Boston, how I love thee. You are a source of endless entertainment, cheap beer, and towns that are prononuced nothing like the way they're spelled. Billerica? Brickah. Concord? Conkid. Marlborough? Mallbro. I don't get it either. I used to think they had the coolest accents ever...but 6 days in New England changed that slightly. I'll get to that laydah.
After a nice flight and efficient transit trip from the airport to Watertown, I arrived at the complex where Jess supposedly worked. I was a little confused because the complex was really nice, and Jess is...well, a bitch. Why would a company that could afford all this hire a guy that can't even fly a kite without falling down multiple times? A guy who burned his lip eating a hot dog off the searing metal pole he just cooked it on? As I considered all this, I heard 'BITCH!' coming from behind me...apparently I was in the right place, somehow.
Jess dropped me off at his building, gave me a key and directions to the liquor store (across the street!), and went back to work for the rest of the day. After a trip to the store for a 6.99 case of Natty Light (best beer ever!), I sat around his place for a while and chilled. Jess had recently moved to Boston to take a job at the nice-complex place, and they were nice/rich enough to put him up in a sweet condo for his first few months there. And pay his rent. Average rent? 1735 a month. I hate him. The place was super nice...so nice that I felt kinda ridiculous walking through the lobby with my 7 dollar case of beer. Obviously it didn't stop me though. After Jess got home, we headed downtown with his buddy Jeremy and had a few beers in a pub attached to Fenway Park, then called it a night pretty early.
August 28th will live in infamy. The perfect storm of weird shit that went down is almost too ridiculous to believe, and it could only happen to Jess and I. We've been to a lot of places together, and no place ever defeated us quite like...Rhode Island.
It started innocently enough. Jess went to work, and I was going to go check Harvard out...but I only got as far as the pizza place a couple of blocks away. Jess got off work, and we headed south. Before we left, I asked him if I should bring the spare keys he had given me for the building/apartment. He said there was no need. No big deal, right? Yea, we'll see.
First stop was Gillette Stadium, home of the New England Patriots. The stadium is incredibly nice, maybe even cooler than Qwest Field in Seattle. But the highlight is the CBS Scene restaurant at the stadium...it was unbelievable. 4 floors, and a stairwell down the middle with a massive wraparound TV screen covering the whole 4 floors, all around it. It was awesome.
After that awesomeness, we headed further south to Providence, Rhode Island. Parked, went to Tim Hortons, which are everywhere in New England for some reason, and went for a walk. The downtown was seemingly deserted...we didn't see much of anybody. After walking for a bit, we could hear what sounded like a really loud TV, so we went to see what it was. We walked around the corner, and BAM...like 200 people are sitting/standing around watching an old movie being displayed on the side of a brick building. It was extremely odd...everyone was silent, looking at us like WE were the weird ones. Sorry, we don't watch movies in parking lots at home, hippies.
After exploring some more and not coming across many people, we headed down to where we knew some bars were. There were 2 next to each other...one had a lounge singer outside, belting out the hits (and misses), and getting yelled at by some drunk chick...so we went to the other one, a brewpub. Had a couple beers, chilled for a bit...then headed back to the car to go home.
This is where shit went sideways.
Walking back from the pub, we stop to watch some (legal) girls rollerskating, and Jess says 'Fuck, I can't find my keys.' I think he's kidding for a minute or 2...then, uh oh. He really doesn't have them. We go back to the pub, and ask the bartender. Nope, no keys. We look around, no keys. We retrace our steps all the way back to the Timmy Ho's, which is closed. Jess bangs on the window to talk to the one chick still in there...she tell him nope, no keys, without even looking.
Whore.
Maybe he left them in the car, right? He said he's done that before. It was the only other logical place to check. Obviously, we can't get INTO the car, so Jess called AAA and spent 60 bucks to join on the spot. AAA guy shows up, pops the lock, and...no keys in the car. Joyous. We retrace our steps again...movie weirdos, pub...nuthin. The Tim Horton's was being renovated, and there were construction workers inside...the AAA guy banged on the door till one of the guys came over, and Jess explained the situation. He checked the whole place...no keys.
Jess didn't want to leave his car there, because it was parked on a metered street and would have been towed in the morning. And we couldn't stay the night there, cuz Jess had to work the next day. So the only solution he could come up with was....to get it towed home. 100km, back to Boston.
Oh don't worry, it gets more odd.
While waiting on the tow truck, a car pulls up in front of us, and tries to parallel park in front of Jess....and backs right into his car. Jess just threw his hands up in the air and yelled 'SHE JUST HIT MY CAR!' So, she gets outta the car...and she's hot. Her friend is too. She apologizes profusely, and disappears. Luckily there was no damage.
Approximately 40 seconds after they walk away, the tow truck shows up...a flatbed tow truck. There is no way for the guy to load the car onto the flatbed, because the broad just parked in front of him. So he had to call ANOTHER tow truck to angle it out. Right as that tow truck shows up...the girls come back to their car, and up to Jess. 'I'm sooo sorry about hitting your car. I totally want to buy you and your friend a drink. We're gonna be at that cafe right there, and you two should totally come over there and have a drink with us.'
This never happens to Jess, or I. Like, EVER. Hot women don't offer to buy us drinks. It's unthinkable. Of course, that went down the tubes with 2 comments.
Jess, with a shocked/defeated/stupid look on his face: 'Bah. I'm married.'
Tow truck driver: 'They don't have time, I'm towing them to Boston!'
Thanks, assholes.
Anyways, I asked them if they could move their car so the tow truck driver could get the car out...they agree to move it, and say AGAIN that we should come to the bar. I just about said Fuck This Shit! and went with them...but let's face it, I'd screw it up for sure and be left all alone in this fucking ghost town. So, I went with Jess. Second tow truck towed the car to a parking lot where first tow truck (flatbed) loaded it on. We jumped in and headed back to Boston with Joey the Rhode Island tow truck driver. Along the way, we were given a hilarious Rhode Island history lesson...Providence used to really suck, till the downtown was spruced up a few years ago. People from Massachussetts apparently suck, because they're all 'big drinkahs'. And he used to be the tow truck king of RI, until AAA came in and took all his business. His AAA hate was quite epic, and funny considering he got the job to drive us back to Boston from....AAA.
After getting lost on the way back (Joey had been there 'a million times', but didn't know how to read street signs), and stopping so Jess could get cash, we finally get back to the building and drop the car off in the parking lot. Jess pays Joey the 150 bucks for the glorified cabride home, and the misadventure is over. Right?
Not a chance.
Jess has no keys to get into the building, or his apartment. And I didn't bring the spare set, cuz Jess said there was no need. Oh, the irony. There's an 'in case of emergency' phone number on the wall, so Jess calls. They route the call to the maintenance lady, who says she'll be right there. In 40 minutes. She lived on the other side of town in Lynn, and had to come all the way over to Watertown to let our stupid asses into the building and apartment at 1am. Then drive 40 minutes home. And she had to be back at work at 6am. Needless to say, she was not a happy man-looking woman when she arrived, but she let us in.
So Jess has spent 210 bucks so far, and he now has a car in the guest parking lot of his building, and no keys to drive it to work in the morning. I have...well, blue balls cuz those broads were hot. And Joey the tow truck driver had 150 bucks and probably got lost on the way back home.
Story over? Nyet.
Wake up in the morning, Jess cabs it to work, and starts calling Honda about making him a new key. It's a fancy key with a chip in it, so it's not cheap. 125 bucks for the key, and 500 for a new immobilizer, to be precise. And it was going to take a WEEK! Since he didn't seem to have a choice, he was gonna go forward with that.
Until his phone rang.
It was his apartment building calling. They received a call from the Union Street Brewery, in Providence, RI. Apparently they found a set of keys, and called the # on the building keycard.
Motherfuckers! We went back to that fucking pub TWICE and asked about them, and they said they didn't fucking have them. Since Jess was at work and he had no car to get back there (obviously!), he sent his trusty hungover friend down there on the commuter rail. Fuck.
Bus to rail station: 30 minutes. Train to Providence: 75 minutes. Time in Providence to retrieve keys: 12 minutes. Train back to Boston: 75 minutes. Bus back to apartment: 30 minutes. Total time? 222 minutes of my life I will never get back.
To make it worse, my ipod died 20 minutes after I left, and there was a Red Sox game that night so coming back was fucking hell. The train was sardine-style, and I had to stand the whole way.
So, it's official. Jess and I HATE Rhode Island. Hate is too mellow of a word. I hope the state dies in a fire. I hope they take it's statedom away and demote it to a county. It's not even a fucking island. What kind of retard lives in a place called an island that's not even an island? Oh yea, the kind of retard that can't see keys sitting right in front of them until the next fucking day. The kind of retard that watches a movie in a fucking parking lot.
In case you missed what I'm trying to say here...Fuck Rhode Island.
