Feb Breeze
This is the first post I've done in February! And it's almost over! Gasp! I remember a time when I used to update every day, or just about. That time was called college. Because what else do you do in college, really? ;)
Last we left off, Daniel, Ari, and I were set to go to Atlantic City. So let's start the story there, shall we?
Atlantic City
First of all, AC is ridiculously easy to get to. I had no idea why I was so reluctant before.
Daniel and Ari are a lot of fun to hang around. We joked pretty much the entire time, when we weren't explaining things to Ari. :P Atlantic City's pretty fancy. They have casinos (NOT casnios, Drew) everywhere as can be expected. I'd never seen a real casino up close before so that was pretty spiffy. We found Daniel some earplugs after a bunch of hunting around and buying cheapass batteries (that die after the first hour or so you use them). We also ventured into the most awesome library ever. AC's library seriously allows you to rent movies, comic books, and music. It's two floors! We didn't look around to much as it was only to use the bathroom, but still! Fucking awesome.
For dinner we hit up this cheap place that still had Soul Edge (I shit you not. the PREDECESSOR to Soul Calibur I) on the arcades, the food was pretty good, then into the Showboat. Daniel and I each lost a nickel on the slots :P and got ourselves free Memberships so we could park for free at any Casino. Pretty sweet deal, I suppose. :)
Security at the House Of Blues was utterly inane and insane. Worried we lost Ari for a little bit; luckily that wasn't the case. We got some smokers kicked out of the venue.
Black Stone Cherry was okay. Really, they were good but all their songs sounded the same. And the guitarist, not the singer, did most of the talking. BSC, after their set, pretty much bummed around the merch booth talking to fans. It was cool, and I got one of their autographs (I think the guitarist or the drummer) but it also made it really awkward to buy anyone else's merch.
Finger Eleven were off.the.hook. In addition to Paralyzer, they played two new songs which I could actually title, and a lot of their standbys (slightly more rocked out "One Thing" which Scott said jokingly "if nothing else, I hope you know this one...it was the spike of our popularity"). It was pretty spread out between each album. I don't remember the full set list anymore but it was good stuff. Well obviously. It's F11.
We actually didn't stay for Hinder, which was a choice all three of us were happy about. So it was the drive home, and sleep.
The Move
The day after the concert, Andrea and I met Coz, Sara, Daniel, Mike, and Coz's parents at Target. There had been some confusion on if we were going to take the train or drive at first, and if Coz was going to Frisbee (which he wasn't) but that was all well resolved. So we helped load some stuff up and went to dinner at Friday's, then helped Coz and Sara move in. It wasn't too hard, just a futon and a couple of necessities. We sadly didn't actually have much time to hang out, but that was going to be remedied soon enough.
South Orange
I got off the train that Friday and waited a grand total of a minute and a half before seeing my love, Coz, and Sara on the opposite platform. I joined up with the three, and we headed back to their place. The plans that night turned out to be see Pan's Labyrinth (which was a great movie and handled the balance of life really well) which we all enjoyed, grab some dinner at Cluck U, head back, and just chill and revel in the new place. We listened to the new Bloc Party which I am kicking myself for having any doubts over. It was both lively and so beautiful.
The next day there was an asshole note on the front door of the complex which dampered the morning ever so slightly (but their super is a great guy and said to ignore it), but there were yummy bagels. We wandered SO, seeing what the place entailed. It was pretty cool, I'd have to say - a record store, a comics store, restaurants of all sorts of ethnicities, and just seemed a chill place. Ended up at the tea place, but Andrea had just had tea so she really wasn't in the mood. The rest of us tried some tea or coffee out. They had such strange and wondrous names.
Got back to meet up with Daniel and KC (yay!). We ate Ethiopian which was really good. Headed back and chilled for a bit. Played some Spinergy, like two rounds, and just had some wonderful conversation.
Next morning, listened to Demetri Martin who is HILARIOUS. Even Andrea went searching for his stuff and she's not usually the stand-up type (far as I know). Then Daniel was kind enough to drive us all to Drew. Andrea and I took some alone time which was well needed, then hung with Sara for a bit until Sara and Coz left. Did Sunday dinner at the Commons just so we could see people. It was decent enough, for Sunday dinner.
Hung out with people for a bit - Harrison was back around so he, Brian, Andrea, and I played pool which was a good time for all. We then visited Katie at work for a while before heading back and teaching Harrison Scattergories, which another Ben and Kelly T joined in on.
Next morning, missed the New York train so went to Hoboken and took the PATH. See, that's something we can do if we're trapped in the City - PATH to Hoboken and take the Hoboken line back. Yay!
