Maine, NYC, and back again

So, I've returned home safely from my cross country trip. I have to say it was a good time. I failed at taking a break from drinking. I took one night off and literally was up all night. I in turn headed into NYC for about 8 hours, including seeing the Letterman taping and walking all over Manhattan and Central Park. I overheard a convo from a guy trying to hit on the girl. I couldn't help but laugh. She heard me and chatted in up with me. She was a dance instructor and a member of the ROCK Church over there. It was uplifting that their are pretty, intelligent women out there. I have been doing well with avoiding contact with the ex. I'm sure we'll eventually speak again, but I really have no remorse about leaving her. I wrote letters to the 3 essential women in my life. I really had very few nice things to say about her. I don't know what I feel this hate, but I really have so many negative memories about her. I think I will move past her rather quickly, I hope anyways. I did miss her when I was spending time with family and they were asking about her. But she made it pretty clear that she's already been on multiple dates, including having sex on the first date. This is the same thing Kathy did. I refuse to let myself fall down that kind of path again. I don't know why women can move past me so quickly. It is what it is. I am far from perfect, but I am a good, caring soul. I'll find someone who accepts me for me, and I will be happy. As far as the trip. The Comedy Connection is closed, which appears to be for good. I decided to check out the open mic we showcased at a few years back. It was very poorly run. I approached the guy asking how much time we got or where there was a light. He basically said no light, and 6-8 minutes. I watched as the host sang songs and did 3 minutes between comics. Comics who by the way were doing at least 10 minutes. They were telling random girlfriend jokes. And other rather hacky jokes. When I went up there and tried my bits it just didn't go well. First off the host told the last few comics they basically would have negative time. I got a few chuckles, but was by far not a good set. I walked out the door, licked my wounds, and moved on. It was a case of they were all friends and I was an outsider and didn't have a chance. I could have taken a different approach as it was as open mic but oh well. Next time. Tuesday I did a show in New York at the Creek and Cave. I got lost at first but made it. Had to go to the bathroom, but could not find a public restroom to save my life. Finally went in the basement of this place and lit it up. It was gross. Anyways when I walked in before 8 there looked to be a good crowd. There was a 6,8 and 930 show at this place. Come to find out the 6 show was just an open mic and all the people in the crowd were comics. They filed out rather quickly. There was about 15 people, including comics when I went up. Some jokes did ok. Wasn't a killer set but I was happy with it. The hosts went up together which I thought was a cool thing. That worked well off each other like Jesse and I. Wednesday I did a show in Greenwich Village near the Comedy Cellar. I got lost once again and headed the opposite was even though I was 3 minutes from the place. I had my friend look up directions and I made it. Was a little panicked cause I was suppose to be there by 930, and arrived closer to 935. The dude that put me on seemed to not care about being late. They were suppose to start at 8 but started closer to ten. When I went in there was 7 people in the audience, 3 Americans, 2 people from Holland, and 2 ladies from Venezuela. One girl popped in and left, then 2 girls came in, and left. They have guys outside called "Barkers" that try to convince people to come into the show. I saw them strike out for the most part. I believe they have fun doing it. My set was fun. Jokes didn't work at all, but I had fun doing crowd work. It was tough because basically all of the comics did crowd work. I realized more than ever that I need more relate-able jokes. I wrote 15 pages since I saw gone. Mostly stories about my life, and all the one night stands I've had. Also, I expanded the speed dating joke. I am going to try them next week at the Store. Need to read them over, but I feel confident they will get laughs. Tonight was Winston's. It was nice to return to that stage. I had fun doing the show. There was a decent crowd, not big laughers, but they did enjoy some people. For my set I rambled off a bunch of 80's movies and sitcoms, and made up how I masturbate to them. It got some laughs. I don't know if it would work in a club. I think if they were splattered in a set it would work best. Joke, do one, joke again.