As you know, Flash and I had a fabulous time at karaoke on Thursday night. It left me hungover and hopelessly exhausted on Friday, pushing through my murderous teaching marathon. When I finally finished for the day, I met Flash at Cheers where he was watching the Leeds game and we both chowed down on some roast beef sandwiches.
After that we came back to my place to "decompress" and put together our plans for the evening. We watched some mindless television and Flash heard the last few tunes out of his iPod before it died. We've as of yet been unable to recharge it! :-(
NDN stopped by (as he is prone to do) and announced that he had made some Russian friends in the building and that there was going to be a roof party that night. We agreed to stop by, but I really wanted to take Flash downtown and show him some of NY's different neighborhoods. Our destination for the evening? The East Village.
While we were getting ready to go out, we each did a few lines of "medicine"-- the last of my stash! I think that's I'm not going to buy anymore and that that's going to be it for me for a while. Flash said he was honored to be there for the end of it.
It was a gorgeous night and the breeze up on the roof coupled with the city lights were just perfect. NDN was getting drunk with his newfound friends, so we just said a quick hello and headed downtown.
Walking along St. Mark's Flash told me of some of the musical triumphs and disasters in his past. We passed McSorley's Ale House which I pointed out to Flash (as one of his readers recommended it), but it was very crowded and I wasn't feeling up for crowds-- still a little residual anxiety from the coke, as we hadn't been drinking with it. So, we pressed on.
Heading down past the Anthology Film Archives, we eventually settled at Waikiki Wally's. It's a Hawaiian themed bar that I had been to several times with Narc in the winter of 2004-2005. The walls are climbing with plants, and lit with rainbows, and wedged into the back corner of the room is an elaborate waterfall. The plexi glass bar is lined with bamboo stools and is decorated with some strangely modeled surf and sand. Our drinks were served with an orchid and the back room was home to a night of "transexual karaoke."
Flash and I pulled up two stools at the bar and set about drinking and talking. He did most of the talking, and I got to hear about many of the Flashy-characters and some very interesting stories from his life. Then we drank some more (and some more... and some more!). In the course of conversation, Flash let it be known that he was particularly enamored by one of the candlelit bathrooms and could imagine some "alternate uses" for the space.
Meanwhile, NDN had been drunk-texting me throughout the evening, asking for "the pot number," as well as telling me: YOU are Hyde!!! and Menya zovut NDN!! It was a pretty steady flow of NDN-style drunken humor. So, you could imagine my surprise when my phone buzzed and it wasn't NDN, but rather, I saw the following:
Out in E Village, but may jet soon if you want to hang.
WHAT?!?!??!?!
I nearly fell out of my chair. Wait... Maybe it wasn't nearly. I think I did fall out of my chair. Of course, it was from Narc. I had taken his number out of my phone, so his name didn't appear with the message. But it was him alright! Fuck it, you guys. I don't know what's wrong with me. I thought I was getting over him. But here it was-- one stupid little text and I was literally jumping up and down for joy. I was giddy and my heart was pounding unbearably. I think that Flash was rather shocked at the extremity of my reaction. But I think it helped him understand things a little more. And there it was. I ran into the bathroom to try to calm myself down.
And then I wrote back: @ Waikiki Wally's with a friend.
N: Am a few blocks away. Can drop by unless you're on a date or what not.
H: Not a date. My blogging buddy...
N: Am on 11 and B but will leave soon. Should I come by?
H: Sure. If you want... :)Maybe I shouldn't have invited Narc to join us (poor Flash!). Maybe I should have taken my own self-interest more to heart. But at the time I cared for nothing except to see him. I hadn't seen him in nearly an entire MONTH! (The last time was at 4:20 am, April 12th.)
Flash said that he wasn't quite sure how to deal with meeting Narc.
"I've been given specific instructions about what to do, should I see Narc," he explained.
He wanted to sock him one and call him a "twat." But given that he could see how excited I was, he didn't want to do anything that would upset me.
"Don't worry," I said. "Nothing's going to happen bewteen me and Narc. I'm gonna act like I don't care. I'm just going to play it cool. And I'm definitely not going to sleep with him!"
"I bet you will!" Flash laughed at me.
