2004.02.20 Friday

Taking the red eye is fine. But taking the red eye with 3 kids under 10 seated behind you with only their father to keep them in line is something I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy. I got kicked, cried on, scolded, and yelled at. And this was just from the father. Well, he didn't yell at me per se, but it sure sounded like it. With multiple "shhhhhh's" and "sit still's" it was a very uncomfortable flight. I tried to fall asleep and then my coke came and woke me right on up. I couldn't get any wink eye for the next hour and even when I tried, it was too hot and I could NOT get comfortable. SIGH.

We arrived in JFK at 7am and proceeded over to the AirTrain, with a stop at the facilities before of course. It was my first experience on the AirTrain and I thought it was a great addition to the metro system instead of taking the bus, which always gets delayed. So going straight from the airport to the AirTrain to the A-train was no problem. Very very convenient.

Dozing off on the A-train, we got off on 50th street and walked over to the New York Hilton. I had to check in and get my key card but the front desk man said my name wasn't on the account and had to call Mr. Kim to get confirmation. So, we called him and he ok'd me... I went up there and everyone was still sleeping. sigh... I was hungry anyways so I went back downstairs to the New York Marketplace [Hilton's name for their expensive restaurant] and Ruth and I shared a 3 egg omlet and toast for a grand total of $18 dollars. Let me say...that omlet could have been a lot better too. Rip off cities.

After brunch we went back to the front desk and got the card key to the second room. On the way back to the room, we stopped by the hotel's ticket center and asked about ticket prices to some shows. Why? I have no idea. Cuz they were a rip off too. Sigh... on a side note: Am I just doomed never to watch Lion King?

 Anyways, we took a short nap and hit up the showers cuz we  stank. Then that bitch Woo came and we chatted it up for a bit.

 Since Ruth and I were already up and had eaten, after the guys  got ready, they were complaining about being hungry so we had to  go eat. Woo took us to a pizza joint that wasn't too bad. Good,  cheap food. What more can you ask for in life?

Then we walked over to the Time Warner building and checked out the architecture. It wasn't bad... Then, being right next to Central Park, we decided to take a walk through it. We stopped by Trump's ice rink [as featured in the show The Apprentice], hit up a restaurant to drink and warm up, take some pictures, and have a gay ol time. We ended up at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and waited a while for Ruth's friend, Frances, and Lou's friend, Junie.

We did a quick walk around since most of us had already been there. Plus, we were exhausted from being gay and walking around in Central Park. The exercise was good for us [since later we were comparing who had the biggest gut].

We caught two cabs and had them drive like mad to Woo's pad. We chilled and Woo came up with the brilliant idea of playing a short tourney while we waited for Jae to show up. Kevin got knocked out first, then Mike, then me [after I river'd Woo two solid times], and playing heads-up against Lou, Woo got taken out like the little bitch he was. Since I dealt for the two, Lou comp'd me my cash back and I gave him the heads up for teaching Woo his lesson.

It was around 7:30pm so we headed back to the hotel to meet up with Jae. I took a nap while the other guys proceeded to drink a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black. [Good ol Jae brought it for us]. You have to know that the only time we could get a reservation at Carmine's was 10:00pm. So you know, expectations were kind of high. Upon waking, it was time to go and so we left to meet Woo, Francine, and Janice at the restaurant. We were running late and weren't speeding up any.

We finally got there and ordered a few drinks to start. Woo ordered our food and claimed that this was one of the best Italian restaurants in NYC. Well, it SUCKED. Well, ok, it didn't suck but the food was sort of cold and not too apetizing. It was pretty cheap so I'd say it was ok. Very decent for the price.

Then we took the subway to Jay-Z's 40/40 club. Just awesome. The setup was very well thought out and with no minimum, it's definitely the place to be if you have a large party. Private rooms lined throughout the second floor and a stocked bar. This is definitely a great lounge. We ordered another bottle of Johnnie Walker Black here and drank it up throughout the night. Jae pulled off his usual drunken moves, Kevin passed out, Woo sipped a Samuel Adam's, Lou bullied us all into drinking, Mike played some pool and drank it up, and the ladies chilled and finished off all of our drinks. A definite fun night to start off the weekend of debauchery and degeneracy.