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Monday, July 27, 2009

Wanna Be Startin' Something

I Said You Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’
You Got To Be Startin’ Somethin’
I Said You Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’
You Got To Be Startin’ Somethin’
It’s Too High To Get Over (Yeah, Yeah)
Too Low To Get Under (Yeah, Yeah)
You’re Stuck In The Middle (Yeah, Yeah)
And The Pain Is Thunder (Yeah, Yeah)


When I last left off I was about to discuss my trip to North Carolina. It’s a good thing I’ve waited until now to post about it. At least some of the acid saltiness I feel for it has washed off & for the most part I’m thankful for the good times I had while there. Not completely because you know I can hold a grudge like no ones business. If you ask if I’m heading back down there any time soon, my magic 8 ball says ‘Hell to the no!’

Whenever there is option for good or bad news first I always opt for the bad news first. It’s like go ahead & hit me with it so I can deal with it. With that being said, I arrived there on the 1st of the month & my mother & younger sister picked me up at the airport. I haven’t seen them since Nov. 2007 when they came up for Thanksgiving. I was still dealing with the after effects of the brian tumor. A lot of things were different then. For me that is. My mom on the other hand is still just as bi-polar as ever. It may actually have gotten worse. Now this is not an actual diagnose unless you would like to call me Dr. Padron. Ever since I was a kid I can always remember not knowing how she would react to anything said. There are times you can say a joke & she would laugh her ass off to it but then there are times that you say the same thing & she will fly off the handle like a bat out of hell. All day long, she was semi fine. I thought she would get excited for this cd of music I put together for her. It was music that I knew she didn’t have & it was a bunch of songs that are hard to find now. Being the music man that I am, I found them online & spent a good part of my work day doing this for her. This excited her & she sang along for the rest of the car trip. Yay! Nick is a good son. Although for the next few hrs I kept hearing about how the dog is the only thing that loves her. It loves her more than her own kids. Ummmm, thanks. Before I had come I had been trying to figure out where I would stay because I do not stay with her whenever I go down. It’s a lot of reasons but mainly there is no room in the house & I don’t feel comfortable there anyway. Many years ago I would stay at my grandparents. Since my grandmother died & my grandfather is now on his second wife since she died I don’t really care to stay there as well. Either way, I always prefer to stay with friends. But, I mainly try not to be an inconvenience to any one. Is that often for most folks to feel that way?

All that being said my mom told me that I could stay with her male friend at his place. Mind you, I haven’t properly met this guy so I thought it was odd. Apparently he’s head over heels for my mom & when I had the chance to meet him I thought he was a really nice guy. Too bad my mom is basically using him for her own convenience. He would go to speak & she would interrupt him. In my head I thought ‘Nice guy, but poor schmuck.’ Our next plan was to meet up with my sister & her boyfriend & we would go out for her bday dinner. My mom had also said that the next day we would all go to Carowinds. I hadn’t been there since the 90’s & was actually really looking forward to it. For those that don’t know, it’s like a 6 Flags. My sister Andrea said that she wanted to go to this one restaurant & my mom was annoyed because she didn’t know it, it didn’t have a buffet. She also wanted to be able to take the dog. Ummm, how many places can you go that you can bring a fricking dog? Then my other sister Anna made the point that it WAS Andrea’s bday so how about we go where she wanted to go. Not saying, but seriously just saying. As soon as we got there my mom seemed annoyed & not sure if she would like the food blah blah blah & that it would be too expensive. She then asked who she would have to pay for as she looked at me & Andrea’s bf. It seemed kind of funny to me because most parents pay for their whole children when they come to visit for a dinner. Richard (Andrea’s bf) said he would pay for his & I said I could pay for mine. Then she told me no, I’ll pay for you. I still hear about how much money I cost since I was a kid so knowing that I ordered the cheapest thing on the menu. A $6 blackened chicken salad. It was ok, a lil spicy but I like spicy. When the bill came once again my mom made a comment about how she only had $50 on her so she hoped it wasn’t more than that. I did the math in my head of how much everyone (excluding Richard’s) would be & it added up to maybe $35. Still she acted annoyed. So trying to joke & make light of it I said, “Hey maybe I can go throw up the salad & we can take it off the menu.” Now if I said this to any of my friends or any one else I know this could be funny. Vadim would have said something like, “Why are you eating anyway, it’s not Tuesday.” Jaime would say, “Bitch, you don’t eat anyway.” Comments all in good fun. Not for my mom & not on this day. She waited until we were outside in the parking lot to thoroughly throw a fit about how it wasn’t funny & that I was an awful son. That I don’t take time come down. Ummm hello, I’m here right now! I took the time off of work just to come down. I had been trying to contact everyone for a month so I could coordinate plans. No one would call me back. She started going on about how I didn’t send a card for Mother’s Day & I didn’t call. When in fact I had tried to call but being that she didn’t want to receive text messages she gave up her voicemail. So on that day when I had called I couldn’t reach her all day. Still going off she told me to get in the car & I said you’re crazy angry right now & I’m not getting in the car with a crazy person. She looked at my sister & said he should have just died when he had the tumor. And with that I checked out of the argument. I looked at Andrea & told her to take me anywhere but there & we would try to pick up my bag from that guys house & I would figure out somewhere to stay. I had not even been in NC for 24 hrs. I may never look at a blackened chicken salad the same.

