since [manlio's] been gone

the only good thing about people leaving (unless, of course, you don't really like them much in the first place) is when they have outrageous going-away parties.

we feted manlio twice, once at the aforementioned croxely ales/ace bar/sing sing night of 10,000 drinks and once again saturday, at loreley.

maj and i went to BAM's "Importance of Being Earnest" earlier in the night, so we were a little later than i'd planned. and i mainly wanted to be on time for my djing debut.

bonnaroo and i spun an hour of brit pop, dance pop, a song that was decidedly not "don't stop till you get enough" and some "weird stuff", including "they must be giants" ('new york city'--just to remind him what he'll be missing). it was hysterically nervewracking.

k-fed was up next, follwed by coach dodgeball and dens, and then it kind of turned into a free-for-all. there was dancing the likes of which have not been seen since k-fed's birthday. again i found myself thinking, i'm tired, i'm thirsty, i'm sweaty, i'm hot, i am out of breath--I LOVE THIS SONG!!! ahh, dancing.

there was a great deal of beer spilt, especially during my bhangra action when someone put on that panjabi mc song. not the thing to do with a full beer. at one point, i ended up with a strategically placed slosh of beer on my right tit, so it looked like i was lactating. which led me to say to xx the next day, "how awesome would it be if you could produce beer instead of milk?"

excellent dancing was had by everyone and no tears were shed. i sort of pretended it wasn't really a going away party. but now i am sad. and he's not even gone yet!

the acme of the evening, for better or worse, was an altogether bizarre reaction to kelly clarkston's "since U (god i hate when people do that) been gone". this is a dirty pleasure reserved mainly for the gym, but on the dancefloor it became apparent i was not the only one who knew over 50% of the lyrics. i've had the damn thing stuck in my head ever since.

the whole bag of rocks family wish you the best of luck, manlio. and you're always welcome back here in nyc.