The days have been getting weirder and weirder lately. I've been swept up in stuff that would rival those crazy summer days. I'm currently trying to coast and enjoy this, but I'm also in a constant state of disorientation. I don't give a crap how many people are in NYC. It might as well be the smallest city in the world.
Thursday, PrincessNella and I went to a whiskey tasting, though we both hate whiskey. Q: Why the hell did we go then? A: 'Cause that shit was free, man! Act like you know. It was actually a good time minus all that whiskey we had to drink. Ugh. Then to Sapph, where I took a plunge and asked my Friendster friends about promoting and such. They were pretty into it and said that they had already discussed amongst themselves asking me if I wanted to. Nice. I have yet to figure out which party of they have that I want to tackle, but it's gonna be dope for sure. On the way home, I did my typical "Wes person alert" thing. I swear, it's like spidey sense or something. That night's encounter was with K, who graduated when I was still a bushy-tailed youngster. It was cool running into him and we discussed the "to acknowledge or not" dilemma that pops up before he switched trains. It's rare to run to cool people from school.
Friday, I ventured out to super downtown Manhattan for Hollertronix. It was like an NYU reunion! Oh wait, I didn't go to NYU...it was still fun though. When I realized where it was, I had a crazy sense of deja vu because I rang in 2003 at this triplex across the street. Ah, the last New Year's Eve. I must post that. I should really make a category called "Stories From The Candicissima Archives" or something, so I can put a lot of the funny pre-blog stories. In a nutshell, it was an unexpected HS reunion, ill-advised phone call to Hawaii, Filter 14, Austrians and at one point, having drinks in each hand that I alternated. Aren't you dying to hear that one? Anyhoo, I spotted Nick immediately, but he was schmoozing and being the consummate host, so I made some circuits and was chilling out. Standing on the crazy bar line, I looked to my right and thought to myself that the guy standing next to me was Mr. Shady...surely impossible because he was supposed to be in school overseas and all. I laughed at myself for being silly and went about my business. Later on, I was standing minding my business and again ended up next to this kid. But, this time I could see him full on and I knew 150% that it indeed was him. WTF? I tapped him as he was walking past, all "I know you." He blah blahed and said basically he had dropped out and had just gotten back before running off. He was with his girl and I observed that someone looked a little whipped. *bitchy side comment* About what I expected. She isn't even that cute. *bitchy side comment* That amused me and eventually I formally introduced myself to Nick. He was totally cool and it was funny getting introduced to his friends from home.
Nick: This is Candice.
Friend after Friend: Who?
Nick: Candice! You know...Candice!
They'd look at me like "WTF?" and I shook hands and shrugged in a "go with it" way. Total comedy. He took pictures of me that are so horrible that he might be able to blackmail me if he was so inclined. I'm prone to bad pics, so I'm always making bad faces when a camera comes out. Vicious cycle. After they left, I found myself on a circuit when I ran into K from Thursday. We both agreed it was type weird, but had fun just chatting and doing a bit of dancing before I made tracks around 3am.
I found a voicemail on my phone from Farmer who I had been trying to lure out all night. Our plans to check out Hop Fu had fallen through and then he had a friend visiting blah blah crossed wires and such. They had perked up for a minute when I said that it was a party mostly filled with 22s and younger, but were too lazy to venture from Sunnyside said the message. I had figured as much being that it was 3am and all. I'm perceptive like that. Still, I called over there and was given the invite to come hang if I wanted. I was torn between that and closing out Sapph or just feeling lazy/sleepy when I got on the train and heading home. Sapph died as a thought quickly as I had to endure the slow ass late night train service and home was looking like a possibility until I heard an announcement over the loud speakers in the train car at 14th Street. "Due to a gas leak near the Queens Plaza station, there is no E, F, G, or 7 train service to Queens. For service to Queens, transfer here for the L to the J train or at 34th Street, go upstairs for Q32 service."
Shit. My night wasn't over yet.
Part of me almost felt like it was my redo for the blackout since I didn't do shit of interest for that. In my car was this guy who looked completely thrown and confused by this event. He does as most do: ask me directions. Perhaps I give off a vibe as child of a former MTA employee, but more that I know what the fuck I'm doing. He was trying to get to Kew Gardens and had totally missed everything she had just said. I explained that basically we were fucked, but that at 34th, we could take a bus and get into Queens. I encouraged him to stick close to me and we were off. In talking, I discovered he was a German intern for an airline and had only been in town for a few months. Outside was total chaos, a hundred or so people standing across from Macy's without any transit people around to help. I don't even think the bus we were supposed to take stops there and the service that time of night was basically guaranteed to be shit anyways. I called Farmer and said, "I'm coming by after all, but not why you think" and explained the whole situation. We were just standing around when two girls behind us asked if anyone wanted to split a cab. One was headed to near I needed to go in Sunnyside and another was off to Rego Park. The four of us decided to go in together and we walked down 34th to find a cab. Only in New York would a German, an Isreali, a Brazilian, and the appointed group leader, a kid from Brooklyn, bond with each other and their Turkish taxi driver over the randomness and confusion that the slightest of "disasters" can bring to the city. We traded email addys and decided to plan a meetup in Queens for the near future to celebrate surviving the whole ordeal.
At Farmer's, they were wide awake and being "computer nerds" despite it being almost 5am. That's what drugs does to you, man. I got the bombshell dropped on me that Farmer's upcoming trip Monday was going to be extended for a month or so and then on his return, moving was pretty much inevitable, though where wasn't decided. Talk about unexpected. I'm processing. Even if they weren't tired, I was approaching finished for the night since my adrenaline was running out after the getting to Queens adventure. Lack of stimulation made them give up and go to sleep also. Despite me being the one actually encouraging the whole sleep thing, I was the one suddenly wide awake. I hate it when that shit happens. Boredom led me to a lapse in impulse control. A night like that it was almost inevitable and bringing back the NYE comparisons that much more. A night like that can't go out on low note.
