VEGAS, BABY!

Recently returned from Vegas...

I must say - I have a talent for living it large at no expense to me. Somehow, I even managed to return home with more money than when I left...

Key thanks to JeMe, SaSi and NiFe, for their financial and spiritual contributions...

I really need to whip my body into shape for this IMOL project, so a trip to Vegas seemed like a perfect plan. And it was. Absolutely perfect.

From winning on Black 13 on the roulette table to owning the craps dice like a banshee in heat. (Not sure what that means exactly.)

Had a room available to me at the Wynn though I didn't see much of it. Dinners at the Wynn and Hard Rock. Clubbing at Tao and Body English. Highlights: Simon's swordfish, Red 8's Shrimp with walnuts, Kr's dancing, and the pregnant bride smoking a cigar...

Lesson: good math can save you a lot of money. Play the odds in craps, too - it's the only way to make money.

What else I found - inspiration and motivation. To make this little experiment successful enough so that I'll end up playing baccarat with Sean Connery by the time the Cannes film festival rolls around... if someone could only teach me the rules of baccarat at some point.

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE...

Ahhh, the annual LoveFest in San Francisco. Electronica, Hip-hop, Trance - whatever. Inspired by the Love Parade that takes place in Berlin, the crowd gets to enjoy a bunch of DJ's and dancers on floats (and who knows what else). There may have been some illicit things going on in the crowd. I wouldn't know about it. I was somewhere else. Dancing. Prancing. Romancing... the weekend was all about love, after all.

TIP OF THE WEEK: Beware pink elephants.

MoFo and JoHo met up with me at the Civic Center, where the Love Parade ended its route. All the different floats circled around the center block by City Hall and blasted their respective music for hours on end. Into the night and through the next morning. Plenty of after-hours parties (for once) and then the party continued on with the Folsom Street fair on Sunday morning. WARNING: The Folsom Street Fair is not for the weak at heart. It's a kinda fetish festival, I suppose, and I pretty much guarantee you won't see the kinds of things you can see there anywhere else (except at maybe a couple other weekend festivals in San Francisco, i.e. Dore Alley, Bay-to-Breakers).

San Francisco is a pretty progressive town. And on any given day, you will see an assortment of freaks and weirdo's. LoveFest weekend provides a concentrated form of that San Francisco freakishness. Lots of costumes. Sometimes no clothes at all. Plenty of things to keep your eyes and ears occupied anyway.

Mouths too, I suppose...

Working on getting International but am waiting for my passport to be renewed still. Need to make it to that SpeakEasy first.

HERE COME THE SAINTS

I used to live in New Orleans. I'm also the kind of person who always cheers for the underdog. As a result, I'm a Saints fan...

Monday Football this week featured the New Orleans Saints at home for the first time in over a year. The Superdome got itself a makeover. The team has sold out their season tickets for the first time ever. U2 and Greenday played for the crowd, and I can say that the natives looked happy for the first time that I've seen in a long while.

When it comes to the football team, the locals have a lot to be happy about. They managed to beat the Falcons and maintain their undefeated record, now 3-0 for the season. If you know anything about pro football - that's unbelievable. The Saints haven't won a Monday Night game since 1992, the team has been known as the Aints throughout the franchise history, and they have never made it to the Super Bowl.

If they go to the Super Bowl this year, IMOL will be there... you know what - you heard it here first: "The Saints are going to win the Super Bowl!"

(Of course, I also said the Cubs would win the World Series this year.)

SPEAK EASY, PARTY HARD...

VeGa: self-portrait #33

AmBo left this morning for Hong Kong. On our last night together we made a special visit to Bucky the Bull. He kicked my ass again. As a former attorney, I really don't know how these things even still exist given the damage they do. Yeah, I may have signed an Assumption of Risk/Limitiation on Liability document but can I really be held to it when I'm DRUNK?!?!

AmBo, who's a definite New York City girl, managed to transform herself into a veritable Californian by wearing PJ bottoms and a bikini top during the week she was here. Sorry no pictures, but I hope this explains why I wrote so little this week.

Tried to make it to this new SpeakEasy in the city last night but got distracted somewhere along the way... oh well - "this is my quest" (I am in need of quests ever since I was knighted [story for another day - lol]). I will get there eventually.

Also - lost my phone again, so if any friends are reading this, please call because I've lost all your numbers - thanks.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK

The Big Apple. The city that never sleeps. And the man who doesn't either. I know Manhattan pretty well as I grew up across the river from it, and my first job out of college was as an artist for a commercial animation studio on Bleeker Street. Also, 4 of my 5 brothers are living in the tri-state area (NY, NJ, PA) and lots of friends from high school and college still live in the City...

Strange to have been there for the 5th anniversary of 9/11 - firefighters and police officers wearing white ribbons on their uniforms, tourists asking for directions to Ground Zero. It was actually a beautiful, late summer day... but a quiet and somber Monday.

The same can't be said for the rest of my long weekend however.

I touched the ground at JFK early Saturday morn - Brother #3 picked me up and we travelled to Bethlehem, PA together to see the rest of the family. I saw Brother #5's new house and spent the early evening catching fireflies with my nieces and nephews (no lightning bugs in California) and eating enough food to feed a small army. Then I headed back to Manhattan and met up with AmBo. If ever there was an International Woman of Leisure, it is she... I can learn so much from her. The woman has skills.

Highlights (that I remember): oysters and champagne at Aqua Grill. Martini's at Raoul's. The jazz band at... somewhere in the Village (it's a good thing I make as many drunken calls as I do or else I wouldn't know half of what AmBo and I did over the weekend). Smoked some Cohiba's with AmBo's friends Zo and Ha. Sipped Corona's at Zo's place before heading out with AmBo yet again. Fetched some pizza, too. Ahhh... to have real pizza again. There's nothing that compares to the pizza we grew up with. John's has made a cathedral of a pizzeria in Midtown, but I still have a soft spot for the original restaurant down the street from where I used to work ("used to work" - like saying that for some reason).

