Does absence make the heart grow fonder?

Hopefully, it does, and, hopefully, it makes the readers of this silly little blog yearn for more. This is the longest that I have gone without posting since I started this. Rest assured, things have been hectic, which is why I have been incommunicado. The upside of this that there are many stories that need to be told, so prepare yourself for a long game of catch-up...

The first noteworthy interruption in my usual routine was the trip to New York. I can really sum up the whole trip in one word: FOOD. After all, food is good -- just ask Joe. Those three little words, uttered by a stranger, were the constant theme of the trip and became our mantra. ("Our" refers to myself and Jeni Breadsticks.)

Below are the day-by-day highlights (and extreme lows) of the trip.

Day 1:

We settled for not-so-good pizza due to starvation; Jeni actually liked it... correction, loved it. All she talked about was the meatball pizza...

Dinner at Duke's, which was awesome as usual! If you never ate there, GO! It was great food, great company, and we probably should have ended the night there... but we didn't. We went to Fat Black Pussycat, and, mind you, I was stoked to go. Before I moved, this was my favorite place. I should have left the place alone and preserved its memory. Unfortunately, we went, and it was nothing like what I experienced previously. A live band, a bad crowd, need I go on? There were only 3 redeeming factors: (1) Nick and quadruple B; (2) the hybrid; and (3) the fact that the place is around the corner from Joe's Pizza (my all-time favorite). Too bad, I wasn't able to partake in the heavenly delight known as Joe's because my stomach was killing me. A bad club will do that to you. Haha, not really, but it sounded good. (If anyone is interested in further explanation of these other factors, let me know, and I'll come back to them.)

The cab ride home was great. Anyone who knows me knows that I talk to strangers, especially in the situations where you don't expect to have conversations (i.e., taxis, elevators, trains, etc.). Our cabbie was from Ghana. We laughed and had a better time in the cab than at the club. It's all good... live and learn.

Day 2:

We had lunch at Jackson Hole, the place that made me love hamburgers. We went to a location that I had not been to, and I am thinking that was a mistake. I was disappointed. I don't even want to think about it. I could cry.

Then, we went shopping. I HATE SHOPPING.

The highlight of Saturday was dinner at Lobo! I dream about the salsa and the burritos! I wish I was having both right now. The meal lived up to my expectations!

After dinner, we went to Camp, where we encountered the weirdest freak of a woman, who placed a telescopic eyepiece up to the bar's front window to watch the game that was being played on a TV at the back of the bar. Mind you, this freak of a woman was doing this between my cousin and I as we were having a conversation on the other side of the window. Needless to say, it was weird and uncomfortable. Then, Nick, the freak that he is, started taking pictures of her. She FREAKED out. Eventually, she came inside, touched Jeni (the camera-owner), and told her and Nick to GET RID OF IT (in a very demonic voice). IT WAS CRAZY! At that point, I stepped in and said my piece. When I walked away, she called me a B. What the crap. She left and came back, and R.G. discovered that she was worried that her picture would end up on YouTube or something. What a weirdo. If I had the picture, I'd post it right now. (Jeni, this is your cue to to post the picture as a comment.)

If that was not enough excitement for one night, we saw a fire being put out by the NYFD.

After that, we hung out at Hamptons' place and ate some cake.

Day 3:

This day had a lot of promise; it was supposed to be the day of the Harlem Walk -- an 11-mile walk that Hamptons and I had been planning for YEARS. It didn't pan out. Disappointment seems to be common on this trip.

Lunch was overpriced and not that good, so we were hoping for dinner to be much better. We went to Pete's Downtown. The food was good, but overpriced for what it was, and the waitress sucked. Oh well. Fortunately, dessert was at Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory! MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM. Talk about heaven in a cone...

That was not the end of the food for the night... we stopped by Joe's to get a pie since I didn't get to have it after the fiasco known as Fat Black's.

Day 4:

Nick agreed to take us to the airport, and we went on a mock driving tour through Brooklyn, so Jeni could take some pictures. Really, all we did was eat. Jeni had a slice of the meatball pizza that she loved before we even headed to BK. We had a late breakfast at Le Petit Cafe. From there, we started the tour, and I got a bagel -- I even got the dude to hook it up and find me the one that was the most well-done. Then, Jeni got biscuits from Popeye's when we were at Coney Island. I had my favorite lemonade from Roll-n-Roaster, and I had corn fritters while Jeni had mashed potatoes. We really didn't stop eating...

Then, we flew home.

On to the next interruption...

After the food adventures of NY were over, I had to get some sleep before driving to Orlando by myself. Can I just say that driving anywhere that takes longer than 2 hours to get to by yourself is just boring? I hung out with a different set of cousins for a few days and even got to spend a day living life as Bean while I pretended to be her to get into Disney World. Hahahaha. Sorry, Mickey.

During our day at Disney, we didn't do much. Despite the fact that we went to MGM (now, Hollywood Studios) and EPCOT, we really didn't do anything. The best part of the day was sitting with Natalie on the boat ride in Norway when, according to her, "the polar bear almost gave us a heart attack." Mind you, she's not even 3. She definitely makes the list of my favorite kids (seeing as I hate kids in general).

After Disney, I drove home. While in Orlando, I had a crazy allergy attack, which caused me to stay in bed for the days that followed. Today is the first day that I don't feel like my head weighs 58 tons and can actually sit up to type this long-winded entry.

On that note, stay tuned....

P.S. Jeni tried to post a picture comment, but to no avail. Alas, here she is, the freak who should learn not to spy with telescopic eyepieces and to keep her hands to herself: