RKMBs Forums MAY 2004

aw skeet skeet!

thursday! balls hot outside! that nasty, humid, sticky kinda day. didn't do my work out this morning. feelin bad about it. also, tried to mentally organize my day on the way to the train, to force some excercise time.

not gonna happen.

holy crap, today is busy so far. lotsa random shit to do. plus, i got calls from randy, scottie, pachtman, lex, laundry to do, food to eat, dad to meet...aww... skeet skeet. i know, thats twice, but it rhymed.

i'm also going front page crazy ... and liking it!

much better than the banner graphic style of old.

oh, and my nuts hurt.

rockon!

beavis and butthead are on latenights, on mtv 2.



score!

FIRE! FIRE!!

so, yesterday, i finish out my day at work. towards the end of the day, i was really tired and, actually, my throat kinda hurt for some odd reason. justa long day.

take the train, walk my blocks, then i gotta make some phone calls. then i gotta go to the grocery store, cuz i don't have any food. then i gotta stop at the lil quickie mart cuz i need stamps to mail some bills. all this while i'm hungry, tired, and in full knowledge that i gotta clean my apartment, work out, watch tv, and do my laundry. and its already 7.

i go to the store, i get my on-the-way errands done, then i walk up my four flights....

and am totally caught off guard!

turns out, my lex was there!

she got there right after work, just to help me do a whole buncha shit that i didn't wanna do! she cleaned my apartment, vacuumed my bedroom, mopped my floors, bought groceries, made me dinner, and prepared food i could eat next week

now thats a good girl!

frickin huge surprise. i had no idea she was gonna be there. AND a frickin huge help -- all that horrible, little shit just adds up after awhile, and i hate doing it. i just hate giving up the time to do it. but since she did it for me, i could just relax the whole night.

super, super good deal

finally brought my camera to work so's i could take a buncha pictures during my lunch break of all the places i go. the parks, madison square, the surrouding buildings, n'stuff. that way, i can put a face on my outtings -- despite buildings and parks and sidewalks not actually having faces.

i also got my first real pay check today

complete with removal of benefit costs!

but at least its a bit more money. that should keep me happy for a period of time. cuz money can't buy everything, its true. but what it can't buy... i can't use!

oh yeah, blogging. i do this!

so, uh... what exactly happened this weekend?

took the train home on friday. 'twas a long day. instantly met up with my lex. then scottie declared he was bout t'get off the train, too. so scottie was there. and then laquanda. then cati and lina said they were nearby. nice lil party. outside. about to get hit by public busses.

silly busses.

we went to black bear. watched yankee game. got caught up on one another's bull shit. drank. a bit. stayed til... 10? then went to my apartment. drank more.

scottie and i ended up staying awake until 4 am or so, just bull shitting about entirely random topics. for example, the original backstory of the tv series, "knight rider." or, perhaps, the life-long career acheivements of police academy's noise-making cop, michael winslow.

yes, we were drinking.

i passed out a lil after 4 am. scottie prolly left like 10 am the next morning. not that i would know, mind you, cuz i was way passed out. til like 12 or 1 or something. ...which, now that i think about it, isn't even that long of a sleep for me, and thats prolly why i'm still so tired. bastard...sleep!

once i did wake up, however, and then realized how beautiful it was outside, i knew that i needed to be out there. and i was going to bring alexis with me. ...despite her never wanting to go outside and, rather, wanting to destroy me.

i carried on.

we hung outside. we did the 8 miles of walking. we enjoyed the sun. we ate at precious, who still has the best frickin chinese food i've ever tasted. and outdoor eating absolutely rules. in fact, it r0x0rs. it r0x0rs a lot. i loves me some outdoor, chicken n'brocolli.

after a whole day of hangin out in the great outdoors with my beautiful woman, we decided to attend the first summer blockbuster, 'troy.' it didn't start untiil 10, but because it was the opening weekend, and the hype was all huge, we got to the theater all early, just incase it was packed.

turns out, the hype wasn't as big as i expected. .... and it turns out that was for a good reason.



the movie ended at 1 am, and we spent the whole ride home talking about how disappointed we were with it. and poor lex, she was super hyped to see it. never remember her being happy to see a movie.

