Kids Spinning - end of spring break 2010 in NYC.

Notes from my last day of 12 day writing break, in which I drank too much alcohol, smoked the right amount of Hash (which i hadn't smoked in years) and developed allergies... Ups and Downs.

At 11 am i make my familiar walk west, first on East 2nd street, then on bleecker after a brief detour on bowery. I get my free cup of tea at the Yippie Cafe and speak to Dana Beal, who tells me the cops say they are actually going to arrest us at this year's marijuana march on May 1. I tell him we should video tape it in effort to stop them, and even if it doesn't, it would be entertaining to have the entire episode on tape.

The scene in Washington Square Park extends my vacation. I thought for just a few hours, but it turned into 48.

Half naked NYU students are strewn over every patch of grass. I realize it's 80 degrees and sunny. I pickup an Italian Special Sub from Faicco's deli (a must try) and lay out all day, playing frisbee with kids and reading on and off, instead of going to the hudson library in the west village, one of my favorites. Right around the time I think i've had enough, some high school friends email that we're meeting up at Frying Pan right after "work." I go into a house on Cornelia street to which i have the keys, take a shower, and air-dry on the roof. the Frying Pan is a bar that is literally on a barge in the Hudson River on 26th street off of 12th avenue. The place is huge: sun deck, ping pong, foos ball, a stage, a hundred tables. They serve seafood, buckets of beer, and lots more... one of the best summer time hangouts in the city.

After making a scene in the river and the west village Citeralla, we BBQ on the roof deck back at Cornelia, this turns into late night beirut and I don't know what...

More drinks from there at a late night meeting with my graffiti artist, whose work you've seen on the this website. He's been working on a new logo for t-shirts, but is more likely to give up than accomplish this task. He has a slightly drug-induced attention problems.

Just a few blocks up from there is my good friend and writer who has great bed and DVD collection.

Men who stare at Goats - 2 stars

Law Abiding Citizen - 3 stars

It's now light out again... and I'm mailing books from Post Office on 52nd street and 8th avenue in Manhattan. As i wait in line, I watch as a kid spends minutes in a row spinning in circles. He spins, starts to laugh, falls down, and repeats. His mother yells at him every time he hits the ground. I smile. It's more entertaining than either of the aformentioned films that i watched the night before with the writer of the "Ecstasy" story in the "Drug Stories" chapter of HTHFAND. "Natural Highs" are referenced in many drug books that I read. Spinning is one of the easiest to perform. Far safer than the same seven-year-olds who are choking each other to feel a rush. That activity too often results in death.

An hour later, in the subway station on Fulton and Nassau streets, two teenagers makeout from either side of a turnstile. The crowd passing by them is half nauseated, half adoring...

Andaz Hotel on Water Street and Wall Street: concept of this hotel is that it feels like home. in the lobby bar, everyone leans on what look like personal kitchen counters. and the waitress serves you drinks and appetizers at your counter. I try a Sazerac whiskey drink for first time. It's good, but hard.

A girl i've known for 2 and half years and I take out first bus ride together uptown... I almost annoyingly point out when i'm experiencing a "first." Girls sometimes find this romantic. We make out on the bus amidst the bag-ladies. Doyers street in Chinatown catches my eye - a street with one low-key bar this girl had promised to take me to. We jump off bus inbetween stops and run into the alley.

You know those awesome bars you here about that are so cool they don't even need a sign? Not even a label on the door. Yet they're classy enough that they don't turn into a speakeasy of sorts... this is one of them. People refer to it as "Apotheke." Doyers is one of the smallest and dirtiest streets in the city... inside is an incredibly chill lounge scene with live music that goes back to the 1920's... and in early evenings when bartenders are available, they make those mixed drinks you've never heard of that remind you that alcoholic mixes can actually taste good. I had the "Hemingway Special" a rum based drink with mint-delicious, etc... well, maybe i had three of them...

We drunkenly ate Dimsum at Joe's Shanghai on Pell street around the corner... while i had a phone mtg with my lawyer in charge of criminal research projects. We discuss film and upcoming business.

On east broadway at 11:22 pm people poor out of the OTB. we take cab home and i sleep wonderfully... wake up to continue writing the sequel of HTHFAND, tentatively titled, "Stayin' Alive: U.S. Drug Tour 2009."