The Royal Oak Hates Me

On Friday night I went out to Williamsburg with Liz, Heather, Caitlin, Susannah and Mikey (another guy that lives in the Isles house). We started at Turkey's Nest and then went to the Royal Oak. I thought about playing pool at Turkey's Nest but the people playing took forever to finish a game.

Liz and Mikey started playing hockey with a piece of candle. I was sitting with Heather and we were facing them. Mikey hit the candle to Liz and Liz knocked over Heather's beer and spilled it all over my UNIQLO jeans that I was never going to wash. The glass broke on the floor too. Heather told the bartender that there was broken glass and they gave her a hand towel. wtf.

We (yes me too) danced a bit at the Royal Oak. I wasn't even drunk. I was totally sober because I drove to Williamsburg. But you know what, you don't want to be an AFC on the sidelines forever.

Susannah asked me to drive her home because it's on the way off the BQE. She lives in Carroll Gardens (debatable?). I dunno about her. She's way too hipster for me. I know that sounds strange, but I'm not going to go into it here. Paul said "why did you drive her home?" when I told him I did. The thing with the BQE is that there's no fucking on ramp on the the side I needed to get to from like DUMBO to Bay Ridge. It's insane. I had to go local the entire way until the Belt Parkway under Third Avenue in Brooklyn under the BQE. And there ain't nothing but shady places and porn shops on that strip. The lights there are fucking annoying as hell too. They don't all turn green at the right times like in Manhattan. It's red at every light. It would have been faster for me to backtrack one exit from Sus' place and get back on the highway.

Liz's Birthday Bash

Yesterday was Liz's birthday. We went out to eat at SEA in Williamsburg. It's owned by the same people who own SPICE. Sea is basically SPICE to the EXTREME!! What I mean by that is that the place is overly elaborate and freaken huge, kind of like a cafeteria. There are swings in the waiting area, the entire center of the restaurant has like a mini water pond. Very strange.

We had a party of ten, which was easily seatable, but it was a rectangular table, so it was odd sitting 5 and 5. Our party consist of the birthday girl, Liz, Tina, Ashley, Noah, Caitlin, Susannah, Heather, Mia, NADINE and myself. "Once again, we have a good ratio of girls to guys", Noah said to me. Not even going to comment on that.

The food was standard Sea, Spice fare and most of you have experienced Spice, so I won't go into it.

After that we went out for drinks at Capone's. As it just so happens to be, Monday nights at Capone's is KARAOKE NIGHT. AWW SHIIIEET. Going out not on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday is where it's at these days. Locals go out drinking on Tuesdays to avoid the increasingly disturbing amount of bandwagon hoppers and fratboys who come into Brooklyn for a night out.

No BS at Capone's tonight, just straight up locals and people who want to have fun. It was the most relaxed and fun time I've had at a bar in New York in a long time. I played Justine, Heather and Susannah at pool. That table is so dirty, the felt is smooth. Think about that for a bit.

Then the karaoke started and it was all over-



Ashley and Nadine performing Promiscuous



What would karaoke be without a performance of Journey by Caitlin, Tina, Ash, and Liz?







I have no clue what the girls are singing, but look at Nadine's grill!

All the girls tried to circle around me and dance again, and I gave in. Started dancing, and I wasn't even drunk. They tried to do it at Union Hall over the weekend, but I didn't let that happe. No way, not in Park Slop. This "dance around Adam" thing needs to have a name.

Oh yeah, some guy was taping for his show on Brooklyn Public Access, so we're going to be on TV at some random hour...

We stayed till like 12AM, on a Monday night. It was a lot of fun though.

Edit: Wow, I totally spelled Caitlin's name wrong. Sorry!

Jackie's Dinner Party

Jackie's (moms) apartment
Upper East Side
3/24/07

Jackie finally had her dinner party. It was a great weekend to do so too, because Colleen, Erika, and Nina all came to NYC this weekend. We had a great time! Mad props to Jackie for hosting and the good food!










































FLICKR FOR THE REST.

It's Been Too Long...

...Since we've had a dinner party of any sorts. Goddamn. The photos speak for themselves.



Most of these are with the Nikkor 50mm 1.4 lens. Because I love it so much.

Friday Night Shanagians

This was one of those Friday that started nicely and ended really nicely. The weather was really warm today. I made plans with Jackie, Peter and Heather to meet up at KENKAS at 6:30PM on Saint Marks Pl for dinner. Evil Paul was eating dinner at Metro Marche at 6PM and I have discount cards so I went over there to give it to him.

Last Thursday, Paul and I were shooting pool, he wanted to make a bet on the game we were playing. The bet was the loser had to buy the winner a drink (at the pool hall). I didn't really want a drink but whatever. So we played, and I actually beat him! LOL. It was a mix of luck on my part and him missing shots he really shouldn't have missed. There is a sign with a saying at the pool hall we go to "pool constantly tests your skill against your opponent's luck" which is oh-so-true, as I will tell you about in a bit. So he owed me a drink.