I will continue the Boston misadventures in my next blog. They will include...calling the cops, Jess getting high roller drunk, casinos in the middle of nowhere, Fenway hilarity, and much much more. Stay tuned.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
4OTF
I was given the opportunity to write a guest post on an MMA site, www.fourouncestofreedom.com. It's an MMA blog about an aspiring cage fighter, which has recently decided to change their format a bit and cover more mainstream MMA news. It's a part of the Rudius network, which alsos hosts pages like www.tuckermax.com and philalawyer.net. It's a pretty hardcore MMA article, so if you don't follow the sport closely you'll likely have no idea what I'm talking about...but I wouldn't be a good writer if I didn't pimp my work, right?
Anyways, check it out, let me know what you think if you're so inclined.
EDIT - I'm now the full time writer for the site.
http://www.fourouncestofreedom.com/
Anyways, check it out, let me know what you think if you're so inclined.
EDIT - I'm now the full time writer for the site.
http://www.fourouncestofreedom.com/
Thursday, October 16, 2008
DC, part 2
Here we go again.
So I woke up after a blissful yeungling-induced sleep in the comfiest bed ever. It's 9:30am, DC time. I'm super excited to go check out this city...for about 3 seconds, till I realized it's only 6:30 where I'm from.
4 hours later, it was time to see DC!
I took the metro into town, and got off at the stop that looked to be in the middle of the stuff I wanted to check out. Exit metro, go up the stairs...and I guess I was right. I am literally in the middle of eeeverything. To the left is the Washington Monument. To the right is the Capitol. In front of me is the Natural History Museum. Behind me...well, there are some asian tourists that are yelling 'Tayka pickcha! Tayka pickcha!' at each other...they're everywhere, folks.
My guidebook said it was a 2.2 mile 'beautiful grassy expanse' between the monument and the Capitol. The 2.2 miles part was correct. But beautiful grassy expanse? Try massive dustbowl with some semi-dead grassy patches. I haven't seen a lawn that unkempt since I saw these naked Icelandic bitches at www. hairyicela...what, too much info?
Where was I? Oh yea, DC. My first goal was to go to the Natural History Museum in front of me to see some dinosaurs! I figured it would be kind of anticlimactic, since I get to reside with a living, breathing dinosaur...but it was still cool (Just kidding dad!). It's a pretty sweet museum, actually. Some massive dinosaur skeletons, the Hope Diamond, a few other things. I spent an hour or so meandering about, then headed over to the Air and Space Museum. It was gigantic...it holds the capsule from an Apollo space mission, at least 15 full-sized planes from various eras, blah blah. I'm a weirdo though, cuz my favourite part of the whole museum was...the McDonalds.
It was, without a doubt, the biggest Mickey D's I have ever seen in my life. Over 1000 seats. One thousand. No joke. Serves 15,000 people a day. It has like 20 'lanes' where they rifle you through quicker than a fucking gas chamber lineup. Employees SCREAMED at you to keep moving. It was crazily militant, yet absurdly efficient. I can't imagine what they would do if you tried to get picky with your order....'You want extra pickles? Here's your fucking extra pickles!' as the Hamburglar violates you in the pooper and humiliates you in front of everyone. So yea...it was intense. Nice place though. And I have an overactive imagination, apparently.
After that, I walked up to the Capitol (which was pretty awesome), then into another museum, then took the metro back to the monument. It's...a big penis in the sky. Woo. One thing I should note is that every museum in DC is free, which is a bonus. And they're absolutely massive, so there were no lines at all. DC has tourism down to a science...I've never seen such efficiency anywhere else. This was a plus and a minus, though. I had scheduled 4 days to see everything I wanted to check out...after 4 hours though, I had already covered 80% of it. So, after all that efficiency...I figured it was time to get drunk. Duh. This is me we're talking about.
I was gonna go find 2 or 3 of the pubs I had heard so much about, but...I still had 3 days to kill in this place. I figured a nice, relaxing night with a case of beer in a hotel room never hurt anyone. In other words...I did the exact same thing that I did the night before. Yeungling, huge TV, dope hotel room...and Comedy Central. They had a Bob Saget roast on, and I nearly died laughing. It was awesome. It was so funny, I watched it twice. The 2nd time was actually funnier cuz I was drunk and forgot half of the first viewing...go Tim.
***Side note - Barack Obama just said something hilarious on CNN, and I wanna share it with you:
'My greatest strength? My humility. My greatest weakness? I might just be too awesome.' ***
Aaaand we're back.
So after Saget and Stamos were verbally raped, I was just watching random comedy stuff and chillin...till I heard what might be the funniest line I've ever endured. It's totally retarded, and you might not find it that funny at all...but after 12 yeunglings (times 2!) it was incredible. Here goes:
'I don't date girls from China. Why? Cuz that's a huge red flag!!'
'And I'm racist.'
Funny? Yes? No? I laughed again as I typed it, so it's funny. It's my blog, dammit.
Ooookay. So I watched some Hannah Montana for a while, then passed out. Don't tread on me, that show is funny. After another retardedly comfy sleep, I had to check out of my dope hotel and go check into another. When I originally planned the trip, I had planned on DC for 2 days, and Baltimore for 2. When I found out Baltimore was Compton-like, I changed it up. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a good deal at hotelopia anymore, so I ended up at a Radisson a couple of miles away, in Crystal City.
After checking out the Pentagon for a bit, I checked out the hood around the new hotel. Down the street was a little shopping center, with these establishments, in order from left to right:
Thai Restaurant. Check cashing place. Strip Club. 7/11.
I have never, ever seen a strip club directly next door to a 7/11 before. Naturally, I had to go in and see what 7/11 strippers look like, right? Hell no. 20 dollar cover at 2pm on a monday kinda killed that idea. Bullshit. So I went to a sports pub for shitty service and expensive beer. 15 minutes to get acknowledged...and there were maybe 7 other people in the bar. Needless to say, I didn't last long. Crystal city so far was...odd. I was fed up with Virginia for the moment, so I took the metro back to DC and went to find a bar I had been told about. It's called the Brickskeller.
The Brickskeller is heaven for beer drinkers. They sell 1000 different beers. 1000. A different one for every seat in the museum McDonalds. They hand you a binder/menu, and you choose. It was epic. I tried a few different types...some good, some not so good. After a few hours it started to get busy, so I headed out and went to check out the Foggy Bottom area. Went to a couple of other bars, nothing too special. Headed back to Crystal City early, got beer from the Gentleman's 7/11, ordered pizza, and bet on approximately 12 baseball games. Drank said beer, lost 10 of the 12 fucking bets, and passed out on the uncomfy adjustable bed. Fucking Mets.
Last day in DC. I was gonna head to Baltimore for the day, but I was incredibly lazy, and taking the train seemed too complicated. Looking back, it was retarded...I totally should have gone up there...but I had ZERO motivation that day for some reason. I dragged my ass back to the sports pub up the street reluctantly, but received a completely different reception. A ridiculously hot waitress served me right away, the food was awesome, and she even came back and sat with me and bullshitted for a while. She gave me a free Stella too, cuz 'Canadians are awesome'. Because I'm so witty and charming, my responses to her questions usually involved drool, grunting, and staring at her tits...but I'm sure she's used to this kinda thing. And I repped the country like a fucking hero. I stood on guard for thee. By thee, I mean her boobs.
After all that hard work...I went and took a nap. I still hadn't seen the White House and I was leaving at 10am the next day...but I had zero desire to be a tourist that day. My hotel had a bar, so I went down there and watched some baseball for a while...before I knew it, it was midnight and I was unsober. 7/11, more comedy central and Hannah Montana...yea, it was a complete waste of a day. And don't hate on Miley, she's witty. Like me!
In the morning, I learned a new traveling lesson.
Lesson 454, Subsection B, part IV: It might seem cool to charge your drinks to your room at the hotel bar, but you quickly lose track of the numero of the cervezas that you...uh, drinko. The 90 dollar bill that awaited my checkout was not exactly awesome, considering a case of beer was 7 dollars across the street. Again...Go Tim.
Anyways, I headed out on the metro to check out the White House before I headed up to the airport. I got there and...it's the White House. You can't really get anywhere near it. The guards are cranky. There are weirdos all over the place, even at 7am on a wednesday. Go figure. So, onto the airport, then...
Next stop....Boston!
So I woke up after a blissful yeungling-induced sleep in the comfiest bed ever. It's 9:30am, DC time. I'm super excited to go check out this city...for about 3 seconds, till I realized it's only 6:30 where I'm from.
4 hours later, it was time to see DC!
I took the metro into town, and got off at the stop that looked to be in the middle of the stuff I wanted to check out. Exit metro, go up the stairs...and I guess I was right. I am literally in the middle of eeeverything. To the left is the Washington Monument. To the right is the Capitol. In front of me is the Natural History Museum. Behind me...well, there are some asian tourists that are yelling 'Tayka pickcha! Tayka pickcha!' at each other...they're everywhere, folks.
