Flipmode
It’s over. The single worst year of my life is over. The year that broke apart my family and broke apart my heart is now over. And just about the minute after the ball dropped 2003 started with a bang. As of yet this has been by far the best year of my life. I do understand that we’re only a week into it but let me explain…
..7:08pm …. Feeling generally depressed. Called Rob and Kev a couple hours back with no answer from either. Just got off the phone with Turk who tells me he’s definitely going to Jani’s with his chick. I’m thinking of past new years and how good they were. Two years back I hooked up with Mell for a total of about 7 hours. One year ago I got with….. ..um….. um….. well her name’s not important anyway for the first time after several months of being broken up. This year I figured I’d spend it sitting at my monitor as the ball dropped over my shoulder on the tv.
..7:56pm …. Got off the phone with Rob who tells me to get ready for a night at the Salty Dog (a local bar). Ride will be arriving in about 15 minutes. This is good. But still I figure it’s not going to be all that hot. I put on a dress shirt and very nice sweater over it and a little of the Armani Mania I got in my stocking from my father. Walking to the mirror I’m unusually impressed with my appearance.
..8:28pm …. Easton arrives with rob. Pick up Flinn and we’re on our way. Depression gone and I start feeling generally spirited.
..8:33pm …. Walk into the Dog noticing most everyone’s dressed up a good deal more than I, shirt and tie. Rob says hey look that girl from the other night is here. I look across this bar to see this girl that’s absolutely radiating pure beauty. She stands there with her friend, gorgeous but nothing compared, with the look that she’s missing something and isn’t really having such a great time. Thinking who the fuck am I, I proceed to see what else the bar may offer me tonight. I notice this brunette who was very good looking pretending to have a good time staring into space with a few of her friends. I grab a drink and stand by the bar talking with friends while pretending to also be interested in the Islander’s game. Go Islanders.
..10:12pm … Kev and Migs enter the scene and by now pretty much the entire group is there, besides Turk because he was incredibly dumb. Feeling quite social I make my way talking with several people from my class who I haven’t talked to in years. From Molinet to Napalatano, yea everyone. All of a sudden Fran comes over and tells me her friend thinks I’m really cute. Hey, this is cool I thought. I continue socializing.
..11:20pm … I continue glancing over at who I thought to be by far the most stunning girl in the bar (yes, Sullivan was in the room) while not making eye contact. I also keep making eye contact with pretty brunette girl who’s all smiles but I still figured it wasn’t going to happen.
..11:46pm … I see Fran waving at me. Once she get’s my attention she points down to the ignorant girl in front of her mouthing “that’s the one.” Now I consider myself a good guy and don’t generally judge a book by its cover by but this girl was the most awful looking thing I saw that entire night. I figure oh fucking great I’m gonna end up kissing that thing when the ball comes down. Happy goddamn new years to me
..11:59pm … The horror is standing right besides me and I’ve yet to say a word to her or even make eye contact. Well it stays that way through that whole damn minute and continued throughout the night. Ball drops and all of a sudden I’m shaking hands of people I barely know anymore and kissing the cheeks of every girl that walks by. Ok great can I get back to downing champagne thank you very much?
..12:10am … By now the commotion has calmed. I’m sitting at the bar talking to someone drinking my drink when Migs taps me on the shoulder and says “This is the third time this chick has asked about you tonight.” I proceed to turn around imagining the dread of having to talk with Fran’s friend. To my heart stopping delight I look into the most beautiful eyes of my life on the girl that was talked about by all when entering the establishment. I nearly dropped beverage well as jaw. Migs says “this is Jessica or Jackie…well it doesn’t matter”. We get to talking.
