2008
Happy New Year Kids!
Well, it's 4:30 and I am resting at the computer having succeeded in driving back from Boston in crap weather. I left around 11am, no problems until I got outside of the Boston city limits and then from Wocester to Hartford I drove in a snow storm. Lots of fun. Eventually it tapered down to rain and the roads got progressively better as I headed out of Connecticut. New York was fine and by the time I entered my beloved northern NJ there was sunshine and the temperature had even warmed a bit.
I totally made the right move going to Boston to visit my sister - we had a great time, I met her friends, saw her nice new apartment in Cambride and really got a sense of how she lives her daily life. This was important for both of us, I think, as Shannon was eager to let someone from her family see how happy she is in Boston and how she has a good life up there. The first thing I realized is how much of a city girl Shannon is now; when she lived in Alston and Waltham which are sections and suburbs of Boston, it wasn't really city proper. Cambridge is a city itself, but it really feels like Boston. Shannon and I went for Mexican on Sunday night at Borders, on Harvard Square.
We also went to see the totally fantastic No Country for Old Men, which was in my opinion a cinematic masterpiece that earnestly depicts Cormac McCarthy's post apocolyptical Westerns. On the way to the theater in Kendall Square, we pass a drunk dude who shouts "Kiss her, man, kiss her"! Shannon turns and says, "That's my fucking brother"! Guy says "Oh, for real? Bro, she has a nice ass"! He then continues to shout "NICE ASS!" until we round the corner. I shot the guy a look saying "Look, please don't do that". He was built like a brick shit house and he would have killed me, but it still wasn't right. Shannon thought this was hillarious and told everyone. It was funny.
At the movies, we were in a really small theatre that was UNGODLY quiet. The movie was really intense and Shannon was on my right with Kevin next to her. I was eating popcorn - and breathing - loudly. Apparently, all Shannon could hear was me breathing, and she started yelling at me "Stop breathing so loud! You are so loud". So, I stopped eating popcorn and self-consciously tried not to breathe through my nose for the rest of the movie. Yes. I have big nostrils. Sorry, Cambridge and the people in the Kendall Square movie theatre - but you fuckers were WAY to quiet. I didn't even get to finish my popcorn or my soda - as Shannon said I was slurping too loudly, too. Can't win. :)
Yesterday, Shannon and I loafed around her apartment, went out to brunch at this cool place called Zaftigs with her roomate and her boyfriend - good times. Shannon had planned for us to go to this amazing sushi restaurant in Beacon Hill called Ma Soba - we ordered too much, I ate too fast and I think one of the lobster fusion rolls we ordered didn't agree with me. I threw up halfway through the meal - thanfully I made it to the bathroom. I felt really embarrassed, but Shannon was great about it and we went to a New Years party at her boyfriend Kevin's in Somverville.
The party was really fun in a few ways: one, I was pretty much the oldest person there - everyone else were couples or married but young - most between 25-30. There were a couple of people from Jersey who were friends of Shannon, a husband and wife that were from Maplewood, a guy from Basking Ridge, it was really cool. I met a dude named John who was a native Kansan, he had recently married his high school sweetheart Deb and brought her to Boston. Deb was really nice, we were having great conversation and she kept drinking wine. My sister and I were talking to other people and we started playing a drinking game called GOLF. Eventually Deb joined in, but she apparently had been pounding a lot of wine and she didn't grasp the game at all. Shannon and I had never played either, but we picked it up fast. Deb got angry and blamed her husband for being too competitive. We tried to help her, but she got up, flipped her cards and said "I am not going to play anymore, just so you can feel superior, John". The poor dude sat there and was like, "Honey, hold on" but she went to another room where Kevin had set up a beer pong table. She played beer pong - which didn't help. Shannon and I keep playing, John evenutally goes to talk to Deb who comes over to Maplewood guy and says: "I'm really sorry my husband was hitting on your wife". Everyone sort of just looks at each other with disbelief and Maplewood guy politely tells her it's ok as his wife is standing behind Deb and is looking at him shaking her head and saying WTF?? Deb is later courageously corralled by Shannon's friend Megan - who keeps her occupied for the rest of the evening. Deb continued to get hammered on wine and champagne - and continued to embarrass her husband. I think everyone felt bad for the guy. At one point John was outside smoking pot with people, nothing big, and he came back inside with my sister and some folks with a spliff hanging out of his mouth. Deb sees him and says, " I know, it's terrible - do you do that, Sean"? Before I can explain, my sister says "Sean has never done pot, it's ok" trying to explain to her that I don't care it's just I don't do drugs - I don't judge people on that - but it backfires and Shannon and I try to salvage John from being bashed more by Deb. Oof. Eventually, he has to take her home.
At 12, hugs and decent champagne are distributed ( I normally hate Champagne but whatever Kevin served was really good ). Megan hugged me and said "This is going to be a good year for you". I don't know why she said that, I don't know her really at all, but it felt and sounded really right. This is going to be good year for me. I am going to make it a good year for me. That's my top resolution. No more self-sabotage. Shannon and I talked a lot about goals and resolutions for the new year. She helped me out a lot.
All in all, we left around 1am, took the T back to Cambridge and blissfully slept. Nice time, nice people, nice city.
