Get Me Some Gingko Biloba STAT!

i'm not usually a birthday party kind of person. i get really stressed out trying to plan bday parties, regardless if it's for a friend or for myself. the biggest stress to me is picking out a venue that fits everyone's tastes. the venue is the first step. and if you start out badly on the first step, you know it's only downhill from there.

i wasn't planning on having a bday party, but then Gecko asked me what i was doing because she would come to NYC for that weekend. concurrently when i learned of that information, i also got an invite to ChubbyBunny's birthday party. ChubbyBunny's bday is 2 weeks after mine but she decided to have it on the 23rd jointly with a friend. CB's bday invite, for the afternoon at Boat Basin Cafe, in conjunction with Gecko coming into town, spurred me to spontaneously decide to have a bday party.

before i could back out, i created a Facebook event and started researching venues. when making my FB event, i remembered another stressor of throwing a party: who to invite. FB makes inviting people super easy and convenient since almost everyone and their mothers are on FB now. however, 1st you have to deliberate whether you want to make the event public or private. public allows your guests to invite other people, which is great in case you forgot to invite someone, so i made it public. but since it's public, anyone you don't invite will be able to see it, should it come up in their news feed or if they happen to glance it while on an invited guest's profile, which can be super awkward (even if they never confront you about it). this was my 2nd deliberation. as i haphazardly checked off friends to invite, the biggest dilemma was those individuals who i'd met before, hung out with, but never really talk to if it wasn't for "Y" (the person who introduced us and whom I'm actually friends with). as i checked the box to invite "Y" i'd have to decide whether to invite that acquaintance whom I knew on FB but didn't really know. would they care if they weren't invited? would they want to come because "Y" was coming but didn't know if it would be ok because I hadn't invited them? i felt like my brain was going to explode.

once that was done, i returned to the difficult task of choosing a venue. when i thought back on my past bar/club experiences, i realized how limited my memory actually is. it was like as soon as i tried to actually access my Manhattan venue database, i completely drew a blank. instead, all i could remember were places that i clearly couldn't have a party e.g. Kenka.  then there were places that would be great venues if i and my friends were willing to throw down $300-$450 per bottle to reserve a table and deal with line hassles e.g. Cabana, Hiro, 230 Fifth, Gansevoort, etc. (plus i find Meatpacking slightly annoying to get to via subway). every venue i could think of had its drawbacks: the Park (can't reserve a table upstairs in the atrium), Circle (too Asian), PS450 (west side + midtown), Pianos (cover after 11 and super crowded), etc.

i also can't believe how many places i can't remember the name or location of. i would vaguely remember the "feel" of a place, or the people i was with, but most of the time i couldn't remember "why" I was there or "where" it was. there was 1 particular night when Gecko and i went out and attended W's bday party. Gecko remembered the venue for W's bday party and i couldn't except for some vague, hazy recollections. initially, neither of us could remember where we'd been earlier that night, although i'd remembered having a really good time. so i decided to dive into the archives of this blog and see if i'd written about it somewhere. of course, i didn't. go figure. but it was really funny to read about all the hijinxes we used to get into back in the day. there was 1 month where i kept arriving home at 8 a.m. from nights out! and i found an entry where Oppa got into a fight!

while i remembered most of the events coinciding with the entries, i have to admit that certain details/aspects of the story i'd completely forgotten had ever happened. clearly, it did happen since i wrote about it, but why can't i remember? i'm seriously concerned about this failing memory. i'm not sure if it's a sign of old age, brain damage, or impending stupidity...

Cabana

so ASW and i met up for a belated birthday dinner last wkd, which was really good b/c i haven't really seen her since her wedding in Vegas. we went to Carne Vale in Alphabet City since ASW was in the mood for meat and this place is a rodizio, where you have buffet apps and when you've had enough you give the waiters the green light and they start bringing various cuts of meat to your table until you tell them to stop.

the setting is pretty romantic, dim lighting and candlelight and all that and in the summer they open the patio doors and since we got seats near the patio it was pretty cool to watch the crowds outside passing. if you're a guy, you would definitely love this place b/c around 9:30 pm they have a very scantily dressed woman-and when i say scantily i mean thong and bra top-come out and dance to, what i assume is, Brazilian music. pretty entertaining. the food was good, but the service was pretty slow. the waiters weren't as vigilant as they should be bringing around the skewered meat and serving us and ASW and i actually had to leave before we could get dessert b/c we were meeting ppl and it was getting late. i recommend coming to this place early (tho you'll miss the belly dancer) b/c i suspect the service is a lot better b/c the place is less crowded. i'm definitely gonna give this place another try tho b/c $35 prixe-fix for app buffet, all the meat you can eat and dessert is just too good a deal to just write off.

afterwards, we were going to meet FDR at One, which i'd never been to. ok, so i feel like i know the city pretty well by now, give or take a few spots. turns out Little West 12th is one of those spots that i don't know. it took me and ASW a while to find the place and even then we eventually had to ask somebody for directions. we finally found ASW a prime parking spot, but once we got to One, ASW took one look at the line and decided it wasn't worth and went back home to Jersey.

i continued on to Cabana to meet Oppa and Tina for Meegs' birthday party. i almost gave up tho when i saw how long the line for this place was. it actually wrapped around the corner onto 17th street. i prob would've left except i had already told Egg and Oni to meet me there so i just trucked it out in line and it was timed almost perfectly so that when i got to the front, Oni arrived in a cab. we had a good time but didn't really hang w/Tina/Meegs and Oppa had already left before we'd gotten in. either way, had a good time w/my BLS buddies and it was all worth it when Oni told me i looked skinny.

Abandoned for a Boy

Isn't that always the case? It's been a bumpy ride since the last time i wrote, and i'll freely admit, most of the neglect is b/c i've been spending my time w/Gohm (and it's been a long wkd so i haven't been sitting at work procrastinating, as i am now).

it's pretty much been a whirlwind since friday. i met up w/Gohm at Cabana and met 2 of his friends from his BU days. i've decided to adopt V as my girl b/c she completely cracks me up. Cabana was actually really nice although we didn't spend much time there. we chilled out on the rooftop and enjoyed the amazing weather that we've been having in NYC (until today of course). afterwards we headed over to Hiro which is right next door to Cabana (both of which are part of the Maritime Hotel). Hiro's VERY cool w/a Kill Bill-esque vibe. At one point during the night 2 women climbed up on these ribbons hanging from the ceiling and began a very Cirque du Soilel performance. while i thought it was very impressive, this one woman had really long legs and i kept imagining getting kicked in the head.

Saturday was Em's bday and V threw her a party at Ava which is a lounge located in the penthouse level of Dream Hotel. the place is really chill, and i found out from V that if you reserve the terrace for a party they automatically give you a table and table service although it's not required to order a bottle. nice change from all the other places that require bottle service in order to get a table. i met a lot of Gohm's BU friends that night along w/Chow, his hilarious roommate.

otherwise spent a pretty relaxed long wkd. went home to west caldwell and caught up w/Nells and Henry. ironically went to breakfast w/Nells at Montville Diner (which is usually where Henry and i would go back when he lived on the east coast). couldn't be bothered w/sitting in the mugginess to watch the fireworks so instead met up w/Gohm and his friends at Banc Cafe, and while i didn't order any food, i have to admit theirs looked pretty good. at the end i did order a double chocolate irish whiskey cake. yea, it was as yummy and chocolatey as it sounds.