So where the hell have I been, anyway?
OK, so this entry is a day later than promised. Which, considering it's me, is downright impressive. See, I really am starting the new year off on the right foot!
Anyway, here's my half-assed explanation for why I pretty much disappeared from LJ-land for 3 months.
I really didn't intend to neglect the ol' LJ for so long. It all started with an insanely busy October, which led to an enormously lazy November, which in turn led to a frantic December. Which means I have tons and tons of stuff to report - and some of it is actually interesting! Anyway, I've thought it over, and I feel the best way to catch everyone up with all that is EasternBird is with a chronological list. Let's start with:
Oct. 1: A big day, for two reasons. One, I acquired the keys to MY NEW APARTMENT! It's awesome and it's decent-sized and it rocks and best of all, MY PARENTS DON'T LIVE THERE! More details, and possibly photos, forthcoming. If nothing else, you all need to witness the spectacle that is my big purple sofa. And also my groovy 1970s burnt orange countertops.
And two, I took a train down to Red Bank to see The Improv All-Stars (Drew Carey & a bunch of people from The Drew Carey Show and Whose Line Is It Anyway). It was my first time at an improv show, and only the 2nd live comedy event I've ever attended (Lewis Black being the first, back in 2000). The show was terrific, especially because - as mentioned previously - my 3rd row seat offered an excellent view of Greg Proops' ass. I didn't get to hang around to meet any of the performers after the show (stupid train schedule), but it was an awesome time and I hope to attend another show in the future.
Oct. 4: Saw Paul McCartney at MSG. This was a last-minute decision, as I wasn't particularly interested in going solo, and it's not exactly cheap, and most of the seats within my price range had been long sold out anyway. But I got lucky, and found a woman on eBay who was desperate to sell her single ticket, for a MUCH better deal than the pairs were going for. Who knew that having no friends could actually prove advantageous?
The seat was good in theory, but unfortunately MSG's idiotic excuse for wheelchair accommodations nearly ruined all the fun. More details on that later. But the show itself was awesome - a great deal better than the only other McCartney concert I've attended (New Orleans, 2002). And, due to my seat location, I caught a fairly nice glimpse of Paul's ass as well. All told, it was the 2nd best concert I saw that week.
Oct. 7: Headed back to MSG to see U2 in concert. Now, this concert? ROCKED. The crowd was TOTALLY into it, the set list was awesome, no wheelchair shenanigans, and I even had company this time. All those factors, combined with the fact that this was my first U2 concert ever, made this a slightly better experience than the Paul show earlier in the week. But only slightly.
Oct. 8: I headed out to NYC, again, in the middle of a monsoon, to catch "Avenue Q" on Broadway with a few online friends. I'd never met any of them before, so I was nervous as hell, but they all turned out to be very nice and sane and we actually had a great time (monsoon notwithstanding). Avenue Q was hilarious, and I highly recommend it to anyone if you're ever visiting NYC. I had "The Internet is for Porn" stuck in my head for weeks afterwards. The show also turned out to be the most expensive ticket of the week, interestingly enough.
Also, that afternoon, my Pulitzer arrived in the mail. Dripping wet, I might add. But still, how cool is that?
Oct. 9-20: I spent most of this time slowly moving into the new apartment - I had not one piece of furniture to my name, so there was a ton of shopping to be done! Plus packing up all the crap I've accumulated over the past year and a half. But the biggest chore of all didn't commence until…
Oct. 22-25: Mom and I flew down to Tallahassee to retrieve my stuff from storage. Instead of driving it up ourselves, we hired one of those "self-moving" companies - you pack all your stuff on the truck, they drive it to the new location, and then you unpack it. It was a good choice, because I didn't own anything too heavy or unwieldy - just lots of boxes containing appliances, clothes, and other crap. The trip was kind of bittersweet, since there was such a sense of finality to the whole thing. Now that I've retrieved my belongings, I have no real reason to return to Tallahassee - all of my friends from grad school have left, and if I were traveling to Florida, I'd head for Tampa or Orlando instead. So as I drove around the town and the FSU campus, I couldn't help but wonder if I'd ever see the place again.
