Birthday Bonanza and Other Bits

I figure that if your birthday falls in the middle of the week, like, say, a Tuesday, you can celebrate without guilt on both the weekend before and the weekend after.

Birthday celebrations started a day earlier than expected when my friend Yesi called me at 9:30, when I was deeply into pajama mode, and asked me to go with her to see her friend and fellow drama teacher receive an award and play a song. Not being one to turn down a chance to be fabulous, I put on my party pants and shoes and we headed out.

It took us quite a while to even FIND the dang place we were looking for, and on the way Yesi informed me that we were going to the "Miami Dance Music Awards" which kind of made my stomach hurt considering how much I love (read: HATE) dance music. Then we finally found the place and walk in, and it was like walking into another country WITHIN the foreign land that is Miami itself. It was loud and everything was in Spanish, and I walked in to a room full of laser lights with a band onstage playing what sounds like 80s tunes, and I look up and see a dude playing a key-tar. It was secretly amazing.

We proceeded into the place, across the laser-lit dance floor, and found Yesi's friend who, I thought, was a DJ since she was, apparently, a "freestyle" artist. Well, come to find out, "freestyle" is a kind of music that made it only to Miami, New York, and L.A... Like Latin 80s dance music, as far as I can figure. And the awards? They were more like lifetime achievement awards or something, and at one point Tito Puente Jr. was, like, chillin' on stage. Everyone who won an award had contributed greatly... no one, as far as I could tell, was still making music.

Yesi's friend finally performed a little after midnight, and her song was, like, a fun 80s tune (in English!!) and it was cool to see her. But by far the best act of the night was this dude in a bedazzled black t-shirt (I'm talking FULLY bedazzled--gold jewels in a geometric grid ALL over). He won an award for a song and band I'd never heard of, which at this point I was expecting, and then the guy who gave it to him was like, "Why don't you just do a little song for us?" And Mr. Bedazzled is like, "What? Me? No, I couldn't possibly..." When you know the WHOLE time that $#!t was planned. It was hilarious. And then Mr. Bedazzle croons a song, in Spanish, from, like, the disco era and it was out of control. I was like, Is this really happening? WHAT is going on?

Then in the process of being there, Yesi sees a guy looking at me so I discretely try to look back. Turns out, dude's totally gay, which explains the look. lol. I also saw a little person, which was amazing. Actually, MOST of the people there were characters, including the HOT bartender and an awkward relationship between an ugly dude and his email order bride/escort/lady of the evening. I'm just saying she was wearing clear heels (SURE sign) and a "shirt" that, I was certain, would show her nipples at any moment if she continued to dance the way she was dancing. Wow. The entire eveing was certainly an experience to be remembered. I still haven't processed it all; it was just too much for my senses to take in.

The following day I had my birthday celebration (version 1.0), which wasn't anythign too amazing, mostly because all my brilliant ideas were somehow foiled by fate, timing, money, or all of those. I settled on dinner at RA, a sushi place in Sunset. I've always had good food and a good time when I go there, so it seemed like a wise choice.

There ended up being a dozen of us for the dinner portion and it was yum. RA has the appetizer called, like, Dynamite Scallops or something, and it's basically the perfect food: scallops (although bay, not sea), mushrooms, and spicy goodness. WIN. I also had a roll (I can't recall which one but it was good) and all was pleasing. Now, I ate a good deal, but I didn't quite feast like SOME people...

I believe there were seven plates in total. OUT of control! :)

Here's a group photo of us, enjoying dinner.

After dinner, the waiter, who I'd sort of harassed earlier in the night because I wanted my tonic wanter bubbly, brough the obligatory birthday free dessert, which was some sort of ice creamy thing. Tempura icecream, maybe. I was so excited about it, I forgot about the "blow out the candle" thing and just started eating. My friend Jeff filmed the presentation, song, eating and candle blowing. If you're really that interested you can watch video of the big event here.

After RA, a few of us (read, two) went to Fox's where a couple other friends came out for a drink. It was great to see everyone, some of whom I haven't been able to see since my return from Boston. It was a fun night, and I got home at a decent time so all was well. No more birthday ragers--I'm getting up there!

Birthday celebration part deux came the next weekend when The Weave came down from Boca and Eric, who was out of town the week before, came to hang out with us, too. We went to dinner Saturday night at Benihana, which sends you a coup for $30 during the month of your birthday. Holler! It was a fun dinner with good people, and my favorite part of the dinner show is the onion volcano! Yay!Here we all are, re-celebrating.

We finished the night at Crazy Pianos because I had two $25 certificates I'd bought over the summer for not even half that price. It was a fun (and cheap!) night, and we made friends with the (hot) bartender because we wanted to request the bed intruder song. Our dream was not realized but it was fun anyway.

The next morning, we all met up again on the Beach to have "Drag Queen Brunch" at The Palace. Eric's gone a few times, and he says it's always fun, which it proved to be. The draw is paying $35 for breakfast and unlimited mimosas, but, since I can't really drink more than one, I got a bloody Mary and eggs Benedict, both of which were delicious. The other aspect of the breakfast is the drag performances, which happen about every 15 minutes or so. It was thoroughly entertaining; the emcee was quite funny and the performances (some of them) were pretty outstanding. I managed to get this photo of Champagne something-or-other, who I'm pretty sure, was my waitress at Lips last year when I went for another friend's birthday. The drag queen world must be a small one.

All in all, a very successful birthday, I'd say. I'm looking forward to this year being...milder than last year. My Master's is going well, teaching is challenging but awesome, and, so far, I'm managing everything well. This year, I am once again hopeful about and excited for what is to come.

Much love.