Last Night I Let the Party Get the Best of Me...

"No drivin', no sleepin'
Live it up like it's the weekend
When the DJ play the right song
Gon' drink, gon' party all night long" 

                                               -Wiz Khalifa, "No Sleep"


i could've used this blogpost title for 2 weekends that happened in close proximity to each other. i had to think hard about for which one it was more apropos. (is that the correct way to use that term? i know i've read/heard it used before but can't remember the grammatical context. i'm just impressed i remembered a new vocab word.)


remember a while ago i said i was planning a bday party? well, i've finally gotten over my embarassment about that day and can now share it with you with a devil-may-care-i'll-just-chalk-it-up-to-my-pre30s-hijinxes attitude. i mean, it wasn't that bad...


the day started with me scrambling to get to ChubbyBunny's bday party, because, as expected, i was running late. i parked the car in Jersey City and hopped the PATH and one very long 1 train subway ride later, i was finally at Boat Basin Cafe.  BTWs, the place is great but a little scary to get to. you have to cross a highway and walk under a stone bridge and just feel all-around-sketch before getting to a great outdoor space on the water. the weather was damp and gray that afternoon so it was no surprise that the place wasn't packed. i had arrived too late to eat any snacks that been laid out but it's never too late to get a drink. there was a little make-shift bar set up to cater to ChubbyBunny's party which was great, except it was cash bar only. luckily i had $8 on me so i got a drink ($4+tip i think) and chatted with DoE who had flown from Cali to attend ChubbyBunny's bday. 


the party was only supposed to last until 3 p.m. and i had arrived a little after 2 p.m. whenever i come into the city i always make it a point to pack in as many events & people as possible since i rarely come in during the week. on this particular day i'd made plans to meet a family friend for drinks after ChubbyBunny's bday during the 2 hour window before dinner with friends.


of course, once alcohol comes into the picture, the idea of a set schedule is always the first casualty.


after a second drink (the bartender took pity on me and allowed me to purchase my scotch on the rocks with my paltry remaining $3=LOVE), i raced downtown to Rye House with DoE, DoE's college roommate, and DoE's college roommate's boyfriend (got all that?) in tow to meet with FamilyFriend. i was over an hour late. and starting to get a little tipsy...

i'd suggested Rye House because i was pretty curious about the place. i'd heard good things about their food, and, looking at the drink menu, it seemed like the kind of spot that guys and girls would like (meaning a variety of "manly" whiskeys and "girly" mixed cocktails). i was also pretty in love with how chill it was when we arrived. the place wasn't crowded at all, so we got one of the long tables/booths on the side. the wooden and marble decor makes the place feel local and classy. hovering on hipster/trendy but never crossing the line. then again, i wasn't there on a weekend night at 11 p.m., so who knows.



Love the proper ice cube. they serve "rocks" the way they're supposed to be: large ice cubes so the drink doesn't get too watery right away.

i ordered a Ballantine on the rocks ($8), which was the cheapest scotch they had on the menu. if i didn't have dinner plans in 30 mins, i might have ordered something else i could savor, but in light of the circumstances, i just went for something easy. they do have a lot of nice options and i'll have to go back some other time when i can leisurely enjoy it.

in addition, and realizing the liquid night i had ahead of me, i ordered Fried Pickles ($6) to nosh on with our drinks.  they came out piping hot and crispy. with the 6 of us, the small order was gone within 3 seconds of it landing on our table.


after 2 Ballantines and a slew of text messages, i raced to my dinner reservations at Paprika. i don't know why i thought West 17th was so close to 1st Ave that i could easily arrive in 10 mins. it's not. so of course i arrived about 30 mins late to my own dinner reservation.  so here's a list of my bad behavior up to this point in the night:


1. arriving late to ChubbyBunny's bday party.
2. arriving an hour late to meet FamilyFriend at Rye House.
3. sitting for 30 mins with FamilyFriend after he waited for over an hour before abandoning him with people he didn't know.
4. in my haste to get to Paprika, i forgot to leave money for my drinks and food at Rye House.
5. arriving 30 mins late for my own dinner reservation with 6 friends waiting for me.
6. arriving very tipsy to dinner.


by the time i arrived at Paprika, i was definitely not sober. of course, you never realize this yourself. but it was apparently obvious to my friends, which they informed me when i spoke to them later that week. so i wish i could provide a detailed description of my dinner, but... it was all a little hazy. it's like watching a movie with the sound off. i remember what i ordered (Beef Carpaccio and Lobster Maccheroni) and i remember eating them. i also remember drinking red wine. and that's it.


::sigh:: i am too old to be having nights like this. yes, it was my birthday dinner, but birthdays are not free license to act like an asshole. although my friends all lovingly advise me that that is exactly what birthdays are for, that's just because they're my friends. they also kindly advised me i was not an asshole, but again, they're my friends.  it's not that rolling brown outs make people act shitty, but i didn't like that i couldn't recall what happened when the check came. i know my friends took care of it, but how did i behave? did i politely offer to contribute or did i sit back with an air of entitlement to the whole ordeal? i have a sneaking suspicion it was latter vs. the former. and that is not acceptable.

luckily, the electricity came back on in my brain after we left Paprika and i remember us walking to Central Bar for the party portion of the night. on the way, we stopped at Momofuku Milk Bar for dessert and snacks. i remember nibbling at other Kpopper's and She's snack and thinking "yummy" but again, what is was i tasted is a mystery.

we had a table reserved upstairs at Central and i pretty much stayed rooted to my seat the whole night, with magical scotches on the rocks appearing in front of me in 30 minute intervals (hooray for my friends!). it was a great birthday night, rolling brown outs excluded, and i loved that all my friends were there. i remember all of you being there even if i can't remember every conversation we had.


some  drama happened much much later in the night (or morning) which resulted in me making a hasty decision to stay at a friend's place and waking up the next morning extremely hungover in the middle of Chinatown. but that's a story too scandalous/embarassing to share on a blog...