Serendipity!

One time… In 1853 in Saratoga New York,

a bitchy queen by the name of Cornelius Vanderbilt repeatedly refused to eat the French fries that came with his meal, bitching that they were cut to too thick, were too soggy, and full of grease.
He kept sending the fries back to the kitchen where the chef George Crum repeatedly tried to cut thinner fries (and probably spit on them) only to have them sent back again.

Finally, Chef George Crum decided he would fix this queens bitchy attitude by slicing the potatoes so paper thin and frying them really crispy in the grease. Initially Vanderbilt bitched that they were too thin now to eat them with a fork, but upon having a few, realized that they were delicious. Instantly they became a hit and everybody in the place wanted a serving, and before long, the whole world wanted some. Serendipity: the invention of potato chips.

Sometimes, the best things are discovered serendipitously. Several things happened to me this way in this past week. For instance...

The world is mourning the loss of the King of Pop Michael Jackson.

He passed away on June 25, 2009 at 2:26 pm. I was at work when a bunch of media buyers started stirring as the reports of his death came over to us on TMZ only 7 minutes after it happened.

Call him what you want, a freak, a child molester, a star, a tortured soul--whatever you want, but you cannot deny that he was a musical genius who changed the face of entertainment. Most of us can think of a different Michael Jackson song (and nose) for every momentous occasion in our own lives.

I was going home on June 27 from a dance gig, when the subway trains in NYC went awry. What should have taken me 15 minutes to get home from Harlem’s 125th street had already taken me 45 minutes, and I was still at 125th Street! I called Herbert (He usually has a good sense of direction) who guided me further into Harlem’s east side by mistake. I was trying to get to another train line. I headed west in hopes of finding the D Train.

SERENDIPITY! I came across the famous Apollo Theatre where a celebration of Michael Jackson’s Life was taking place.
Up on the marquis were the words: In memory of Michael Jackson a true Apollo legend. Below the marquis, were thousands of people laughing, crying, and mourning the loss of the musical genius.

The whole block was lined with people of all ages, singing and exchanging his music, --signing the walls to express their love for this man. It was overwhelming and amazing.
I couldn’t help but to wipe a tear away from my own eyes. I am glad that I happened on to this celebration of life. I never even thought to go down to the Apollo to be a part of this, and here I was being a part of history.

The next morning when I got out of bed, I immediately fell over in pain. My right heel hurt. 2 weeks prior, my doctor told me that I needed to stay off of it for 10 months. No dance gigs. The dance gig I did the day before (against doctors orders) must have done more damage. I had the NYC Gay Pride Parade today. I was supposed to march with the New York City Flaggers alongside the S.W.I.S.H. float! What was I going to do?


2 hours later, some ice and an anti-inflammatory, a slight limp, and I was on my way to the parade. When I got to the parade SERENDIPITY!—because of my injury I was allowed to ride on the S.W.I.S.H. float rather than walk the pavement.

But wait. SERENDIPITY again! But who should be walking by and stopping to look at our float but Gay Porn King himself Michael Lucas and one of his hotties. I quickly jumped off the float and posed for a picture—this was one hot manwich!



Not even one week later,
having gotten the Friday off for the 4th of July holiday, Herbert and I decided to venture out for a Thursday night on the town.
The city was dead. Most of the gay boys had headed to either Fire Island or P-Town. Every bar was dead except one: Splash. But it was college night and sure to be full of twinks. Ugh! I like my men manly, muscular and hairy NOT boyish and hairless.

Just as I was about to call it a night, Herbert noticed one of the twink go-go boys. “I think that’s the boy from the Beyonce viral video for Put a Ring on It” he said.

SERENDIPITY!
(okay, not really but yes really), suddenly the song came on and sure enough, Shane Mercado began doing the choreography that made him famous across the world on YouTube as the skinny boy in underwear and a nipple shirt, prancing around like a girl in his dorm room.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0Rjc7HSt0E


2 days later, I was helping my friend Pedro scope out new places to live since his current nutcase roommate tried to commit suicide yet again.
We had taken the dreaded G train (the only subway that doesn’t go to Manhattan) to places such as Clinton Hill and Bedsty in Brooklyn. Scary!

We later found ourselves in Woodside, Queens. A nice cute neighborhood at Rita Brady Square and 61st Street. SERENDIPITY! A street fair! It was way past lunchtime and we had not had breakfast either.
SERENDIPITY again!
A booth that said Dollar burgers! And I’m not talking about crappy thin burgers, these burgers were better than McDonald’s, fire grilled and flavored in Garlic, Bacon, BBQ, or Ranch. Why had I not seen this booth at any other street fair in NYC before? Because the booth was sitting in front of a butcher shop.
Ottomanelli’s Butcher shop had decided to throw up a booth for the day. The burgers were Delicious!! And only $1 dollar each! Who could complain?



SERENDIPITY yet again!
The apartment in this neighborhood was just the right size, price, and in a great neighborhood. My friend will take it! We head back to the train. SERENDIPITY yet one more time! Fried Oreos!
I had heard of fried Twinkies (NOT twinks), on the food network, where sugary treats like Twinkies and Snickers bars were battered and deep fried. The hot oil changes the composition and flavors of the treats making it into a different treat altogether. I had never tried any of them, but now was my opportunity.


I watched the man batter and deep fry six Oreos. He then dusted them with powdered sugar. I bite into one. The insides are warm and gooey, almost like caramel except not caramel and still Oreo tasting. I end up eating 5 out of the six, Pedro having only 1.



Sometimes, the best experiences come from the things that we don’t plan. Sometimes we need to just wake up, leave the house, and see where life takes us.

My mother claims that she had her tubes tied after my brother was born so I was an unplanned pregnancy. Like I said....the best things in life are sometimes unplanned.

For Real! Seriously!