My guidebook said it was a 2.2 mile 'beautiful grassy expanse' between the monument and the Capitol. The 2.2 miles part was correct. But beautiful grassy expanse? Try massive dustbowl with some semi-dead grassy patches. I haven't seen a lawn that unkempt since I saw these naked Icelandic bitches at www. hairyicela...what, too much info?
Where was I? Oh yea, DC. My first goal was to go to the Natural History Museum in front of me to see some dinosaurs! I figured it would be kind of anticlimactic, since I get to reside with a living, breathing dinosaur...but it was still cool (Just kidding dad!). It's a pretty sweet museum, actually. Some massive dinosaur skeletons, the Hope Diamond, a few other things. I spent an hour or so meandering about, then headed over to the Air and Space Museum. It was gigantic...it holds the capsule from an Apollo space mission, at least 15 full-sized planes from various eras, blah blah. I'm a weirdo though, cuz my favourite part of the whole museum was...the McDonalds.
It was, without a doubt, the biggest Mickey D's I have ever seen in my life. Over 1000 seats. One thousand. No joke. Serves 15,000 people a day. It has like 20 'lanes' where they rifle you through quicker than a fucking gas chamber lineup. Employees SCREAMED at you to keep moving. It was crazily militant, yet absurdly efficient. I can't imagine what they would do if you tried to get picky with your order....'You want extra pickles? Here's your fucking extra pickles!' as the Hamburglar violates you in the pooper and humiliates you in front of everyone. So yea...it was intense. Nice place though. And I have an overactive imagination, apparently.
After that, I walked up to the Capitol (which was pretty awesome), then into another museum, then took the metro back to the monument. It's...a big penis in the sky. Woo. One thing I should note is that every museum in DC is free, which is a bonus. And they're absolutely massive, so there were no lines at all. DC has tourism down to a science...I've never seen such efficiency anywhere else. This was a plus and a minus, though. I had scheduled 4 days to see everything I wanted to check out...after 4 hours though, I had already covered 80% of it. So, after all that efficiency...I figured it was time to get drunk. Duh. This is me we're talking about.
I was gonna go find 2 or 3 of the pubs I had heard so much about, but...I still had 3 days to kill in this place. I figured a nice, relaxing night with a case of beer in a hotel room never hurt anyone. In other words...I did the exact same thing that I did the night before. Yeungling, huge TV, dope hotel room...and Comedy Central. They had a Bob Saget roast on, and I nearly died laughing. It was awesome. It was so funny, I watched it twice. The 2nd time was actually funnier cuz I was drunk and forgot half of the first viewing...go Tim.
***Side note - Barack Obama just said something hilarious on CNN, and I wanna share it with you:
'My greatest strength? My humility. My greatest weakness? I might just be too awesome.' ***
Aaaand we're back.
So after Saget and Stamos were verbally raped, I was just watching random comedy stuff and chillin...till I heard what might be the funniest line I've ever endured. It's totally retarded, and you might not find it that funny at all...but after 12 yeunglings (times 2!) it was incredible. Here goes:
'I don't date girls from China. Why? Cuz that's a huge red flag!!'
'And I'm racist.'
Funny? Yes? No? I laughed again as I typed it, so it's funny. It's my blog, dammit.
Ooookay. So I watched some Hannah Montana for a while, then passed out. Don't tread on me, that show is funny. After another retardedly comfy sleep, I had to check out of my dope hotel and go check into another. When I originally planned the trip, I had planned on DC for 2 days, and Baltimore for 2. When I found out Baltimore was Compton-like, I changed it up. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a good deal at hotelopia anymore, so I ended up at a Radisson a couple of miles away, in Crystal City.
After checking out the Pentagon for a bit, I checked out the hood around the new hotel. Down the street was a little shopping center, with these establishments, in order from left to right:
Thai Restaurant. Check cashing place. Strip Club. 7/11.
I have never, ever seen a strip club directly next door to a 7/11 before. Naturally, I had to go in and see what 7/11 strippers look like, right? Hell no. 20 dollar cover at 2pm on a monday kinda killed that idea. Bullshit. So I went to a sports pub for shitty service and expensive beer. 15 minutes to get acknowledged...and there were maybe 7 other people in the bar. Needless to say, I didn't last long. Crystal city so far was...odd. I was fed up with Virginia for the moment, so I took the metro back to DC and went to find a bar I had been told about. It's called the Brickskeller.
The Brickskeller is heaven for beer drinkers. They sell 1000 different beers. 1000. A different one for every seat in the museum McDonalds. They hand you a binder/menu, and you choose. It was epic. I tried a few different types...some good, some not so good. After a few hours it started to get busy, so I headed out and went to check out the Foggy Bottom area. Went to a couple of other bars, nothing too special. Headed back to Crystal City early, got beer from the Gentleman's 7/11, ordered pizza, and bet on approximately 12 baseball games. Drank said beer, lost 10 of the 12 fucking bets, and passed out on the uncomfy adjustable bed. Fucking Mets.
Last day in DC. I was gonna head to Baltimore for the day, but I was incredibly lazy, and taking the train seemed too complicated. Looking back, it was retarded...I totally should have gone up there...but I had ZERO motivation that day for some reason. I dragged my ass back to the sports pub up the street reluctantly, but received a completely different reception. A ridiculously hot waitress served me right away, the food was awesome, and she even came back and sat with me and bullshitted for a while. She gave me a free Stella too, cuz 'Canadians are awesome'. Because I'm so witty and charming, my responses to her questions usually involved drool, grunting, and staring at her tits...but I'm sure she's used to this kinda thing. And I repped the country like a fucking hero. I stood on guard for thee. By thee, I mean her boobs.
After all that hard work...I went and took a nap. I still hadn't seen the White House and I was leaving at 10am the next day...but I had zero desire to be a tourist that day. My hotel had a bar, so I went down there and watched some baseball for a while...before I knew it, it was midnight and I was unsober. 7/11, more comedy central and Hannah Montana...yea, it was a complete waste of a day. And don't hate on Miley, she's witty. Like me!
In the morning, I learned a new traveling lesson.
Lesson 454, Subsection B, part IV: It might seem cool to charge your drinks to your room at the hotel bar, but you quickly lose track of the numero of the cervezas that you...uh, drinko. The 90 dollar bill that awaited my checkout was not exactly awesome, considering a case of beer was 7 dollars across the street. Again...Go Tim.
Anyways, I headed out on the metro to check out the White House before I headed up to the airport. I got there and...it's the White House. You can't really get anywhere near it. The guards are cranky. There are weirdos all over the place, even at 7am on a wednesday. Go figure. So, onto the airport, then...
Next stop....Boston!
Saturday, September 20, 2008
D to the C!
Terrible title. I'm white, I should know better. This is gonna be short too. Anyways, for those of you that didn't know, your fearless fatty decided he needed to go somewhere over the summer...and he decided upon Washington, DC and Boston. Boston should be obvious to anyone that knows me...Jess got a killer job there, and had an even more killer place to stay...so I just had to check that out. DC was sorta decided for me....see, a direct flight to Boston was 540 bucks, even outta Seattle. My brilliant research found me a flight that went Seattle-DC-Boston-Vancouver for 419 bucks. Kinda hard to turn down, right? Exactly.
As a warning to the newbies...I change tenses a lot, from past to present to past, seemingly at random. Learn to love it...it's part of my charm.
So...I'm not gonna lie to my loyal readers...DC's rep scared me. I'm gonna be real wit y'all, yaknowwhatimsayin? I've heard the crime rate there was through the roof, and it wasn't at all safe. I'd like to let everyone know the truth about Washington DC, and I hope you tell anyone that might be considering a trip. There is NOTHING to be scared of. I was amazed. The subway is incredibly safe...every tourist monument is beyond safe...even the nightspots are super-safe. You have absolutely nothing to worry about. Don't buy into the hype like I did.
So...you're not gonna get killed in DC, we got that covered. However, people...you might fucking die of boredom.
************
Some of my trips start with a bang, some with a whimper. This one was on the whimper side. My bus was 2 hours late getting to Seattle (as usual), so I checked into my hotel right around dusk. I wasn't gonna sit there all night being something stupid like sober, so I walked up to the gas station for sweet Miller Lites and gross food...after a beer at the Bull Pen Pub baby! Go back and read about the last hockey trip...we have history there. I asked...they didn't have Milo's jacket.
After that I returned to schedule, grabbed the necessities at the gas station, and ventured back to the hotel. And also managed to pick up a creepy black dude tailing me on the way home. The road wasn't exactly well-lit, so I had 3 choices...run like a girl, turn around and ask him why he was following me, or...run like a girl. Despite my better judgement (and cuz I run slower than wet cement), I just stopped dead, turned around, and stared at Jerome.
