Mega Weekend

I went to New York City this past weekend, and it was, once again, PHENOMENAL! First off, instead of risking my life and taking a China Town bus, I embarked on my adventure on the new Mega Bus (seen below). The Mega Bus is a... fairly? new bus that takes to you to Penn Station, AND it's cheaper than the Fung, AND it's clean and big, AND it's mostly young people. Not middle schoolers on field trips, but like, young professionals. So the bus was great. Here it is! :

MEGA BUS!...Once I got to Penn Station I called Glenn, because he goes the New School, and loves the city, so I thought I'd let him know I was there. This was sort of how the conversation went:

ME:
Glenn
GLENN:
Nick
ME:
Guess where I am right now.
GLENN:
Kelly's Roast Beef
ME:
No you ass clown, I'm in Manhattan, standing next to Madison Square Garden
GLENN:
Ooooooohhhhh no fuckin' way! Man, I love New York City. I'm in Long Island right now.

Then I asked him how to get to the L train so I could meet my friend Evan's roommates in Brooklyn. So, I got on the subway and begin the next leg of my journey into Brooklyn. I had never been to Brooklyn, so I didn't know what to expect. When I got there, I was pretty surprised, then frightened, then observant. I stood outside of the Myrtle-Wykoff station for 45 minutes, and I was literally the only white person I saw in that time span. I won't lie, I was uncomfortable. I stood out like a nun in a brothel. Like a CEO at Building 19. Like a clown in a porn film. I stood out. I walked back into the station to wait, one because it was really hot out, and 2 I was afraid that if I stood out there any longer I'd be beaten with sticks...or a liquor bottle in a brown paper bag. I saw 4 people with those. So, I went back inside to wait for Paul, and I had no idea what Paul looked like, but in this neighborhood, I had a good feeling I'd be able to pick him out. So, I wait, and wait... and wait a bit more, when finally this dynamic duo walks right past me:

Yes, they're white, gay, and proud of it. Chris, on the left, had a very short bathing suit on, so I immediately saw that and said in my mind, "You're missing half of your bathing suit, this must be them!" They walk back into the station and Paul introduced himself and Chris. From there we walked to their apartment through possibly the most frightening neighborhood I have ever been in. I'm sorry if I've sounded racist, but listen, I live in a predominantly white neighborhood, in a predominantly white part of Boston, I go to a predominantly white college, and I grew up in a predominantly white town. How many times did I just use the word predominantly?...4. So-yeah. They're street was cute, and their apartment was HUGE, it was literally a house. They had 2 floors, 2 bathrooms, 2 kitchens, and big bedrooms; great apartment, but shady ass neighborhood.

I dropped my bag off in Paul's room and then he made me eggs with salsa and avocado corn chips. It was odd, but food, so I ate it. Then we proceeded to "pre-game", as the kids call it, which consisted of drinking Pepsi and rum, and then when the Pepsi ran out, rum and Arizona Iced Tea. THEN, we headed out for a big gay night of big gay bars with big gay drinks and big gayness. Keep in mind that the eggs were all I ate that day, so after my first out-of-apartment-drink, I was pretty much in a pretty happy space. Paul of course was not 21, even though he looks like he's 30, NOT, um so he managed to get into the first bar with a Florida fake which he had this whole background story created in case he was interrogated. He was SO giddy and excited to have gotten in. It was adorable. He's adorable. We got along really well, and he was easy to talk to. I didn't have to pull teeth to get conversation out of him, which I find to be the usual case.

Anyway, the night went on, and we had a great time. Although towards the end of the night I began to feel a bit uncomfortable as the group got a little larger. I was new to these guys, and couldn't get a read on what I could say that was funny, and I started to feel like they were gettin' judgey and annoyed by me. I don't know, I was drunk! Finally, Paul and I headed back to Brooklyn, and I plopped onto the mattress on his floor, and fell into a nice drunken coma.

DAY 2: Pill popping moms and former transvestites

Sunday I made pancakes for myself and Evan, of which I could only handle 3 bites of thanks to the night before. Then I headed out to my solo day in the city. My plan was to see Steppenwolf's Tony Award Winning play, August: Osage County.


I had heard of it prior to the acclaim by Jeremy, and then my manager Tyler, and then my wife Patty. SO, I saw it. I loved it. I want to see it again. It's hilarious and gut-wrenching at the same time, and new cast is wonderful. I didn't get to see the former cast, but I loved this one. So that was great.

THEN, following August, came the big finale of the weekend. The actual purpose of my trip. Seeing my all time favorite comedian. Eddie Izzard at Radio City Music Hall!

He was an absolute rock star. I just think it's fascinating for a comedian to get to a place in their career where they can sell out a 6,000 seat venue three nights in a row. This is his first tour NOT in transvestite mode, although the picture featured above is from his tranni days. In this show he wears a blazer with coat tails, and jeans, and red pin stripe button down shirt. He was incredibly silly and fun with the audience. This was also my first time seeing a show at Radio City Music Hall, and our seats were wonderful, and I was ever so happy.

Can this post get any longer?!

YOU BET!

... alright, I'll stop. I really did have a great time, and I can't wait to go back!

PHEW...I'm winded

so-yeah...