"No! No, I won't!"
The bet was on. (Too bad for Flash, we only bet $5! I still haven't paid up, have I?)
Anyway, in the meanwhile, I wasn't sure if Hammer was coming out to meet us or not. I sent her a text to apprise her of this latest development. Nearly an hour came and went and still Narc didn't arrive. I begin to sink from my initial state of elation. I sent him another text: ?
Finally, Flash spotted Narc at the door. (He recognized him from a picture I had shown him). I SO wanted to play it cool. Apparently, so did Narc. And he wasn't alone! He came in with three other people-- LA-Friend and two others. (How strange.) As they entered the bar, he didn't seem to see me, or perhaps he pretended not to. He looked right past me.
"Hey!" I called to him, playfully punching him in the arm. "What's up?"
"Oh, hey..." he said, as casually as could be. He leaned in and gave me a kiss by brushing cheeks.
WEIRD...
His eyes looked drunk to me, but he sounded okay. I introduced him to Flash.
"So, we're going to go get a table," he said. "We can let you guys do your thing and stay here... I mean... well, erm... you're welcome to join us, if you like..."
And with that, he was off. He just walked away! I was a little confused.
Why would he come into the bar and give me an awkward greeting and then walk away and sit on the other side of the room like that? Why was he ignoring me?
Flash reassured me that he obviously came to that bar specifically because I was there, so he obviously wanted to see me.
"Yeah... but they're sitting all the way over there! What should I do?"
Flash suggested that I go to the restroom (not far from where Narc was sitting) and try to start a conversation on my way back.
"I can't believe I'm helping you with this!" he said.
So, I got up and headed for the bathroom. On the way back, I stopped at Narc's table.
"So... how have you been?"
He introduced me to all of his friends and encouraged me to sit down. I pulled up an extra chair and went back to get Flash. Once we were all settled, I was seated next to Narc on the sofa. It was so strange for me. We were sitting so close together that our legs were touching and our arms were touching, but he was acting as if I were a neutral person-- a casual acquaintance.
I don't know if that's good or bad... or either...
So, Narc was on my left and Flash on my right. Before long, everyone at the table got invested in some conversation about the viability of communism, and then about Darfour, which I stayed quiet about for a while. When I finally put my two cents in, Narc said something that surprised me.
"No, seriously! Listen to her!" he said. "She teaches this stuff. She knows what she's talking about!"
Aww...
In the meanwhile, Flash and Narc weren't really talking. So I tried to bridge that gap by pointing out that they both have recorded music electronically. For a while they talked about different recording programs and then somehow got into a discussion about the best format for recording. Narc was making an argument that records sound better than CD's based on the way that they actually format music. Flash thought it was a ridiculous statement, in terms of sound quality.
"You just need the right equipment," Narc said. "I have a $35,000 stereo-system and it really plays records the right way."
Uh oh... Narc was being a bit of a "wanker," shall we say? I kicked Flash under the table.
He didn't make a big deal of it, instead pointing out that for all intents and purposes that kind of equipment was not available to the average listener, so functionally speaking, CD's are much better.
Periodically, Flash went out for a smoke. I tried to talk to Narc to see what he has been up to for the past month. It was strange-- he gave me the "party line"-- the official "Narc is an accomplished film director" story. It was Narc as he presents himself to "outsiders." He said that he is about to go into production, and that he's decided to build all the sets rather than film on location.
"PopStarChick and I found a space for the shoot," he said.
(So... he's been hanging out with her, I guess...)
"I was supposed to go see it this morning," he went on, "but I missed the meeting-- was out late last night partying with James."
"What about your fundraising?" I asked.
"Oh, that's all taken care of."
What? So in the past month he's managed raise hundreds of thousands of dollars? Huh???
Then he started telling me some strange story about how James stole all of his money.
"I took all the money I had left in the bank out at the ATM yesterday," he said. "It was about $400 in total, and James and I went out partying. It was a crazy night."
"Sound like fun," I said.
"Yeah, but then when I woke up in the morning James was gone and he had taken all my money."
"What?!? Your friend stole your money?"
"Yeah... I called his wife to ask for it back, but you know how she hates me and she's crazy. She refused to return it. So now I'm broke again."