Speaking of driving, we also drove into southern Georgia (to Thomasville), and it was an absolutely gorgeous ride. Having lived in densely packed suburbia all of my life, I get a huge thrill out of driving alone on a desolate road, in the middle of nowhere, with nothing but trees and fields and sky for miles and miles. Granted, after 10 or 12 hours of it I'd probably go insane, but it's lovely in small doses.
I also got to drive a minivan for the first time ever (an absolutely ginormous Dodge Grand Caravan), and the experience was actually a lot more pleasant than I expected. Mom and I got to do a little mother-daughter bonding as well. And we escaped Florida just before Hurricane Wilma hit. Now there's something I definitely won't miss about southern life.
Oct. 27: My birthday! I didn't do anything too exciting, but I'd used up my excitement allowance for the month already. For the 2nd year in a row, my mother promised me a birthday cake and didn't deliver. But fortunately, my coworkers more than made up for that transgression, surprising me a delicious ice cream cake from a nearby bakery infamous for its delicious ice cream cakes. We also had pizza.
Oct. 31:Halloween! I had to work the late shift, so I didn't get to see a single trick-or-treater. Oh well, more candy for me.
Nov. 1: I picked up my stuff from the moving company. And this is when I finally considered myself fully moved into the apartment - mostly because I now had my own TV.
Nov. 2-7: The NJ gubernatorial race between Jon Corzine and Doug Forrester gets remarkably ugly. Work is chaotic.
Nov. 8: Corzine kicks Forrester's ass. There is much rejoicing. Well, okay, not really. But it's the best possible outcome, at least.
Nov. 9-Dec. 19: A bunch of stuff happened.
Dec. 20: I come down with bronchitis. And whine about it excessively.
Dec. 24: I drag myself out to my cousin's house (site of the infamous Hey Jude discussion) for a traditional Italian Catholic seafood dinner. We had shrimp, crab cakes, flounder, and pasta w/anchovies (I'm sure there's an Italian name for that dish, but I've no clue what it is). And some broccoli, as a garnish.
Dec. 25: Christmas at Oldest Sis's house. I spend a considerable amount of time assembling and installing various toys and electronic devices. We eat lasagna and a marvelous cold antipasto. It's good to be an Italian-American. I receive, among other things, a stovetop grill pan and a crock pot. Well, at least I know I'll be well fed this year.
Dec. 26: Work. Ugh.
Dec. 27: Rutgers University loses to heavily-favored Arizona State, 45-40, in the Insight Bowl. It's RU's first bowl appearance in my lifetime, and only its second ever. So, despite the loss, good show, boys.
Dec. 28-30: More work.
Dec. 31: Since my sisters, cousins, and local friends all have small children at home and can't stay awake past 10:30, I end up ringing in the new year with my parents at my aunt's house. As I've done on almost every New Year's Eve since birth. We watch the Giants game and Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve. I resolve to lobby for the ESPN New Year's broadcast next year.
Jan. 1: Big New Year's party at Mom's house. Many of my cousins and their offspring attend. I learn a great deal about the varieties of lactose-free formula on the market and the Steve Martin oeuvre of kiddie movies. My patience is rewarded with a good 5 days' supply of leftovers.
Jan. 2: I have the option to come in for work, but decide to stay home. Screw it.
Jan. 3: Penn State beats Florida State in the Orange Bowl, 26-23, in triple overtime. Which means my alma maters (almae matres?) went 0-2 in their bowl games.
Jan. 4-8: I write the first 3 chapters of this LJ entry.
Jan. 9: The Giants lose their playoff game in spectacular fashion. Not a good year for my football fandoms. So I'm now rooting for the Patriots to threepeat. Sorry Colts fans, but I just can't work up the enthusiasm to root for anyone named "Manning" at the moment.
