Kinnallestry (a.k.a. Whitnesstry)
Spent the weekend in Boston with Meg, visiting all kindsa folks.
Friday night - Malden.
We traveled to the land of Kinnally (Boxford, MA) and spent a little time just hanging and chatting, whereupon we all piled into the KinnallyMobile and traveled to the land of Malden (a.k.a. the land of sunshine and ponies, a.k.a. Johnnytown) to hang out at an Irish bar called the Honey Fitz.
This is Johnny LeBlanc's 'Natural habitat' (as he told us several times throughout the evening) and let me tell you, it did NOT disappoint. Imagine Cheers, but instead of Norm, it's Johnny, and instead of Cliff and Sam and Woody... IT'S JOHNNY! Woo!
We saw Lee-C and Crow, Pam and her 'manfriend' Scott (We're exact twins, I tell ya), also many of Johnny's acquaintances. It was a little like a twilight zone episode in which NPC HQ had been plopped in a bar, and everyone was talking about the Red Sox.
I drank whiskey shots with Johnny, and it was AWESOME!
So we hung about till last call or so, then went home, to chat about LARPs until 3 or 4 in the morning. annnnd... Scene.
Saturday - Boxford, and then Boston.
We woke up midmorning and I partook of coffee which was mildly delicious. After more chatting and kibitzing, We made the decision to swim in Lake Kinnally (I do not think this is the lake's real name). I, of course, forgot my swimsuit (despite Meg telling me to pack it TWICE! I am Goofus incarnate) so I swam in mah shorts. The lake was cool, current-having, and also deep! I swam down into the inky blackness, but could not plumb its depths. I learned about lazy person swimming (Thank you Mike!) and also about hauling- motors- down- to- the- lake- and- then- back- up- again- because- we- did- not- drive- around- in- the- tiny- bass- boat.
After swimmins, we dried my shorts and played an enjoyable round of Puerto Rico, in which Whitney took top prize. I love that game, even though I don't win it.
Next, we began the migration south, to Boston, for Dinner. the tale unfolds as such:
Johnny had told us he didn't want to go into the city on Friday, but had changed his mind at some point, because we made plans to meet with him at Boston Beerworks near Fenway at 6pm. Now, thanks to the extended nature of Puerto Rico, We didn't leave Mike's place until about 5:30. This does not leave a lot of time to get back into the city. Once we were in the city, Whitney and Meg stole away to do secret girl things (a.k.a. Feeding the softest rabbit in the world.) then we parked in the Harmonix Parking lot (after a bollard disaster, henceforth known as a bollard-zaster in my own head) and made our way to the red line. It was about 6:45 at this point.
The Red line was Shut the Eff Down. I attempted to engage the crowd in a couple of verses of Charlie on the MTA, but no one bit and Meg looked a tiny bit embarrassed. I was secretly hoping that the crowd would sing along (like deep in the heart of Texas for Texans) but alas, they were too caught up in their own hip urbanity to sing the folk songs that made their city what it was!
After several choruses of Charlie on the MTA, we decided to engage the Green Line to bear us to Fenway. This involved a taxi ride to the Green Line, where we waited to get on the first train we could. It was, of course the only train that we needed to change over in order to make it to Kenmore. It is now... like 7:20. At this point we enter into a debate as to whether Johnny would still be at BBW, because we certainly would have had reservations about waiting.
We finally arrive at the beer works at about 8pm, and we were relived to find Johnny there, still happy as ever (Johnny, you are longsuffering. Kudos). After some delicious burgers and beers of many varieties (watermelon Ale - who knew?), we travel down the block to Jake Ivory's Rock 'n Roll Piano Bar (and Singalong).
Jake Ivory's is a LOT of fun. It's a dueling Piano bar, where you submit requests wrapped in varying amounts of monies, and they play said requests. Many awesome singalongs, including a humorous tip battle between New York New York and the Theme from Cheers (about 80-90 dollars changed hands in total). Also, a Bachelorette Party gave me beads for wearing a sweet Mooninites T-Shirt. Meg gave me a look because she didn't know the source of the beads, but I assured her I did no form of shirt-taking-off or sexy dances in exchange for them, whereupon she sweetly hugged me and the Bachelorettes scurried away, later drunkenly telling me that she was 'a doll' and apologized for any trouble they might have gotten me into.
Graham arrived at some point and we hung out with him. He unfortunately showed up as the entertainment went from straight-up piano wonderfulness to a weird pastiche of lapdanceoffs and bachelorette faux lesbian dancing (in addition to Pianoing). We later learned from Mike that this is often done to cater to the bachelorettes in an attempt to give them a 'wild and crazy story' to tell about 'being wild and crazy' during the bachelorette party. The 'G-rated GirlsGoneWild' did not do it for GStern. Despite this odd turn of events and dubious entertainment value, he declared that my future lied in Piano based entertainment (henceforth, Pianotainment) and that I should immediately start learning the Piano.
We took our leave of Jake's and traveled by cab back to Central Square, Cambridge. We then partook of Falafel (much to Kinnally's chagrin) and chatted about crazy people both known and unknown until it was time to drive home. Arrival time: 4am. Sleep: Immediate.
Sunday was a return to Hartford and a Magestry Plot meeting that was fairly productive. And Monday? Sleep, Roomcleaning, Meg Time, Venture bros., sleep.
