I have been away from a computer for around three straight days and it has been glorious. In the meantime it became 2011, so happy new year.
2010 ended with a bang (which was likely caused by some drunken fool falling over a table). The 30th (sorry, I lost track of days of the week), I went out to Holyoke with Matt Francis, Matt "Foxy" Brown, Misha, Sandler, and Erik to go on a brewery tour. Holyoke is a 2 hour drive. Being a party of six, we took two cars. The first car was Foxy, Francis, and me. Upon arriving in Holyoke we were informed that the second car was still about an hour away, apparently because it was commandeered by morons. After a lovely (read: depressing) driving tour of the town, we decided to eat lunch at Friendly's, mostly because it was the only non-McDonald's place we could find. Turns out Friendly's is the most popular place in Holyoke. We actually had to wait in line; worse, we were second in line. Talk about demeaning - waiting in line at Friendly's. During our meal we received good and bad news. The good news was that the other car had made it and found the brewery. The bad news is that the brewery was not giving tours so we had essentially driven to Holyoke to eat at Friendly's.
Not easily discouraged, our car went to the brewery where, despite "not giving tours," we were given beer to sample and shown around by the brewer. It was pretty neat. After buying about 4 cases of beer, we departed. Francis and I switched cars to get some quality time with Erik and Sandler. Erik dutifully drove while the rest of us took full advantage of the facts that we were 1) not driving, and 2) in a car with 4 cases of delicious beer. It was not the most mature moment of my life, but it was one of the most entertaining car rides I have ever been part of.
The next morning I went with Preethi, Caitlin, and Caitlin's boyfriend to Jonah's in New York. There were copious modes of transportation along the way (2 car rides, a commuter train, the subway, and good old fashioned walking), lots of pizza (lunch and dinner), and Girl Talk (Caitlin is a true appreciator).
Side note: when we were boarding the train in Connecticut to go to New York, Caitlin and I watched a guy introduce his brother to his girlfriend. The girlfriend said to the brother, "Oh, I just met you in a picture I saw." Both Caitlin and I were absolutely appalled. Anyways...
Jonah threw a well-sized party at his apartment. We had people in from all over the country (and it is kind of an odd thought that I am one of those dispersed people) and it was great to see them. I love me some reunion.
I made the important, if unsurprising, discovery that rum-and-coke-and-red-wine-pong is not a good game (this was Packard's fault, well after midnight). I think only one or two things broke in the apartment. And besides that...it was just a good time.
I will take this opportunity to formally apologize to Jonah (and anyone else I should be apologizing to) for spewing profanity directed towards at 3am.
The next morning about ten of us went to brunch. I scarfed down my french toast because I was in desperate need of sustenance. Eli ordered an Irish coffee and a mimosa with his food.
After most people departed, I stuck it out at Jonah's with Laura. We bummed around, saw True Grit, and generally abused Jonah's hospitality until....sake bombing commenced (with maybe 25 people from college - definitely too many). The real kind of sake bombing, complete with chopsticks and banging on the table. It was my first time, and it was pretty fun though a bit messy (spill-wise, not like drunk-wise).
If you have never been, you set a small cup of sake on chopsticks which are laying over a glass filled with beer. Then you bang on the table to make the cup fall into the beer and chug the beer and sake combination.
Of course, you use gross Japanese beer and sake itself is pretty disgusting. To be honest, I am not sure exactly why bombing is desirable or fun, but it was. Probably the company. Jonah and Yodi kept having chugging contests with Jonah continually proclaiming his dominance and talking about how he "crushed" the beer. All you can drink for two hours, it could have been a lot worse. For an epic beginning, the night ended rather mundanely, which was actually welcome. Laura and I staked out a food cart while Jonah "crushed" some Propel fitness water. We all went back to Jonah's, talked lots of trash, and went to bed.
This morning I woke up, found my way around Port Authority, and came back to DC. So here I am. Happy new year. Classes start tomorrow. Yup, tomorrow. I just did my first reading assignment, in fact. Yet I feel strangely optimistic, if on the verge of renewing my status of sleep deprivation. Here's to a good semester, good friends, and a good year.
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