What a fun week!
I've had a really good week so far, even though for some reason, it's been going by so slowly. By Wednesday, I was already wondering, "is it Friday yet?", only to realize that no, it's only Wednesday. Yesterday I was wondering the same thing, and this "don't keep thinking about it, Friday will never come" feeling set in, so that today, I keep having to remind myself that it IS in fact Friday this time.
Anyway...
Monday was actually very low-key. I went by the old apartment to get the very last of my possessions out, and now I'm officially done with the place.
On Tuesday night, I had to swing by the grocery store to get things for our Christmas Pot-luck at work, and I ran into Katrina, sort of a friend of a friend (Rombeiro's co-worker, who I'd met a few times). She was desparately trying to help two Congolese women shop (she volunters with Catholic Charities), and apparently there was a big language barrier issue. I didn't know they were Congolese, else I'd have offered to help. I ran into her a few times while perusing the aisles, and finally she flagged me down and almost with a hopeless tone of voice asked me if by any chance I spoke French.
"Well yes, as a matter of fact, I do." So I then got to be her interpreter, and their shopping adventure was more successful. She thanked me profusely, and I just told her I have fun speaking French, so it was certainly no trouble for me!
The main event on Tuesday though was "Pub Night", hosted by the Greater Portland Catholic young adults group (other cities call this Theology on Tap, but the name is copyrighted (!) and we didn't want to pay), with Bishop Richard Malone coming to speak. We rented the 2nd floor at Bull Feeney's Irish Pub, and the turnout was huge. We might get a dozen or so people at most of these, this time we filled the place, with probably 50-60 people (Craig might have harder numbers). His talk was good, and it was fun meeting a few new people, and talking to others who I hadn't seen in awhile, like Chris DiSotto.
Once it was over, I went to hang with Katy and Shannon for a bit, and Katy had a little gift for me, which was super kind of her. It was a paperback collection of short stories by Charles Dickens, right up my alley since I have a ton of Dickens books, but not that one! Andrea also showed up when it was over, as she had to work til 9, and the event was breaking up by then, but as she'd just arrived and wanted to unwind a bit, her and I went downstairs and sat by the fire and each enjoyed a glass of wine and just chatted for an hour or so.
Wednesday, we had our pot-luck at work, and as is the norm for these things, I ended up eating way too much food, though it wasn't as bad as in years past. We also had a Yankee Swap, which I came back from with a bottle of Kettel One vodka, a solid contribution to my very small home bar. I don't really drink Vodka, but someone who comes over might.
Wednesday night was low key also. I first attended a Veuve Clicquot tasting and book signing at Old Port Wine Merchants, an event that the Wall Street Journal saw fit to mention for some reason. About that - we got to sample a full line-up of Veuve Clicquot wines, including the ubiquitous Non-Vintage yellow label bottling, the 2002 Vintage Champagne, their non-vintage Rose, their Demi-Sec, and at the end, 1998 Grande Dame. I've now had high-end Vintage Champagne 3 times, and regular Vintage Champagne 3 times also, and my opinion remains unswayed: I just don't get Champagne. Was it good? Sure. Worth $140? No!!!
In fact, the only high-end Champagne that actually impressed me was Cristal, and I expected to hate that one just because of it's current association with hip-hop culture. But if you have to spend $270/bottle to be impressed (thankfully I had this for free at a tasting), perhaps you're better off drinking other stuff, like Prosecco or Cava, which is exactly what I do when I feel like opening a sparkler.
Later on Wednesday, I attended an Advent Penance service at St. Peter's, then came home for a quiet, relaxing evening at home. A few of us did chat after the service and made plans to attend Merry Madness in Downtown the following night.
So last night it was. In attendance were Katy, her roommate Shannon and fiancee Jack, her other roommate Kim, and our mutual friend Andrea. We missed the 5-6pm free Hors d'Oeuvre thing, and they were totally sold out of wine glasses and mugs by the time we arrived at the Eastland Park at 7:15 or so, but I was confident that I could hook us up with glasses easily enough. Our first stop therefore was Old Port Wine Merchants, where I asked Jacques if he could loan each of us a tasting glass, and he kindly complied. Jackpot.
The whole vibe was a lot more laid back than I'd expected, but I still enjoyed myself, and managed to find 1 very unique Christmas gift for a friend. Most stores at least had some refreshments, and about half were pouring free wine, though due to our late start, a few shops were out of wine by the time we got there. It was fun though, walking around the Old Port with everyone carrying a wine glass, and ducking into shops to get them filled! By the end of it, Andrea and I were getting a bit hungry, the others were getting tired, so we bade farwell to Katy and her crew, and the two of us went over to Sebago Brewing to share a heaping pile of steamed mussels, and more wine, naturally.
After, we went out to find some live music, and not finding much of interest at Bull Feeney's, we drove over to the Bramhall Pub for live bluegrass night with the Jerks of Grass. I ran into Katrina again, and Andrea continued to run into people she knew (we all got the impression earlier that she knew half the people in Portland). Perhaps against my better judgement, we stayed until last call, given that it was a work night.
To my pleasant surprise, I'm not tired at all today, so I guess it was worth it. I'm going to Lewiston for a concert tonight (Jars of Clay and Sixpence None the Richer), tomorrow I'm pretty well set on climbing Pleasant Mountain in Bridgton, as it's a short hike and not too far away. I'll need to sleep in, and I have plans in the early evening, so I can't be gone all day, BUT I have to make sure I go hiking at least once in every month this year, and tomorrow's basically the only shot I have left. So, rain, sleet, snow, clouds, fog...whatever it's doing, I'm going.