Then there was work for three days which was unexciting, then...
Valentine's Day!
Met my love at the train station. We went to dinner at Terra Mare, this good Mediterranean place in Madison. It was quite lovely. We oscillated between romantic and silly with ease, as we do, and it was just wonderful to celebrate my love's first romantic Valentine's Day. <333333333333
We got back and Andrea got a bunch of people - it ended up being us, Lemur, Melanie, Carolyn, and Jaclyn - for her first planned Tea Party. I know what it sounds like, but let me reassure you it doesn't go by its stereotype. We talked about EVERYTHING from Shakespeare to sex to politics to life. And I had hot chocolate and Carolyn had miso soup in place of tea. It was well put together by my love. :)
Then some more work, which was still not too exciting though it's getting better, then...
Last Weekend
I drove up Saturday and met my love at the back of Riker, as we do. Spent some time for ourselves, then we picked up Coz and Sara and met Loud, Lindsay, Bald, and Annie in Loud's room. It was off to ABC, and there was no discomfort as we all engaged in very lively conversation. Most of them went back and Coz, Sara, Andrea, and I went bowling. It was a pretty good time, Coz and Sara both won a game and Andrea and I had some killer frames (her more than me). There was also lots of dancing. :)
After they left, we went over to Ali's room to "watch a movie". :P Really what ended up happening is that first we went to Katie's room and saw that they were playing Soul Calibur III - which apparently video games had been going on since before dinner. Talked to Katie, Katie, Karina, Jess L (awesome that they're all connecting) and others for a bit, then we went over to Ali's and talked with her for a bit. Brian and Lauren, and eventually Kim, Katie M, and Christa (Yay :D!) came by and Andrea and I did a DD run for them. It was funny how the idea came too, typical us - we were talking about how a mutual friend had been hurting herself from drinking three Dunkin Donuts coffees a day, then we (being Ali, Lauren, Brian, Andrea, and I at the time) seemed to pause in unison and go "Hmm...Dunkin Donuts". Were going to walk down as a group (throwback to old times anyone?) but it was cold and Lauren was sick, so Andrea and I did the run. Free munchkins and donuts abounded. It was loverly. We talked for a bit till the topic got too gross and Kim firmly requested we stop. Lull led to some more small convo then eventual separation.
Next day, saw people at brunch (as they actually TOLD us what time they were going) which was pretty nice. :) Brunch was decent enough, and Princess was there (yay!). Got lots o' hugs from her. Great convo, a lot of High School involved. Panda was there too and showed his whory self. :P We stopped by and said hello to Anne :) then to Katie. Hung for a bit, played with plush thingies and such, then we separated for a bit. Andrea and I got some time to chill and have a deep talk which we definitely needed. :) <3333333333333 Got to an okay point and then got people together for sushi. It ended up being Katie, Brian, Lemur, and us who ordered. Man was it delicious - and it figures it got there like 3 minutes after Katie and Brian left. Melanie came and chilled and A2A was played (Kyle popped in for a few hands), followed by Compatibility in which Andrea and I showed that we were compatible dammit, and we crossed the finish line if only a step behind Mel and Lemur. In the middle of this Sara stopped in, then after the game was done and some convo was had, Mel and Lemur left and Sara and we met up with Coz at the Forum. Waited for Daniel and talked for a bit, Daniel and I had a pretty good albeit short convo, then they left and we mosied on back to the room to relax and eventually sleep.
Yesterday, walked Andrea to class, then stopped in on Sara for a bit and headed back. When Andrea returned we had lunch with Lemur and Anne, then filmed a bit of our video idea for Raconteurs' "Together", played Scrabble, wrote a wonderful song, chilled, and eventually I had to leave.
Came home and found out that Drew, Sanjeev, and Hartwyk were going to see Ghost Rider. So I joined them and it was a little awkward. Oh well. The movie was pretty good, nothing spectacular, but had some funny parts and okay chemistry. Slightly under Fantastic 4 (which the more I see, the more I like).
Today I was sick and so I stayed home for the first time. Hopefully the last too, as I'm sure I'm going to hear it tomorrow.
Upcoming events:
This weekend - Andrea comes down on Friday, then Lemur joins us on Sunday.
Next weekend - Back up to Drew, I think (will talk this over with Andrea)
Mar 14 - Andrea and I see the Shins at MSG. :D
Mar 23-25 - Andrea, Katie, and Brian come down and we see OK Go and Snow Patrol in Camden.
Mar 31 - Coz, Sara, my love, and I see Bloc Party in NYC. *dance*
Quite a busy life, no? Yep. And with work filling the time between these days, I think my time of sitting around and doing nothing may be over.