Had lunch with my buddy MiDi at Beer Bar - ate a most excellent hangar steak sandwich. MiDi is yet another recent father - what the hell is going on with my guy friends?! I'm starting to feel that I missed some big, kinky party last year.

My bags stayed in a Tribeca loft whilst we painted the town fantastic - I know I'm mixing my metaphors, but I did mix my alcohols like a novice, so it's to be expected... and I'm incredibly sleep deprived. Not to mention I had a layover in Vegas on the way back to Cali. Came home with a Statue of Liberty cigarette lighter (the torch actually produces the flame - so cool) and more winnings from the Vegas airport casino.

And... AmBo is coming to SF this weekend to continue the debauchery. Can't wait!

LABOR DAY WEEKEND

The official first day of my new life was yesterday - Labor Day. While everyone else was sleeping in, I was continuing the celebration from the three consecutive nights before, which began with my last posting and now ends as I sit down in front of the computer again.

Above is a picture of MoFo and AnBy with me. I don't remember where we were when this picture was taken, but I do remember that MoFo played primary photographer for the weekend, and AnBy played host for the IMOL launch party.

Important Faces. CaGa [above left]. CaGa has not made a previous appearance on this blog, which surprises me because she and I do spend a lot of time together. She and her friend Ba [center right] have invited me to join them for the Massive Attack concert in a few weeks. The other gentleman in the photo, De, is good friends with MoFo. He became a father recently and seemed very happy to be out and about for the first time in a long while. We are all very drunk. Especially CaGa. Just kidding. I'm just saying that because I like to tease her every now and then... which I suppose means all the time if it's every now and then.

TIP OF THE WEEK - Do Not Mix Frenet with Champagne and Tequila.

JuGu [right] - I sincerely hope JuGu becomes a steady character in IMOL's adventures. She, for some unknown reason, is kryptonite to my social skills. I am normally, I think, a rather eloquent speaker, but around her I am mumble jumble crumble. She is not intimidating - in fact, she's funny and very sweet. I'm just a spaz around her, and I can't figure out why. But I am determined to conquer this condition and spend more time with her as the real me... as opposed to the bumbling idiot who likes to strike up stupid conversations with her.

Other Realizations: I have a thing for vampires. Call me morbid. Call me pale. Possessed by some Draculan spirit, I had several uncontrollable impulses to chomp on some necks over the weekend, and so I did. Fortunately, most of the necks that I bit belonged to friends of mine so no charges are being brought against me. I share two of those moments with you now, but I think there were more. Hard to say as everything gets a little foggy after Sunday early morning, and I don't just mean the weather - ha ha (San Francisco summer humor - I apologize).

Mark Twain once said that the coldest winter he'd ever known was a summer he spent in San Francisco. I spend most of my time inside so it's hard to say if he's still right, but I did throw on a sweater at some point over the weekend - summertime San Fran ain't like the rest of California at least...

KiLo played driver for me and brought me back to the sunny Peninsula (what we locals call the area just south of San Francisco). KiLo is an old, dear friend but camera shy. She will certainly make future appearances here but I question if I'll ever get her photo.

VeGa, who lives down the street from me, had a little barbecue - we cooked up some tri-tip and filet mignon wrapped in bacon. A bottle of Patron Silver disappeared gradually over the course of the next several hours. And for some reason, everyone was wearing sunglasses inside. Mmmmm. VeGa's friends are very cool and a return trip to Vegas with them may be in the works. A road trip. Ouch. With this crew, it could mean something very dangerous. That's why I'm so psyched for it...

THE HAIR OF THE DOG (AND BULL) THAT BIT ME... AND KICKED MY ASS

Still sore. Afternoon the next... MeRe [above] and VeGa [below] stopped by the Lakehouse home for some turkish delight. Through their combined powers, IMOL was able to re-emerge from his dark, reclusive lair and continue his high adventure in leisure...

MeRe and VeGa are two tough titans to top in terms of party endurance. VeGa was there the night before... for Bucky the Mechanical Bull - located at the even newer New Old Pro in downtown Palo Alto. Those crazy kids at the Old Pro knocked down their neighbor's wall and expanded their bar and added the $3-per-ride attraction that is Bucky.

I was feeling lucky with Bucky. I really thought I could avoid getting tossed from his bullish back (tequila). Not knowing that everyone gets tossed from Bucky the Bull. And I mean everyone. What sheer pleasure to watch. What extreme agony to witness first hand the powers that the Buckster has.

As for the powers MeRe and VeGa have (you think I'd about forget our two heroines del dia?) - that's actually a story for another day. Suffice to say that the dynamic duet played the part of co-muses for the evening... and that IMOL has a thing for seeming tangents.

Regardless of the bruised bum, I managed to meet up with AnBy, JePa and CiRe (or Bubbles) to see the Every Move a Picture gig at San Francisco's Bottom of the Hill. Excellent show. Lots of booze. Wine and Guinness mostly. Not together but consecutively. Bubbles and AnBy discussed the plans for Saturday's soiree, JePa was drilling me about the Vegas Venture, and somebody literally threw yet another shot of tequila down my throat. Amazing skill.

It's all in the timing...

Today, I said good-bye for good to the life of family law lawyer. Come Monday (Labor Day - lol), my life as IMOL becomes officiale. Fare thee well divorcees, custody gladiators and deadbeat dads [photo at right are boxes from just one family law case - crazy!]. How glad am I to have the weekend here... because it's good to have a chance for a little rest and relaxation before the life of leisure really starts.