Boys will be boys

Things got interesting with the boys in the week after my birthday. Deux had really been putting in quite an effort. Texting daily, and even calling me just to chat. However, I was not sure how I felt about him, so I chose to never actually take these calls. I was put off by him--his red hair and goofiness and felt that something was not right. Not to mention the fact of getting involved again with one of Yahtzee's friends. I did not want to be that girl. I did agree to let him take me out to dinner when he extended the invitation though--just to really be sure. I already knew that these finance guys could get under your skin if you hung out with them long enough so I was cautious. We went to dinner at a decent Thai place near his apartment, of course. This was followed by drinks at the 13th Step, a less than favorable date spot. I was now officially a Tuesday night cheap date. Despite all this I, for reasons unbeknownst to me, did stay the night. And what a bad idea that was. Or maybe good, as it made me realize that my qualms were for a reason. Deux turned out to be extremely pushy, if you get my drift. I informed him multiple times that what he wanted would not be happening, yet he still kept trying, even waking me in the middle of the night when my guard was down. I was not pleased with his midnight rape attempt, and decided that there was no way we were going out again. Except I left my glasses case at his apartment, like an idiot. To be continued.....
Fast forward to the weekend. I had bought tickets to see MGMT perform at the museum where I work and invited Mason to come with me as my date. Of course it turned out to be one of the worst concerts I had ever seen. They played for abour 45 minutes, failing to play any songs we knew, or even any with lyrics. The PR for the event had been terrible; the fact that this was going to be an artsy set inspired by the new exhibit and not an actual concert had not been made clear. Mason and I weren't sure what to think afterwards. This and the fact that I was going through the worst PMS of my life exacerbated the situation (Mason didn't want to go out) and we actually got in a minor tiff. It was cleared up on the subway ride downtown and then things were fine again. But the fact that this happened so early on concerned me.
The next day I headed back to the museum to meet Russian Rocher to actually go see the new exhibit. This was followed by dessert at the Neue Galerie's cafe and seeing a movie in Union Square. After her friend met us and we headed to the Pourhouse for dinner. I was thinking that it was nice to be hanging out with girls for once and I filled them in on what happened with Deux. After my story, the friend mentioned that she has seen Deux with a lot of different girls, which disgusted me. No time for that though as we had to get our plans in order for the night. A guy I knew from Cuse had recently moved to NYC and was a club promoter. He was constantly texting me to go out to parties in Meatpacking but I had never been able to find a girl friend to go with. Until now. I was a bit intimidated by his texts stating that we needed to tall, skinny and in heels. Typical. We decided to give it a try anyway though and headed to another bar in the East Village before heading over there. To our surprise, Yahtzee came and met us out. Luckily nothing was said of Deux and I was relieved that maybe Yahtzee didn't even know what was going on. Two other Croatia boys joined us, one of whom I hadn't seen since originally meeting them. He was clearly not aware of things with Ibanker and I going sour, so of course asked if I had talked to him lately. I responded with a quick no. And I'm sure a dark cloud passed over my face when he then proceeded to ask if I had gone to the Hamptons with him. I said that I was supposed to go but didn't make and his response that the whole group seemed a little too into it honestly made my night. We separated from them a short time after and headed to RdV. Luckily we had no problems getting in though I thought there was nothing special about the club. They played some house music though and I drank for free so that's always a plus. We stayed for awhile and danced our faces off until deciding to head elsewhere. And on our way out who did we run into but Deux, flanked by two Asian girls. He apparently knows the promoter as well though I still don't know if he knew I was at the club. Yahtzee stopped to tell him we were heading out and I stood next to him silently, partially disgusted and partially amused. Deux said he and his harem were going to head in, and relieved that they wouldnt be coming with us, I enthusiastically nodded my head in agreement.
I was pleased that I apparently wouldn't have to have an awkward chat with Deux about not seeing each other anymore. But what to do about my glasses case? I texted him the next afternoon and said that I would be stopping by their apartment to pick it up and if he could leave it out. He responded simply with "k". When I arrived a few hours later the case was out on the coffee table. The light in his room was on but he did not come out. He mustve known I was there since I was chatting with Yahtzee. This guy was a first rate douche bag. Pleased that I had taken care of this pesky errand I headed down to the 9th Ward to meet up with High School and drown my sorrows in some Purple Haze. It had been awhile since I had seen him, and I knew that he was still with his girlfriend, who was now also living in New York (facebook is creepy). He had still never metioned her to me and he did not this time as well. He had a good time, as usual, and even went to Criff Dog afterwards (note he did not buy my hotdog nor did I have anything to do with his "hot dog").
To wrap up Deux. He sent me a text a few days later asking how my week was, which I ignored. He then over the next couple of weeks, sent me a Happy Thanksgiving text, an invitation to their NYE party, an inquiry of my plans one weekend night and finally an invitation to go Christmas shopping with him that day. Enough is enough. Apparently I was going to have the conversation with him. I laid it out on the table, and was honest--he was too pushy and I didn't want things to be awkward with Yahtzee. I said we could still hang out. He was cool about it of course, and I was pleased that I would still be able to hang out with that group without things being too weird. Though I will definitely be keeping an eye on my drink when he is around.

