I'll tell you all about it when I get back.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Going West
I'm going West. I leave in the morning to reunite with my bestie, drink anything in a wine glass, revel in the warmth, forget that I need to find a new roommate, breathe non-New York City air, allow the stress knot in my left shoulder to subside, and add a few embarrassing nuggets to the parental files...
I'll tell you all about it when I get back.
I'll tell you all about it when I get back.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Bienvenido a Miami
I live in a pro-sports mecca -- a delicate balance of die hard fans that are divided only by a few city blocks. And, despite the admittedly edge-of-your-seat Red Socks game on Thursday, pro-sports just don’t inspire me to flip the channel from Law & Order reruns.
Longhorn sports are a completely different story.
Football season in the city is equal parts annoying and awesome. Annoying because only a handful of bars show the games and there are ALOT of alumni here. Awesome because it is mandatory to watch the game among a crowd of Texas transplants and you’re guaranteed to run into someone you haven’t seen since you ate your meals at Jester.
This week I watched the game with a crowd of Clements/UT grads. The usual group -- Sarah, Shannon, Mikey (he’s back!) -- plus a few extras -- Brian (in from Chicago), Hayley (B’s NYC co-worker), Jonathan (not a UT alum, but pretended well), Doug (a St. Laurence friend). After the game, we went to a classic Lower East Side dive bar called Mar’s Bar. I’m a little confused by the apostrophe usage, but I let it go because it was clearly not the type of establishment concerned with AP Style rules. Geography on the other hand is apparently the subject of choice because I definitely was quizzed on the state capitals at one point in the night. The best part of the evening was when Johnny Drunk Face tried to run out on his bar tab. The lady bartender hurdled over the bar and successfully chased him down the street. I gave her double tip for that one. Anyway -- back to football…
We all thought we were a year away from competing for a National Championship. Then, we embarrassed the Sooners and thrashed the Tigers. Now we’re a unanimous No. 1 selection in the AP poll. No jinxing intended, but the top team in the first BCS standings has earned a spot in the national championship game for the past five years. Don't get me wrong -- we still have a few tough weeks ahead of us. But, I’m going to bet that as I type this blog there are a lot of Texas fans surfing for flights to Miami.
early Longhorn socialization:
Longhorn sports are a completely different story.
Football season in the city is equal parts annoying and awesome. Annoying because only a handful of bars show the games and there are ALOT of alumni here. Awesome because it is mandatory to watch the game among a crowd of Texas transplants and you’re guaranteed to run into someone you haven’t seen since you ate your meals at Jester.
This week I watched the game with a crowd of Clements/UT grads. The usual group -- Sarah, Shannon, Mikey (he’s back!) -- plus a few extras -- Brian (in from Chicago), Hayley (B’s NYC co-worker), Jonathan (not a UT alum, but pretended well), Doug (a St. Laurence friend). After the game, we went to a classic Lower East Side dive bar called Mar’s Bar. I’m a little confused by the apostrophe usage, but I let it go because it was clearly not the type of establishment concerned with AP Style rules. Geography on the other hand is apparently the subject of choice because I definitely was quizzed on the state capitals at one point in the night. The best part of the evening was when Johnny Drunk Face tried to run out on his bar tab. The lady bartender hurdled over the bar and successfully chased him down the street. I gave her double tip for that one. Anyway -- back to football…
We all thought we were a year away from competing for a National Championship. Then, we embarrassed the Sooners and thrashed the Tigers. Now we’re a unanimous No. 1 selection in the AP poll. No jinxing intended, but the top team in the first BCS standings has earned a spot in the national championship game for the past five years. Don't get me wrong -- we still have a few tough weeks ahead of us. But, I’m going to bet that as I type this blog there are a lot of Texas fans surfing for flights to Miami.
early Longhorn socialization:
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Birthday Recap
Now that I'm officially 26.02 (and sobered up), it's time I recap the birthday festivities...
Twenty-six really rolled out the welcome mat. This was the first birthday I've spent in Sugar Land since high school. And, although I missed the traditional parental speaker phone Happy Birthday song, I did get gifts and hugs and a pedicure and a homemade cake. I think that was a pretty good trade-off.
Back in New York, the second round of birthday celebrating started on Friday. My co-worker, Jeanne and I snuck out of the office early to enjoy the unbelievably beautiful weather. We settled at an outdoor bar in the Meat Packing District, sipped embarrassingly expensive martinis and looked for celebrities at Pastis next door. Unfortunately, instead of Mary Kate, we mostly saw aging, round-bellied Europeans. Oh well.
The next morning was spent choosing my favorite burnt orange t-shirt, annoying my roommate with my Longhorn pride and contemplating my most clever Sooner smack talk to send via text message to Chelsea.
In a VERY good mood, we headed out to the Lower East Side. To officially ring in 26, Sarah and I had reserved tables at The Delancy and invited everyone we knew in NYC (let's be honest -- we don't know that many people).
The birthday girls:
The bar was loud and the lines were long but the drinks were good and friends started coming in in twos and threes. It was a glorious mishmash of old and current roommates, co-workers, displaced Sugar Land'ers, The Dash+entourage, and even my 12th grade oral interpretation partner (wow, I'm a geek). She has since moved on from oral interpretation to professional theater. Clearly, she was the better performer of the pair.
Then sun up, a cab to the edge of the world (NYC), early morning PATH fun, another taxi, a tip-toe across the apartment's squeaky floors, my pillow, nearly 24 hours of nothingness and a return to normalness. Happiness.
Twenty-six really rolled out the welcome mat. This was the first birthday I've spent in Sugar Land since high school. And, although I missed the traditional parental speaker phone Happy Birthday song, I did get gifts and hugs and a pedicure and a homemade cake. I think that was a pretty good trade-off.
Back in New York, the second round of birthday celebrating started on Friday. My co-worker, Jeanne and I snuck out of the office early to enjoy the unbelievably beautiful weather. We settled at an outdoor bar in the Meat Packing District, sipped embarrassingly expensive martinis and looked for celebrities at Pastis next door. Unfortunately, instead of Mary Kate, we mostly saw aging, round-bellied Europeans. Oh well.
The next morning was spent choosing my favorite burnt orange t-shirt, annoying my roommate with my Longhorn pride and contemplating my most clever Sooner smack talk to send via text message to Chelsea.
In a VERY good mood, we headed out to the Lower East Side. To officially ring in 26, Sarah and I had reserved tables at The Delancy and invited everyone we knew in NYC (let's be honest -- we don't know that many people).
The birthday girls:
The bar was loud and the lines were long but the drinks were good and friends started coming in in twos and threes. It was a glorious mishmash of old and current roommates, co-workers, displaced Sugar Land'ers, The Dash+entourage, and even my 12th grade oral interpretation partner (wow, I'm a geek). She has since moved on from oral interpretation to professional theater. Clearly, she was the better performer of the pair.
Then sun up, a cab to the edge of the world (NYC), early morning PATH fun, another taxi, a tip-toe across the apartment's squeaky floors, my pillow, nearly 24 hours of nothingness and a return to normalness. Happiness.
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