Well, it's 4:30 and I am resting at the computer having succeeded in driving back from Boston in crap weather. I left around 11am, no problems until I got outside of the Boston city limits and then from Wocester to Hartford I drove in a snow storm. Lots of fun. Eventually it tapered down to rain and the roads got progressively better as I headed out of Connecticut. New York was fine and by the time I entered my beloved northern NJ there was sunshine and the temperature had even warmed a bit.
I totally made the right move going to Boston to visit my sister - we had a great time, I met her friends, saw her nice new apartment in Cambride and really got a sense of how she lives her daily life. This was important for both of us, I think, as Shannon was eager to let someone from her family see how happy she is in Boston and how she has a good life up there. The first thing I realized is how much of a city girl Shannon is now; when she lived in Alston and Waltham which are sections and suburbs of Boston, it wasn't really city proper. Cambridge is a city itself, but it really feels like Boston. Shannon and I went for Mexican on Sunday night at Borders, on Harvard Square.
We also went to see the totally fantastic No Country for Old Men, which was in my opinion a cinematic masterpiece that earnestly depicts Cormac McCarthy's post apocolyptical Westerns. On the way to the theater in Kendall Square, we pass a drunk dude who shouts "Kiss her, man, kiss her"! Shannon turns and says, "That's my fucking brother"! Guy says "Oh, for real? Bro, she has a nice ass"! He then continues to shout "NICE ASS!" until we round the corner. I shot the guy a look saying "Look, please don't do that". He was built like a brick shit house and he would have killed me, but it still wasn't right. Shannon thought this was hillarious and told everyone. It was funny.
At the movies, we were in a really small theatre that was UNGODLY quiet. The movie was really intense and Shannon was on my right with Kevin next to her. I was eating popcorn - and breathing - loudly. Apparently, all Shannon could hear was me breathing, and she started yelling at me "Stop breathing so loud! You are so loud". So, I stopped eating popcorn and self-consciously tried not to breathe through my nose for the rest of the movie. Yes. I have big nostrils. Sorry, Cambridge and the people in the Kendall Square movie theatre - but you fuckers were WAY to quiet. I didn't even get to finish my popcorn or my soda - as Shannon said I was slurping too loudly, too. Can't win. :)
Yesterday, Shannon and I loafed around her apartment, went out to brunch at this cool place called Zaftigs with her roomate and her boyfriend - good times. Shannon had planned for us to go to this amazing sushi restaurant in Beacon Hill called Ma Soba - we ordered too much, I ate too fast and I think one of the lobster fusion rolls we ordered didn't agree with me. I threw up halfway through the meal - thanfully I made it to the bathroom. I felt really embarrassed, but Shannon was great about it and we went to a New Years party at her boyfriend Kevin's in Somverville.
The party was really fun in a few ways: one, I was pretty much the oldest person there - everyone else were couples or married but young - most between 25-30. There were a couple of people from Jersey who were friends of Shannon, a husband and wife that were from Maplewood, a guy from Basking Ridge, it was really cool. I met a dude named John who was a native Kansan, he had recently married his high school sweetheart Deb and brought her to Boston. Deb was really nice, we were having great conversation and she kept drinking wine. My sister and I were talking to other people and we started playing a drinking game called GOLF. Eventually Deb joined in, but she apparently had been pounding a lot of wine and she didn't grasp the game at all. Shannon and I had never played either, but we picked it up fast. Deb got angry and blamed her husband for being too competitive. We tried to help her, but she got up, flipped her cards and said "I am not going to play anymore, just so you can feel superior, John". The poor dude sat there and was like, "Honey, hold on" but she went to another room where Kevin had set up a beer pong table. She played beer pong - which didn't help. Shannon and I keep playing, John evenutally goes to talk to Deb who comes over to Maplewood guy and says: "I'm really sorry my husband was hitting on your wife". Everyone sort of just looks at each other with disbelief and Maplewood guy politely tells her it's ok as his wife is standing behind Deb and is looking at him shaking her head and saying WTF?? Deb is later courageously corralled by Shannon's friend Megan - who keeps her occupied for the rest of the evening. Deb continued to get hammered on wine and champagne - and continued to embarrass her husband. I think everyone felt bad for the guy. At one point John was outside smoking pot with people, nothing big, and he came back inside with my sister and some folks with a spliff hanging out of his mouth. Deb sees him and says, " I know, it's terrible - do you do that, Sean"? Before I can explain, my sister says "Sean has never done pot, it's ok" trying to explain to her that I don't care it's just I don't do drugs - I don't judge people on that - but it backfires and Shannon and I try to salvage John from being bashed more by Deb. Oof. Eventually, he has to take her home.
At 12, hugs and decent champagne are distributed ( I normally hate Champagne but whatever Kevin served was really good ). Megan hugged me and said "This is going to be a good year for you". I don't know why she said that, I don't know her really at all, but it felt and sounded really right. This is going to be good year for me. I am going to make it a good year for me. That's my top resolution. No more self-sabotage. Shannon and I talked a lot about goals and resolutions for the new year. She helped me out a lot.
All in all, we left around 1am, took the T back to Cambridge and blissfully slept. Nice time, nice people, nice city.