..Lost time … Things are going very well. We really hit it off. She tells me she’s an eye model and she teaches retarded children. That’s about the best combination I could possibly think of. Only thing to make it better would be McLaren cars executive. But I’ll make do. By her words and her job description I learn this girl has a great heart, unlike most I’ve ever come in contact with. She tells me “I’ve seen a lot of good looking guys modeling but you are just too gorgeous.” I quickly grab bar to stop from falling over backwards. Not only am I hearing these words but I’m hearing it from this angel. She asked my age. 20 I replied. She said I’m way too young and walked away. I wasn’t about to let this opportunity slip away. I walk over and explain to her that I’m not just any 20 year old. First off I’m nearly 21, 90% of my friends are 23. She tells me she’s 23. Not a problem I figure. God knows I need an older woman. So I dive right in and give her a kiss. What a kiss. She looks at me and before you know it we’re making out like there’s no tomorrow. All my friends are routing for me behind me and half of my class is looking over at what’s going on. This continued for a long time. She proceeds to give me her number. I enter it in and when the name section come up I realize, holy shit I don’t know it. So I just enter in a zero and close the phone. She’s like why did you do that. I freak. Holy shit I blew this I thought. I wonder if it rhymes with a female body part. Looking back I’m not even sure I ever got her name up to that moment. Well she realizes I don’t know it and get incredibly upset and turns her back on me. Her friend’s telling me “Justine, it’s Justine”. But it’s clear she doesn’t want anything to do with me now and thinks I’m some jerk. Well for some reason that night I was smoother silk. In 2002 I could barely talk to a strange girl. Never mind a girl that looks like this, usually I can’t put together a functional sentence. I tell her I’m terrible with names and it’s not the name but the girl that’s important and I’d never forget the girl. Before you know it we’re in the bathroom. Then we’re in the bathroom with her friend that has a striking resemblance to Angelina Jolie. She tells her friend she has to kiss me because I’m just that much of an amazing kisser. I deny her telling that I only want to kiss Justine. If Justine was just beautiful than you can be sure I would have kissed her too. But I was beginning to like this girl. Back at the bar now I talked with several other people. That usually only lasted a short while before I was back with Justine. Then she and her friend go into the bathroom, without me this time. The second the door closes the pretty brunette comes up next to me and starts talking with me. We realize we were in Trial Law together and she graduated a year before me. She was a very nice girl and we kind of hit it off as well. Then after a short while the two come back and sit behind me at the bar. Apparently they were giving very dirty looks to pretty brunette girl so she before long was on her way. Justine now is very upset with me thinking I’m some kind of player. I’m now in my mind laughing hysterically at the situation. Proceed to kiss a moment later. Things continue with her amazingly. I notice most everyone leave. My memories are very scattered. I recall eating a piece of bacon and saying Chan should be here for the bacon alone. I remember looking over at Rob who’s sitting in a white undershirt reaching over getting his own beer from the tap looking quite plastered. Eventually around 6 they kick us out. I kissed her one last time and she was on her way. For about the following 45 hours I had this smirk on my face that couldn’t be removed with a sledgehammer.
Wednesday … We all get together for our normal poker session at 8:30. Turk receives limitless insults for going to a Chinese restaurant instead of coming with us. Turk Fried Rice comes to mind. He realized he was, and has been in error. Have a great night playing poker and reminiscing about the previous night. I end up ahead $81.
Thursday … I call Justine and we end up talking for almost an hour. I find out she’s got a boyfriend who’s 27. But I figure the relationship is kind of on the rocks. She seems as impressed with me as I am with her. Later on a very lovely lady comes over who shall remain nameless for a while and I have a great time with her and it ends with a very passionate and unexpected kiss. Interesting.
Friday ….. A day of great relaxation. I left the house only a few times. In my travels I noticed nearly every girl I came across was making eye contact, smiling, and trying to start up conversation. Apparently my self confidence is through the clouds and it seems to be attracting others. Also it probably helps that I’m not all depressed and instead am full of smiles.
