What am I doing here?

What do you do here?

That was a question I've been asking myself for ages. Inside my head I was understanding him completely, yet all I could muster was how nice it is that Long Island has the beaches and Fire Island and well, you know. I wasn't even convincing myself.

The guy was a late twenty-something from New Zealand, working as an architect in the city, and I'd been chatting with him on the dock at Cherry Grove waiting for the ferry to take me home on Saturday night. It was his first time on the island ever.  He'd gone with some work friends of his that had abandoned him there. 

The half-hour or so that we chatted on the dock and then during the ferry ride afterwards was the lone bright spot on a night that I would have been better off staying home. I'd had the best night of the summer there the Saturday prior and I guess a re-creation of the same was a long shot to begin with.

The dude, Collin I believe, was a Long Island novice. He knew nothing of it except that you had to travel two hours through it just to get to Fire Island, which he didn't seem to care for very much anyway. Forget about knowing where or even what Patchogue, the place where I live, is. 

He asked the same question more than once, and each time he asked it only brought me to the same place I've been in my mind for the past eight-plus years.  

Long Island is a beautiful place. It's got its own multitude of sub-cultures and beautiful spots.  But it's a big, spread out place, a place where you go to settle down in your own little nook or cranny and hang with the people around you, raise your family, take care of your house and...I'm not really sure what else. It's definitely not a very exciting place to be single, especially gay and single.

I've been thinking a lot these past few months. Those of you who read me already know that. For the longest time I've been yearning to be where life is, where I could just leave my house and not be alone, or even where I am alone and am given opportunities to not be.  Get it? I dunno, a lot of people around me don't seem to. 

So I am finally beginning to formulate a plan in my mind. When I visited Philadelphia a couple of weeks ago I fell in love. Philly is like a smaller, more open-spaced New York with a lot of life and a thriving gay community. A year from right now I'd like to be preparing for that change I've been talking about, a move there. 

Of course, Philadelphia doesn't compare equally to New York, my city, the Center of the World, but I'm figuring it's the next best thing. Hopefully the job opportunities are ample, as well as the housing, and it's certainly more doable than NY.

Of course there is one thing that can keep me here and that would be if I found someone to make me not want to leave, which seems unlikely.  Even the few I've met this summer, and it has been an active one, haven't panned out into anything meaningful, even the dude from the ferry ride the other night. 

During his and my conversation, I was trying to help him find a way to get back to the city. He'd thought he'd just take a taxi, which would've cost him about $300.  I checked the train schedule...nothing.  I offered him my couch and a ride to the train station in the morning and he seemed grateful.

The conversation throughout was really easy and nice, and In the back of my mind I thought, hmmm, who knows?  On the upper deck of the ferry, he leaned over and kissed me before snuggling up next to me, and suddenly the night seemed like it was going to be a different kind of special than the previous week. Then his phone rang. 

It was one of his friends who had abandoned him. It turns out they waited for him on the other side.  He smiled as he told me, understandably relieved, and I was relieved for him. The ferry soon pulled into the station and we got up to get off.

I walked in front of him through the crowd as we disembarked and then I let him pass me once he saw his friend. That was when he turned into an asshole. Where I expected him to turn and introduce me, maybe exchange numbers, he kept walking with his friend, ignoring me completely.  To him I was no longer there.

I actually had to walk past them at one point on my way to my car.  He was in animated conversation with his pal, still without any notion that I was ever there. I walked past, head down, no words. It wasn't worth it!  All I could muster under my breath as I walked past was the word dick!

Though the guy turned out to be a complete, mean jackass, it was still an opportunity.  That doesn't happen too often here, and when it does, it's usually in the summer on Fire Island. 

I need to have more opportunities like that, chances to meet people, and hopefully more that have better results. It's not going to happen in my yard or at the mall or supermarket, but even a trip to the coffee shop in the city will offer me more opportunities. 

I don't have much hope that anything's going to happen for me in the coming year here, but you never know. If not, hello Philadelphia!

A Pitiful Night on the Sea Tea

It's been way too long in between posts for me on here, but this summer's been a really busy one. Between work and taking classes and making plans with people I only get to see over the summer, I've hardly had any time to get to John's World. But here I am now, and I've got something that I feel needs to be shared...