I didn't know what to make of this story.
"So... Narc... Is Couchy still staying with you?"
"No. He's been gone for about a week. He's in Dublin now."
Later on he started to tell me about some hot model that he met (named Danielle) who works at a hip new restaurant as a bartender, bringing in $500-700 a night in tips.
Whatever... Same old, same old typical Narc...
After a while, LA-Friend and the others moved over to the bar, so it was just me and Flash and Narc left at our table. Then the two boys went outside for a smoke. (Talk about surreal!!!). I went back up to the bar and ordered another round of drinks for the three of us. But then I got nervous about what Narc might be saying to Flash, so I went outside too. Narc's friends weret here and told us that they were taking off for another bar called Sin. Since I had just ordered us drinks, we decided to stay. Narc told them he would meet them there in a few.
As soon as they had gone, he told me that he had changed his mind and that he didn't want to meet his friends after all. Instead, he wanted to go with me to the Patriot.
(Keep in mind, he was out of cash, which meant it would all be on me).
I agreed.
(Not surprising. Not wise. SO Hyde.)
Flash was getting tired and said that he had enough to drink (it was around 3:30 am) so he took a cab home and Narc and I set off for Tribeca.
As we got into the cab, I put it bluntly--
"You're not going to send me home at 5:00 am this time?"
"Um, no..." he seemed embarrassed. "You can crash at my place, if you like."
He always has to hedge everything like that. Ugh!
We didn't end up staying at the Patriot for long. After only four drinks each, it was past closing time so we headed for his place. By this time, I must have had 15-18 and I was drunk.
Back at his place, I stretched out on the couch with my head in his lap. He turned on Real Time with Bill Mahr. Wesley Clark was on talking about something or another, but I was too drunk and too tired to follow politics. Somehow a piece of carrot cake materialized and Narc fed me a piece of it with his fingers. It was weird. It was also the best cake I've ever tasted.
Then, "Bed." Narc announced.
He has a habit of announcing things like that-- "Bed." or "Food." Or (as I recently told Hammer) "Condom."
That night-- sex, sex, sex. (Yay!) 'Nuff said.
The next morning--sex, sex, sex. Again, 'nuff said.
After the morning session, he fell back asleep, but I got up. I hung out in his living room for a while and spoke to B on the phone. I wasn't sure if I should stay or go. Would he sleep straight through the afternoon? What time was Flash expecting me back? I tapped on the bedroom door at around 11:30 am.
"Narc? You getting up soon?"
"Huh?" He was sleepy. "Um... No. Not just yet."
"Well... I just didn't know if I should stay or I should go," I stood there equivicollay.
"Stay. Stay!" he said. "I'll be up soon..."
(I liked that.)
So I did. While I waited for him to get up, I spoke to Shorty for a while on the phone. She was sad that she couldn't make it to NY to meet Flash.
When Narc finally got up, we watched some strange movie on TV-- Win a Date with Drew Barrymore. Then we ordered in sushi and had more sex. (More Yay!) It was weird being back at his place after more than a month. Just the slightest things were different-- he had a cupful of different colored permanent markers in the kitchen. He had a million bottles of Fiji Water. (I guess he's obsessed with that for the moment.) He had hung up the Klimt painting that had been leaning against the wall for month. There was a different brand of hair product in his bathroom cabinet. It all made me sad. And I felt silly for it.
At around 3:30, I told him I had to go. I had left Flash to his own devices all morning, but we needed to make our evening plans.
I was SO tired when I got back to my place. Flash had been to the Empire State Building, but seemed to be in a pretty chill mood himself. So we hung out at home for a while and watched some more TV. Finally we got our evening plans arranged-- a trip on the Staten Island Ferry and then to the West Village with Hammer.
Unfortunately for us, getting to South Ferry wasn't so easy, as all of the weekend subway service was shut down south of Brooklyn Bridge. Nevermind that. It gave me a chance to walk with Flash through the Financial District.
Once we met up with Hammer, we realized that none of us had eaten. We ran across the street for a bite of McDonald's just in time to make it back for the 7:30 ferry. There were some strange crowds in the ferry terminal-- a bunch of people dressed like pirates for some birthday party, and a crowd of annoying high school kids among others.