And there you have it. Three months worth of verbiage, in one handy post!
Anyway, here's my half-assed explanation for why I pretty much disappeared from LJ-land for 3 months.
I really didn't intend to neglect the ol' LJ for so long. It all started with an insanely busy October, which led to an enormously lazy November, which in turn led to a frantic December. Which means I have tons and tons of stuff to report - and some of it is actually interesting! Anyway, I've thought it over, and I feel the best way to catch everyone up with all that is EasternBird is with a chronological list. Let's start with:
Oct. 1: A big day, for two reasons. One, I acquired the keys to MY NEW APARTMENT! It's awesome and it's decent-sized and it rocks and best of all, MY PARENTS DON'T LIVE THERE! More details, and possibly photos, forthcoming. If nothing else, you all need to witness the spectacle that is my big purple sofa. And also my groovy 1970s burnt orange countertops.
And two, I took a train down to Red Bank to see The Improv All-Stars (Drew Carey & a bunch of people from The Drew Carey Show and Whose Line Is It Anyway). It was my first time at an improv show, and only the 2nd live comedy event I've ever attended (Lewis Black being the first, back in 2000). The show was terrific, especially because - as mentioned previously - my 3rd row seat offered an excellent view of Greg Proops' ass. I didn't get to hang around to meet any of the performers after the show (stupid train schedule), but it was an awesome time and I hope to attend another show in the future.
Oct. 4: Saw Paul McCartney at MSG. This was a last-minute decision, as I wasn't particularly interested in going solo, and it's not exactly cheap, and most of the seats within my price range had been long sold out anyway. But I got lucky, and found a woman on eBay who was desperate to sell her single ticket, for a MUCH better deal than the pairs were going for. Who knew that having no friends could actually prove advantageous?
The seat was good in theory, but unfortunately MSG's idiotic excuse for wheelchair accommodations nearly ruined all the fun. More details on that later. But the show itself was awesome - a great deal better than the only other McCartney concert I've attended (New Orleans, 2002). And, due to my seat location, I caught a fairly nice glimpse of Paul's ass as well. All told, it was the 2nd best concert I saw that week.
Oct. 7: Headed back to MSG to see U2 in concert. Now, this concert? ROCKED. The crowd was TOTALLY into it, the set list was awesome, no wheelchair shenanigans, and I even had company this time. All those factors, combined with the fact that this was my first U2 concert ever, made this a slightly better experience than the Paul show earlier in the week. But only slightly.
Oct. 8: I headed out to NYC, again, in the middle of a monsoon, to catch "Avenue Q" on Broadway with a few online friends. I'd never met any of them before, so I was nervous as hell, but they all turned out to be very nice and sane and we actually had a great time (monsoon notwithstanding). Avenue Q was hilarious, and I highly recommend it to anyone if you're ever visiting NYC. I had "The Internet is for Porn" stuck in my head for weeks afterwards. The show also turned out to be the most expensive ticket of the week, interestingly enough.
Also, that afternoon, my Pulitzer arrived in the mail. Dripping wet, I might add. But still, how cool is that?
Oct. 9-20: I spent most of this time slowly moving into the new apartment - I had not one piece of furniture to my name, so there was a ton of shopping to be done! Plus packing up all the crap I've accumulated over the past year and a half. But the biggest chore of all didn't commence until…
Oct. 22-25: Mom and I flew down to Tallahassee to retrieve my stuff from storage. Instead of driving it up ourselves, we hired one of those "self-moving" companies - you pack all your stuff on the truck, they drive it to the new location, and then you unpack it. It was a good choice, because I didn't own anything too heavy or unwieldy - just lots of boxes containing appliances, clothes, and other crap. The trip was kind of bittersweet, since there was such a sense of finality to the whole thing. Now that I've retrieved my belongings, I have no real reason to return to Tallahassee - all of my friends from grad school have left, and if I were traveling to Florida, I'd head for Tampa or Orlando instead. So as I drove around the town and the FSU campus, I couldn't help but wonder if I'd ever see the place again.