im certain it had nothing to do with the near-naked shots of brad pitt, too. i mean, with my hulking mass always around, why would she even need to look around? to laugh? to better pity brad, whose physique pales to my own?

poor fellow.

saturday ends. sunday begins.

sunday was finally the day of the big arts and music festival. no more crappy cop out "rain delays" or whatever the fuck. this time, its for real!

beautiful weather outside. i don my button down shirt, sandals, and khaki shorts, fulfilling the hoboken stereotype. lex just gets all sortsa sexy in some sorta... shirt... thing. fashion, i don't know. but hot chicks? my specialty.

we hit the streets and run with it! i get 48,000 phone calls from people, but i can't hear any of them, cuz there're 82 million slower, louder people in front of me, draining all the noise and phone-answering will power.

eventually, tho, not only do i get my steak sammidge on the street, i meet up with laquanda. and roxy. and scottie. and my three sisters. and their friends. all separately!

each of these individuals get their allotted "rob time." i mingle amongst all of them as equally as possible. don't want anyone getting jealous.

few hours pass, the sun starts kickin in full blast, so some of us move to the water, to relax by the hudson. the others head home or wherever their non-rob areas of life are.

at the water, we sit. for a long ass time. and talk. and make fun of strangers. and, i'd later find out, cook in the sun. i have a sunburn on the top of my head, cuz i cut my hair so short now. fantastic.

amazingly, tho, i did get some color! my face and arms were somewhat tan. i evolved past white. probably not to dominican or even puerto rican. colombian, maybe. or fairer brazilian is possible. somewhere in that vicinity.

went to dinner at houlihans, or however you spell that place thats just like fridays and ruby tuesdays and applebees... then, went to the apartment, watched sopranos, and the end.

yesterday, the work week began. jonathan returned to the office. i found myself hoping he'd one day change his name to something that didn't make me sound so effeminite when referencing him. like... tom. tom returned to the office. much better. or, grand master b. like bud bundy. whatever.

anyway.

got some work done. day went by pretty fast. then i got home and cleaned my apartment a bit.

pachtman is comin up sometime this week. mebbe thursday. so, i'm inviting some randolph high school folk to come and hang out. perhaps beat one another up or order a dozen pizzas. something like that.

what were the skies like when you were young?

mentioned some pics hizzah, and well... i finally gotta round to smackin'em up to be blogged. so... here we go. virtual tour n'stuff.

the park is 1/2 a block from my office building. its called "madison square park" and its located between 5th and madison ave on the avenue side and between 23rd and 26th on the street side.

here's one of the little entrance cornerstones:


thats william h. seward. plaque says "governor. us senator. secretary of state"

madison square park is the spot where the statue of liberty's right hand and torch stood for years while they were trying to raise funds for the entire statue, and its pedestal.

the park is not the home of the famed sporting arena, madison square garden. at least, not anymore.

the current MSG is about 10 blocks away, above penn station. however, the park was the home of the original (and second) madison square gardens.

aside from that, its really, simply, just a big, beautiful park, with amazing scenery on every side. here's the empire state building, thru the trees.

so, now you've seen the empire state building from the park. here's another shot of it:



and turning completely around in the same spot, you get the most famous shot from the park:



thats the "flatiron building" famous cuz of its awkward design.

"why the fuck did they design it like that, professor rob?"

first off, its doctor rob. i didn't go to 8 additional years of fake school to be addressed as "professor"

anywho, to answer your question.... the building is oddly shaped because of its unique position. all of the streets in manhattan are in grid fashion. all of them, except that crazy broadway, which cuts through every road, diagonally.



see that one, arrogant mother fucker of a street, just slicing its rude ass through everything else? in this pic, it looks to be the only road going straight up and down (its right in the center).

one of the other famous intersectional results is, of course, times square -- the worlds' home to new years parties. the flatiron building is the result of this, the most extreme of the odd intersections, between east 23rd and where broadway meets 5th avenue



beautiful lookin building. bouta hundurd years old now.

these are the other famous buildings surrounding the massive park, located on madison avenue, on the east side of the park.