The next few days were good. I hung out with my sister & her bf. He’s a really nice guy & I’m glad that she has someone that loves her so much. I also got to hang with my friend Lisa, from high school. Her parents had this bbq right before the fourth of July & we all had a good time. I got to see her with a buzz which I had never seen before. I also reconnected with some girls from high school that I literally hadn’t seen in a decade. I found myself at one point at a softball game which was kind of funny. I don’t do anything with balls unless they come in a set & when one came flying at me I politely moved to the left. All the lesbians looked at me & laughed. I also was like what is in the water here & where did all the lesbians come from & where are the gays? I was out of my comfort zone but to be honest they were straight up cool. No pun intended about the straight part ladies. I got to hang out with another really good friend of mine since 7th grade. It’s always nice to know that even though life changes & takes you to new places & new lives, you can still meet up & chat like no time has passed.

After some happy goodbyes, I left to meet Shuley & we were on our way to Wilmington. As soon as we got there we barely took time to drop off bags because we were gonna head to a pool party at my friend Blair’s. We had an awesome time & it was a wonderful way to be welcomed back to Wilmington. I also enjoyed that I was the youngest gay there, that hasn’t happened in a long ass time. And ohhhh how I do enjoy the southern gays. Maybe I’ve become a tad bit jaded about certain things & I need to sprinkle it with some of my former southern charm. This was to be the last time I saw a lil bit of sun because the rest of my time there the sun said goodbye to Wilmington. That sucked because after having like 22 days of rain in June the weather was fabulous for the 4th. This is when my jaded self says, “Of course I would bring the rain with me.” But, it was still good to see all of my Wilmington boys & hang out with them. I’m always reminded of that when you can’t have a family per se you can make your own family with your friends. For everyone who made the time for me I can’t say thanks enough. I brought a little bit of NY scandal out & about on that Saturday night there. I thought it was funny because to me I was being calm. Seriously. Hee hee. I told everyone that they could come visit me any time. Mainly because I don’t see myself going down there any time in the distant future.

So that’s it in a nutshell & regarding the whole mom issue all I can say is it is what it is. In all honesty I did not go down there to deal with razor sharp things said to me. I’m not a child anymore & that kind of thing doesn’t fly with me. I had just wanted to celebrate my sister turning 21. I remember mine. I was just starting to come out & felt like there was so much more in life I needed to discover & learn. I just wanted to be there for hers. Needless to say there was no trip to Carowinds. Maybe this semi-jaded New Yorker will not say no completely. Maybe someday, but NOT any time soon. This Friday is yet another b-day. I swear they come way too fast for my liking. This year I’m taking Nickakah to Fire Island. I feel like I’ve done everything there is to be done in NY so I need something fresh. I had a warm up this past weekend. It was an awesome time & I’m completely tan. I can’t wait for the weekend. My bdays are always fun & good times & I can’t wait to share the stories with you. Until then……..

Help Me Sing It, Ma Ma Se,
Ma Ma Sa, Ma Ma Coo Sa
Ma Ma Se, Ma Ma Sa, Ma Ma Coo Sa

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Off The Wall

When the world is on your shoulder
Gotta straighten up your act and boogie down
If you cant hang with the feeling
Then there aint no room for you this part of town
cause we’re the party people night and day
Livin crazy thats the only way