He immediately crossed the street. Being huge rules sometimes!
Back at the hotel, I drank my 6 Miller Lites (and 2 tall cans...full disclosure), and passed the fuck out. 6:49am flights suuuuck.
Get up, get out, get rollin...first flight is dope. Land and connect in Minneapolis, MN. Jess says it doesn't count as a new state if you don't leave the airport. I want to agree...but I also wanna tell people I've been to Minnesota. Readers, I could use your imput here. All 3 of you. Except you Juhl...no one cares what you think.
Burn!
Anyways, I landed in Baltimore around 4pm, and arranged the SuperShuttle to my hotel in Arlington. 55 miles away. And 47 dollars. I'm dumb for showing up on a weekend, cuz the commuter train is 7 dollars...but it don't run on saturdays. Go fatty. Anyways, I get on my nice comfy SuperShuttle...and so do 9 other women, all over 40. NINE of them. Holy awkward. They discuss menopause and all go AWW in unison at weddings we drive by and do many other annoying fucking things...till I finally get to my hotel, 2 hours later. Yes, two. I did see many embassies on the way though, so it's not all bad. So now, I'm in Arlington, Virginia. My hotel room is nicer than 2 outta the 3 apartments I've lived in. 700 sq ft, kitchen, 45 inch HDTV on a stand that turns between the couch and the bed...I hate to sound like a 13 year old girl here, but OMG it was totally cool. Normal price? 200 a night. Tim's magical internet research price? 63 bucks. Hells yeah, bitches. Travel agents ain't got shit on me. Word. Sorry, just reppin the DC lingo, ya heard?
Okay, so where was I? Oh yea...so what kinda exciting shit did I get up to that night? It's Tim, he obviously offended jews and got his dreidel kicked, or thought the "sistas" would love him and ended up "broke and violated". Right?
Nyet.
I bought a case of Yuengling, bet on baseball, and chiiilled. Side note...Yuengling? Not a Chinese beer. Microbrewery, from Philly. I've heard about this shit for years, and always thought it was chinastyle. Nope. Pennsylvania. I feel dumb now. Good shit though.
Back to your regularly-scheduled programming.
So, I'm half drunk, watchin Jeopardy...cuz it validates my brilliance. Last category is "Hip hop" and Alex actually reads out "classic" lyrics like "It's like this and like that and uhhh" and "It's Hot in Herre"...don't tell me thats not funny. Best part?
"The final jeopardy category for our PLAYYYERS!"
Fuck you, you had to be there. It ruled.
This is long enough and I'm outta booze and entertainment, so I'll continue with the rest of DC tomorrow.
As a warning to the newbies...I change tenses a lot, from past to present to past, seemingly at random. Learn to love it...it's part of my charm.
So...I'm not gonna lie to my loyal readers...DC's rep scared me. I'm gonna be real wit y'all, yaknowwhatimsayin? I've heard the crime rate there was through the roof, and it wasn't at all safe. I'd like to let everyone know the truth about Washington DC, and I hope you tell anyone that might be considering a trip. There is NOTHING to be scared of. I was amazed. The subway is incredibly safe...every tourist monument is beyond safe...even the nightspots are super-safe. You have absolutely nothing to worry about. Don't buy into the hype like I did.
So...you're not gonna get killed in DC, we got that covered. However, people...you might fucking die of boredom.
************
Some of my trips start with a bang, some with a whimper. This one was on the whimper side. My bus was 2 hours late getting to Seattle (as usual), so I checked into my hotel right around dusk. I wasn't gonna sit there all night being something stupid like sober, so I walked up to the gas station for sweet Miller Lites and gross food...after a beer at the Bull Pen Pub baby! Go back and read about the last hockey trip...we have history there. I asked...they didn't have Milo's jacket.
After that I returned to schedule, grabbed the necessities at the gas station, and ventured back to the hotel. And also managed to pick up a creepy black dude tailing me on the way home. The road wasn't exactly well-lit, so I had 3 choices...run like a girl, turn around and ask him why he was following me, or...run like a girl. Despite my better judgement (and cuz I run slower than wet cement), I just stopped dead, turned around, and stared at Jerome.
He immediately crossed the street. Being huge rules sometimes!
Back at the hotel, I drank my 6 Miller Lites (and 2 tall cans...full disclosure), and passed the fuck out. 6:49am flights suuuuck.
Get up, get out, get rollin...first flight is dope. Land and connect in Minneapolis, MN. Jess says it doesn't count as a new state if you don't leave the airport. I want to agree...but I also wanna tell people I've been to Minnesota. Readers, I could use your imput here. All 3 of you. Except you Juhl...no one cares what you think.
Burn!
Anyways, I landed in Baltimore around 4pm, and arranged the SuperShuttle to my hotel in Arlington. 55 miles away. And 47 dollars. I'm dumb for showing up on a weekend, cuz the commuter train is 7 dollars...but it don't run on saturdays. Go fatty. Anyways, I get on my nice comfy SuperShuttle...and so do 9 other women, all over 40. NINE of them. Holy awkward. They discuss menopause and all go AWW in unison at weddings we drive by and do many other annoying fucking things...till I finally get to my hotel, 2 hours later. Yes, two. I did see many embassies on the way though, so it's not all bad. So now, I'm in Arlington, Virginia. My hotel room is nicer than 2 outta the 3 apartments I've lived in. 700 sq ft, kitchen, 45 inch HDTV on a stand that turns between the couch and the bed...I hate to sound like a 13 year old girl here, but OMG it was totally cool. Normal price? 200 a night. Tim's magical internet research price? 63 bucks. Hells yeah, bitches. Travel agents ain't got shit on me. Word. Sorry, just reppin the DC lingo, ya heard?
Okay, so where was I? Oh yea...so what kinda exciting shit did I get up to that night? It's Tim, he obviously offended jews and got his dreidel kicked, or thought the "sistas" would love him and ended up "broke and violated". Right?
Nyet.
I bought a case of Yuengling, bet on baseball, and chiiilled. Side note...Yuengling? Not a Chinese beer. Microbrewery, from Philly. I've heard about this shit for years, and always thought it was chinastyle. Nope. Pennsylvania. I feel dumb now. Good shit though.
Back to your regularly-scheduled programming.
So, I'm half drunk, watchin Jeopardy...cuz it validates my brilliance. Last category is "Hip hop" and Alex actually reads out "classic" lyrics like "It's like this and like that and uhhh" and "It's Hot in Herre"...don't tell me thats not funny. Best part?
"The final jeopardy category for our PLAYYYERS!"
Fuck you, you had to be there. It ruled.
This is long enough and I'm outta booze and entertainment, so I'll continue with the rest of DC tomorrow.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Bus Stories
I'm all out of trip stories until I get back from Boston, and I'm in a writing mood for some reason...so I thought I'd just write about a couple of my bus misadventures over the last few months. Most of the weird shit that happens to me either happens in another city, or on a trip to/from work on public transit. For those that disagree with this...waking up on the living room floor is not "weird" to me anymore. I've accepted this as an every-weekend thing, and you should too dammit.
Bobblebody
So I'm sitting there on the bus minding my own business, listening to something lame on my ipod most likely (go Shedaisy!)...and I notice the guy beside me is...swaying. He's standing up, holding onto the pole...and he's sorta leaning back and forth with the motions of the bus in an extremely over the top kinda way. At first I think he's faking it, trying to entertain someone...but then I actually look at his face. This mofo is asleep. Standing up. Holding onto the pole, and flopping around like an ugly hippie salmon. This is kinda funny, but not overly unusual for public transit...so I go back to doing my crossword. A minute or so later...
CLUNK. I feel like I just got hit on the dome with a frying pan.
After the initial OWWWWWTF!!, I look up to see ballet-hippie saying something to me...yup, he's apologizing. This douchebag...no, motherfucker...no, something meaner! was fucking swaying away, and he leaned over far enough to fucking headbutt me! At first I just rubbed my head in amazement, but I got mad reaaaaally quickly.
Dipshit: "Dude, I'm so sor-!"
Me: "What the fuck is that matter with you?"
Dipshit: "I'm really sorry man. I guess I fell asleep, and when the bus turned the corner..."
Me: "Are you fucking retarded? You ever heard of staying awake when you're standing up? I can't believe I just said that to another human being!"
Dipshit: "I'm sorry man, I've been up since early, and I just can't stay awake, and..."
Me: "RED BULL, ASSHOLE. Try it, I did. Everyone on here got up early to go to work too, you don't see them swaying around like they're autistic!"
Dipshit: Dude, I'm sorry, I..."
Me: "Get the fuck away from me. GO. NOW! *pointing at the back of the bus* NOW! And get a fucking helmet."
I stood up, and he realized I was muuuch bigger than him. He practically ran to the back.