It had all the promise of a fun night.  Three buddies heading into the city to enjoy four hours aboard the Sea Tea's fabulous new yacht.  Rich, Bobby and I have been going on the Sea Tea a couple of times each summer for just about ten years now, Sometimes it was a lot of fun, others not so much. I've said before that going on the Sea Tea, which dubs itself as New York's Gay Party Cruise, has the potential to be really great or really lousy.  Factors such as the deejay, the crowd, the theme, and the boat itself can make or break an evening on the four-hour excursion into New York Harbor, but we always head on in on a Sunday afternoon excitedly hoping for a great time.  Not so much on this go around.  In fact, our evening this past Sunday on the Sea Tea may have quashed our desire to ever venture into NYC on a Sunday night again.

Like I said, for the second year in a row, the Sea Tea has a new boat, bigger and better than ever. This year's model is called the Hornblower Infinity and it is a big, beautiful yacht, with multiple levels from which to enjoy the four-hour sail.  Upon boarding at 6 p.m., we began to explore the cruise ship-like boat.  It was elegant, with two large tastefully decorated rooms, the top lounge area, full of comfortable little seating nooks,  overlooking the dining room with a large dance floor and dining tables from its center. Multiple tiered decks dotted the boat, affording the most spectacular view of the skyline, Lady Liberty and all else there is to take in here.  Oh, it's going to be a great night!, I thought to myself.

But not Miss Dita, no.  As we parlayed our way around the massive yacht, he was noticing things neither Blanche nor I were noticing.  Finally, he shared his most important observation.

There's no place to dance outside.  That's what always makes this fun!

He was right.  There was no place to dance outside.  The dance floor was located in the dining room, the lower half of the two-tiered center of the boat.  At that time we were on the upper level, towards the center of the yacht and in a not-too-big, but biggish kind of open air area.  Though I really knew better, I suggested that maybe there'd be music out there later on and people would dance there, even though the space was not really dance floor material, though.

Hmmm, maybe, he answered not too confidently.

And so we hung out, waiting for the boat to set sail at 7:30, as other passengers gathered aboard the ever-crowding boat.  It was plain to see that this ginormous floater would handle a lot more people than any of the company's previous ships.  Mo money, mo money, mo money!  That first hour and a half was pleasant enough.  The three of us chatting on the various decks of the boat and taking it all in.  By the time 7:30 came around, we were all hungry and wanted to eat (passengers on the Sea Tea get a free buffet with their ticket!), but we still wanted to be outside when the ship embarked into the Hudson.  So we waited.  That was okay, though, because the sunset on Sunday night was spectacular!

  

Finally, we were out on our sail and it was time to eat.  We've all been on this thing enough times to know the routine.  We eat quick, and then we usually take our spots in, around and on the dance floor.  What we were in for on this Sunday, though, was that this was going to be no ordinary routine. We took our spots at the end of one of two lines for food.  The lines were pretty long, but not that different than normal.  At first, we took turns making trips to the bathroom while the others held our spots and we chit-chatted some more before noticing that the line was not moving.  In fact, well over an hour after we'd entered the line, we were still waiting.  Not good!

At first, we were all complaining about the people in line, how they could be so slow in getting their food, but as we crept closer, the reason for the line not moving became clearer...the food dishes were running out quickly and weren't being replaced.  As those last excruciating minutes passed, we were at our wits end, angry and disgusted.  By this time we were starving, and even as we got to the front of the line, the mismanagement of the food became plainly evident.  

I actually felt bad for the food servers who had to face the frustrated crowds of people.  All they could do, like us, was wait for more the replacement dishes to come out.  While Bobby was lucky enough to get his food rather quickly and run to a table, Rich and I were not.  Both the salad and the bread were gone and we literally stood there for about ten minutes, our hot food quickly getting cold, waiting for more salad and bread to come out.  It was pitiful, and no one around seemed in charge to oversee this debacle.  Most of the tickets for the cruise are purchased in advance (it's five bucks cheaper that way!), and so one might think they'd have an idea of how much food o prepare and have the kitchen staff well-trained to handle it.  

By the time we all sat down to eat, it was about ten past nine.  We'd first entered the line at around 7:40.  An hour and a half completely wasted and all we had once we were done was about 40 minutes to enjoy the remainder of the cruise before it ended at 10.  I said 'enjoy,' but that really wasn't the case.  The three of us spent the remainder of the ride on the top deck where we began, steaming mad, as a drag show came on to the stage below.  Ugh!

So that was our Sea Tea cruise in a bad bad nutshell.  Yeah, the new boat was spectacularly beautiful, but that was about all the good things I can say about it.  We'd spent an hour and a half standing around at the beginning, waiting to get things started and then another waiting and wasting our precious time for food.  There was little to no dancing, as the food lines lined both sides of the dance floor and most of the people were waiting to eat like us.  It was too bad, too, because the deejay was pretty good.  

