brazilian meat and v.i.p.

it's wonderful when you begin celebrating your birthday a week early. such is true this year as i started last night.

leslee is in town with her friend lauren. jessica's birthday is this weekend so she is in town, too. of course mr. tennessee lee is here and the old faithfuls wendell, tim and christine are always near. all of us went out last night to pop the cork on what is sure to be a fabulous week.

lee took jessica to spice for a more intimate dinner... the rest of us went to fogo de chao. man, was it amazing! the restaurant is a brazilian steak house that is very fast paced. you begin with drinks, of course! then on to a spread of a salad bar... enough to make the starved full.

once you realize, "oh shit, i'm beginning to eat too much," you're brought another plate for the main course.

this is the time when that little disc on the table becomes a weapon. what appears to be a coaster is actually a signaling device for the chefs... they're called something but i'm not brazillian and was too mesmerized by the servers eyes to remember what he said. the chefs are walking throughout the dining room at all times. when they see green, they swarm in like killer bees on prey.

sausage... lamb... filet mignon... anything you want. it could easily fall off the bone it's cooked so perfectly, instead is sliced right into your plate.

the aroma and action can steal your attention like a new york pick pocketer and cause you to be surrounded by six or seven stabs of meat.

we quickly learned how to pace ourselves... and be cautious when we turned over that disc.

from there we met up with lee and jessica at hoe downs for some foot stompin' good times. haha. lauren had never been to a gay bar... leslee had never been to that one. of course, poor lee thinks he's been to every one in atlanta but he's always a good sport.

we had a blast... tim, leslee and i danced while the others held up the rail. talking, of course. but it was good times.

from there we were going to meet michelle at front page but there was way too much traffic and cops blocking roads so we headed up to northside to swinging richards, the largest male strip club in the nation. it was leslee's idea, i sware.

of course the first person we saw was chase. it was nice to see him... for about five seconds. according to him, he had on five hundred dollar sandals and twenty-three thousand dollars from his father. i took it for a while until he offended everyone at the table then asked him to leave.

it wasn't until i punched him in the face and layed him out across the stage that he took my advice.

meanwhile, we drank, tipped the dancers. leslee got about fifty lap dances... lauren had her share, too. eventually, one of the dancers took leslee and me into the v.i.p. nothing happened.

we then came home, met lee and jessica again, talked for a while then crashed in our respective places of rest... i'm working now and until five when it will all start again.

we're supposed to go into the highlands or buckhead but lauren and leslee are revved up about going back to northside drive...

i'll have more information as it becomes available...

one t