My head hurt for a long time. Bastard. There is a slightly more humorous part to this though...it occured a couple of weeks later. Bobblebody got on a few stops after I did, and the only seat left on the bus was, coincidentally, beside me. He came down the aisle, and halfass-attempted to sit...I just said "Don't even fucking think about it retard"...and as quickly as he attempted to sit, he got right back up and went to the back of the bus. Didn't say anything, didn't look at me, nuthin. I OWN THIS PANSY. I think the best part was, a few stops later, he did manage to get a seat...I looked back, and he was swaying away in the aisle, his whole upper body bobbing back and forth. The fucking idiot couldn't even sleep right while he was SITTING DOWN. Hippies these days.
Lucky Lager Bad!
Every couple of weeks, my boss is nice enough to grab some beer for us to drink at the end of our shift on fridays. Kam (other tracer) is, as my boss puts it, a "high maintenance brown guy", so he always wants MGD...he doesn't like anything else. Sometimes my boss obliges, other times he gets shitty beer just to mess with him...cuz he knows I'll drink anything. This particular week, he grabbed Lucky Lager.
If you don't know what Lucky is...well, I'll try to describe it with as much racial sensibility as possible. Basically, it's what the First Nations people in BC primarily drink....so much, that it's become associated to them. It's "native beer". It's not terrible or anything, it's just...well, cheaper than most beers. I'm just gonna lay it out here...if you drink Lucky, it's pretty much assumed that you have a drinking problem. Sorry Two Buffalos, paleface say Lucky bad...I apologize for my people. I like your beer...that's all that matters, right?
Please don't kill me.
Anyways, Kam attempted to drink one, but couldn't even get halfway though it. That left the whole case for me and my boss. After a few, I had to run and catch the (early) bus, so my boss gave me "one for the road". I arrived at the bus stop, and there was absolutely no one around...so I thought I'd crack the beer and finish it quickly before the bus came. I don't normally take this bus, but it was pretty early so I figured not many people frequented it. Yes, I was in public, and yes the bus stop is on a busy street...but there's no sidewalk, so foot traffic is rare. And cars whipping by at 70 kph aren't going "Hey, fatty's got a Lucky!" Well, unless their last name has an animal in it...anyways, that's a whole other story.
So there I am, enjoying my (ghetto) beer...when 6 people just show up outta NOWHERE. They must have been hiding behind the tree or something, cuz they seriously appeared outta thin air. Suddenly, I had 6 witnesses to my bus stop Lucky. And none were giving me an approving look. 'A unanimous look of disgust' would cover it, actually. David Blaine and his friends just show up outta nowhere and ruin my serenity. I need to pay more attention, apparently.
The best part was...2 of the guys were native.
"I think that's a Lucky!" one said to the other, loud enough for me to hear.
I actually laughed at that. What are the chances? To top it off, there's no garbage can at the bus stop....so after I shotgunned the thing, I couldn't even get rid of the evidence. I had to put the bottle into my backpack, which got me a few more choice stares.
Yea, I don't take the early bus anymore...even if I get off early. I wait. As long as it takes. Across the street, behind a building...so they can't see me. That, and so I can enjoy my Lucky in peace dammit.
That'll do, donkey.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Reno/Cali with 2 bitches, part 2
Yea, I took way too long to write the finale of this thing. So long that I might forget details of it, which would suck. Well, I have Old milwaukee and Lady Gaga to help me remember...so, let's roll bitches. If any of you have a problem with my tardiness:
I thought so.
3 hours sleep isn't much fun. Instead of sleeping till 3 minutes before checkout like normal people, we were up at the crack of 9am. I blame Jess, although I'm not sure why. After lollygagging for a while, we went to grab the rental vehicle...and they upgraded us to an SUV. Sweet...or so we thought. Something was wrong with it, but we couldn't figure out what for a while. It kept lurching to the left for no particular reason. Not exactly fun when you're driving through the Sierra Nevadas.
We stopped for gas after an hour or so, and they sold some odd energy drink I've never had before. Jess and I bought one each, and started reading the label after our purchase. It actually said on the bottle that the thing could kill us...somethin about heart attacks and fat people. I was impressed. I shotgunned mine, cuz that's what the cool kids do, and got a pretty scary buzz off of it. Jess got high too and decided the vehicle lurch was fun to tease Jim and I with. So...my heart is on overdrive, I'm nervous and twitchy....and Jess is laughing and trying to kill us. I'd like to say that's abnormal for us...but sadly, it's not.
I shoulda taken the fucking bus. If I'm gonna die, I wanna do it with a beer in my hand at least...not the Oh Shit Bar of a Hyundai Eggroll. Or whatever they're called. Luckily though, my homie Karma was along for the ride...
Once the vehicle (and my heartbeat) levelled out a bit, it was smooth sailing to Rogers. We didn't actually know his address, and his development was so new it wasn't even on the map yet...but our educated guess worked out pretty damn well and we only missed by 2 blocks.
*SIDE NOTE*
An 18 year old girl just called me "dollface". On the internet. Sadly, this was the highlight of my night.
*TANGENT BITTERLY OVER*
Anyways, the rest of the day was pretty lax. We just chilled and got re-acquainted with Roger and Marg and the world's 2nd coolest dog, Pepe. Jess, however, wasn't feeling so hot. Apparently his energy drink took a little while longer than mine to kick in...cuz he thought he was having a heart attack for a while. Who knew heart attacks could be so funny?
On the way back from a beer run, Jess mentioned that very few people in his neighbourhood took care of their lawns. Roger's response caught me off guard:
"Um, that's cuz no one lives in most of them. A lot of them were foreclosed upon".
I hadn't even considered that till he said it. Apparently the whole area was pretty hard-hit by the mortgage crisis. Reason 452725871 I'm glad to be Canadian.
After a nice relaxing day of beer (Natty Light, bitches!) and a night on the world's comfiest couch, it was onto to San Fran the next day. The plan was to check out the city for the day, and go sailing the next morning. I had been to San Fran once before, but it was in November. After 10 minutes there, I remembered why I travel in the fall...there were people everywhere. We had to wait like 45 minutes for a cable car in hurricane-style winds. After wandering around for a while, we went to the top of the Marriott (the 4574th floor or some shit), and had a couple of beers. The view was pretty good and all, but I wasn't going anywhere near the window. Tim + heights = poopy pants, remember?
Onto dinner we go. We went to a nice seafood restaurant down on the water on the other side of the bridge. Normally dinner wouldn't be worth mentioning, but....this one definitely was. I don't even remember what Roger or I had, but Jess and Jim had clams, this I do remember. Onto the hotel...Jess and I were hyped about game 6 of the Sharks/Stars series, but we couldn't get it on the TV in the hotel. We streamed it on his laptop for the first period, but that got old quick...so we went to a bar across the street to check it out. We were an hour from San Jose, and I was wearing my Stars jersey. I wasn't expecting anyone to actually care, but the hate I received in the bar was almost heartwarming.
Oh yea, Jim stayed behind in the hotel...he wasn't feeling so good. Can I get foreshadowng for 1600, Alex?
4 of the first 5 games in the series had gone to overtime...and this one was no different. OT started at 10pm...Nabokov made an unreal save to keep the Sharks in it in the first OT. Onto the 2nd...and the 3rd....and the 4th!?! It was well past midnight when the Stars FINALLY finished the Sharks off. It was awesome. The bar wasn't too happy, but it was a helluva good game and a lot of fun to watch. Oh, and I don't think we were too sober.
So we wobble back to the hotel and settle down for the night. There were only 2 beds in the room, and 4 of us, and we're not the cuddly types...so I slept on the floor by the patio door, and Jess slept on the floor near the bathroom. After a couple of hours, I awoke to a strange gurgling noise. I brushed it off as my imagination, but then I heard it again....coming from above me. I sat up and looked at Jim...he was still asleep (I think) on his back...gurgling. Mount McCock was about to erupt. He finally woke up, sat up, and raced to the bathroom.
And kicked Jess on the way. Glad I slept near the door.
Magically Jess woke up, and we all got to listen to Jim fucking UNLOAD on the bathroom. He didn't make it near the toilet...he just lit up the whole room. Over and over. Finally, mercifully, he stopped. There was no noise for a minute or so....till Roger (who we thought slept through the whole thing) made a super loud puking noise.
Luckily for us, he was kidding. But it was damn funny.
Jim emerged from the shitter after 15 minutes or so, fully defeated. It was epic. I hadn't laughed that hard in a while. Fuck, I'm laughing about the look on his face right now, and this happened 3 months ago. I know it's kinda cold to laugh about...I guess you had to be there. Jess was laughing too. Does that make it better?
The best part of it all? So, the guy's got food poisoning from seafood...he feels terrible, he smells terrible, and he doesn't wanna move. What was on tap for the day, you ask?