Sometime in the afternoon yesterday I had the AWESOME idea of going over to Marche, getting a drink and putting it on his tab. So I did. He was on a date, and I had decided I was sooo going to butt in on that shit and be the most obnoxious thing ever. I thought it was really funny. So I got to Marche and ordered a Jimmy Bean and coke and I go over to his table and sit my ass down. He introduced me to his date and already it was obvious she was VERY uncomfortable with me butting in. I started being really obnoxious and asking them questions and shit. Then it got really awkward because she didn't say anything and looked like she really wanted me to leave. Paul looked at me and motioned his head like "get the fuck out!". I said "alright, nice meeting you, but the way Paul, this drink is on your tab". He laughed. He couldn't have done anything else anyway.

I wasn't at Marche with anyone. Ashley was working till 8 and was busy. Couldn't really talk to her. So I SLAMMED my drink in like 5 minutes, and they made it pretty strong too, because I work there and all. Before I even got out of Marche, I was already feeling it. All the lights and sounds of Time Square didn't help (or did it?). So I'm walking to the subway, and I'm already tipsy and smiling, and laughing to myself about what I just did and it was the best thing ever.

Got out at Astor Place and met up with Jackie in front of Kenkas. Peter was late (of course). I told Jackie I was already drunk, she laughed. We sat down and ordered a round.



The pitchers were like 8 bucks or something. Kenka's is a relatively cheap place to have a late night snack and drinks. I've taken almost anyone who's been to NY there.

Heather got out of work and met up with us also





After Kenkas we went to the bar Hi-Fi, where the Hold Steady sometimes bartend, to meet up with the rest of the crew- Liz, Justine, Ashley. Justine's friends Susannah and Hesper also came. Hi-Fi has a pool table so I called next. I ended up playing with these kids that goes to Cooper Union. They didn't know how to play pool, they didn't know what the fuck they were doing really. They wanted to play partners, I didn't mind. So one of them is my partner (I thought I get to pick my friend as a partner? Ok...). He asked me what school I went to, I said I graduated already and asked him the same. He said Cooper Union. I asked him for art or engineering, he said engineering and that was it. They pretty much prejudged me instantly anyway. They looked like boring, typical people anyway. You know, the kind that wears striped blue and white button down shirts.

So I let his other friends break, and it was a terrible break. Paul always say smaller tables are harder to play on because all the balls are clumped together. I thought it was actually easier, but I guess not. Through sheer luck, the other two beat me and the guy I was partners with. I was so upset, because I know I'm better then them. They got lucky at first, leaving me without a shot. Then they hit a ball in, get lucky and hit another. At one point they had no shot and tried to reach one of there balls. The cue ball goes around the table and doesn't hit any balls. So I started to pick it up because it's ball-in-hand for me and one of them stops me. "The cue ball hit three rails, you can't pick it up!". Um, NO. That's a stupid non-rule stupid people like you who don't know the rules made up. But there was obviously no point in arguing, so I was just like "oh really, OK", acting all dumb and shit.

So we have one ball left and they have one ball left. The girl on the other team goes, hits the ball in and is now on the 8. The only shot she has is to hit the 8 ball off the rail into the side pocket. I'm thinking there's no way she's making this. And what do you know, she gets lucky and pops that shit in! I lost! Ugggg. I'm not being obnoxious here, they won through pure luck. That's all there is. So Justine puts our names on the list to get next. The 2 I play gives up the fricken table because they didn't want to play anymore. So some new people are playing, not really playing. They are socializing more than they are playing.

I'm sitting with everyone and talking to Justine. You know what, I really miss her. But what can you do. We never got to play. We left to go to Midway, where the Isles were going to play at 1:30AM. Yeah, late-ass set. I don't know why Susannah decided it was a good idea to get on the bus. It was like 7 blocks away, but we got on anyway.


Hesper and Susannah on the bus. And Ashley's big ass yellow bag. Never saw that before.

We got to Midway at like 12:30AM, the opening band was supposed to go on then, but of course they didn't and was still setting up, because it's always cool to not play your set on time. I called Paul to see where he was at. He was driving his date to Queens to pick up her car. I asked him to come get me because I didn't want to take the train home later at 2AM. What a guy he is, he agreed and came to pick me up! "You're lucky you're on the way home" he said. Weee! I ended up missing the Isle's set because I pretty much bounced around 12.45AM. Paul has no interest in staying in a club packed with hipsters that wouldn't give him/me? the time of day so I didn't even bother trying to convince him to stay. Even though I said he HAD to come and watch how some of these people are the most superficial people you'll ever see. It's really wild seeing how these people are. Sometimes I can't even believe there are people like this, really.

And I most certainly drank too much.