Oh, and I love Andrea. In case that wasn't completely obvious.
Last we left off, Daniel, Ari, and I were set to go to Atlantic City. So let's start the story there, shall we?
Atlantic City
First of all, AC is ridiculously easy to get to. I had no idea why I was so reluctant before.
Daniel and Ari are a lot of fun to hang around. We joked pretty much the entire time, when we weren't explaining things to Ari. :P Atlantic City's pretty fancy. They have casinos (NOT casnios, Drew) everywhere as can be expected. I'd never seen a real casino up close before so that was pretty spiffy. We found Daniel some earplugs after a bunch of hunting around and buying cheapass batteries (that die after the first hour or so you use them). We also ventured into the most awesome library ever. AC's library seriously allows you to rent movies, comic books, and music. It's two floors! We didn't look around to much as it was only to use the bathroom, but still! Fucking awesome.
For dinner we hit up this cheap place that still had Soul Edge (I shit you not. the PREDECESSOR to Soul Calibur I) on the arcades, the food was pretty good, then into the Showboat. Daniel and I each lost a nickel on the slots :P and got ourselves free Memberships so we could park for free at any Casino. Pretty sweet deal, I suppose. :)
Security at the House Of Blues was utterly inane and insane. Worried we lost Ari for a little bit; luckily that wasn't the case. We got some smokers kicked out of the venue.
Black Stone Cherry was okay. Really, they were good but all their songs sounded the same. And the guitarist, not the singer, did most of the talking. BSC, after their set, pretty much bummed around the merch booth talking to fans. It was cool, and I got one of their autographs (I think the guitarist or the drummer) but it also made it really awkward to buy anyone else's merch.
Finger Eleven were off.the.hook. In addition to Paralyzer, they played two new songs which I could actually title, and a lot of their standbys (slightly more rocked out "One Thing" which Scott said jokingly "if nothing else, I hope you know this one...it was the spike of our popularity"). It was pretty spread out between each album. I don't remember the full set list anymore but it was good stuff. Well obviously. It's F11.
We actually didn't stay for Hinder, which was a choice all three of us were happy about. So it was the drive home, and sleep.
The Move
The day after the concert, Andrea and I met Coz, Sara, Daniel, Mike, and Coz's parents at Target. There had been some confusion on if we were going to take the train or drive at first, and if Coz was going to Frisbee (which he wasn't) but that was all well resolved. So we helped load some stuff up and went to dinner at Friday's, then helped Coz and Sara move in. It wasn't too hard, just a futon and a couple of necessities. We sadly didn't actually have much time to hang out, but that was going to be remedied soon enough.
South Orange
I got off the train that Friday and waited a grand total of a minute and a half before seeing my love, Coz, and Sara on the opposite platform. I joined up with the three, and we headed back to their place. The plans that night turned out to be see Pan's Labyrinth (which was a great movie and handled the balance of life really well) which we all enjoyed, grab some dinner at Cluck U, head back, and just chill and revel in the new place. We listened to the new Bloc Party which I am kicking myself for having any doubts over. It was both lively and so beautiful.
The next day there was an asshole note on the front door of the complex which dampered the morning ever so slightly (but their super is a great guy and said to ignore it), but there were yummy bagels. We wandered SO, seeing what the place entailed. It was pretty cool, I'd have to say - a record store, a comics store, restaurants of all sorts of ethnicities, and just seemed a chill place. Ended up at the tea place, but Andrea had just had tea so she really wasn't in the mood. The rest of us tried some tea or coffee out. They had such strange and wondrous names.
Got back to meet up with Daniel and KC (yay!). We ate Ethiopian which was really good. Headed back and chilled for a bit. Played some Spinergy, like two rounds, and just had some wonderful conversation.
Next morning, listened to Demetri Martin who is HILARIOUS. Even Andrea went searching for his stuff and she's not usually the stand-up type (far as I know). Then Daniel was kind enough to drive us all to Drew. Andrea and I took some alone time which was well needed, then hung with Sara for a bit until Sara and Coz left. Did Sunday dinner at the Commons just so we could see people. It was decent enough, for Sunday dinner.
Hung out with people for a bit - Harrison was back around so he, Brian, Andrea, and I played pool which was a good time for all. We then visited Katie at work for a while before heading back and teaching Harrison Scattergories, which another Ben and Kelly T joined in on.
Next morning, missed the New York train so went to Hoboken and took the PATH. See, that's something we can do if we're trapped in the City - PATH to Hoboken and take the Hoboken line back. Yay!
Then there was work for three days which was unexciting, then...
Valentine's Day!