Yup...SAILING! On the Ocean! Where it smells like seafood!
We drove down to the dock and got aboard the boat. It was 30-somethin feet long, with a cabin below. And it had sails n stuff. That's the best I can do to explain it. I know more about menstruation than I do about sailing, okay? (screw you, I had sisters that wouldn't shut up about it!). Here's me looking studly (yet clueless):
Jim's beached on a bunk below deck moaning in his sleep:
and Jess....well, Jess is dumb.
So...Roger pretty much had to do all of this himself. Okay, here's proof this Roger person I keep talking about actually exists...and that I like Pacifico:
As we got on the boat, he told us that it was super windy today, and "probably not safe to sail" and that "a boat sunk yesterday". Suuuure Roger...you're just trying to scare us...we're not gonna fall for that. Yea...till we saw this about 15 minutes into the trip:
Yes...that's actually a sunken boat. That wasn't scary at all. Honest.
The plan was to sail to Alcatraz, under the Golden Gate Bridge, and around the bay for awhile before we headed back. The wind was so crazy, we only made it as far as Alcatraz. Everytime we attempted to go towards the bridge, we...ended up back next to Alcatraz. This happened at least 10 times. I know now Alcatraz Island like the back of my hand.
In 6 hours of sailing, I managed to:
1. Drink 12+ Pacificos.
2. Almost get thrown overboard many times.
3. Get stuck underneath the steering wheel.
4. Make us do some really fast standing circles while I was wedged under said wheel.
5. Get a killer sunburn.
6. Pee all over everywhere when Roger thought it'd be funny to lurch the boat back and forth while I was doin my bizznass in the can.
7. Blow an airhorn inside the cabin where Jim WAS peacefully sleeping.
8. See a boathouse turned into the Taj Mahal on water.
I can't believe we survived the trip. All I can say is...sailing fucking rules. Seriously people, if you ever get the chance you should try it. Especially if you have Roger with you, cuz he knows what he's doing or something. If it wasn't for him, the other 2 would have had to use me as a floatation device and I'd be under the protection of Greenpeace right now. Thanks Roger!
After all that fun, we headed back to Sacramento and chilled out for the night. More Natty Light, and a great dinner. Jim and I had a super early flight, and Roger was once again nice enough to drive us to the airport. After an easy 2 hour flight...I had to go to work. Joyous.
EPILOGUE - For those of you that don't know, Jess and Jamie got married August 2nd. Roger and Marg came up to attend the wedding, and it was decided that the Sacramento trip should become an annual tradition. I'm only too happy to oblige. If Roger and Marg are willing to put up with our stupid asses once a year, I will do my best to try and make Jim throw up for as many years in a row as possible. Once again Roger and Marg, thank you for the hospitality...it was (and will be) much appreciated.
Jess has now moved to Boston for a kickass job. Normally it's a bad thing when one of your best friends moves across the country, but for me it's actually awesome. I now have a place to stay in one of the coolest cities on Earth, he's 5 hours closer to Iceland, and we WILL go to the moon! He's in Belize right now with Jamie. I hate him.
I'm going to Washington DC, Baltimore, and Boston in 2 weeks. Blogs will follow, if I survive the trip. DC has a bar with 1000 beers, Baltimore is "urban", and Jess and I are gonna drink New England to it's knees. You do the math.
I thought so.
3 hours sleep isn't much fun. Instead of sleeping till 3 minutes before checkout like normal people, we were up at the crack of 9am. I blame Jess, although I'm not sure why. After lollygagging for a while, we went to grab the rental vehicle...and they upgraded us to an SUV. Sweet...or so we thought. Something was wrong with it, but we couldn't figure out what for a while. It kept lurching to the left for no particular reason. Not exactly fun when you're driving through the Sierra Nevadas.
We stopped for gas after an hour or so, and they sold some odd energy drink I've never had before. Jess and I bought one each, and started reading the label after our purchase. It actually said on the bottle that the thing could kill us...somethin about heart attacks and fat people. I was impressed. I shotgunned mine, cuz that's what the cool kids do, and got a pretty scary buzz off of it. Jess got high too and decided the vehicle lurch was fun to tease Jim and I with. So...my heart is on overdrive, I'm nervous and twitchy....and Jess is laughing and trying to kill us. I'd like to say that's abnormal for us...but sadly, it's not.
I shoulda taken the fucking bus. If I'm gonna die, I wanna do it with a beer in my hand at least...not the Oh Shit Bar of a Hyundai Eggroll. Or whatever they're called. Luckily though, my homie Karma was along for the ride...
Once the vehicle (and my heartbeat) levelled out a bit, it was smooth sailing to Rogers. We didn't actually know his address, and his development was so new it wasn't even on the map yet...but our educated guess worked out pretty damn well and we only missed by 2 blocks.
*SIDE NOTE*
An 18 year old girl just called me "dollface". On the internet. Sadly, this was the highlight of my night.
*TANGENT BITTERLY OVER*
Anyways, the rest of the day was pretty lax. We just chilled and got re-acquainted with Roger and Marg and the world's 2nd coolest dog, Pepe. Jess, however, wasn't feeling so hot. Apparently his energy drink took a little while longer than mine to kick in...cuz he thought he was having a heart attack for a while. Who knew heart attacks could be so funny?
On the way back from a beer run, Jess mentioned that very few people in his neighbourhood took care of their lawns. Roger's response caught me off guard:
"Um, that's cuz no one lives in most of them. A lot of them were foreclosed upon".
I hadn't even considered that till he said it. Apparently the whole area was pretty hard-hit by the mortgage crisis. Reason 452725871 I'm glad to be Canadian.
After a nice relaxing day of beer (Natty Light, bitches!) and a night on the world's comfiest couch, it was onto to San Fran the next day. The plan was to check out the city for the day, and go sailing the next morning. I had been to San Fran once before, but it was in November. After 10 minutes there, I remembered why I travel in the fall...there were people everywhere. We had to wait like 45 minutes for a cable car in hurricane-style winds. After wandering around for a while, we went to the top of the Marriott (the 4574th floor or some shit), and had a couple of beers. The view was pretty good and all, but I wasn't going anywhere near the window. Tim + heights = poopy pants, remember?
Onto dinner we go. We went to a nice seafood restaurant down on the water on the other side of the bridge. Normally dinner wouldn't be worth mentioning, but....this one definitely was. I don't even remember what Roger or I had, but Jess and Jim had clams, this I do remember. Onto the hotel...Jess and I were hyped about game 6 of the Sharks/Stars series, but we couldn't get it on the TV in the hotel. We streamed it on his laptop for the first period, but that got old quick...so we went to a bar across the street to check it out. We were an hour from San Jose, and I was wearing my Stars jersey. I wasn't expecting anyone to actually care, but the hate I received in the bar was almost heartwarming.
Oh yea, Jim stayed behind in the hotel...he wasn't feeling so good. Can I get foreshadowng for 1600, Alex?
4 of the first 5 games in the series had gone to overtime...and this one was no different. OT started at 10pm...Nabokov made an unreal save to keep the Sharks in it in the first OT. Onto the 2nd...and the 3rd....and the 4th!?! It was well past midnight when the Stars FINALLY finished the Sharks off. It was awesome. The bar wasn't too happy, but it was a helluva good game and a lot of fun to watch. Oh, and I don't think we were too sober.
So we wobble back to the hotel and settle down for the night. There were only 2 beds in the room, and 4 of us, and we're not the cuddly types...so I slept on the floor by the patio door, and Jess slept on the floor near the bathroom. After a couple of hours, I awoke to a strange gurgling noise. I brushed it off as my imagination, but then I heard it again....coming from above me. I sat up and looked at Jim...he was still asleep (I think) on his back...gurgling. Mount McCock was about to erupt. He finally woke up, sat up, and raced to the bathroom.
And kicked Jess on the way. Glad I slept near the door.
Magically Jess woke up, and we all got to listen to Jim fucking UNLOAD on the bathroom. He didn't make it near the toilet...he just lit up the whole room. Over and over. Finally, mercifully, he stopped. There was no noise for a minute or so....till Roger (who we thought slept through the whole thing) made a super loud puking noise.
Luckily for us, he was kidding. But it was damn funny.
Jim emerged from the shitter after 15 minutes or so, fully defeated. It was epic. I hadn't laughed that hard in a while. Fuck, I'm laughing about the look on his face right now, and this happened 3 months ago. I know it's kinda cold to laugh about...I guess you had to be there. Jess was laughing too. Does that make it better?
The best part of it all? So, the guy's got food poisoning from seafood...he feels terrible, he smells terrible, and he doesn't wanna move. What was on tap for the day, you ask?
Yup...SAILING! On the Ocean! Where it smells like seafood!
