Weekend for the Aged?

Before I begin my post, I'm debating the idea of renaming this blog "9.5 Years to 40." Any comments?

One more thing before I begin. Does anyone else hate how all college basketball announcers now use the term "off the bounce" instead of "off the dribble?" I think it sounds ridiculous.

OK. Last weekend, for a variety of reasons, most of which I'll detail, was one of the more memorable weekends I've had recently. I'll start with Thursday.

Thursday night, I went to our usual weekly Happy Hour up at school. This particular installment was a "Young Alumni" version. Now, there is a particular young alumnus that I would like to speak to, but was not sure if Thursday night at school would constitute the right time or place. Either way, she didn't show up and I was left to contemplate if/when we would speak in the future. Other than that, Happy Hour wasn't particularly memorable and, after it ended, I met my cousin and friend to watch some basketball at The Mad River Bar and Grill, the same bar where approximately eight years earlier, I had one of my first in-bar makeouts in New York City. We actually sat above the very spot as we watched ESPN. I couldn't help but laugh inside. Later that night, I reunited with some friends from school at the Evelyn Lounge, another bar with significant personal meaning for me. A few weeks before the aforementioned Mad River episode, I went to meet my ex-girlfriend at said lounge. At that point in my life, I had only been in New York a few months and I was pretty miserable. I had a job that I hated and my friends had yet to join me in the Big Town. I wanted nothing more than to get back together with the girl I had broken up with a few months earlier. When she called to invite me to the Evelyn Lounge, I was as excited as I had been in weeks. However, much to my chagrin, I arrived to find her drunker than I had ever seen her and didn't live watching her grind up on every guy in the bar. As a matter of fact, a friend of mine who was randomly at the bar felt pretty bad for me as I had come to the bar just to see her. Needless to say, I don't have fond memories of the Evelyn Lounge. Anyway, back to present day, I met my friends for a double Petron shot and a fun hour of bullshitting. An extremely drunk friend and I decided to try a few UWS bars. Nothing was doing except for my friend asking every person on Amsterdam Avenue "Where the weed was at?" After some late night pizza, I retired for the evening. To my surprise, Thursday would definitely be the least exciting night of the weekend.

Friday consisted of a meeting, lunch at Hill Country (which is awesome), a meeting and some poker playing (left up $40 - not bad), before heading out to dinner to start the final night of "Alumni Forever Week." Shortly after 9:00, my friends and I went to Bowlmor Lanes, for a great event our school put on for us. $5 for bowling, shoes, drinks and food. As embarassing as it may be, I do enjoy bowling. I am surprisingly competitive and I like how bowling allows me to compete with myself. A few years ago, I decided that if I ever bowled a 200, I would retire from bowling forever. Now, even if I were to ever accomplish that feat, I would probably not keep my word to retire, but it is still something to shoot for. So, during my first game, I was struggling to say the least. After an opening frame strike, I just could not get into a groove and I finished with a 102 (or so). It seemed as if my bowling career would live to see another day. My second game started our pretty promising, though, with a spare (6-4) and a strike. Lucky rolls, it seemed, until I followed with two more strikes. Now, at this point, I was having the best game of my life - my previous high was 176, I believe. And, just like that, our lane stopped working. For 45 minutes, we waited. Nothing. The manager felt so bad that she actually gave our lane 15 free SoCo and Lime shots (which were not included in our steep ticket price). Well, after the lane came back to life, I continued my quest with a spare. The first obstacle occurred when I bowled a 9-0 in the 6th frame. But, I was still on pace and followed with two spares and a strike. I entered the final frame needing to get 17 pins to hit 200, which was certainly possible considering I had marked in eight of the game's nine frames. My first ball seemed absolutely perfect and I thought I had secured my date with history, only to see one pin remaining. I needed to hit that pin and get seven on my final roll, which did not seem like too much of a stretch. However, destiny was not on my side as I missed that last pin and finished with a career-best 191. I was very happy, but also slightly disappointed that I would bowl again in the future. The remainder of the night was spent hanging out with some friends from school talking about girls and sports, very out of the ordinary for me. I returned home around 4AM, eight hours before a group was to convene in my apartment for a school project.

Saturday afternoon was filled with a simulated climb up Mount Everest, lunch at a new diner on the Upper East Side with a friend I hadn't seen in too long, and some lounging with a few buddies. After a failed attempt to sell my tickets, I went solo to the "They Might Be Giants" concert at the Beacon Theater. A few years ago, I may not have enjoyed a concert by myself, but this was awesome. First of all, the Beacon is great. I can't believe I've lived so close to it and had never been (Note: I also just recently, like last night, discovered a bar called Yogi's, which is great and also so close to my apartment. It is inexcusable that I had never been to either place until this month). Secondly, as cheesy as their music might be, TMBG are still great in concert. They are hilarious and the Beacon was the perfect place to see them. The only drawback was that I left the concert early to get to my friend's going-away party on the Lower East Side and missed most of the songs I had come to see. However, it was still great. And, that going-away party was also great. Again, I chatted with some friends, caught up on some lost time and discussed magazines and if the Giants could win the next night's Super Bowl (I gave them a 20% chance). The night ended in a Latin Bar on Avenue C where I bumped into a very drunk classmate of mine. I am now 100% convinced Business School is positively correlated to alcoholism.

Finally, Super Bowl Sunday. There really isn't much to say. I am not a Giants fan (or a big NFL fan for that matter). But, I was completely caught up in the Giants' play-off run and was VERY fired up for the Big Game. I trekked to Hoboken to my friends' apartment, bottle of wine in hand. The game could not have been better and we were all riveted from beginning to end. I literally could not believe what I was watching and was so happy to see the Giants defeat Bill Belichek's Patriots. Immediately after the game ended, screams emanated from Hoboken's streets below. Sunday was one of those days I felt so lucky to live in New York, and as I crossed the Hudson River via the Path train, I looked forward to the long night ahead. I wondered in which bar would I celebrate the victory with delirious fans. I returned to my neighborhood and tried my local bars, but was not encouraged. (I had actually heard that the police had to close 2nd Avenue on the Upper East Side and wondered if I should go there. Probably best that I didn't.) Brother Jimmy's was rocking, but the bouncer said they were "closed." After a few questions, he wouldn't recant, and I was forced to leave the UWS. I texted a buddy that I knew would be out and met him at his friend's apartment, ready to hit another bar. However, momentum was lost and I ended up playing poker with three others, two of whom were stoned and one that was drunk. Easy money, I thought. However, a few bad breaks resulted in a loss of $100 and a return home around 5AM - the only negative of the entire weekend. But, then again, I guess $100 was a small price to pay to see that game. So, I wouldn't change a thing.

Folk(s), that was my weekend. Action packed and memorable to say the least. I must admit that I am very lucky to still be having such great times. I hope to share more with you.