I'm spending Sunday and Monday in Bangor, to visit Ian and Beth. I work a short 2 days next week, then I'm off from 3pm on the 24th through the 28th. The month will be over before I know it!
Anyway...
Monday was actually very low-key. I went by the old apartment to get the very last of my possessions out, and now I'm officially done with the place.
On Tuesday night, I had to swing by the grocery store to get things for our Christmas Pot-luck at work, and I ran into Katrina, sort of a friend of a friend (Rombeiro's co-worker, who I'd met a few times). She was desparately trying to help two Congolese women shop (she volunters with Catholic Charities), and apparently there was a big language barrier issue. I didn't know they were Congolese, else I'd have offered to help. I ran into her a few times while perusing the aisles, and finally she flagged me down and almost with a hopeless tone of voice asked me if by any chance I spoke French.
"Well yes, as a matter of fact, I do." So I then got to be her interpreter, and their shopping adventure was more successful. She thanked me profusely, and I just told her I have fun speaking French, so it was certainly no trouble for me!
The main event on Tuesday though was "Pub Night", hosted by the Greater Portland Catholic young adults group (other cities call this Theology on Tap, but the name is copyrighted (!) and we didn't want to pay), with Bishop Richard Malone coming to speak. We rented the 2nd floor at Bull Feeney's Irish Pub, and the turnout was huge. We might get a dozen or so people at most of these, this time we filled the place, with probably 50-60 people (Craig might have harder numbers). His talk was good, and it was fun meeting a few new people, and talking to others who I hadn't seen in awhile, like Chris DiSotto.
Once it was over, I went to hang with Katy and Shannon for a bit, and Katy had a little gift for me, which was super kind of her. It was a paperback collection of short stories by Charles Dickens, right up my alley since I have a ton of Dickens books, but not that one! Andrea also showed up when it was over, as she had to work til 9, and the event was breaking up by then, but as she'd just arrived and wanted to unwind a bit, her and I went downstairs and sat by the fire and each enjoyed a glass of wine and just chatted for an hour or so.
Wednesday, we had our pot-luck at work, and as is the norm for these things, I ended up eating way too much food, though it wasn't as bad as in years past. We also had a Yankee Swap, which I came back from with a bottle of Kettel One vodka, a solid contribution to my very small home bar. I don't really drink Vodka, but someone who comes over might.
Wednesday night was low key also. I first attended a Veuve Clicquot tasting and book signing at Old Port Wine Merchants, an event that the Wall Street Journal saw fit to mention for some reason. About that - we got to sample a full line-up of Veuve Clicquot wines, including the ubiquitous Non-Vintage yellow label bottling, the 2002 Vintage Champagne, their non-vintage Rose, their Demi-Sec, and at the end, 1998 Grande Dame. I've now had high-end Vintage Champagne 3 times, and regular Vintage Champagne 3 times also, and my opinion remains unswayed: I just don't get Champagne. Was it good? Sure. Worth $140? No!!!
In fact, the only high-end Champagne that actually impressed me was Cristal, and I expected to hate that one just because of it's current association with hip-hop culture. But if you have to spend $270/bottle to be impressed (thankfully I had this for free at a tasting), perhaps you're better off drinking other stuff, like Prosecco or Cava, which is exactly what I do when I feel like opening a sparkler.
Later on Wednesday, I attended an Advent Penance service at St. Peter's, then came home for a quiet, relaxing evening at home. A few of us did chat after the service and made plans to attend Merry Madness in Downtown the following night.
So last night it was. In attendance were Katy, her roommate Shannon and fiancee Jack, her other roommate Kim, and our mutual friend Andrea. We missed the 5-6pm free Hors d'Oeuvre thing, and they were totally sold out of wine glasses and mugs by the time we arrived at the Eastland Park at 7:15 or so, but I was confident that I could hook us up with glasses easily enough. Our first stop therefore was Old Port Wine Merchants, where I asked Jacques if he could loan each of us a tasting glass, and he kindly complied. Jackpot.
The whole vibe was a lot more laid back than I'd expected, but I still enjoyed myself, and managed to find 1 very unique Christmas gift for a friend. Most stores at least had some refreshments, and about half were pouring free wine, though due to our late start, a few shops were out of wine by the time we got there. It was fun though, walking around the Old Port with everyone carrying a wine glass, and ducking into shops to get them filled! By the end of it, Andrea and I were getting a bit hungry, the others were getting tired, so we bade farwell to Katy and her crew, and the two of us went over to Sebago Brewing to share a heaping pile of steamed mussels, and more wine, naturally.
After, we went out to find some live music, and not finding much of interest at Bull Feeney's, we drove over to the Bramhall Pub for live bluegrass night with the Jerks of Grass. I ran into Katrina again, and Andrea continued to run into people she knew (we all got the impression earlier that she knew half the people in Portland). Perhaps against my better judgement, we stayed until last call, given that it was a work night.
To my pleasant surprise, I'm not tired at all today, so I guess it was worth it. I'm going to Lewiston for a concert tonight (Jars of Clay and Sixpence None the Richer), tomorrow I'm pretty well set on climbing Pleasant Mountain in Bridgton, as it's a short hike and not too far away. I'll need to sleep in, and I have plans in the early evening, so I can't be gone all day, BUT I have to make sure I go hiking at least once in every month this year, and tomorrow's basically the only shot I have left. So, rain, sleet, snow, clouds, fog...whatever it's doing, I'm going.
I'm spending Sunday and Monday in Bangor, to visit Ian and Beth. I work a short 2 days next week, then I'm off from 3pm on the 24th through the 28th. The month will be over before I know it!