New York City Day 2 - Friday Night

The main purpose of this trip to NYC was to finally reconnect with some of my many cousins that are down there. I lived in Jersey City for a little over a year and though I have some memories of them, it's different when your older. There are more things that you can do together and talk about. After 16 years, I thought it was time.

3 weeks before I left, I emailed Tom, Carlitos, Derek and Joanne to set up something so that we can hang and have dinner, have a drink or whatever. Carlitos couldn't make it cause he had to go to California for work so it was just D, T and J coming to meet me. Tom now lives in DC but he came up for the weekend since the last time I saw him was in the Philippines.

So I get a call from Derek Friday afternoon telling me that we will be meeting at 77nd & 2nd at 6:00pm. I got his voice mail at 4:30pm since being in the museum killed my reception. I gave Deek a call at 5 and said that I would be a little late. Took the 1 train back to the apartment and got ready.


By about 6-6:15 I left the apartment and started walking north on Park Avenue towards 77nd street thinking that I would get a cab Friday night. By the time I got to Grand Central Station at around 42nd street, I realized that I was enjoying my walk and continued on. I really love Park Avenue. To me it is the street that made me really feel that I was in NYC. I love how wide it is and just everything about it I just love. It reminds me of University Street in Toronto. So during my walk I see this big building that just stood out. Taking a closer look I realized that it was the Waldorf Astoria. Now for those who watch Gossip Girl, this is where Blair lives. So I had to take a pic of it LOL. I felt kinda gay taking it considering it was a Gossip Girl momento but fuck, whatever.

The time is now 6:40 and I get a text from Deek saying "Where are you?!" I told him that I was going to be 10 min. more before I get there. Let me tell you. I was being so optimistic considering I was ONLY on 57th street. 20 MORE BLOCKS TO GO!! At this point my feet were hurting and it started to get cold and my mouth started to get dry since I probably had my 4th cigarette already. Keep in mind, earlier this day I walked from 33rd street to 79th street to the museum, so basically I was doing the same walk again.


Finally at around 7:15 or so, an hour after I left the apartment, I made it. I then looked for a place called Brother Jimmy's BBQ and entered. Once I did I felt someone hit me and it was Tom and Derek with his co-workers. We said our hello's and proceeded to drink. At this point Derek looked wasted already but hey, how do I know. I haven't seen this guy in 16 years.

Everyone who knows me knows that I cannot just sit there and drink pitchers of beer. I don't know why but I just can't. Well these guys just sat there drinking pitchers of beer and I anticipated a long night but as the night went along, I really didn't give a fuck after a couple of beers and just enjoyed the conversation.

Derek's coworkers were telling me that they were yelling "Mike" to every Asian guy that walked in the place since Derek didn't know how I looked like. Derek asked Tom what I looked like and the fucking guy said this

"Look for a tall asian guy thats BALDING!"

BALDING?!! WTF?!?! Do I look like I'm balding?!?! I have the thickest set of hair out of everyone! I found that funny but I found it funnier that Deek decided to bait Tom out.

I really don't remember the night but I remember the night got crazier when Joanne finally came. I just remembered she kept on ordering 2 pitchers at a time instead of 1 and that shit just made it worst! It was honestly a real good time! All 4 of us are a like, LOUD, DRUNK and OBNOXIOUS! I love it! BTW if you haven't noticed in the picture, that Irish guy in the middle IS Derek. It was a trip talking to him and calling him my cousin but that wore off as more drinks were consumed.

Derek's coworker Megan was there as well and she was so funny the whole night! Calling the waitress Old and saying how she wanted to be our cousin too! It was fuckin hilarious!

Anyway the night ended with us walking somewhere and I just remember screaming for Chinese food in a carton and somehow ended up in Deeks apartment. His place is nice. Even though I barely remember it, it was nice. I just remember that he had a rubber duck on the back of his toilet and I was going to ask him about that but I forgot to LOL!

So from Derek's house, Joanne, Tom and I took a cab to where I was staying, got my stuff and slept over Tom's house and I just remember saying bye to Joanne and thats about it. The next morning, I woke up in Jersey with a MASSIVE hang over! Little did I know, this wasn't the only headache I would get on Saturday. Trust me, this story is worth the wait!