these buildings are the only part of the park that i can see from hoboken. note the hilited area:



i'll break'em down a bit, so's you can see more detail:



the golden-crested building on the left is the new york life building. the rectangular, black building is the new york merchandise mart.



the right side of the pic features the metlife tower, with the nice lil clock, soaring above madison square park. this tower is just as beautiful during the evening as it is in daylight -- adorned with a beautifully lit top, ala the empire state building.

the left side has the shorter, stumpier, kamphausenier building, known as the metropolitan life insurance building.

amazingly, this was supposed to be the tallest building in the world! originally conceived 80 stories taller than the much prettier metlife tower, and eclipsing the empire state building in height. however, because of the great depression, they fell way short, and abandoned their short-lived quest to build the huge tower.

and thats my lunch!

huh. thats a nice lil tour there.

exhausted this mo'nin. didn't sleep well. no real reason. and im frickin hungry. have been for the past day or so. also no real reason. just one of those things where all i can think about is eating delicious cheesesteaks, or something.

gotta hold off on food binging until tomorrow, though. thats when meatopia begins!

just beasted a mcdonalds salad for lunch. they're pretty good. not bad. .... but not great. rarely filling or satisfying. what i could go for right now is, like... 5 or 10 ice cream sundaes. mmm....

talked to brandon during my break. he's prolly out for the pachtman festival tomorrow night. randy is in. morgan is a maybe. jack said he'd try, which typically means no. he has to wait and see if anything better comes along.

criminy, says i.

and it all comes down to thursday.

pachtman is in. in theory. i just gave him the driving directions to hoboken, and they are somewhat confusing, admittedly. especially if its your first time. lets hope he pulls through.

weather is nice outside. and we have an uptown meeting today. which, of course, means i have to dress up in nerdily gear, khakis and buttons, however... it also means i could get outta work a tad earlier than normal, thus extending my hang time with pacthman and company.

hopefully, anyway.

holy crappiness, i'm sreepy!

lemme splain:

yesterday was frickin awesome.

jonathan and i got outta work early, cuz we had an uptown meeting (most of which was taken up by the discussion of our favorite movies). so, i'm in my apartment by 6, instead of just leaving work.

by 6:30, i'm hangin out with the pachtman, and pacthmania is runnin wild! we start off with the standard catch up bull shit over some beers, then head out to benny tudino's for some food... and beers.

shortly after, we're met with randy chang and jack tsai, and the old school, randolph reunion, classic jamboree begins with hardcore fashion.

everything sorta instantly falls into place, and its 10 years ago. frickin fun people, hangin out, makin fun of each other, laughing our asses off, and having a blast for the very sake of havin a blast.

man, do i miss the fuck outta that.

we ate benny's.

we went back to my apartment and watched the nets suck.

we played video games. for hours! all while downing many beers and sodas and eating doritos and other tasty, bad for you snacks.

at like midnight, we went to the diner and got some food. i had a single bite of my western omelette, and then i remembered i wasn't hungry at all. absolutely not hungry. so i took it home like a big punk.

most of the night, tho, we all just talked and bull sh...at. i had a frickin ball. so cool to hang out again. i really wish pachtman would stick around on the east coast.

after the diner, randy took off, and jack, scott and i went back to play more video games. we passed on super smash bros, past on mario kart and went straight for multiplayer monkey punching in super monkey ball

played for a long ass time, up until pachtman said he had t'leave, round 2 am. jack was gonna crash at my place.

so, pachtman walks out, and jack and i just start bull shitting about other stuff. catchin up s'more n'all. ...then pachtman calls me cuz the garage he parked on, apparently, closes at a certain point, not allowing him to get his car.

...which is pretty fucked up. but, hey, that meant he got to come back and hang out s'more!

so he came right back, and we played s'more video games!

and then, the talking. and the discussions. and the stories. and laughing. and just bein stupid. and recounting all of jack's car accidents, and when pachtman threw up wendy's nachos, and all stupid shit that only we'd find funny, but we love it all the same.