                                          Oh hey MGMT, you kind of blew

It's My Motherf*cking Birthday!

And I wasn't even going to celebrate it until I discovered that it was on a Saturday. I decided that I would keep it lowkey but I was pleased to learn that I would have guests in town to celebrate with me--AD and MM, for an Ultra reunion! Our plan for Friday night, before the bday festivities, was to see Paul Oakenfold at Pacha. Now Pacha was the club where I had had my phone stolen with Benny and I was not pleased about going back. But I had always wanted to see Oakenfold and I was going to be keeping an eagle eye on my phone this time. After work I swung by Charlie Kelly's to pick up MM--Charlie Kelly and AD would be meeting us at the club later as they had another early show to catch. I always warn people to pack lightly when they visit me but MM did not exactly heed my warning. And just our luck, the subway ride back to my apartment was one of the most crowded I have ever had. We stood in the middle of the car stumbling, because there were no handrails, with MM's two massive bags taking out everyone around us. By the time we made it back to my apartment MM was out of breath and felt like (I quote from her) "a biggest loser contestant". We rewarded ourselves with food from the neighborhood taco stand and some deeelish hot toddies. After we headed back to Pacha aka the worst club in New York where GF was meeting up with us. He had started his night early and was far more wasted than we initially realized. This became apparent when after buying a round of $15 shots for us (including the bartender), he started to bite me and MM (keep in mind they had just met). We weren't quite sure what to do with him but after a minor scuffle with some Guids he decided to head out. MM and I were on our own waiting for Charlie Kelly and AD to arrive. After about an hour we finally received a text from AD saying they had caught someone trying to steal her wallett and to make up for it the manager had given them access to VIP. After MM and I bitched enough, we were eventually allowed up as well. It was of course much better being away from the Guids and other disgusting characters that frequent Pacha. It also gave us the perfect vantage point to watch them. We spotted a midget and a guy who looked exactly like Kim Jeong Il (of course he would be at Pacha). It was even better when a few minutes later we spotted Kim trying to grind up on some lady. I was satisfied to be able to dance without sweaty people surrounding me and I was sipping on the weird drink concotion that was handed to me. Paul Oakenfold was underwhelming though and he was probably one of the ugliest men I have ever seen--he was short and tubby and had T-rex like arms. We had a close encounter when MM and I went to leave after the set. Oaks himself walked up into VIP and was sitting at a table directly in front of us, surrounded by people talking to him. I decided I might as well meet him since we were here and it was birthday and all. I stood quietly at the table waiting my turn when a surly looking man approached me and demanded to know who I was. I told him and he asked what I was doing. I rolled my eyes and said I was waiting for Paul, obviously. He then very politely yelled for me to get the fuck out. Surprised and annoyed, I decided I would be staying put and began to talk to the very nice (and cute) Russian boys who were also part of the group. They offered to introduce me to their friend Paul but I told them I was nervous about the scary yelling man. They said it would be fine and led me over to Paul. But before I could utter a word, the dick man came out of nowhere and waved me away. It turns out he was Paul's bodyguard and it is a good thing he was doing his job, since I was so threatening in my bright yellow tights. I was also one of the only girls there, besides MM who was nervously waiting for me in the background. So at that point I was completely fed up and decided I really didn't give a shit about meeting ugly old Paul Oakenfold nor getting harassed by his people. So to that man--thanks for being a complete dick to me on my birthday asshole! I had known I was going to regret ringing in my birthday at a place like Pacha and I was correct.
The next day I was of course hungover and almost puked in the bathroom of the chicken 'n waffle place (called Pies and Thighs) that we went to for brunch. I didn't feel much better after a nap but I needed to suck it up since this was the big night and Mairey was also driving all the way down from Syracuse. I also had a potential mess to distract me. I had drunkenly invited Deux on Halloween to my bday party, thinking that he wouldnt' show. To my surprise he enthusiastically agreed and had even confirmed earlier in the week. How could you turn down an invite like this:

