Alrighty, OTB - snap on yer seat belt, cause I'm take'n ya fer a ride... (though I apologize for the raw version of this story; I've not had time to polish it yet.)
While you were away, I had some health issues (not important now - things are going in right direction presently), and I lost about 40 lbs over the past year. So, when Oaks Day rolled up, none of my good pants fit. Thus, I found an old (unused) pair that I accidentally acquired. I was shoppin' about 4 years ago, and when I left the store, I heard some dude exclaim -
where's my pants?! Well, the clerk had accidentally put em in
my bag...and...luckily...they NOW FIT - after 4 years of doin' nutten' fer me! (Yeah - I shoulda returned them - sue me.) So, after some
OK's from the fashion police here - I was now ready for Oaks Day, plus...I was put into a
fashion mind by my pals here. Thnx guys! And, that set the stage...
My day began at 10 am, when I was dropped off at the track. I went into the Paddocks/Infield zone. I was expecting a friend from Costa Rica (and the rest of my old pals) at 1 pm, so I had a few hours to kill. After checking out the scene briefly, I decided that I needed a few tokes --- so --- I went into the men's room under the stands (paddock area).
The bathroom situation was still good for men - at this hour - but it was already starting to suck for the women. Thus, just as I lit my 1st one-hit, I heard a commotion goin' on in the room. Apparently, a female had decided to enter our abode. Within a few seconds, I saw
these sandal'd toes pout'n up at me from the stall next door.
My breath was taken away. I told her - thru the wall -
you have beautiful toes. She laughed and said
thank you. Now, I am no perv, so I left it at that. I figured she was gonna get some harsh remarks on the way out...so....
By the time she had left, the room began to notice my emissions ....
where's the smoke?, began to refrain across the room. I kept quiet. Slipped out without any notice. My pants may have helped.
Now, in the hours waiting for my pals, I decided to people watch/hunt, as I strolled the paddocks. This is perhaps one of my favorite things to do evah! As you know, I am
kind of a semi-pro photographer - or was - nothing recent. But, during the years I was active, I discovered a very efficient way to coax others into a photograph. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to bring in our DSLRs, so I had to modify my approach to account for my lack of accouterments.
I would approach anyone who I thought looked righteous - and I would explain to them that I was doing a fashion hunt for the FBGs Forum (true enough) & I made sure to tell
all of them that I would be posting their pictures here. (Well, I'm not gonna post
all of them - that would be too verbose even for me.) In the process, I spent a good while getting to know each group. I will post my favorites below - in order of the day:
Bryan was an artist from Paris. This was his first time in the states. He spoke English well, but I did speak a little French with him - he even understood some of it.
His suit smoldered! And his friends were equally interesting. I spent about an hour with this group - well worth my time.
The Blue Suit Crew came next. They were locals, so I only spent about 15 minutes with them. They were fun, but offered nothing exotic. Also, I was getting bored with dudes...
Next, I hooked up with
Jim and Beenie. They are from my neighborhood, so I only caught up with them briefly before moving on to other things. Which mainly consisted of other local friends at this point:
locals 1;
Pink Out;
Joyce & Cara.
Finally, I met my CR friend and the rest of my old gang. It was freak'n fabulous. I had not seen many of these folks since high school. I am not going to post any pics here, as some don't wanna be on the net - I respect that. I hung with them and had a few beers. However, I continued to break off periodically to meet new folks.
Mainly ---
Heather. She is from the east - Baltimore maybe? I can't really remember, but I spent as much time as possible with her. Sadly, it was only about 20 minutes. My game ain't that great.
After that, it was sadly back to more
dudes &
dudes ---- but finally I broke the curse with
Denise and Daryl. I think I had a shot at Denise, but I ain't the kinda guy to cut in on Daryl. Also, I am prolly just fool'n myself.
At this point, the day was starting to wind down at the track, but there were still lots on interesting people left.
Cindy & Britt,
Samantha and
Heather and Cathy occupied my final hour or two at the paddocks. It was really sweet to finally not be all dude'n.
Ah, except for one final local dude - a friend -
Angel. He normally works the backside, but had the day off. We met up briefly before we each found our gangs later.
I then hit the exit, but had a great time even there. It is a long walk to cars and crap, so I got to spend a decent amount of time with the following folk:
Todd & Company - not sure where they are all from - we just laughed a lot.
Cali Cats - ok, I tried to get a photo, but the dude work'n my camera took a vid instead. Oh well. This group is from California, and we shared some very nice smoke once we exited the gates. They stuck around for a while as we partied at a nearby VFW (yeah - it's the place to be). Great people. Good dancers too.
At the VFW, I began to dance - carefully - as part of my new medical condition is a F'd foot. I had a cane, but ditched it. My 2nd dance partner was
Valerie - she could really dance. I could really try.
OK, by this time, it was dark, and I had been on my feet all damn day! I could barely stand - tho I could still dance. Also, all day I was constantly pushed, shoved and berated for being too slow on my cane...by locals! Bastids!!! Thus, when a gentleman finally offered me a seat, I was astounded - blown the F away.
Before I sat down, we exchanged info. He is from NYC.
Steve. You may know him - I hope. He goes by Steve too - so - it should be pretty easy to track him down. I think.
Anyways, I just said -
NY'ers are RUDE!
We laughed and exchanged stories for an hour - at least - while dancing and drinking with his fellow NYC'ers.
By the time the place was slowing down, I had one last dance with
Erin. Then, my best local friend -
Brandon - picked me up for some local parties. We went to an RV party close to the track first. This is where my
final dancing occurred. As stated earlier, I tried a dance maneuver that is beyond my age - I just can't go that low anymore.
Thus, I fell down. (Brandon is taping and laughing at me.)
After that, we went to Brandon's mom's house for a cookout. I got back to my parents at around 1 am. I was beat. Not drunk, but damn tired. It was an incredible day my friend. I am so glad you have come back. Get ready for the Fall at Keeneland. I may not bet the ponies, but I promise - you will meet some interesting folk.