Saturday…. Great night. Go to Turk’s to watch the Jets destroy all opposition while playing cards, playing ping pong and having an all around good time. Most everyone else was lucky enough to get tickets for the grand event. I decide we hit up the Salty Dog and pregame while meeting up with everyone else before going out. We go to my house an are picked up by rob and Easton. Enter the Salty Dog which isn’t crowded but has a lot of the guys I got close with New Years eve there. I’m sitting at the bar drinking my drink when all of a sudden who comes in but Justine herself. Sweatpants, sweatshirt, pure beauty. Awkward at first but it quickly passes. We both realize the other one wasn’t just wearing beer goggles the other night. We start having a grand time while mostly sober. We start talking about the other night and she says “I want to kiss you soo bad right now but I can’t with these guys here”, a huge relief on my part. These girls come and meet up with us that are to take us out on the town. I ask Justine to come. She says she’s tired but would love for me to stay and we can hang out after the bar. Needless to say I really wanted to. However it was my good friend Easton’s last night out because he was moving to Florida Monday. I explained this to her and she understood. As we were leaving I asked if I could speak to her outside and once out there I kissed her. I explained to her that I think she’s a great girl not some shallow whore and I really want to get to know her a lot better. We go out to the Library and have a fantastic time. My confidence causing several opportunities with lovely girls. All of which only left me thinking of Justine. Weird. We end up going to Bos Crokers than Turk and I decide to walk over to Lilly Flannigans which was much further than we had anticipated and closed when we got there. As we’re slowly freezing to death I get a call. It’s Justine and she asks me to call her when I got in. It was already about 4am. Eventually we get picked up and are dropped off at my place. I call her she tells me she broke up with her boyfriend. She tells me she told him she met someone that although young seems to really know how to treat a girl. Best night of sleep ever.
Sunday … She calls me and we talk for a couple hours. I find out she talked with her X later on and they’re not going out but not really fully broken up. I decide I’ll consider that broken up and make my moves accordingly. I also learn of the first imperfection. She does not like the Simpsons. I’ll deal.
So now as it stands everything’s great. I’m not broke. I feel a good deal closer with my friends. Turk’s hanging out again instead of being a whore. And I’m quickly setting myself up to get my heart broken again. But I figure this is something I cannot pass up. On top of the fact it has a much greater chance of working out than that last thing. So in 2003 the only negative is that I realize how I blew it the past few years. Fucking around at Erin’s house and pretending to be friends with a bunch of people I didn’t care for, all for a girl who didn’t really appreciate me and was way below my league to begin with. I feel like an entirely different person now. I’m motivated and confident. I’ve got the best friends anyone could ask for. And I’ve got a really good thing going so far with a girl I couldn’t dream up if I tried.
..7:08pm …. Feeling generally depressed. Called Rob and Kev a couple hours back with no answer from either. Just got off the phone with Turk who tells me he’s definitely going to Jani’s with his chick. I’m thinking of past new years and how good they were. Two years back I hooked up with Mell for a total of about 7 hours. One year ago I got with….. ..um….. um….. well her name’s not important anyway for the first time after several months of being broken up. This year I figured I’d spend it sitting at my monitor as the ball dropped over my shoulder on the tv.
..7:56pm …. Got off the phone with Rob who tells me to get ready for a night at the Salty Dog (a local bar). Ride will be arriving in about 15 minutes. This is good. But still I figure it’s not going to be all that hot. I put on a dress shirt and very nice sweater over it and a little of the Armani Mania I got in my stocking from my father. Walking to the mirror I’m unusually impressed with my appearance.
..8:28pm …. Easton arrives with rob. Pick up Flinn and we’re on our way. Depression gone and I start feeling generally spirited.
..8:33pm …. Walk into the Dog noticing most everyone’s dressed up a good deal more than I, shirt and tie. Rob says hey look that girl from the other night is here. I look across this bar to see this girl that’s absolutely radiating pure beauty. She stands there with her friend, gorgeous but nothing compared, with the look that she’s missing something and isn’t really having such a great time. Thinking who the fuck am I, I proceed to see what else the bar may offer me tonight. I notice this brunette who was very good looking pretending to have a good time staring into space with a few of her friends. I grab a drink and stand by the bar talking with friends while pretending to also be interested in the Islander’s game. Go Islanders.
..10:12pm … Kev and Migs enter the scene and by now pretty much the entire group is there, besides Turk because he was incredibly dumb. Feeling quite social I make my way talking with several people from my class who I haven’t talked to in years. From Molinet to Napalatano, yea everyone. All of a sudden Fran comes over and tells me her friend thinks I’m really cute. Hey, this is cool I thought. I continue socializing.
