April...the busiest month of the year

Apparently, April showers not only bring May flowers...they also bring children. Take that magical stork. It seems like every day has been someone's birthday this month. I feel compelled to take a moment to make some birthday shoutouts.
Birthday shoutouts (in no particular order) to: Krishanna, Dave, Jun, Kate, Giovanna, Namalie, Jose, Su, Stephan, my mom, my grandfather, Henry, Darlene, Aunt Chueh, Aunt Cecilia, and my grandmother (I think). Apologies to anyone I missed.

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Friday night consisted of Dave's birthday festivites. In the morning I had gone to get treatment on my foot and neck. No acupuncture on the neck this day, but I did get the most painful back rub in the history of backrubs performed on Kevin. My doctor told me that my neck problems were old problems that had developed over time. Looks like I had a neck problem before I even went snowboarding last weekend. I believe it because I used to have to crack my neck numerous times every day, and the fall I took snowboarding either exacerbated the problem or gave me other problems on top of the ones I already had.

The back rub was insane. I don't really want to get into the specifics, but if you've ever had something hurt so much that it brought you to the point of laughing because you didn't know how to cope with it, that's basically where I was at the whole time. There were also times when the sides of my neck would get massaged, because they were still really swollen from the fall, causing pain and suffocation. My neck and back were sore the entire afternoon and night while I was out.

Anyway, back to Dave's birthday. We met up at Yello Bar at 6:30(my first time there). It was as ghetto as Ting made it out to be, but it was still fun. Nancy brought Dave a cake that had a picture of the Blue Power Ranger on it. The writing on the cake said "Happy Birthday Brithdave." Don't ask. After Yello Bar we headed over to Penang for some Malaysian cuisine. When dinner was over, the lights were dimmed and then the Birthday Song started to play. Then it played again in Chinese...then again in English but faster...then again in Chinese at the faster speed. While the music was playing the waitress brought out the Power Ranger cake. Dave looked thoroughly embarrassed.

Next on the agenda was Odea. It was a pretty small lounge with three booth-like rooms. When we first got there Ting and Lenny were checking out the DJ until she saw them and then they immediately turned their heads. Then I looked to see what they were looking at and finally saw her. She caught me looking at her so I waved to her, and she waved back. I caught her looking down at me every once in a while the rest of the time there. Dave's cousin, Connie, was actually in the next booth/room with a few of her friends. She was pretty cute -- and she complimented my hair which is always a plus in my book. There was this dude Brian who she was with who also complimented my hair. He had a very firm handshake. Dave is convinced he is gay.

After we left Odea because we lost our booth to some white people who bought a bottle, we ended up wandering for a while and ended up down around MacDougal Street. Last time I was there I had randomly run into my friend from summer classes Eklavya. I also met up with Wilson and Al semi-randomly while I was there last time...and Brian and Laura but that chance encounter was neither random nor semi-random nor by chance. We went the whole way without my seeing anyone I know from BU. We were just outside Down the Hatch when I said, "I'm surprised I haven't see anyone I know," which is when I saw Eklavya. Moments later I saw Jen (also from BU). I spent a decent amount of time talking to them and catching up with Jen. It was nice. She had had a lot of wine though. I don't know if she'll remember seeing me.

Down the Hatch was super packed as was everywhere else. We wandered down to the McDonald's at West 4th where I got an ice cream cone. Jen Tan got a Happy Meal that came with a My Little Pony toy. Ting and I were talking with this black guy eating cheesecake in McDonald's. He was a photographer and had a big piece of cardboard with pictures he had taken posted on it -- interesting character. He gave Ting his card. The next day I found out Ting had thrown it out. No more cards for Ting. After we finished eating everyone tried figuring out what to do. Half of us were falling asleep and others were up for doing stuff. Eventually, we went next door to the Fat Black Pussy Cat because it was so close.

Two rounds of Buttery Nipple shots. Everyone was now more awake. Ting was very intrigued by the idea of checking out the club downstairs. The waitress told us that they would waive the cover charge for us to go down because it was dying down a little bit. She was Asian with lots of make-up and her hair up...until she had to take her pen out of her hair; then it was down. I'm not gonna lie; she looked pretty good while she was letting her hair down.

Downstairs was fun. Everyone was a little timid to get down with their bad selves, but I think everyone had fun anyway. Carolyn danced with some black dude. Later, we all left. People going to Queens split a minivan cab, except for Ting and Gordon who took the train. Dave and Lenny headed for the train to go to Brooklyn, and I walked with Jen towards alphabet city where she stays and where I caught a bus uptown. Home at 4am.

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Jun's birthday celebration was the next day. It ended up being a 12 hour marathon for me deserving of it's own post.