the first rule of tickle club is: you will not tell girls. it's embarassing. there was some slapping, there the threat of a punching, there was actual punching, there was lots of tickling, and in the end, ameer ended up with a black eye. courtesy of your favorite five foot five pugilist, dave son. in all fairness to ameer's fighting prowess, gene's hand is all swollen, the important right strumming hand is banged up. note that these festivities were conducted under the cover of night, when most everybody in the house was already asleep. apparently a tickle nancy session turned into a punch each other silly session. neither combatant remembers the fight. and that was the capper on another night downtown.



in the hours before our group excursion out, me babbs and randall went to visit unun boutique, run by one of babb's friends. you walk in and think "oh, soho." the place looks like it belongs in new york, or at least pb, but not in downtown. the clothes are pretty cool and the items they carry are meant to appeal to a certain higher end clientele. the idea behind the shop is that "troubled" kids come to work there during the day and learn the ins and outs of the retail experience. a portion of proceeds goes back to funding the kid shelter across the street. pretty neat. babbs rocked their "hip hop is dead" t-shirt while onstage with gene for his friday night concert. the concert went well, the new fans (not associated with us) are showing up by the handful. it's growing.



before you go out for a night time clubbing experience (as opposed to a day time one), there's always this sense of "how will it be?" will there be dancing? good music? fun? will people have a good time? i've learned to just let things ride and if it works out, it works out. if it bombs like it sometimes does, then you go home early. babbs said he'd been disappointed some in his last few excursions out and that he really hoped tonight would be a good time. and so it was. a good time. short of hooking up (i assume this is fun, i don't know first hand), the "fun" of going out really derives from the stories you can share afterwards, whether it be about stupid human antics or funny "trying to get game on" antics.



all i know from the night out was that both jimmy and ameer were thrown out. and that gene was dancing his little ass off, and he can't really remember it. and mostly everybody seemed to have a sustained moment of fun. however you define fun. if it means slapping each other silly and then getting free drinks from the bartender, so be it.



oh, and about hooters. does anyone else feel uncomfortable? like they don't know where to look? like i know you are supposed to stare but then it's like "man, this is wrong." i prefer to stare out of the corner of my eye. it's a little less obvious if a lot less effective. being in hooters just makes me uncomfortable.