell!" Fizzie had bought 5 drinks tickets on arrival and now he was determined to finish them off. He got me another V&RB (#4) and Ant, the lightweight his 3rd Red Stripe. By then, the caffeine was about two seconds from making my head explode, so I was taking miniscule sips. Fizzie, the binge-drinking sadist, shoved another in front of me and I mostly declined. The time was midnightish and we still had a concert to check at the Blue Note.

Poor Ant was wrecked on arrival and went to the bathroom looking a little green. I shoved water at him and made him eat some of the fries that came with my Portobello Cheeseburger (so. damned. yummy) while we listened to K's jazz group. We pretty much stayed long enough to finish the food and try in vain to keep ourselves awake before bouncing. Nice leisurely train ride back to Queens and I was in the door by 3am, not passing go but going directly to the bed for some shuteye.

Another Saturday, another apartment visit. It's damned near impossible to look for an apartment with a full-time job. Everyone likes to do things M-F 9am - 5pm when you'd think they'd realize that those responsible tenants they want are off making money. Who knows how it went? I'm starting not to care anymore. Just give a nice cheap little studio and let me call it a day.

That night, the plan was to check the opening night of a party I liked but had previously been too far for me to go to. I called around but Fizzie was hurting from his like 2 drinks the night before and Lina and I were playing phone tag. I put a call into Jenny and in the spirit of adventure, trekked out to Park Slope. A friend of hers was having a goodbye party and once that broke up, I convinced Jenny to go to this spot, ironically the former site of that party.

We settled into the corner and I pan-scanned. I think I knew officially that I was different/this weekend had been unusually stellar when I realized that the DJ was criminally terrible (god dammit, they need a "how to beat match" guide with every turntable set!) yet I wasn't that bent out of shape about it. There's something about that bar I like. Besides, cute boys everywhere. I heart Brooklyn from the depths of my heart and it was a fun reminder. I need to go to Brooklyn more often. Apparently in Brooklyn, good-looking non-skeezy guys politely and amusingly come up to you and your friends and start talking charmingly. Imagine that?!

I let Jenny be the mack princess and wandered around. I was standing at the bar getting a refill when I was offered a cupcake from a box we'd been eyeing earlier. Mmm...non-chocolate cupcakes. Why can't every bar have cake at 2am? That's what I wanna know.

Me sitting euphorically in the booth with my cupcake apparently signaled the deluge. Apparently I'm attractive when I smile and eat. I'll note that for future reference. I've missed the sitting and chatting so. My flirting skills are rusty because it's been so long since I've cared and I smirk too much, but all in all still fun. I went off wandering as I do and started talking to another guy I had noticed in the crowd. We talked about the DJ (terrible), 419 nights we like (awesome) and his night at some trendoid spot I've strangely managed to avoid thus far (maybe I'll make an exception next week). The cupcake giving man walked by somewhere in there and gave my convo companion the thumbs up signal. I snickered. Boys are so subtle. I took that as my cue to wander off again.

Soon the place had thinned considerably and we were ready to take our leave circa 3 am. Strolling through the streets, on the F to the A to J to the bus, home. Fucking good feeling weekend. Maybe fall's my season.

Posted by Candicissima at October 4, 2004 06:45 PM