We drove down to the dock and got aboard the boat. It was 30-somethin feet long, with a cabin below. And it had sails n stuff. That's the best I can do to explain it. I know more about menstruation than I do about sailing, okay? (screw you, I had sisters that wouldn't shut up about it!). Here's me looking studly (yet clueless):
Jim's beached on a bunk below deck moaning in his sleep:
and Jess....well, Jess is dumb.
So...Roger pretty much had to do all of this himself. Okay, here's proof this Roger person I keep talking about actually exists...and that I like Pacifico:
As we got on the boat, he told us that it was super windy today, and "probably not safe to sail" and that "a boat sunk yesterday". Suuuure Roger...you're just trying to scare us...we're not gonna fall for that. Yea...till we saw this about 15 minutes into the trip:
Yes...that's actually a sunken boat. That wasn't scary at all. Honest.
The plan was to sail to Alcatraz, under the Golden Gate Bridge, and around the bay for awhile before we headed back. The wind was so crazy, we only made it as far as Alcatraz. Everytime we attempted to go towards the bridge, we...ended up back next to Alcatraz. This happened at least 10 times. I know now Alcatraz Island like the back of my hand.
In 6 hours of sailing, I managed to:
1. Drink 12+ Pacificos.
2. Almost get thrown overboard many times.
3. Get stuck underneath the steering wheel.
4. Make us do some really fast standing circles while I was wedged under said wheel.
5. Get a killer sunburn.
6. Pee all over everywhere when Roger thought it'd be funny to lurch the boat back and forth while I was doin my bizznass in the can.
7. Blow an airhorn inside the cabin where Jim WAS peacefully sleeping.
8. See a boathouse turned into the Taj Mahal on water.
I can't believe we survived the trip. All I can say is...sailing fucking rules. Seriously people, if you ever get the chance you should try it. Especially if you have Roger with you, cuz he knows what he's doing or something. If it wasn't for him, the other 2 would have had to use me as a floatation device and I'd be under the protection of Greenpeace right now. Thanks Roger!
After all that fun, we headed back to Sacramento and chilled out for the night. More Natty Light, and a great dinner. Jim and I had a super early flight, and Roger was once again nice enough to drive us to the airport. After an easy 2 hour flight...I had to go to work. Joyous.
EPILOGUE - For those of you that don't know, Jess and Jamie got married August 2nd. Roger and Marg came up to attend the wedding, and it was decided that the Sacramento trip should become an annual tradition. I'm only too happy to oblige. If Roger and Marg are willing to put up with our stupid asses once a year, I will do my best to try and make Jim throw up for as many years in a row as possible. Once again Roger and Marg, thank you for the hospitality...it was (and will be) much appreciated.
Jess has now moved to Boston for a kickass job. Normally it's a bad thing when one of your best friends moves across the country, but for me it's actually awesome. I now have a place to stay in one of the coolest cities on Earth, he's 5 hours closer to Iceland, and we WILL go to the moon! He's in Belize right now with Jamie. I hate him.
I'm going to Washington DC, Baltimore, and Boston in 2 weeks. Blogs will follow, if I survive the trip. DC has a bar with 1000 beers, Baltimore is "urban", and Jess and I are gonna drink New England to it's knees. You do the math.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Reno/Cali with 2 bitches, part 1
Here we go again. It's time for another trip blog...it's actually long past due, since this trip was 2 months ago. But anyways, here we go...more wacky adventures of the manatee, the hobbit, and the dumbest smart guy in the world. I'm sure you can't figure out who's who.
Not long after the original Disappointment trip, Jess and I came across uber-cheap flights from Bellingham to Reno. It seemed like a good bachelor-party-style trip for Jim, Jess and I. From what I had heard, Reno's a lot like a few women I know...cheap and dirty, but fun in small doses. The idea floated around for a few months, until it finally came to fruition. We decided upon 1 night in Reno, then a train ride up to Sacramento to visit Jess's Uncle Roger (see the Mount Killafatty/Yosemite blog for more on Roger...he's awesome). Roger had also arranged a trip to San Francisco to go sailing. His wife won't sail with him anymore due to an unfortunate water entry on her part...so we were his next victims. It sounded like a lot of fun...and it was.
As usual, shit went sideways before the trip even started. I went over to Jess and Jamie's after work, cuz they live closer to the border than I do. The plan was for Jim's mom to pick us up and drive us to the Bellingham airport. This didn't make a lot of sense, cuz Jim insisted that we meet him and his mom at his place. Downtown. 36.1km further away from the border than we already were *thanks google maps*. But Jim insisted that his mom "gets lost in the suburbs easily", so she couldn't pick us up at Jess's. On the way to the border. I even came up with a great plan...Jess and I could take the bus right down to the last highway exit before the border...we could literally meet them ON the highway.
Nope, too complicated. Come on, this is Jim we're talking about. Simplicity? Outta the window for you!
Anyways, we went out for dinner, then back to their place for a few drinks. Jamie got smashed offa 3 drinks and spoke of inappropriate stuff all night (let's just say I've never heard a teacher use the word 'cock' that many times in one night outside Mugs N Jugs) while Jess and I stared at her in disbelief. Believe me, if I had a tape recorder, I woulda played it at their wedding...it woulda ruled.
After that hilarity, and a good sleep, we got up early to start our trek downtown. Right before we got to Jim's, Jess got a call from Amtrak...our train was canceled. WTF? This train goes from Chicago to San Francisco. Magically, it was stopping in Reno now...right where we wanted to get on the fucking thing. They "kindly" offered a busride in exchange, but we managed to get a one-way car rental for much cheaper...so screw them.
Jim's mom eventually arrived...and she's funny. Anyone that makes fun of Jim is cool with me. She set me up for some good lines too:
Jim's mom: "Jim, you're sure talkative today...normally you don't say a lot when you're with me."
Tim: "Really? We're gonna need you to hang out with us a lot more often then."
After a stop for lunch (or in my case, beer) in Blaine, it was onto the ghetto Bellingham airport. Jess and I found hilarity here last time, and this time was no different. Our plane was on time, but parked at least 200 feet from the gate. Why is this funny? Umm, we were going to Reno. Half the patrons of said plane were over 70 years old. The pre-boarding announcement was something along the lines of :
"Seniors, people traveling with small children, and people requiring a little more time getting on the plane can come up now for pre-boarding."
I'm not shitting you...at least 80 people got up all at once and walked/rolled/crawled up there. But since the plane was so far away, it turned into a 200 foot-long handicapped parade on the tarmac. Wheelchairs in the front, canes in the middle, and straight up slowpokes in the back. The sight of it was awesomely funny, but got old realll quick. It took us another half hour to get anywhere near the plane. And getting off the fucker? Yea, that sucked too.
Finally, we were in Reno. I had heard so much about this place, and I couldn't wait to check it out. It's...well, it's unique. After checking in at the hotel and dropping our shit off, we went in search of dead hookers and tentacle porn.
(For the record, I have no idea what tentacle porn is...but it made me laugh the first time I heard it, so it works. As for the dead hookers...I was taking creative license with the whole "hookers and blow" thing. It's my blog, live with it.)
We found beers quickly, and checked out our hotel and the 2 connected to it. After a couple margaritas, we decided to venture out onto "the strip". All I can say is....wow. It's the fucking hood. We stopped at a couple of small casinos for beers along the way, and made fun of the locals. We only saw a couple of people getting arrested that time. Eventually it was back to the hotel for more booze, and...the buffet! No, it was not my idea assholes. Anyways, they had a seafood buffet for like 15 bucks, and I was determined to clean out a small seafull o' critters. I think I ate the legs of approximately 9 shellfish...while drinking 3 beers at the same time. Here, just for yourself:
I really thought I was gonna die after the buffet. I actually had to go back to the hotel room and take a shower, I was so fucked up. Well that, and I smelled like a hastings resident that's misplaced her douchebag.
Yea, it wasn't pretty.
So after all that, it was gambling/drinking time. Jim was on fire at the tables...it was sickening. I've never seen one person catch that many blackjacks in one night. He was lucky as fuck. In the meantime...Jess was fucking shitfaced. And hilarious. Here's some examples:
(In Circus Circus) "Guys....guyyyyyys...we gotta get outta here right now...there's way too many hot 14 year old girls in here!"
"Okay guys...I'm engaged, so I obviously can't touch any women here...so it's up to you to pick them up and fuck them! But...I get to watch!"
Pointing at the cops arresting some people : "RENO 911! REEEENO 911!!!!"
At some point, we went back to the hotel room...probably to get changed or something. Jess had his laptop with him, and he youtube'd the retarded country songs we drunkenly sang in the car in Disappointment at 5am. Jim was shocked and disgusted, rightfully so, at Jess and I SCREAMING
I'm a God fearin' hard workin' combine driver!!!
Hoggin' up the road on my a p-p-p-plower!!!
Chug a lug a lugin' 5 miles an hour!!!
On my International Harvester!!!