Now I don;t know anything about the laws that govern boating excursions from New York Harbor, but I have a few suggestions, a wish list, of how the Sea Tea could possibly get better like it should:

- Serve the food while the boat is still in dock.  That's when passengers are gathering anyway and there is no real dancing or mingling.  

- Or better yet, especially if there is some kind of ordinance against serving food while the ship is at the pier, make the food an extra part of the package.  If that were the case, the three of us would have opted out and grabbed a slice of pizza beforehand, but would have had the choice to eat or not.  Of course the price of the ticket should be cheaper in this instance, but still they're making more money already by serving that many more people.  

- Drinks on the Sea Tea have gone up extravagantly in the past couple of years.  Whereas three or four years ago, you used to get a decent sized drink for eight or nine bucks, now you get  teeny tiny cup of whatever for a whopping $14...and they don't even pack a punch!  Make the prices match the product.  If you're going to charge $14 for a drink, at least make it a little larger and a little stronger.

The food and the drinks are never the main reason for us going on the Sea Tea to begin with.  When we go, we go to dance and have a good time in a great setting, but really, we haven't had fun on it for at least a couple of years now.  It's apparently sad, but true, that those who run 'New York's Only Gay Party Cruise' run it as if they're serving stray clientele who don't expect much from the cruise except for maybe cool views in a party atmosphere.  Between the exorbitant prices for a ticket (a not unreasonable $30, but considering what we've been getting, that's a ripoff!) and the drinks, and the poor food service, it would seem as if they don't give a crap about customers getting their money's worth and maybe wanting to do it again.  As for me, I don't think I do anymore and that's really sad! 

  

  

Pride Parade NYC...In Pictures

Once the graduation ceremony had finished and the photo ops taken, I rushed off to meet my pals Manny and Ozzie for a weekend trip to the city and the Gay Pride Parade.  Now I'd been to the parade several times in my life, and the last time I went I swore I'd never go again.  But it was Ozzie and Manny and they'd never asked me before...besides, it was an opportunity to stay overnight in the city, which is always fun.

The weather over the weekend was decidedly gray...and rainy.  The ride into the city invariably was a long one, but we finally made it in and settled into our new surroundings on 23rd St.  Food was first on the agenda, and since Dallas BBQ was right down the block, that was the destination...

  

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Now for those of you who never heard of Dallas BBQ, well, it's an awesome place!  Not only is the food deliciously barbecue, the prices affordable and the atmosphere positively festive, they have these drinks...oh those drinks!  They come in all sorts of different flavors, all delish, and a lil bubbly and a shot come with the giant concoctions.  

theculinarycouple

As it would turn out, the best part of our evening would be spent at Dallas.  Dinner was great, especially the vegetables tempura, the drinks were, well, intoxicating, and our waiter was a blast.  His name was Ozzie, oddly enough, and he was a big dude with an even bigger personality.  Before the night was over, we were all snapping pictures and exchanging numbers. 

Next up was G Lounge, a small trendy bar just four blocks away on 19th St.  The place wasn't too crowded at first, but soon enough, the place became quite full, with apparent regulars and visitors alike filling up all the space in this small lounge.  We spent the next few hours there, and it was fun, but it had been a long day and this tired teacher needed sleep.  So we left around 2 a.m. and headed back to the hotel and to sleep.  Sunday was going to be a long day...

Me at G Lounge

Sunday's weather began much like Saturday's.  The skies were overcast and rain drizzled down from up above.  We headed over to a diner on 23rd for breakfast and then took our spots on 5th Avenue to watch the parade, which had already begun.  Now I had expected massive crowds, like the ones during the parade of 2011, when New York State passed the Marriage Equality Act, but probably because of the weather it wasn't too bad.

Even though I don't really love parades, I have to admit it is fun and a little bit exciting to see just how many of us P.L.U.'s (People Like Us) there are.  Politicians, television stars, police officers, firemen and many big corporations all come out and show their support, too.  Rather than tell you all about it, I'm going to just show you some of what went on from my vantage point...

Senator Chuck Schumer

Are we having fun yet?

Let's do the time warp!

As you can see, there was plenty of reveling to be had at this year's parade, even though it wasn't the huge turnout I had expected.  Anyway, I'm not sure if I'm going to be attending again...you've seen one parade...

An Awesome Weekend of Birthday Fabulousness!

