A lot to catch up on

So, last week I got an e-vite to my ex-girlfriend's birthday party. I happened to be sitting at my computer at the time it arrived, so I replied pretty much right away since a.) I was already at my computer and b.) my social life leaves a lot to be desired at the moment. I learned on Friday that apparently you're not supposed to respond to e-vites right away, that you're supposed to wait as long as possible. I suppose it's kinda like showing up casually late to a party, you just don't want to be the first one there.

Anyway, I decided, meh I should get her a gift, wine will work. Coincidently, I happen to be reading a wine book right now since I rarely have call to drink it, and this gave me a fantastic excuse to go wine shopping for myself too. Unfortunately it was POURING rain when I did this, so I didn't make it to the wine shop I was trying to go to, but stopped at the one I happened to be near when the rain was at its worst. I realized during this excursion that I don't actually own any wine glasses, so I tried looking in another wine shop for some, but decided I should give up my hunt since my second carrying hand was occupied with an umbrella. (I actually wanted to post this first part Saturday, but couldn't since I needed to have some element of surprise to the gift).

That night for dinner, since I was marinating some steaks, I decided I might as well open up a bottle. Well, once its open, you don't really want it to go to waste, so you just have to finish it. So yeah, I'm the alcoholic getting drunk by himself before the party. I finished the bottle off around 9, and since the party was at 10, I decided leaving a little before 10 would be good to be "casually late." This also gave me time to sober up a little.

I arrived at 10:45, and was almost completely sober by then. However I apparently don't know what "casually late" is in NYC, because I was the second person there. Go me. I had a fantastic time. Of course, I ended up getting a bit drunker than I meant to as well. Perhaps my gin and tonics were a bit too strong, though I'm sure the aforementioned bottle of wine didn’t help things. I wish I could have stayed longer, but I reached a point where I needed to cut myself off and go home and get some sleep since I had a wedding I needed to drive to on Sunday.

Anyway, I left around 2:30ish (I think) and went to the bus stop. There wasn't a bus near, and I didn’t see one coming so I walked to the next one along the route following my way home. I did this for 3 or 4 blocks until I got to the stop next to Central Park where I decided to wait for a bus. Now, during this walk, a bus has yet to pass me in either direction. I wait for a while, probably less time than it felt like since I was drunk, and got pissed off waiting, and decided to walk across central park to get to the Subway. While this may not have been one of my brighter ideas at 2:30 in the morning, I did get to the subway stop before a bus passed me. Stupid late night hours.

I thought I took pretty good care of myself, but I still woke up with a hangover anyway, though it was manageable. After breakfast, a shower, and a power nap, I still had a bit of a headache, so I broke down and took some Advil and left.

Randomness: While waiting for the signal to cross Broadway after I got off the subway, some dude in Capri pants asked what part of New York he was in. Me: "Uh…the West Side." Capri pants dude: "The West Side?" Me: "Yeah."

Anyway, I still don't completely know how to get out of NYC, but I did not get anywhere near as lost this time. Made it Agawam, MA way too early and hung out chilled until the wedding. This was the first non-family wedding I had ever been to. I knew the bride, the maid of honor, and one other guest. The other guest I knew, Krista, was part of my CT poker crew. Thank god she was there or I would have no one to talk to during cocktail hour, since the bridal party had other things to do.

It was a secular wedding, which absolutely rocked. No religious BS with the pomp and circumstance. It was a get in, get out and lets get to the party. Can you see why I'm friends with the bride? Unfortunately I didn't sit with the other person that I knew at the wedding, but it ended up being all right since everyone at my table was pretty cool. Also, Jess, the bride is a dancer (no not like that). She was in a dance group at UConn, and the groom was in a dance group at Yale, so many of their friends were dancers as well. It was actually pretty impressive to see all those people who know legitimate ballroom dancing. I made it a point to do a minimal amount of dancing since the only dancing I really know is "'Backer-style."

My rental car was a Honda's luxury wannabe car (RX something-or-other). Not as much fun as the Chevy Malibu I had when I went to Bristol, but it looked swanky. Thankfully most rental cars have CD players so I could bring things to listen to. "Plans" which I mentioned in my previous entry, is damn close to moving up to 5 stars. The only thing holding me back from giving it 5 stars is that after "Crooked Teeth" the album kind of plateaus. It doesn't have that non-radio track that is amazing that really finishes up an album. (My examples include, but aren't limited to "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans off of "Dawn to Dusk" in "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness," "Pillar of Davidson" and "White, Discussion" off of "Throwing Copper," "Find the River" off of "Automatic for the People" and I'll stop before list like my 30 or 40 favorite albums of all time.) I think I'll just upgrade it to 4.5 stars.

Sorry that was long. I may have another long one later in the week because I'm heading out to Seattle for a few days tomorrow morning. I'm becoming more and more long winded with the blogging thing. It needs to stop. (The long windedness, not the blogging.)

Music - "Weapon in the Wound" - Days of the New