Sunday, October 01, 2006

Gaining Respect for Queens

I've had quite a September, I must say. It started off in LA, where I spent my Labor Day weekend. I know quite a few people down there and, for that reason, I've avoided it like the plague since I graduated from college. I know that there is no way I could go there for a weekend and see everyone that I want to because most of them are from different groups of friends. So rather than disrespect anyone, I just don't go there :o) . But Labor Day was great because 1.) Everyone was actually staying in town for the long weekend, 2.) There was a wedding to attend, and 3.) My little sister had just moved into her apartment and was starting her second year of college. So the stars were lined up and, despite my flight there and back being significanly delayed (for no apparent reason), it was a very entertaining weekend seeing (almost) everyone and getting to meet my friend's Peruvian girlfriend finally, seeing his parents again, and getting to know some people that I was acquantinces with from high school who also attended the wedding. I also managed to squeeze in a day with my sister, seeing her knew warzone apartment and hanging out at Huntington Beach with her for the day. We don't get to spend enough time together, so that was something special! I also narrowly missed meeting up with my parents, who were driving through the area on their way back from visiting my niece in San Diego after moving my little sister in.

The end of the month has been interesting as well. My good friend Paul was (mis-?)diagnosed with a kidney stone, which actually was appendicitis and ended up in the hospital for five or six days with his appendix ruptured. It was pretty hard to see him forced to sit still for six days, not being able to eat or drink anything. I tried to spend as much time down there as possible and he finally recovered enough to come home last week, shortly thereafter flying back to California to return to school, which started this week. I'm sure he's gotta be mentally exhausted, but that's better than being hooked up to IVs all week!

I think the culmination of this, plus turning a year older, some stress at work, Liverpool's stuttering start to the season, getting stood up by my stewardess friend, and my impending surgery, got me feeling pretty lethargic and anti-social lately, so I needed to shake things up to get back into a positive frame of mind and groove. Some remedies come in strange forms, like Columbian nightclubs in the middle of Queens. Some friends from work and I had a drink or two after work on Friday at a (the only) beer shack near my office. Feeling emboldened, I decided that we needed to keep it going somewhere, so I suggested to my Ecuadorian co-worker that he take us somewhere local and unique, since he knows Queens pretty well. One subway stop away at Roosevelt Avenue, we were in the middle of Little Columbia (if you've seen Maria Full of Grace, you might recognize that street name). Our Ecuadorian tour guide took us to a nightclub that was so local that the Columbian bartenders didn't speak a lick of English. Sweet! I was so enthralled in this place!

Personally, I use sites like Citysearch and my restaurant guides to find new places to check out, but since those mostly focus on Manhattan, it's really tough to find these little enclaves, kind of like Polish Greenpoint in Brooklyn. I know they exist, but it's really hard to find out about them without someone local!

In any case, one happy hour drink turned into a night of dancing to merengue, borchata (sp.), cha-cha, and salsa music and meeting some new Latin folks in a legitimately South American atmosphere. I've got that place bookmarked in my mind, possibly the next destination for one of my infamous Pisco Sour parties??

After waking up late on Saturday, I joined Sean for some greasy American food to help shake off the effects of the cervezas from the night before. Unfortunately, we had to help see Paul and his parents off to the airport to return to school, but fortunately the day didn't end there as my friends Andrea and Alan had their wedding celebration that evening waaay upstate. They got married alone in Fiji a few months back so they had their party Saturday night at a very unique location - in an old carousel building at a state park. The carousel was still operational and made for an amazing aura about the place. Cathy, originally supposed to be in California on vacation this week, decided at the last minute to attend, so we both hitched a ride with someone who was making the hour and a half drive with a rental car.

They had a lovely reception, including a nice slideshow of their trip and wedding in Fiji, complete with Fijian warriors escorting her down to the cliff overlooking the sunset. That fulfilled the emotional quota that all wedding celebrations need to have :o).

J. Riley, today's events include watching movies that came out before I was born that I really should have seen a long time ago, like West Side Story (aka New York's Romeo & Juliet in the neighborhood that was torn down to build the Lincoln Center) and Saturday Night Fever...

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