Speaking of driving, we also drove into southern Georgia (to Thomasville), and it was an absolutely gorgeous ride. Having lived in densely packed suburbia all of my life, I get a huge thrill out of driving alone on a desolate road, in the middle of nowhere, with nothing but trees and fields and sky for miles and miles. Granted, after 10 or 12 hours of it I'd probably go insane, but it's lovely in small doses.
I also got to drive a minivan for the first time ever (an absolutely ginormous Dodge Grand Caravan), and the experience was actually a lot more pleasant than I expected. Mom and I got to do a little mother-daughter bonding as well. And we escaped Florida just before Hurricane Wilma hit. Now there's something I definitely won't miss about southern life.
Oct. 27: My birthday! I didn't do anything too exciting, but I'd used up my excitement allowance for the month already. For the 2nd year in a row, my mother promised me a birthday cake and didn't deliver. But fortunately, my coworkers more than made up for that transgression, surprising me a delicious ice cream cake from a nearby bakery infamous for its delicious ice cream cakes. We also had pizza.
Oct. 31:Halloween! I had to work the late shift, so I didn't get to see a single trick-or-treater. Oh well, more candy for me.
Nov. 1: I picked up my stuff from the moving company. And this is when I finally considered myself fully moved into the apartment - mostly because I now had my own TV.
Nov. 2-7: The NJ gubernatorial race between Jon Corzine and Doug Forrester gets remarkably ugly. Work is chaotic.
Nov. 8: Corzine kicks Forrester's ass. There is much rejoicing. Well, okay, not really. But it's the best possible outcome, at least.
Nov. 9-Dec. 19: A bunch of stuff happened.
Dec. 20: I come down with bronchitis. And whine about it excessively.
Dec. 24: I drag myself out to my cousin's house (site of the infamous Hey Jude discussion) for a traditional Italian Catholic seafood dinner. We had shrimp, crab cakes, flounder, and pasta w/anchovies (I'm sure there's an Italian name for that dish, but I've no clue what it is). And some broccoli, as a garnish.
Dec. 25: Christmas at Oldest Sis's house. I spend a considerable amount of time assembling and installing various toys and electronic devices. We eat lasagna and a marvelous cold antipasto. It's good to be an Italian-American. I receive, among other things, a stovetop grill pan and a crock pot. Well, at least I know I'll be well fed this year.
Dec. 26: Work. Ugh.
Dec. 27: Rutgers University loses to heavily-favored Arizona State, 45-40, in the Insight Bowl. It's RU's first bowl appearance in my lifetime, and only its second ever. So, despite the loss, good show, boys.
Dec. 28-30: More work.
Dec. 31: Since my sisters, cousins, and local friends all have small children at home and can't stay awake past 10:30, I end up ringing in the new year with my parents at my aunt's house. As I've done on almost every New Year's Eve since birth. We watch the Giants game and Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve. I resolve to lobby for the ESPN New Year's broadcast next year.
Jan. 1: Big New Year's party at Mom's house. Many of my cousins and their offspring attend. I learn a great deal about the varieties of lactose-free formula on the market and the Steve Martin oeuvre of kiddie movies. My patience is rewarded with a good 5 days' supply of leftovers.
Jan. 2: I have the option to come in for work, but decide to stay home. Screw it.
Jan. 3: Penn State beats Florida State in the Orange Bowl, 26-23, in triple overtime. Which means my alma maters (almae matres?) went 0-2 in their bowl games.
Jan. 4-8: I write the first 3 chapters of this LJ entry.
Jan. 9: The Giants lose their playoff game in spectacular fashion. Not a good year for my football fandoms. So I'm now rooting for the Patriots to threepeat. Sorry Colts fans, but I just can't work up the enthusiasm to root for anyone named "Manning" at the moment.
And there you have it. Three months worth of verbiage, in one handy post!