...and we talked until the sun came up. literally.

at 5:30 am, we called it a night. jack and i both had to wake up at 8, for work. ...whoops!

passed out at a little after 6. alarm goes off less than 2 hours later. shower quick, wash my face a thousand times. i'm all, like, sore and emotional and angry and annoyed and groggy cuz im so beat. sleeping was probably the wrong move with only that little nap.

jack and i left, pachtman was gonna hang out for a bit, then take off later on.

said the goodbyes. gotta buncha pics the night before, like a woman. doesn't matter.

now, i'm all sortsa fuckin retarded tired.

whatever, it was fuckin worth it. i'd do it again in a heartbeat.

finally, work ended friday, and i was off to the boken.

met up with one darling alexis, and we boozed out by the black bear beersteraunt. many drinks and some decent food, all in the company of the sun and fresh air, on their sidewalk seating. beautiful day and we's takin advantage of it.

i was still completely igzausted from the night before, so i knew i couldn't do much of anything friday night. we pretty much just hung out in my apartment after dinner, eatin italian ices and drinkin s'more drinks. ooh, how i loves them rum'n'cokes.

saturday was a nice lil "with lex" day. hung out in the city all day, relaxin in the sun n'such. gotta nice lunch, sat in the park... the weather has been friggin perfect lately. mid 80s, sunny, warm. even better, since it was sposda rain all day.

saw shrek 2 that night. wasn't bad.

at least there were no dog children in the audience.

sunday, went home to the dolph for a bit. hadn't been there in a while. ... . i dont think. well, there was easter, i guess. apparently, i don't relaly think much, at all. it gets in the way of stuff.

seriously, how can i be sexist and racist and just down right mean if i start thinking all the time? it wouldn't be me. it wouldn't be rob. and who wants to read the blog of some regular, nice guy? thats fucking boring.

... and what that has to do with going home is complicated... thus, i wont explain. cuz, thats think-worthy.

anywho...

i was home. with lex. hung with fam. ate a barbq. then... went back to hoboken. thats... thats actually prety much it.

i mean, i liked it, n;everything. it was really nice n'fun and i always enjoy the time with the fam and with the alexis. i'm not speaking in a negative tone, nor am i typing in one.

ill get out of this thought, yet.

watch!

just took a nice lil walk around for lunch. didnt have time to eat anything, though. there was a large gathering of attractive chicks eating ice cream cones in the park.

there was nothing i could do.

so i'm no good with uncomfortable situations.

its all sortsa hot n'kinda sweaty n'sticky outside today. thus, by the time i'm off the train and on the manhattan side, i'm less pretty than normal.

plus, calculate in the fact that this is justa bad morning, where i over slept in bed, then over slept in the shower! didn't get to work out, nose is all stuffy from allergies or a cold i gave myself via an air conditioner... whatever... i'm a real mess as it is, but add on all these variable exponents, and you get an idea of where i'm headed.

so, i take my disgusting mess into my office building and hop on the elevator only to be accompanied by some really hot girl that happens to work in my office.

sure, i'm all smooth and don juanish and handsome normally... but the awkward factor had kicked up new notches this morning, and the failure table was set with glee.

uncomfortable silences are the death of me.

wednesday. rainy! actually cold out. cold for this time o' year, anyway. 60s or so. miserablfyin.

i think i must be sick. my throat is dry and my face is nastier than normal. plus, i feel exhausted. can't even really concentrate on anything.

i kid you not, i've been typing this blog entry for 18 days now.

i revisited that one apartment last night -- the one i detailed here. this time, i went with my pop, cuz he's a lot smarter and more objective than myself.

i still really liked the joint, but i'm no closer to getting it -- mostly cuz of the assholian artistry of the realtor. he's adamant about the seller already rejecting two ridiculously high offers, that if they actually existed, the seller would be retarded to reject. thus, his plan is to make me think i have to offer more.

but i dont wanna.

why he wouldn't just recommend the other two "bidders" to pay the few extra thousand, i dunno. my offer is like 50,000 off, so i dunno why he'd think i'm closer to it than they are. ... that is, if they existed.

jerk nuts.

anyway, it was fun to see it with my pop, and then afterward, we just hung out and watched the yankee game in my apartment, whilst dining on the finest cheesesteaks that jake had to offer.

and the yanks won! hizzah, says i. hizzah.