uninteresting :: rich

wmc was a blast. pancho’s place was in the perfect location – 15 mins from miami beach, 10 mins from downtown. it was also the perfect getaway from the craziness of spring break & the parties…a nice comfortable home with cute lil’ dogs ‘n cats to play with.

Wed 3/23: had lunch in miami beach @ News Cafe (i remember loving the pasta with garlic & olive oil from many years ago). we walked around Ocean Drive, hit the beach for a bit, had drinks at the Clevelander when it started raining and Amo danced in the rain.

dinner was with pancho & kelly at a local waterfront place called shuckers, then we played a little pool. i ran the table once and my baby made an amazing bank shot.

back home, pancho & kelly turned in and we headed out. downtown to Nocturnal, a new club that was *supposed* to open up during WMC. it’s in the middle of a bunch of club warehouses – next to Space, Warehouse & others. we get there, and find out the party has been moved to Crobar in miami beach.

so we cab it there. i’d heard good things about Crobar Miami, but it sucked. i was annoyed at the club layout (typical giant room with nowhere to sit unless you’re a VIP). and the crowd was guido. and the music wasn’t so hot.

we split and head down the block to Mansion, another new club. it’s the Playstation-sponsored party with a good lineup: dj dan, chris lawrence, donald glaude. great layout, sound, and crowd. we’re diggin it a lot. but then the lights turn on…it’s 5am, closing time. crap.

off to tangerine, the boston vs. nyc party that started at 5am. we got there too early, and it’s really slow and mellow.

off again, this time to the decks benedict party that started at 6am at the marlin hotel. this one fit the bill – right crowd, music, venue. but by now it’s 9am and we’re starving. off to the diner for good food/crap service (everything on miami beach has a fixed 18% tip built-in).

satiated, we top off the morning by crashing on the beach, the morning sun shining down on us while we snooze a bit.

it was also my baby’s birthday, though i purposely didn’t wish her a happy bday all day because she had forgotten mine in january. at least i’m not petty.

on the verge of our 4 day excursion to miami for a series of parties that rivals burning man, i’m feeling good about being ‘caught up’ on a bunch of things. i was thinking about this today at the dentist while my teeth were being cleaned:

- paying back my aunt: she helped with the apartment downpayment, but needed all the money back by April for taxes…which freaked me out because i wasn’t sure whether i’d be able to. anyways, i recently closed on a home equity loan to pay it all back. and since there’s a few weeks left until April, in the interim i’ve used the cash to payoff my high-interest credit card debt, and will pay her with low-interest fixed-rate balance transfer checks. so things are good – i’ve managed to buy a home without liquidating any assets, payback my aunt, & restructure my debt.

- taxes: i filed a long time ago. already received my federal return; still expecting my state return.

- fully absolved of my old apt lease: i was not-so-legally subletting my old apartment through the end of my lease, and it was a bit tricky transitioning the lease over to him without the landlord finding out. that’s all done now and i got my full deposit back.

- checkups: it’s been about 3 yrs since i’ve seen an optomotrist, dentist, and doctor. i’ve had all 3 checkups in the past few weeks. i have a frickin cavity! my 2nd ever. it’s way inside, only visible through xray.

anyways, i’m off. the winter music conference parties look insane. back next week…

the kids are over 5 months old now, so it was time to get them fixed. here’s amo’s account of the rest of the day after the operation:

the surgery went fine, the babies were in rough shape when they got home, totally disoriented and very sad. they’ve been sleeping all day and will probably sleep through the night, and are already bouncing back. both are eating and going to the bathroom. they are not wearing the cones but they might have to later, we are carefully watching them to make sure they aren’t licking too much.

they only funny thing is that they are acting astranged from each other i think its mostly because they haven’t had a good smell of the other’s crotches. they are in the same room but occasionally hissing. i think things will improve soon.

update: as of this morning they’re not hissing at each other anymore. they’re both a bit playful and affectionate. things are looking much better. =)

i’m reading the 7 habits of highly effective people…again. the first time around, i only got through the first 3 habits or so. don’t know why i never finished, because i thought the book was great and the concepts have stuck with me through the years. this time i’m pretty intent on finishing.

one cool thing the book asks is that you read it with the perspective that you’ll teach it to someone else. so maybe i’ll blog little tidbits as i go through it.

habit 1 is to be proactive. not the ‘pushy’ meaning of the word, but to accept responsibility for things in your life. the insight is that despite all the external circumstances around you, you get to choose your response to them. anytime you think “shit, *external factor X* is causing *internal response Y*”, then you’re not being proactive. you’re letting that external thing control you. assume responsibility for your own response, and you’ve taken away that external thing’s power over you.

weirdly, the perfect example comes from a story i heard in traffic school years ago. the teacher was talking about how angry people get when they get cut off by someone else on the highway. the automatic response (as was mine) is to get pissed off and possibly to drive aggressively towards them – putting everyone’s lives at risk. instead of that natural response, wouldn’t it be better to just blow it off and not respond at all. by picking how you respond, you take away their power to make you angry. look what Ghandi did with this concept.

habit 2 is to begin with the end in mind. think through your life and how you want to live it…see it happen the way you want it to, and then identify the core principles and live your life according to them.

the key exercise is to imagine in detail your own funeral, and what you’d like people to say about you – your spouse, family members, friends, co-workers, etc. look at what you’d like them to say – things like ‘he was a great father and always spent time with his kids’ – that defines what your guiding principles should be. compare them with how you’re living your life now. say you’re working 80 hours a week. you’re extremely efficient at work, but not really being effective at the way you want to live your life.

i’m happy to have discovered sullivan room, a little-known club/lounge that keeps it real & underground with house & techno, reasonable cover, and is a mere two blocks from home. not that i’ve been going out much at all lately – i haven’t been to any of the bars lining my neighborhood – but it’s cool to have a good dancing option so close to home.

here’s a review from NYC24.