..11:20pm … I continue glancing over at who I thought to be by far the most stunning girl in the bar (yes, Sullivan was in the room) while not making eye contact. I also keep making eye contact with pretty brunette girl who’s all smiles but I still figured it wasn’t going to happen.
..11:46pm … I see Fran waving at me. Once she get’s my attention she points down to the ignorant girl in front of her mouthing “that’s the one.” Now I consider myself a good guy and don’t generally judge a book by its cover by but this girl was the most awful looking thing I saw that entire night. I figure oh fucking great I’m gonna end up kissing that thing when the ball comes down. Happy goddamn new years to me
..11:59pm … The horror is standing right besides me and I’ve yet to say a word to her or even make eye contact. Well it stays that way through that whole damn minute and continued throughout the night. Ball drops and all of a sudden I’m shaking hands of people I barely know anymore and kissing the cheeks of every girl that walks by. Ok great can I get back to downing champagne thank you very much?
..12:10am … By now the commotion has calmed. I’m sitting at the bar talking to someone drinking my drink when Migs taps me on the shoulder and says “This is the third time this chick has asked about you tonight.” I proceed to turn around imagining the dread of having to talk with Fran’s friend. To my heart stopping delight I look into the most beautiful eyes of my life on the girl that was talked about by all when entering the establishment. I nearly dropped beverage well as jaw. Migs says “this is Jessica or Jackie…well it doesn’t matter”. We get to talking.
..Lost time … Things are going very well. We really hit it off. She tells me she’s an eye model and she teaches retarded children. That’s about the best combination I could possibly think of. Only thing to make it better would be McLaren cars executive. But I’ll make do. By her words and her job description I learn this girl has a great heart, unlike most I’ve ever come in contact with. She tells me “I’ve seen a lot of good looking guys modeling but you are just too gorgeous.” I quickly grab bar to stop from falling over backwards. Not only am I hearing these words but I’m hearing it from this angel. She asked my age. 20 I replied. She said I’m way too young and walked away. I wasn’t about to let this opportunity slip away. I walk over and explain to her that I’m not just any 20 year old. First off I’m nearly 21, 90% of my friends are 23. She tells me she’s 23. Not a problem I figure. God knows I need an older woman. So I dive right in and give her a kiss. What a kiss. She looks at me and before you know it we’re making out like there’s no tomorrow. All my friends are routing for me behind me and half of my class is looking over at what’s going on. This continued for a long time. She proceeds to give me her number. I enter it in and when the name section come up I realize, holy shit I don’t know it. So I just enter in a zero and close the phone. She’s like why did you do that. I freak. Holy shit I blew this I thought. I wonder if it rhymes with a female body part. Looking back I’m not even sure I ever got her name up to that moment. Well she realizes I don’t know it and get incredibly upset and turns her back on me. Her friend’s telling me “Justine, it’s Justine”. But it’s clear she doesn’t want anything to do with me now and thinks I’m some jerk. Well for some reason that night I was smoother silk. In 2002 I could barely talk to a strange girl. Never mind a girl that looks like this, usually I can’t put together a functional sentence. I tell her I’m terrible with names and it’s not the name but the girl that’s important and I’d never forget the girl. Before you know it we’re in the bathroom. Then we’re in the bathroom with her friend that has a striking resemblance to Angelina Jolie. She tells her friend she has to kiss me because I’m just that much of an amazing kisser. I deny her telling that I only want to kiss Justine. If Justine was just beautiful than you can be sure I would have kissed her too. But I was beginning to like this girl. Back at the bar now I talked with several other people. That usually only lasted a short while before I was back with Justine. Then she and her friend go into the bathroom, without me this time. The second the door closes the pretty brunette comes up next to me and starts talking with me. We realize we were in Trial Law together and she graduated a year before me. She was a very nice girl and we kind of hit it off as well. Then after a short while the two come back and sit behind me at the bar. Apparently they were giving very dirty looks to pretty brunette girl so she before long was on her way. Justine now is very upset with me thinking I’m some kind of player. I’m now in my mind laughing hysterically at the situation. Proceed to kiss a moment later. Things continue with her amazingly. I notice most everyone leave. My memories are very scattered. I recall eating a piece of bacon and saying Chan should be here for the bacon alone. I remember looking over at Rob who’s sitting in a white undershirt reaching over getting his own beer from the tap looking quite plastered. Eventually around 6 they kick us out. I kissed her one last time and she was on her way. For about the following 45 hours I had this smirk on my face that couldn’t be removed with a sledgehammer.