It was a busy weekend.  It was a fun weekend.  It was a weekend full of birthday celebrations from start to finish and it's about freaking time!  It seems like it's been forever since I've enjoyed myself as much as I did this weekend.  The birthdays I helped celebrate all belonged to special people and so this last weekend of February and first into March was one that I'll remember for a long, long time to come.

 

Happy Birthday Manny!

The plan was two trips into the city on Friday and Sunday, with a family birthday party for my nephew Jake sandwiched in between on Saturday.  First up on Friday night was an evening of debauchery for my pal Manny's birthday.  His birthday is actually today, but Monday's not really a good night for going out, and so he, our friend Ozzie and I traipsed into NYC for a little fun with Manny's friends Norberto and Raj at the Fairytail Lounge and then on to Icon in Astoria for a nightcap and some dancing.  I'll spare you any gory details, but let's just say it was great to be with these two friends for such a fun night!

Happy Birthday Jake!

My youngest nephew is a teenager.  My brother's younger son turned 13 years old on Saturday and after spending an awesome day with him seeing Wicked a few weeks back, I was only too glad to spend his special day with him.  Until that jaunt into the city I'd never really spent much time with Jake, and I'm so glad that we took that trip because for the first time I really got to know him as a person.  All I can say about that is he is one awesome kid...um, young man!  Jake, you rock!  Happy Birthday!

  

Happy Birthday Blanchie!

Last, but certainly not least was the best part of my weekend.  You see, tomorrow one of my oldest friends, Bobby, will be joining the '50 Club,' and me and our third Rich treated him to see Kinky Boots on Broadway,  The three of us spent the awesomest of days together in the snow-covered city laughing, dining and enjoying a spectacular show.  Though I consider many of my friends a part of my extended family, these two are my real family, and it was nice to be just the three of us together. The only sucky part was an awful ride home because a murky forecast of snow turning to freezing rain was mostly snow...and a lot of it!  Poor Dita had to drive us for the better part of a two and a half hour ride through unplowed expressway to get home.  That didn't stop the mood of the day, though, as the ride was full of good music and good friends, just like the day had been.

Anyway, since I feel like a lot of the time lately I've been writing about negative stuff (it's been a long winter!), I wanted to share a good time for a change.  So for what it's worth, happy birthday to Manny, Jake and Blanche!  I love you all and I'm lucky to have each of you in my life!

   

Robyn + Róyskopp Rock Pier 97

Last night was awesome!  My buddy Kyle and I ventured into NYC to check out Robyn and Róyskopp at the brand new concert stage at Pier 97 on the West Side and it was a night of pure fun.  Though the show wasn't nearly as good as the one I saw at Radio City three years ago, the beautiful and comfortable summer evening and the setting more than made up for it.

Pier 97

Pier 97 is the newest concert venue to hit the New York City stage.  Located within the confines of Hudson River Park at the end of 57th Street, the place has partially filled the void left behind by Roseland Ballroom, which closed its doors for good earlier in the year.  The venue is a nice spot for summer concert viewing, with the picturesque views of the city behind the stage and the Hudson River providing a nice backdrop.

The pier is just that, a large concrete structure jutting out into the river, and concession stands offering food, drink and merchandise line both sides all along its length, with a bar area towards the back.  Being there is reminiscent of being at an outdoor fair, only there's some major concert happenings to be had as well. Along with Robyn and Róyskopp, the venue will be hosting New Zealand songstress Lorde on September 14th and hot rapper Iggy Azalea on September 26th.

The Show

Though tickets stated a showtime of 6 p.m., that wasn't really the case.  Concerts at the pier do have earlier showtimes, probably due to local ordinances, but still an 8 'clock start, which was around the time the Norweigan duo hit the stage, is plenty enough to be finished by the mandatory 10 p.m.  

Admittedly, I knew nothing much about Róyskopp before their collaborations with Robyn, and neither did much of the crowd. The electronica/dance duo put on a half-hour set of pretty darned good dance tunes before the star of the evening hit the stage.  That's when the standing room only crowd started to rush forward to get a better view of the action.

As I stated above, this show wasn't nearly as good as the one at Radio City in 2011, and that's because it wasn't a tour in support of the hugely popular Body Talk EP's like that one was, though the songs from that album that she did perform were the ones that got the most response, of course.  As is her way, Robyn entered the stage without the fanfare of your typical diva, simply segueing from Róyskopp's final number into her own Be Mine.

From there, the singer, who sounded absolutely dead-on, went into a couple of new songs, hopefully from a forthcoming album, greatest hits and tunes from the latest Do It Again project with her stage mates, which was what she was there to promote.  There wasn't a lot of interaction with the audience like last time, but there was plenty of energy coming from the singer who no doubt is well aware and very appreciative of the rabidness of her fan base, who reveled in every move and every note.