We had the beautiful luck of being on the ferry just in time for sunset and there were some gorgeous views of the Statue of Liberty and downtown Manhattan. Sometimes living here, I forget how absolutely beautiful it is. I always love being on the water though. No matter what is going on, the water brings me a measure of peace.
Hammer and I were sort of in giddy boy-mode and must have subjected Flash to the strangest chatter. He said he learned a bit from us though, about "how girls talk about men." Flash entertained the two of us with his relationship stories as well. And we all had a good laugh sharing our thoughts on the various ups and downs of blogging and the characters in our little blogging community. There are so many tangles in blogger relationships! It's kind of strange...
We had plenty of time to talk, because we got stuck on Staten Island for quite some time before we were able to board for the return trip. Once we were finally back on the boat, Flash and Hammer decided that it was too cold to stand outside. They sat indoors on benches near the windows, but I stayed outside the whole time, shivering in my blue sweatshirt. Flash brought me a big can of Budweiser which was great, but it made my hands even colder. Hammer told me that I am "sehr dramatisch!"
Yes I am, Hammer. Yes I am.
Once off the boat, we began to trek up Broadway trying to hail a cab. There was a lot of competition, though, and we were nearly to Narc's place by the time we got one! From there, we headed to Hammer's to unwind for a bit.
Once we crashed at Hammer's, she started to lose momentum. We had to try to convince her not to unwind too much, so that she would still have some energy to come out with us. She was cranky, but seemed in much better spirits once Flash and I helped her fix her futon! She donned her high heeled boots, told us she was in a "dominant mood" and we hit the town. We were contemplating going to Marie's, and Hammer made Flash that if we saw Sing-Man he would be her boyfriend for the night! (We never made it to Marie's though...)
Our first stop-- the "Friends" building on Hudson and Grove. Flash just had to see it. Too bad he couldn't get his camera flash to work, so his pictures came out dark. On the way there I pointed out the bar where I met Narc. Weird. After that, we were a little hungry again, so we stopped in a cute Middle Eastern restaurant for a bite. And after all that? Well we were all kind of too tired to press on. We decided to head back to Hammer's to smoke a joint and watch a little SNL. Flash and I stayed until just before 1:00 am.
We took a cab back to my corner and he laughed at me because he said that despite my exhaustion, he could see the magnetic pull yanking me towards Cheers. I saw FightingMensch outside the bar, so I pointed him out to Flash, but I somehow managed to resist that powerful pull and we didn't go into the bar. Instead, it was home and to bed for an early night!
So that's it the story of the first part of the weekend. Writing about yesterday is a little bit more complicated for me, as it was the anniversary of my dad's death and I had a big fight with my sister in the morning. I also didn't do much to process how I feel about the Narc reunion. As Flash put it to me on Friday night,
"Hyde, you're CRAZY!"
I will say that Sunday ended fabulously well-- I had a long talk with Flash about life and love, we dined at the Manchester Pub, and capped the eveing with Fox cartoons and South Park, smoking another joint.
Today I taught, checked out David Blaine and went to the planetarium with Flash. Oh-- and I got a randomly strange text from Narc:
Speaking of water-- just tried my first two bottles of Penta. Was OK, but not the life changing experience I'd imagined...
(The Penta Water thing goes back to a conversation he and I had a long, long time ago. Strange, though, right?).
My response?
Better than Fiji? Where'd you get it? I wanna try... I'm in the planetarium now. :)
Needless to say, he never answered that one.
So... more to come on the rest of Flash's visit. He's an awesome guy and I'm so glad that we've been able to hang out these past few days. But then again, I always knew we would get along...
Tonight's 24 night!
:)
love,
hyde
4 comments:
Did you hear that guys?
I'm an awesome guy!
Seriously, Hyde & I have had the best time. I wish I could think of some way of adequately thanking her.
What fun! I'm glad you guys are getting to spend a lot of time together.
What a conundrum...you are happy about this weekend, so I feel happy, but Narc has resurfaced and is immediately creating more stress for you, making me sad.
I shall do my best to maintain a neutral facial expression in the meantime.
I freakin LOVE mathematical proofs that way!
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