Wednesday … We all get together for our normal poker session at 8:30. Turk receives limitless insults for going to a Chinese restaurant instead of coming with us. Turk Fried Rice comes to mind. He realized he was, and has been in error. Have a great night playing poker and reminiscing about the previous night. I end up ahead $81.
Thursday … I call Justine and we end up talking for almost an hour. I find out she’s got a boyfriend who’s 27. But I figure the relationship is kind of on the rocks. She seems as impressed with me as I am with her. Later on a very lovely lady comes over who shall remain nameless for a while and I have a great time with her and it ends with a very passionate and unexpected kiss. Interesting.
Friday ….. A day of great relaxation. I left the house only a few times. In my travels I noticed nearly every girl I came across was making eye contact, smiling, and trying to start up conversation. Apparently my self confidence is through the clouds and it seems to be attracting others. Also it probably helps that I’m not all depressed and instead am full of smiles.
Saturday…. Great night. Go to Turk’s to watch the Jets destroy all opposition while playing cards, playing ping pong and having an all around good time. Most everyone else was lucky enough to get tickets for the grand event. I decide we hit up the Salty Dog and pregame while meeting up with everyone else before going out. We go to my house an are picked up by rob and Easton. Enter the Salty Dog which isn’t crowded but has a lot of the guys I got close with New Years eve there. I’m sitting at the bar drinking my drink when all of a sudden who comes in but Justine herself. Sweatpants, sweatshirt, pure beauty. Awkward at first but it quickly passes. We both realize the other one wasn’t just wearing beer goggles the other night. We start having a grand time while mostly sober. We start talking about the other night and she says “I want to kiss you soo bad right now but I can’t with these guys here”, a huge relief on my part. These girls come and meet up with us that are to take us out on the town. I ask Justine to come. She says she’s tired but would love for me to stay and we can hang out after the bar. Needless to say I really wanted to. However it was my good friend Easton’s last night out because he was moving to Florida Monday. I explained this to her and she understood. As we were leaving I asked if I could speak to her outside and once out there I kissed her. I explained to her that I think she’s a great girl not some shallow whore and I really want to get to know her a lot better. We go out to the Library and have a fantastic time. My confidence causing several opportunities with lovely girls. All of which only left me thinking of Justine. Weird. We end up going to Bos Crokers than Turk and I decide to walk over to Lilly Flannigans which was much further than we had anticipated and closed when we got there. As we’re slowly freezing to death I get a call. It’s Justine and she asks me to call her when I got in. It was already about 4am. Eventually we get picked up and are dropped off at my place. I call her she tells me she broke up with her boyfriend. She tells me she told him she met someone that although young seems to really know how to treat a girl. Best night of sleep ever.
Sunday … She calls me and we talk for a couple hours. I find out she talked with her X later on and they’re not going out but not really fully broken up. I decide I’ll consider that broken up and make my moves accordingly. I also learn of the first imperfection. She does not like the Simpsons. I’ll deal.
So now as it stands everything’s great. I’m not broke. I feel a good deal closer with my friends. Turk’s hanging out again instead of being a whore. And I’m quickly setting myself up to get my heart broken again. But I figure this is something I cannot pass up. On top of the fact it has a much greater chance of working out than that last thing. So in 2003 the only negative is that I realize how I blew it the past few years. Fucking around at Erin’s house and pretending to be friends with a bunch of people I didn’t care for, all for a girl who didn’t really appreciate me and was way below my league to begin with. I feel like an entirely different person now. I’m motivated and confident. I’ve got the best friends anyone could ask for. And I’ve got a really good thing going so far with a girl I couldn’t dream up if I tried.