Hello folks, I’m highly late for this blog but I have been busy traveling. But what I wanted to blog about was the last week of June…. Pride week here in NYC. We officially kicked it off by going to the 40th Anniversary of Stonewall at Stonewall in the Village. Some of my boys had never even been there. (It’s historical because that’s where a butch lesbian, a drag queen & some gays decided to rise up against the police who kept trying to shut their party down. I say it with a hint of fun but in all honesty if it wasn’t for them getting the ball rolling we wouldn’t be where we are today. So kudos to the older generation, let’s keep on keeping on! Now back to the deets.) Vodka was flowing & I was having good convo’s with old & new friends. Ok so maybe I should be honest & add I saw some old lovers & some new ones hee hee. Anyway, it was a good time when all of a sudden the vodka ran out. It was like we were being raided again because the gays cleared out quicker than you can say ‘Last Call’. That’s when my crew & I decided to take it down the street to Pieces for a lil Tuesday Night Karaoke. I was tagged left & right on Facebook by John during my performance of Poker Face. I even had some backup dancing by my girl Vicky. At one point the drag queen decided she would join in & then she decided it would be a good idea to try to pull up Vicky’s skirt. Vicky wasn’t having it & tried to stop her & next thing you know a drag queen fell to the ground almost taking Vicky with her. In true Beyonce fashion (during a TRL performance of Lose My Breath, Michelle fell while walking in with the other girls & without skipping a beat Beyonce kept walking) I just kept working it with my leg propped on a counter giving it to the fans. The pics are hilarious & I like that the caption is Nicky Boom Box’s booty can take a drag queen down. Even Vadim got in on the karaoke action, unwillingly mind you. Ej had put his name on a ticket so he was surprised when his name was called. Good thing he was drunk or he may have not gotten up to give us his amazing vocal skills on All I Want For Xmas is You. His vocal stylings aren’t new to me at all. There’s been plenty a voicemail left for me of him singing Pray by M.C. Hammer & any other ‘new’ song he may have just discovered. Later, I did a very drunk rendition of Express Yourself & my shirt may have been taken off by someone…. but, luckily there were no pictures taken of that. Besides, I still had plenty of Pride week to pose for such shenanigans.

That Wednesday I ended up not making it to the gym at all because I was at work until 9 something. WHAT?! No, no don’t worry babies. I had officially stopped working around 4ish because our agency was having a lil drink fest going on. Tasia, Marcus, Anabel (mi amor) & were drinking & talking about tons of people in our own little private room. What was discussed? I shall not say. Mainly because it’s been too long & I can’t remember & partly because it’s hidden in my body of evidence. On Thursday night I got together with my Jude to welcome in some of his friends visiting from Amsterdam. Damn can those boys get down! We hit up Vlada & danced our asses off at Splash. They all could dance very well so I had to step up my game. It was like the intro’s on So You Think You Can Dance! Luckily I had off the next day because I ended up sleeping in until around noon. I spent the good part of the afternoon doing my laundry. I always say I’m not gonna wait until I have no clean manties or socks but this time I literally had nothing! By evenings end I was ready for the Madonnnathon at Pyramid.

Every year around Pride they have a Madonnathon where they play all her music for about 4 hrs. Scott, Billy & I got there for the very beginning. In true fashion Vadim showed up late even though he always harks on us about not being late. I was wearing my ‘Music’ shirt which I ket getting compliments on & I saw other people dressed in their favorite Madonna garb. It wasn’t as fun as previous events but the energy was still up & we got to dance to all of our favorite jams. At 1 am it was over & it promptly went from a Madonnathon to a Michael Jacksonathon. I hadn’t ever heard so much MJ ever. It was good times & once again I found myself getting home really late.

On Saturday I had planned to do certain things & in the end I only accomplished a few. The pier & the gym were checked but the others were tossed to the wind when some impromptu party invites came up. We were all on a roof top for someone’s bday & I was sipping on some tastey vodka flavored mojito’s. All was going lovely until the skies decided to grey & the rain came down. Scott screamed out, “God hates the gays!” as we all shuttered down to the apartment for shelter. It proved to only last a few minutes & we went back on the roof. After a few minutes we looked in the sky & saw this massive rainbow & I said, “Look! God does love the gays.” Quicker than you could sing Heartbreaker I was posing like Mimi on a chair sipping on vodka. Think that’s the gayest thing ever? Wait, because I’m not finished.