WELL 25 was the last birthday I was going to acknowledge, but since the big 2-6 is on a Saturday what choice do I have but to celebrate??
 And you guys are going down with me. Let's all meet at Spitzer's (Rivington btw Essex and Ludlow) at around 10. We can get some drank...s and maybe even snag one of the picnic tables. Depending on how this goes we can stay there for a bit or migrate somewhere else in the LES. I'll see how I feel, it's my fucking birthday. I do know we will be ending the night at Mystique (Chrystie and Delancey) to dance our faces off to some house music, just how I like it.
 So put your party pants on and get ready to rage. Friends are welcome, provided they don't suck. The birthdays where I can act OOC are quickly dwindling so I plan to take full advantage--it's going to be a rowdy one, so get ready. You'll laugh, you'll cry, I'll probably yell at a stranger.
Boom.

The problem being, Mason was also going to be there. This is what I get for trying to balance two guys, although my main concern was Mason finding out about Deux, since I actually liked Mason. I could barely enjoy my bday dinner at Les Enfants Terribles, since I was so nervous about what was going to come. The group headed to Spitzer's and I had an assortment of characters present--of course Mairey, AD and MM, as well as GF, JM and her South African boyfriend, and Prom, Salma and Penelope with some of their friends. Luckily Mason wasn't present yet and good thing because Deux and Yahtzee had arrived, with a whole bunch of their ibanking friends in tow. I recognized a couple from Yahtzee's party over the summer but couldn't really differentiate them in their cloud of Vineyard Vines. I bounced back and forth between the groups but felt like I was in a daze. I was still hungover and it had taken me almost an hour to get down my first beer.I ruled out a trip to Mystiqrious, which was the next designated spot on the bday itinerary. There was no way I was capable of dancing, plus if Mason actually did show up that could further complicate things. No need to worry though, because after awhile spent at Spitzer's the group dissipated and every went their separate ways. I headed to the Back Room with AD, MM, Mairey and one of her friends from college she had invited along. He was super nice and bought us all a round of shots. Much better than Mason's behavior who finally stumbled there at 2AM, wasted. He didn't socialize with anyone except me and then tried to convince me to leave. A wonderful first impression for MM and Mairey, who immediately hated him. Luckily  I had a wonderful present, which put me in a much better mood. It was given to me by one of Salma and Penelope's friends--a Betty White paper mask, with her wearing kitten ears. The whole night the group of us had been running around with it taking pictures and cracking up. That was pretty much all I needed and the free pizza at the end of the night was also a huge plus.
The next morning the usual suspects (being myself, MM, Mairey, AD and Charlie Kelly) regrouped for brunch before AD and MM headed home. Of course the selection was made by Charlie Kelly and he chose (unknowingly of course) the restaurant where I had met Ibanker for our very first brunch, directly from a night spent with Cute Guy. Aka the infamous and classy puke in the sink night to ring in my second weekend in NYC. I chuckled at the memories and was glad I was in a much better state this time around. After the girls barely made their bus, Mairey and I headed out for a window-shopping afternoon which led us to Times Square, then down to Soho where we walked into the West Village, to meet her friends from college for dinner. They were super nice, but unfortunately I was so exhausted from the weekend that I could barely contribute to the conversation. I was also a bit preoccupied with Mason--he had acted so differently and the girls were telling me to write him off. I was ready to because I had a bad feeling. To my surprise while we were at the restaurant he called me. This was the second time we had ever talked on the phone and when I saw his name pop up I was convinced he was going to break things off. To my surprise, he actually apologized for being a jerk the night before. This was progress and I decided that I wasn't ready to give up on him yet.

Giftee, Gifter and Gift--Betty White mask. At least I'm not as old as her.

So a successful birthday weekend. 25 in NYC had its share of ups and downs but for the most part was fun and rowdy, just the way I like it. We will have to see what 26 in the City brings, since I am now older and wiser (?).....