Highlights for me included the funky new tune, Work It Out, the Body Talk smashes Call Your Girlfriend, Stars 4 Ever, and Indestructible and the finale, the title song to Do It Again.  The crowd favorite, however, was surely the singer's best loved song, Dancing On My Own, to which Robyn held out her mike as the audience serenaded her on the chorus.  

All in all, concert goers left Pier 97 last night with smiles on their faces, as did Kyle and I.  Now I'm really looking forward to when she comes round again to promote the next project, which hopefully will be out very soon.  Then we'll just do it again...

Song of the Day - Open Your Heart - Madonna

I see you on the street and you walk on by

You make me wanna hang my head down and cry

If you gave me half the chance you'd see

My desire burning inside of me

But you chose to look the other way

Last night I went to Madonnathon 2014 with my pal Rich at RockBar in NYC, and just like last time it was great to be in a bar packed with Madonna fans listening to her music all night long.  There's something about the shared adoration for Madonna that made the crowd seem extra friendly, of course with a few exceptions, lol.  Though the one in Splash a couple of years ago was better (bigger venue, better choice of music), this one was fun, too!  I particularly enjoyed revisiting this one and I knew from the moment I heard it last night that it would be my Song of the Day...

NYC Pride Day Song of the Day - I Am What I Am - Gloria Gaynor

I am what I am

I am my own special creation

So come take a look

Give me the hook or the ovation

Happy Pride Day, New York City!  I've been so busy this past month I haven't had any time to talk about Pride Month, which has seen celebrations all over the country over the past four weeks.  Though I'm seeing that we've gone so mainstream during my lifetime, with gay marriage being legalized seemingly all over the place and acceptance becoming more and more widespread with each year, pride seems to take on a whole new meaning these days.  

This oldie but goodie speaks so perfectly of being who you are no matter what your uniqueness happens to be, and it's a pretty good song, too!  Though I'll be skipping the festivities in the city this year, I'm still with all of the marchers and spectators in spirit.  To them I say enjoy and be safe, and to everyone else within the realm of this blog, be proud of who you are and enjoy your day!

Song of the Day - I Wanna Dance with Somebody - Whitney Houston

When I went out with my pals Ozzie and Manny the other night, I figured I'd finally get to dance.  I hadn't danced in so long!  As the night turned out, though, we never even had the chance to dance.  Ah well, but we did go to the relatively new Pride Lounge in Astoria.

There was a drag show going on and the tiny place was packed at the front to watch.  This was kind of weird because the front and front side walls of the bar were actually windows where you could see (and hear) the drag show from outside before you even came in.  Of course, Ozzie knew a couple of the performers, one of which was the always fun to watch Sassy Temptress.  The hostess of the show, whose name I presently forget, also knew Ozzie/Ruby and lo and behold, a teeny spectacle was made as we entered.

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Anyway, the four queens did a "Diva's Jukebox" number, where each of them performed short snippets of songs by famous divas.  The hostess came up and did this one and the whole place was jumping and singing along.

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Now we didn't need a dance floor.  We didn't need much room, but me, Manny, Oz and the whole place was feeling the good vibes that this one always sends out.  What better way to start of the week? Ooh, I wanna dance, and with somebody too!

Hey Friends, I Like You...I Do!

I have no idea how I found this kid, but I have to say, he's pretty entertaining.  His name is Alex Constacio and he's part of a larger network of yungins' who put out a lot of videos on YouTube.  Anyway, I first came across his Minnie Mouse, sped-up version of Katy Perry's Wide Awake, and then I watched it a couple of times and checked out some of the suggestions that came on the right hand side of the page, which included this one.

I never heard this song before, and I still don't know anything about it, but the lyrics and the vocals, coupled with Alex's expressions and lip-syncing had me singing the song for hours later, so much so that it is now filed away with the rest of the songs in the iPod of my mind, lol.

Anywho, throughout my evening in the city last night with my friends I kept singing this song in my head.  The guys I went with were my bowling buddies and I'm still getting to know them more and more with each outing together.  During several of my conversations with the guys, the song just kept popping into my head. I guess I was appreciating the moments I was having with these people and I was just thinking subconsciously that I did indeed like them!

So to Gary, Kyle, Al, Sal, Rick, Eric, Steve and Jim, this one's for you!  Lol.... I like you!

Who couldn't love these guys...