All in all, a fantastic weekend.
Friday night - Malden.
We traveled to the land of Kinnally (Boxford, MA) and spent a little time just hanging and chatting, whereupon we all piled into the KinnallyMobile and traveled to the land of Malden (a.k.a. the land of sunshine and ponies, a.k.a. Johnnytown) to hang out at an Irish bar called the Honey Fitz.
This is Johnny LeBlanc's 'Natural habitat' (as he told us several times throughout the evening) and let me tell you, it did NOT disappoint. Imagine Cheers, but instead of Norm, it's Johnny, and instead of Cliff and Sam and Woody... IT'S JOHNNY! Woo!
We saw Lee-C and Crow, Pam and her 'manfriend' Scott (We're exact twins, I tell ya), also many of Johnny's acquaintances. It was a little like a twilight zone episode in which NPC HQ had been plopped in a bar, and everyone was talking about the Red Sox.
I drank whiskey shots with Johnny, and it was AWESOME!
So we hung about till last call or so, then went home, to chat about LARPs until 3 or 4 in the morning. annnnd... Scene.
Saturday - Boxford, and then Boston.
We woke up midmorning and I partook of coffee which was mildly delicious. After more chatting and kibitzing, We made the decision to swim in Lake Kinnally (I do not think this is the lake's real name). I, of course, forgot my swimsuit (despite Meg telling me to pack it TWICE! I am Goofus incarnate) so I swam in mah shorts. The lake was cool, current-having, and also deep! I swam down into the inky blackness, but could not plumb its depths. I learned about lazy person swimming (Thank you Mike!) and also about hauling- motors- down- to- the- lake- and- then- back- up- again- because- we- did- not- drive- around- in- the- tiny- bass- boat.
After swimmins, we dried my shorts and played an enjoyable round of Puerto Rico, in which Whitney took top prize. I love that game, even though I don't win it.
Next, we began the migration south, to Boston, for Dinner. the tale unfolds as such:
Johnny had told us he didn't want to go into the city on Friday, but had changed his mind at some point, because we made plans to meet with him at Boston Beerworks near Fenway at 6pm. Now, thanks to the extended nature of Puerto Rico, We didn't leave Mike's place until about 5:30. This does not leave a lot of time to get back into the city. Once we were in the city, Whitney and Meg stole away to do secret girl things (a.k.a. Feeding the softest rabbit in the world.) then we parked in the Harmonix Parking lot (after a bollard disaster, henceforth known as a bollard-zaster in my own head) and made our way to the red line. It was about 6:45 at this point.
The Red line was Shut the Eff Down. I attempted to engage the crowd in a couple of verses of Charlie on the MTA, but no one bit and Meg looked a tiny bit embarrassed. I was secretly hoping that the crowd would sing along (like deep in the heart of Texas for Texans) but alas, they were too caught up in their own hip urbanity to sing the folk songs that made their city what it was!
After several choruses of Charlie on the MTA, we decided to engage the Green Line to bear us to Fenway. This involved a taxi ride to the Green Line, where we waited to get on the first train we could. It was, of course the only train that we needed to change over in order to make it to Kenmore. It is now... like 7:20. At this point we enter into a debate as to whether Johnny would still be at BBW, because we certainly would have had reservations about waiting.
We finally arrive at the beer works at about 8pm, and we were relived to find Johnny there, still happy as ever (Johnny, you are longsuffering. Kudos). After some delicious burgers and beers of many varieties (watermelon Ale - who knew?), we travel down the block to Jake Ivory's Rock 'n Roll Piano Bar (and Singalong).
Jake Ivory's is a LOT of fun. It's a dueling Piano bar, where you submit requests wrapped in varying amounts of monies, and they play said requests. Many awesome singalongs, including a humorous tip battle between New York New York and the Theme from Cheers (about 80-90 dollars changed hands in total). Also, a Bachelorette Party gave me beads for wearing a sweet Mooninites T-Shirt. Meg gave me a look because she didn't know the source of the beads, but I assured her I did no form of shirt-taking-off or sexy dances in exchange for them, whereupon she sweetly hugged me and the Bachelorettes scurried away, later drunkenly telling me that she was 'a doll' and apologized for any trouble they might have gotten me into.
Graham arrived at some point and we hung out with him. He unfortunately showed up as the entertainment went from straight-up piano wonderfulness to a weird pastiche of lapdanceoffs and bachelorette faux lesbian dancing (in addition to Pianoing). We later learned from Mike that this is often done to cater to the bachelorettes in an attempt to give them a 'wild and crazy story' to tell about 'being wild and crazy' during the bachelorette party. The 'G-rated GirlsGoneWild' did not do it for GStern. Despite this odd turn of events and dubious entertainment value, he declared that my future lied in Piano based entertainment (henceforth, Pianotainment) and that I should immediately start learning the Piano.
We took our leave of Jake's and traveled by cab back to Central Square, Cambridge. We then partook of Falafel (much to Kinnally's chagrin) and chatted about crazy people both known and unknown until it was time to drive home. Arrival time: 4am. Sleep: Immediate.
Sunday was a return to Hartford and a Magestry Plot meeting that was fairly productive. And Monday? Sleep, Roomcleaning, Meg Time, Venture bros., sleep.
All in all, a fantastic weekend.