Met my love at the train station. We went to dinner at Terra Mare, this good Mediterranean place in Madison. It was quite lovely. We oscillated between romantic and silly with ease, as we do, and it was just wonderful to celebrate my love's first romantic Valentine's Day. <333333333333
We got back and Andrea got a bunch of people - it ended up being us, Lemur, Melanie, Carolyn, and Jaclyn - for her first planned Tea Party. I know what it sounds like, but let me reassure you it doesn't go by its stereotype. We talked about EVERYTHING from Shakespeare to sex to politics to life. And I had hot chocolate and Carolyn had miso soup in place of tea. It was well put together by my love. :)
Then some more work, which was still not too exciting though it's getting better, then...
Last Weekend
I drove up Saturday and met my love at the back of Riker, as we do. Spent some time for ourselves, then we picked up Coz and Sara and met Loud, Lindsay, Bald, and Annie in Loud's room. It was off to ABC, and there was no discomfort as we all engaged in very lively conversation. Most of them went back and Coz, Sara, Andrea, and I went bowling. It was a pretty good time, Coz and Sara both won a game and Andrea and I had some killer frames (her more than me). There was also lots of dancing. :)
After they left, we went over to Ali's room to "watch a movie". :P Really what ended up happening is that first we went to Katie's room and saw that they were playing Soul Calibur III - which apparently video games had been going on since before dinner. Talked to Katie, Katie, Karina, Jess L (awesome that they're all connecting) and others for a bit, then we went over to Ali's and talked with her for a bit. Brian and Lauren, and eventually Kim, Katie M, and Christa (Yay :D!) came by and Andrea and I did a DD run for them. It was funny how the idea came too, typical us - we were talking about how a mutual friend had been hurting herself from drinking three Dunkin Donuts coffees a day, then we (being Ali, Lauren, Brian, Andrea, and I at the time) seemed to pause in unison and go "Hmm...Dunkin Donuts". Were going to walk down as a group (throwback to old times anyone?) but it was cold and Lauren was sick, so Andrea and I did the run. Free munchkins and donuts abounded. It was loverly. We talked for a bit till the topic got too gross and Kim firmly requested we stop. Lull led to some more small convo then eventual separation.
Next day, saw people at brunch (as they actually TOLD us what time they were going) which was pretty nice. :) Brunch was decent enough, and Princess was there (yay!). Got lots o' hugs from her. Great convo, a lot of High School involved. Panda was there too and showed his whory self. :P We stopped by and said hello to Anne :) then to Katie. Hung for a bit, played with plush thingies and such, then we separated for a bit. Andrea and I got some time to chill and have a deep talk which we definitely needed. :) <3333333333333 Got to an okay point and then got people together for sushi. It ended up being Katie, Brian, Lemur, and us who ordered. Man was it delicious - and it figures it got there like 3 minutes after Katie and Brian left. Melanie came and chilled and A2A was played (Kyle popped in for a few hands), followed by Compatibility in which Andrea and I showed that we were compatible dammit, and we crossed the finish line if only a step behind Mel and Lemur. In the middle of this Sara stopped in, then after the game was done and some convo was had, Mel and Lemur left and Sara and we met up with Coz at the Forum. Waited for Daniel and talked for a bit, Daniel and I had a pretty good albeit short convo, then they left and we mosied on back to the room to relax and eventually sleep.
Yesterday, walked Andrea to class, then stopped in on Sara for a bit and headed back. When Andrea returned we had lunch with Lemur and Anne, then filmed a bit of our video idea for Raconteurs' "Together", played Scrabble, wrote a wonderful song, chilled, and eventually I had to leave.
Came home and found out that Drew, Sanjeev, and Hartwyk were going to see Ghost Rider. So I joined them and it was a little awkward. Oh well. The movie was pretty good, nothing spectacular, but had some funny parts and okay chemistry. Slightly under Fantastic 4 (which the more I see, the more I like).
Today I was sick and so I stayed home for the first time. Hopefully the last too, as I'm sure I'm going to hear it tomorrow.
Upcoming events:
This weekend - Andrea comes down on Friday, then Lemur joins us on Sunday.
Next weekend - Back up to Drew, I think (will talk this over with Andrea)
Mar 14 - Andrea and I see the Shins at MSG. :D
Mar 23-25 - Andrea, Katie, and Brian come down and we see OK Go and Snow Patrol in Camden.
Mar 31 - Coz, Sara, my love, and I see Bloc Party in NYC. *dance*
Quite a busy life, no? Yep. And with work filling the time between these days, I think my time of sitting around and doing nothing may be over.
Oh, and I love Andrea. In case that wasn't completely obvious.