20 Mar 2010

R: It was a beautiful 75 degree spring day, and in New York that means everbody heads for the trees and gets naked. Despite a mini hangover caused by an over-eagerly drunk round (or two) of vodka tonics on an empty stomach - not at all helped by a drunken trip to McDonald's - I decided to go hit the highway for some exercise and sightseeing...Okay, confession: I kinda couldn't breathe due to a bout with bronchitis and lingering congestion, and I kinda came back to my apartment in a lot of pain below the hips. Also, the sightseeing turned out to be rather annoying as the highway was crowded with sun-deprived New Yorkers. I was nearly blinded a couple of times passing the urban tanners on the grass.

I still managed my 5K goal, but instead of hitting the gym for a little cool down and core work I just went back to my apartment and promptly laid down. There was no plan to get back up except I felt dumb for wasting a warm, sunny day indoors just because I was very nearly convinced my legs and hips were cracked with hairline fractures. Silly paranoia. After a brief NCIS break, I took a shower, put on some spring-appropriate clothes (i.e. a T-shirt and jeans) and headed back out to the highway to join the rest of the city on the piers.

C: A storm surprised us in the wee hours of the morning, beating wind and rain down on MSW's little house with an occasional thunderclap and flash of lightning. When M and I took off for Juan in a Million (another Man v. Food episode), we were greeted by grey skies and significantly cooler breezes than the day before (the high for today was barely 50). Though it put a slight damper on the morning, we persisted in our quest for the "Don Juan" breakfast special. The JinM staff were prepared for the long lines with heat lamps along their store front on César Chavez - we were in and out in less than an hour.

We spent the rest of the afternoon mostly in the house, napping off some of our traveler's fatigue. After a quick dinner at a wonderful vegetarian place (i know, vegetarian? in Texas?!), we hurried over to The Whitley for Perez Hilton's One Night in Austin party. MSW and her colleagues had secured special access to the show through their jobs at the Texas Tribune. After briefly waiting in line with the not-so-VIP crowd in a queue that wrapped around the block, we were personally escorted into the building by their PR manager. I could see the jealousy seething in those who still had to wait in line, desperately trying to prove how very-important they were by waving various badges and wrist bracelets at security guarding the entrances.

After all of that, the show was so-so. As you can see on Perez's website, Macy Gray was the only recognizable artist performing before midnight; if you wanted to hear Snoop, Estelle or even Courtney love, you had wait until the end of the night. Within the first few acts, it was obvious that they were running almost an hour behind, and I was getting restless. Not going to lie, I was fairly pumped about the free koozies, 3-D googles and even the free-flowing Alizé cocktails (Alizé Rosè + Ginger Ale = delicious). In the VIP room people started smoking despite "No Smoking" signs, eventually defacing the "No" part of them, and even indulging in non-tobacco smoking. My head was already hurting a bit from Sliimy's performance earlier in the night, and the smoke in the quickly crowding room wasn't helping at all.

A gracious hostess, MSW recognized our restlessness and gave us the nod on leaving if we wanted to; we tried to stick it out a little longer, but knowing there would be a rush for cabs later, M and I headed home before the closing performances.