So the initial plan was for me to wake up, go work out and than pick up my buddy Wilson. I have been trying to work out more often and figured if I got up at 7 I could be at the gym by 7:30 back by 8:45, the gym is around the corner from my house. After getting back from the Gym I am expecting an important phone call at 9, than be at Wilson’s around 10. This plan was formed before I stupidly stayed up till 3 in the morning on Thursday.
So instead I wake up at 9 when the phone rings. Now fortunately for me (and my other buddy who I was providing a reference for.) I can wake up quickly when I want to. So when I spoke to the very cheery women and I was able to give a very favorable recommendation. In my head I am just saying “FUCK, FUCK, FUCK… I am so late!” Now the funniest part is the cheery lady starts feeling me out. It appears that she runs a staffing agency and started to ask me questions about my job past and plans. I had to nicely but quickly redirect back to my friend’s job reference and than finish the conversation.
So instead I wake up at 9 when the phone rings. Now fortunately for me (and my other buddy who I was providing a reference for.) I can wake up quickly when I want to. So when I spoke to the very cheery women and I was able to give a very favorable recommendation. In my head I am just saying “FUCK, FUCK, FUCK… I am so late!” Now the funniest part is the cheery lady starts feeling me out. It appears that she runs a staffing agency and started to ask me questions about my job past and plans. I had to nicely but quickly redirect back to my friend’s job reference and than finish the conversation.
So obviously I did not get to work out and was a mad man getting to Wilson but thanks to no traffic was able to be at his place at 10:10. So I’m only off my schedule by 10 minutes not bad right and I really am playing things by ear. I had said I would like to check certain things out but if I don’t I don’t and that just means I have to try for another road trip in the future. But the first place we were going to was the Brownstone diner and Pancake Factory in Jersey City. www.brownstonediner.com/ Now I had heard about this place from a friend and even saw it on the list of Locals on the Diners Drive in & Dives website so I knew I wanted to check it out but as with every time I go to jersey something went wrong. I plugged in the address into my GPS and it said we should be there in 30 minutes. Now I knew with NY/NJ traffic it could be more but we where stuck in gridlock for over an hour. Here are some of the things being said in the car as we are stuck in traffic.
Wilson: You know Alitha is right.
Eric: What about?
Wilson: “A Hungry man is an angry man.”
Eric: So I guess you are hungry?
Wilson: Yeah. I haven’t eaten all day.
Eric: What are you going to have when we get there?
Wilson: FOOD! I DON’T CARE WHAT JUST FOOD! THE WAITRES IS GOING TO COME TO US AND I’M GOING TO TELL HER YOU GO BACK THERE, TAKE WHAT EVER IS READY AND BRING IT TO ME, I’LL EAT IT!!! THEN AFTER THAT I’LL ORDER MY MEAL!
Eric: Stop making me laugh I can’t see straight.
Wilson: LIKE IT MATTERS! WE HAVE BEEN IN THE SAME SPOT FOR THE LAST 20 MINUTES!
Eventually we do get moving and make it into Jersey City while we are heading there along the way an interesting tidbit of info comes up
Wilson: Hey, I know where we are going?
Eric: Yeah The Brownstone Diner.
Wilson: No I have been there.
Eric: Really?
Wilson: Yeah I just didn’t remember the name; it was after one of the Parties.
Eric: A party at D’s
Wilson: Yeah
Eric: No wonder you couldn’t remember the name, after one of D’s parties your lucky if you remember your way home.
Wilson: That only happened once.
We finally get to the diner and all is right with the world. The food was excellent the service was very friendly and I had no complaints. We both ordered the King Combo 3 stacks of Pancakes (I had chocolate chips, Wilson had regular), 3 eggs (Scrambled for me over easy for Wilson) and a steak) It was so good. I could have just gone home and slept after that. But we traveled on. I may or may not have taken a little nap while I was driving.
When all is said and done and after all the traffic we hit we don’t get to the Franklin institute till 4:00 I only took pictures of outside because the exhibit we were going to see did not allow cameras, kind of a jip but the exhibit was really cool. They had a retrospective of the Star Trek exhibit and had all these props from the show. They even had a recreation of the Star Trek: The Next Generations bridge. Obviously I had to drag Wilson out of there kicking and screaming.
We stopped at a small cheap restaurant cause we were actually still full from “Breakfast” at noon. And than cause we were in Philly we stopped of at the Gold Club a gentlemen’s club. The Gold Club has become a part of every Philly trip we take because usually when we are in Philly its for a comic convention and after a bad con we needed to console our selves. It was actually quite nice to go just to have fun.
My philosophy on strip cubs is that it’s nice harmless fun you basically walk into this place and all the girls want to talk to you. Now I know they are only trying to make a living and put themselves through college (At least that’s what most of them keep telling me.) so the attention is fake, but so is the “It’s a small world” ride in Disney land. It’s fantasy and as long as no one is getting hurt no problem. I’ve been to a few clubs where all the girls were high or drunk and that actually made me uncomfortable. I keep thinking they don’t do this because they want to. They do this because they have to but here the girls are just very friendly.
Now we are having a good time but I know I still have another half hour to drive to go so we head out at around 11:00.
Conversation after we left:
Wilson: You know the strip is starting to come true.
Eric What do you mean?
Wilson: Every time we go to a strip club and you leave all the girls know your name.
Eric: I’m friendly.
Wilson: Yeah, How much did you spend?
Eric: I think I signed over my car to a stripper named Mercedes. She was topless talking to me and I don’t remember much after that.
So After I borrowed my car back from Mercedes We were on our way to a Motel 6 to crash for the night.
To see all my pics go here:
