La Playa
Let me tell you about my long weekend!
Thursday at noon I left for a trip to the Philly/southern-NJ area. Averaging a sandwich consumed every 90 minutes, I made good time and enjoyed myself catching up on listening. You know how sometimes things align timewise "just so"? My gas alarm went off right as I went up the exit ramp to refuel my car & myself at Clarks Summit, a location I reckon is familiar to many of you from around here. I managed to get lost within a mile of Meg's (my roommate of 2006-2008) apartment, repeatedly, then eventually found her complex. As soon as I hopped out of my car, I hopped into hers and we went to her cousin's 3rd birthday dinner. AWESOME. I want more toddlers in my life who mumble and play with Legos. Especially if I get wine, pizza, and ice cream cake out of the deal. We hung out with her family & later her roommate that night, also catching up on SYTYCD.
The next morning, I woke up around 6:30 (this will become a trend) when Meg did, then lazed about half-asleep on the air mattress until she was out the door just after 7. I stumbled downstairs and started to check my e-mail from Meg's laptop. For some reason, I felt compelled to get my own laptop which I'd left in the car overnight. So I put on my sandals, opened the door, and toddled out to my car. I grabbed my laptop case and bounded up the stairs to re-enter the apartment. (Basically a townhouse, so just one door between her place and the outside.) The door was locked. I had locked myself out of Meg's apartment before 7:30 AM. She was on the train and her roommate was long gone to work as well. Wearing sandals, gym shorts, a t-shirt and glasses, I had my car keys & my laptop. What to do, what to do... Sammy stared at me through the sliding door, wondering why I was standing out there. I couldn't very well break through the glass door. If only I'd had a lockpick set, as if that wouldn't look REALLY sketchy (and undoubtedly upset Meg later). So I did what any reasonable person would do: I pulled out my laptop and went online, from the front porch. I was able to get a signal from a neighbor and see who was on gchat. See, my phone was locked inside. Crimmins was online and did my bidding. The options were: I drive to University City (hour+ with traffic) to meet Meg for her key, or wait until 9 for the management office to open and hopefully help me. I didn't actually have the time to go in & back, as I had a 10:30 breakfast date with Dylan and Surabhi in Chinatown. So I had over an hour to kill. In my pajamas. With just under $2 in spare change. Google Earth told me It's A Grind was the closest coffeehouse but I failed to find it and instead ended up at the Frazier Diner. I inquired as to the price of a cup of coffee. It would not be more than $2. I set up camp, just me and the coffee. (No outlets or wireless to be had.) I people-watched and mused on my situation. At 9, I made my way back to Meg's front porch and we went back & forth over whether management would be sympathetic to my plight. They were! For free! Hooray! The dude just let me in, no questions asked. Meg had tipped him off that I was the guy in pajamas in the parking lot...
Dylan, Surabhi, and I hit up Reading Terminal Market for breakfast. The Amish had a scrapple, egg, and cheese breakfast sandwich. My first scrapple. I don't ever really want to have it again. Not awful, just not great stuff. Then I sped through Center City to have a crepes lunch on Penn's campus with 2 former roommates (Meg & Boosh), silberzauber, glynis32, 1 former TA (Jared!), and JFresh. It was great to see all of them (though I'd seen Meg, obviously, most recently) and have some people meet each other who hadn't, including the two members of the I've-Lived-With-Knile-For-Two-Years Club's Philadelphia chapter. It then took me just about 90 minutes to get to Avalon! Nice!
Friday evening, Kris & Steve & I (it's Steve's mom's house; we get use of it a few weekends a year) watched HIMYM episodes, watched most of Harold & Kumar 2, reminisced, caught up, went to Wal-Mart, grilled shrimp with Old Bay, and saw two shirtless dudes at ACME. After Kris fell asleep, Steve & I played Rock Band -- my first time! I made cake in a mug which wasn't great, perhaps because I didn't stir it well enough? Bed around 4AM.
Saturday morning, I got up around noon, then Kris & I went to the beach proper for a few hours, with detours at the bookstore, ice cream shop, and the five-and-dime for sunscreen. We read a bit, listened to the band down the way a bit who kept advertising the town-sponsored Reggae Dance Party that night, and lounged about. Upon returning to the house, more grilling and television/movies, notably Senior Skip Day which is really really not worth your time. More Rock Band, more grilling, then around 3:30 AM we went to Atlantic City, getting there just around 4. What a fascinating world! The boys had liked Harrah's the last time they'd gone, so we re-visited it to play jacks or better video poker for a while. I was up and down, mostly down, and ended up spending a mere $20 for about 2 hours of entertainment. Kris ended up a few bucks, and Steve was down. Got to bed around 6:30 AM (see above, re: trend), then woke up at noon to a crack of thunder.
The storms didn't hit for a few hours, and we mostly puttered around when we should've been cleaning up. There were 2 separate hailstorms in the span of about 3 hours. We just kinda waited them out, not getting out the door until 6PM. This was a bad plan. I got stuck in traffic along the Atlantic City Expressway and Garden State Parkway, then a bunch more on I-76. One highlight while on I-76 was seeing a car I recognize from Avalon, which lives at a house about 3 blocks from Steve's, with a memorable vanity plate. How funny! I called the boys to report on this and talked to Kelly about staying in Syracuse for the night, estimating a 1AM arrival. For some reason, I passed the exit for 476-N, thinking it wasn't the one I wanted, that the right exit was west of it. About 30+ miles later, I began to rethink this and stopped at a rest area. It was 9:30. I had to gas up and was feeling tired. CRAP. I had indeed screwed up my navigation and had to double back, to make any kind of decent time. I sped like the Dickens back to 476 then up it as best as I could. While on 476, I saw another vanity plate I recognized, this one from the trip down, probably along the same region of road. Through the late start, construction, and other goofnesses, I ended up not even at Scranton by 11PM. Are you kidding me? I was really really cranky with myself. In the end, I crashed at KK's new place (if you're keeping track, that's the third former roommate I've seen on the trip) in Binghamton, getting there around 1AM.
This morning I woke up at 6:30, read articles about the quiz show scandal, eureka moments, and medical marijuana in the New Yorker, then was on the road by 8, getting back to ROC just before 11, exhausted physically and financially.
In conclusion, I somehow received a Bahamian nickel at the 9:30 rest stop.
Thursday at noon I left for a trip to the Philly/southern-NJ area. Averaging a sandwich consumed every 90 minutes, I made good time and enjoyed myself catching up on listening. You know how sometimes things align timewise "just so"? My gas alarm went off right as I went up the exit ramp to refuel my car & myself at Clarks Summit, a location I reckon is familiar to many of you from around here. I managed to get lost within a mile of Meg's (my roommate of 2006-2008) apartment, repeatedly, then eventually found her complex. As soon as I hopped out of my car, I hopped into hers and we went to her cousin's 3rd birthday dinner. AWESOME. I want more toddlers in my life who mumble and play with Legos. Especially if I get wine, pizza, and ice cream cake out of the deal. We hung out with her family & later her roommate that night, also catching up on SYTYCD.
The next morning, I woke up around 6:30 (this will become a trend) when Meg did, then lazed about half-asleep on the air mattress until she was out the door just after 7. I stumbled downstairs and started to check my e-mail from Meg's laptop. For some reason, I felt compelled to get my own laptop which I'd left in the car overnight. So I put on my sandals, opened the door, and toddled out to my car. I grabbed my laptop case and bounded up the stairs to re-enter the apartment. (Basically a townhouse, so just one door between her place and the outside.) The door was locked. I had locked myself out of Meg's apartment before 7:30 AM. She was on the train and her roommate was long gone to work as well. Wearing sandals, gym shorts, a t-shirt and glasses, I had my car keys & my laptop. What to do, what to do... Sammy stared at me through the sliding door, wondering why I was standing out there. I couldn't very well break through the glass door. If only I'd had a lockpick set, as if that wouldn't look REALLY sketchy (and undoubtedly upset Meg later). So I did what any reasonable person would do: I pulled out my laptop and went online, from the front porch. I was able to get a signal from a neighbor and see who was on gchat. See, my phone was locked inside. Crimmins was online and did my bidding. The options were: I drive to University City (hour+ with traffic) to meet Meg for her key, or wait until 9 for the management office to open and hopefully help me. I didn't actually have the time to go in & back, as I had a 10:30 breakfast date with Dylan and Surabhi in Chinatown. So I had over an hour to kill. In my pajamas. With just under $2 in spare change. Google Earth told me It's A Grind was the closest coffeehouse but I failed to find it and instead ended up at the Frazier Diner. I inquired as to the price of a cup of coffee. It would not be more than $2. I set up camp, just me and the coffee. (No outlets or wireless to be had.) I people-watched and mused on my situation. At 9, I made my way back to Meg's front porch and we went back & forth over whether management would be sympathetic to my plight. They were! For free! Hooray! The dude just let me in, no questions asked. Meg had tipped him off that I was the guy in pajamas in the parking lot...
Dylan, Surabhi, and I hit up Reading Terminal Market for breakfast. The Amish had a scrapple, egg, and cheese breakfast sandwich. My first scrapple. I don't ever really want to have it again. Not awful, just not great stuff. Then I sped through Center City to have a crepes lunch on Penn's campus with 2 former roommates (Meg & Boosh), silberzauber, glynis32, 1 former TA (Jared!), and JFresh. It was great to see all of them (though I'd seen Meg, obviously, most recently) and have some people meet each other who hadn't, including the two members of the I've-Lived-With-Knile-For-Two-Years Club's Philadelphia chapter. It then took me just about 90 minutes to get to Avalon! Nice!
Friday evening, Kris & Steve & I (it's Steve's mom's house; we get use of it a few weekends a year) watched HIMYM episodes, watched most of Harold & Kumar 2, reminisced, caught up, went to Wal-Mart, grilled shrimp with Old Bay, and saw two shirtless dudes at ACME. After Kris fell asleep, Steve & I played Rock Band -- my first time! I made cake in a mug which wasn't great, perhaps because I didn't stir it well enough? Bed around 4AM.
Saturday morning, I got up around noon, then Kris & I went to the beach proper for a few hours, with detours at the bookstore, ice cream shop, and the five-and-dime for sunscreen. We read a bit, listened to the band down the way a bit who kept advertising the town-sponsored Reggae Dance Party that night, and lounged about. Upon returning to the house, more grilling and television/movies, notably Senior Skip Day which is really really not worth your time. More Rock Band, more grilling, then around 3:30 AM we went to Atlantic City, getting there just around 4. What a fascinating world! The boys had liked Harrah's the last time they'd gone, so we re-visited it to play jacks or better video poker for a while. I was up and down, mostly down, and ended up spending a mere $20 for about 2 hours of entertainment. Kris ended up a few bucks, and Steve was down. Got to bed around 6:30 AM (see above, re: trend), then woke up at noon to a crack of thunder.
The storms didn't hit for a few hours, and we mostly puttered around when we should've been cleaning up. There were 2 separate hailstorms in the span of about 3 hours. We just kinda waited them out, not getting out the door until 6PM. This was a bad plan. I got stuck in traffic along the Atlantic City Expressway and Garden State Parkway, then a bunch more on I-76. One highlight while on I-76 was seeing a car I recognize from Avalon, which lives at a house about 3 blocks from Steve's, with a memorable vanity plate. How funny! I called the boys to report on this and talked to Kelly about staying in Syracuse for the night, estimating a 1AM arrival. For some reason, I passed the exit for 476-N, thinking it wasn't the one I wanted, that the right exit was west of it. About 30+ miles later, I began to rethink this and stopped at a rest area. It was 9:30. I had to gas up and was feeling tired. CRAP. I had indeed screwed up my navigation and had to double back, to make any kind of decent time. I sped like the Dickens back to 476 then up it as best as I could. While on 476, I saw another vanity plate I recognized, this one from the trip down, probably along the same region of road. Through the late start, construction, and other goofnesses, I ended up not even at Scranton by 11PM. Are you kidding me? I was really really cranky with myself. In the end, I crashed at KK's new place (if you're keeping track, that's the third former roommate I've seen on the trip) in Binghamton, getting there around 1AM.
This morning I woke up at 6:30, read articles about the quiz show scandal, eureka moments, and medical marijuana in the New Yorker, then was on the road by 8, getting back to ROC just before 11, exhausted physically and financially.
In conclusion, I somehow received a Bahamian nickel at the 9:30 rest stop.