After the party… Scott, Melissa & I ended up at Victor’s rooftop for his party as well. Festiveness was flowing & at one point I was playing with a balloon singing 99 Red Balloons. I don’t know German so I had to sing the english version. Before I knew it, it was late & I was not gonna get a proper nap. So I decided to let my balloon go in the air & get myself home to nap. The plan was that I would nap & then meet everyone at Splash & then Chase would pick me up. From there we would go to Roseland to hear Peter spin. That WAS the plan. I went home & somehow slept through an alarm & phone calls. I blame it on the alcohol. At 3 am I randomly woke up & was shocked I had missed all of it. I quickly showered & got myself to Roseland. It was funny to walk in all clean & see tons of already sweaty men getting their dance on. It was probably the shortest time I had my shirt on since I took it off as soon as I walked in. I found Chase, Stephanie & the rest of the crew & proceeded to go to Work! The music was banging & I heard tons of classics & tons of new stuff. By 9 am I decided I had danced enough & made my way home. Not the classiest look walking home but at least I wasn’t doing the walk of shame & luckily I live only a few blocks away. I managed to sleep maybe an hr or so but kept waking up worried that I may sleep through the parade. Instead of risking it I eventually got up & showered & got ready to meet all the boys on 5th Ave. I had planned my outfit of a mesh tank & short shorts, dressed in blue. I had gotten some looks from some folk but I wore it well. By the time I got to 5th, I had a latina girl tell me that my chest was hot, a lip stick lesbian telling me she lived for anything see through & some twinks eyeing me up & down. Now this is what Pride is all about. Being proud of who you are & just doing you.

The parade is one of the most festive parades there are here in the city, normally. It was fun but we did notice how there seem to be less floats & not enough hot guys on the floats. Vadim blamed it on the economy. Where have all the good floats gone & where are all the hot guys? I couldn’t be bothered with such questions because we ended up at another apartment party on 5th ave. I found myself no longer tired once the liquor was flowing. Nicole cracked me up because she’s not a drinker but she had decided to imbibe a lil for this special occasion. Giggly & dancing around, that’s one of my favorite kinds of drunks! We all stayed at the party for a lil while, long enough for me to get invited for a threesome with this couple I had just met. Very cute but that’s too early to commit to some dick, in this case 2. (I’m not opposed to another time though hee hee) We then made our way back to the parade & then decided to hit up yet another apartment party (That’s right, another one so keep up). John continued to take plenty of pics which are plastered all over Facebook & everyone continued to have a good time. Almost everyone. There was one certain Mr. Grumpy Pants but his mood did elevate once some of his peeps came. We continued to hang & make new friends & I met some incredibly hilarious people. I definitely hope to see them again soon.

Finally it was just down to Scott, Vadim & I. We ended up going to Porky’s & when they told us there was a cover we were left annoyed. We didn’t know how well it would be inside & we didn’t want to waste money on it if it sucked. While we were debating, Scott had a friend come & get him inside. Vadim & I saw a friend we knew with his friend. They were leaving & suggested that we take their bracelets. So we did & snuck past the bouncer. I got in fine, no problem. But, Vadim on the other hand was stopped by the girl in the front. He began to make up some lie about how she had let him out without the stamp she was asking for. Either she just didn’t care or was tired of his arguing, she let him in. I went to go to the bar to get a drink & I saw 3 twinks in their manties dancing on top of the bar. They had bottles in their hands & were serving out shots. One got me to hold my neck back & open my mouth. Normally, I wouldn’t do that but hey, they were twinks with liquor bottles. They gave to other patrons but I started to notice they just kept asking me to come over. Finally one told me that he recognized me from the parade. Oh snap! These were the twinks checking me out earlier. I ended up spending no money which is a wonderful thing. Vadim even took a page from Nick’s Lavatory Love Story book by disappearing with this random guy. Scott informed me that we should leave since I wasn’t gonna hook up with the twinks & we couldn’t find Vadim. I found it odd being that he had left his bag with me. Vadim would never do such a thing. But, 10 minutes later he had me convinced since we still couldn’t find him. So off we go to Posh with me holding onto his bag not realizing that we in had in fact left Vadim inside alone. Posh was ok & it was getting late. I had also made a new friend so I decided I would leave Scott to his own defenses. Turns out I shouldn’t have done this because some homophobe decided to try to fuck with Scott once he was alone eating pizza. Luckily, some guys came to Scott’s defense & all was well. But, had they not I fear that I would have had to deal with another gay bashing story & this time it would be hitting close to home since it was my friend. Why this seems to occur every year I’m not sure. I’ve never had that problem but seriously I was running around in next to nothing. Why homophobia has to rear it’s ugly head I do not get. Why do I have to end this fabulous blog with a downer? I’m not sure but I wanted to finish what I had started before I left for North Carolina. Little did I know just how much of a downer that was gonna become………….

TO BE CONTINUED