...yea, it was high comedy. We weren't sober. Here's Jess singing (I think?):
He was so drunk at one point, he actually theorized that a margarita would sober him up. Here, see for yourself:
And, I shit you not, IT ACTUALLY DID. I have no idea how that worked...but he slurred less, was more awake, and lasted another 3-4 hours after that. Go tequila?
After hours and hours of booze and gambling, we were close to done for the night. Around 3 something AM, we went to the deli to get food. Jim and I got ours and sat at a table back out in the walkway area. There were still people everywhere. Randomly, 2 guys start yelling at each other, like 10 feet from us. One pushes the other...and that guy throws a punch. Slick guy ducked it, grabbed onto him, and threw him down. For some reason, I yelled out "JUDO THROW! TWO POINTS!" which made everyone, including the guys IN the fight, look at me. Oops. Luckily, they had better things to do, and continued fighting. Jess RAN outta the Deli, yelling "FIIIGHT!", which was pretty funny. After a couple more judo throws and a couple punches, one guy quit and walked away. The whole thing probably lasted 90 seconds. It was awesome.
What could top that? At least 5-7 minutes after the commotion...security showed up. 2 small female security guards. They looked around, looked at each other...and just walked away. They didn't ask anyone anything. Apparently this is a regular occurance in Reno. I love this place!
After a nightcap margarita, where Jess and I stared at the hottest blond chick in the entire world (who was most likely an escort, but we didn't give a shit), we passed out around 5 somethin.
As usual, if I'm forgetting anything...Jess or Jim, fill me in and I'll add it in the next entry.
Here's an additional pic, just for fun. He comes outta the can on his phone...I come out with 2 beers. If that doesn't describe us well, I dunno what would.
Not long after the original Disappointment trip, Jess and I came across uber-cheap flights from Bellingham to Reno. It seemed like a good bachelor-party-style trip for Jim, Jess and I. From what I had heard, Reno's a lot like a few women I know...cheap and dirty, but fun in small doses. The idea floated around for a few months, until it finally came to fruition. We decided upon 1 night in Reno, then a train ride up to Sacramento to visit Jess's Uncle Roger (see the Mount Killafatty/Yosemite blog for more on Roger...he's awesome). Roger had also arranged a trip to San Francisco to go sailing. His wife won't sail with him anymore due to an unfortunate water entry on her part...so we were his next victims. It sounded like a lot of fun...and it was.
As usual, shit went sideways before the trip even started. I went over to Jess and Jamie's after work, cuz they live closer to the border than I do. The plan was for Jim's mom to pick us up and drive us to the Bellingham airport. This didn't make a lot of sense, cuz Jim insisted that we meet him and his mom at his place. Downtown. 36.1km further away from the border than we already were *thanks google maps*. But Jim insisted that his mom "gets lost in the suburbs easily", so she couldn't pick us up at Jess's. On the way to the border. I even came up with a great plan...Jess and I could take the bus right down to the last highway exit before the border...we could literally meet them ON the highway.
Nope, too complicated. Come on, this is Jim we're talking about. Simplicity? Outta the window for you!
Anyways, we went out for dinner, then back to their place for a few drinks. Jamie got smashed offa 3 drinks and spoke of inappropriate stuff all night (let's just say I've never heard a teacher use the word 'cock' that many times in one night outside Mugs N Jugs) while Jess and I stared at her in disbelief. Believe me, if I had a tape recorder, I woulda played it at their wedding...it woulda ruled.
After that hilarity, and a good sleep, we got up early to start our trek downtown. Right before we got to Jim's, Jess got a call from Amtrak...our train was canceled. WTF? This train goes from Chicago to San Francisco. Magically, it was stopping in Reno now...right where we wanted to get on the fucking thing. They "kindly" offered a busride in exchange, but we managed to get a one-way car rental for much cheaper...so screw them.
Jim's mom eventually arrived...and she's funny. Anyone that makes fun of Jim is cool with me. She set me up for some good lines too:
Jim's mom: "Jim, you're sure talkative today...normally you don't say a lot when you're with me."
Tim: "Really? We're gonna need you to hang out with us a lot more often then."
After a stop for lunch (or in my case, beer) in Blaine, it was onto the ghetto Bellingham airport. Jess and I found hilarity here last time, and this time was no different. Our plane was on time, but parked at least 200 feet from the gate. Why is this funny? Umm, we were going to Reno. Half the patrons of said plane were over 70 years old. The pre-boarding announcement was something along the lines of :
"Seniors, people traveling with small children, and people requiring a little more time getting on the plane can come up now for pre-boarding."
I'm not shitting you...at least 80 people got up all at once and walked/rolled/crawled up there. But since the plane was so far away, it turned into a 200 foot-long handicapped parade on the tarmac. Wheelchairs in the front, canes in the middle, and straight up slowpokes in the back. The sight of it was awesomely funny, but got old realll quick. It took us another half hour to get anywhere near the plane. And getting off the fucker? Yea, that sucked too.
Finally, we were in Reno. I had heard so much about this place, and I couldn't wait to check it out. It's...well, it's unique. After checking in at the hotel and dropping our shit off, we went in search of dead hookers and tentacle porn.
(For the record, I have no idea what tentacle porn is...but it made me laugh the first time I heard it, so it works. As for the dead hookers...I was taking creative license with the whole "hookers and blow" thing. It's my blog, live with it.)
We found beers quickly, and checked out our hotel and the 2 connected to it. After a couple margaritas, we decided to venture out onto "the strip". All I can say is....wow. It's the fucking hood. We stopped at a couple of small casinos for beers along the way, and made fun of the locals. We only saw a couple of people getting arrested that time. Eventually it was back to the hotel for more booze, and...the buffet! No, it was not my idea assholes. Anyways, they had a seafood buffet for like 15 bucks, and I was determined to clean out a small seafull o' critters. I think I ate the legs of approximately 9 shellfish...while drinking 3 beers at the same time. Here, just for yourself:
I really thought I was gonna die after the buffet. I actually had to go back to the hotel room and take a shower, I was so fucked up. Well that, and I smelled like a hastings resident that's misplaced her douchebag.
Yea, it wasn't pretty.
So after all that, it was gambling/drinking time. Jim was on fire at the tables...it was sickening. I've never seen one person catch that many blackjacks in one night. He was lucky as fuck. In the meantime...Jess was fucking shitfaced. And hilarious. Here's some examples:
(In Circus Circus) "Guys....guyyyyyys...we gotta get outta here right now...there's way too many hot 14 year old girls in here!"
"Okay guys...I'm engaged, so I obviously can't touch any women here...so it's up to you to pick them up and fuck them! But...I get to watch!"
Pointing at the cops arresting some people : "RENO 911! REEEENO 911!!!!"
At some point, we went back to the hotel room...probably to get changed or something. Jess had his laptop with him, and he youtube'd the retarded country songs we drunkenly sang in the car in Disappointment at 5am. Jim was shocked and disgusted, rightfully so, at Jess and I SCREAMING
I'm a God fearin' hard workin' combine driver!!!
Hoggin' up the road on my a p-p-p-plower!!!
Chug a lug a lugin' 5 miles an hour!!!
On my International Harvester!!!
...yea, it was high comedy. We weren't sober. Here's Jess singing (I think?):
He was so drunk at one point, he actually theorized that a margarita would sober him up. Here, see for yourself:
And, I shit you not, IT ACTUALLY DID. I have no idea how that worked...but he slurred less, was more awake, and lasted another 3-4 hours after that. Go tequila?
After hours and hours of booze and gambling, we were close to done for the night. Around 3 something AM, we went to the deli to get food. Jim and I got ours and sat at a table back out in the walkway area. There were still people everywhere. Randomly, 2 guys start yelling at each other, like 10 feet from us. One pushes the other...and that guy throws a punch. Slick guy ducked it, grabbed onto him, and threw him down. For some reason, I yelled out "JUDO THROW! TWO POINTS!" which made everyone, including the guys IN the fight, look at me. Oops. Luckily, they had better things to do, and continued fighting. Jess RAN outta the Deli, yelling "FIIIGHT!", which was pretty funny. After a couple more judo throws and a couple punches, one guy quit and walked away. The whole thing probably lasted 90 seconds. It was awesome.
What could top that? At least 5-7 minutes after the commotion...security showed up. 2 small female security guards. They looked around, looked at each other...and just walked away. They didn't ask anyone anything. Apparently this is a regular occurance in Reno. I love this place!
After a nightcap margarita, where Jess and I stared at the hottest blond chick in the entire world (who was most likely an escort, but we didn't give a shit), we passed out around 5 somethin.
As usual, if I'm forgetting anything...Jess or Jim, fill me in and I'll add it in the next entry.
Here's an additional pic, just for fun. He comes outta the can on his phone...I come out with 2 beers. If that doesn't describe us well, I dunno what would.
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