Adventures in New York City

I just got back from a fabulous weekend in New York with Molly, during which we had several adventures which I am going to share with all of you.

The trip started with a little touristing. We were walking around Rockefeller Plaza, looking at the Christmas tree, walking by the Today Show studio, and suddenly this official looking guy (who was quite yummy upon closer look) stops us and says something about filming. We asked what they were filming and he said oh, theyre setting up for tomorrow's Today Show, but were filming down here tonight, a special program. Then he handed us each a hat and said that we could get it for free if we would come tonight and skate in the skating rink at the Plaza nude (well, in a g string) with a bunch of bisexual elves. (Some of the details are a little sketchy, he was really hot) Molly and I just kind of looked at each other, and then she asked him if they provided medical coverage for frostbite. He asked her if she thought she was gonna fall on her ass, and she said no, for her (me- like I dont know how to ice skate... I took lessons... for like 4 weeks...) and we both just kind of laughed. Then yummy boy turned to one of his cohorts and said that we werent taking him seriously. Then he said something about wed get a free thong that matched our hat, all we had to do was make a committment to be there and give a DNA sample. He asked if we wanted our thongs now or if he wanted us to ship them. I said do you have them now? and he said nope, were out. Right about that time I noticed the Meals on Wheels name tag hanging around his neck... turns out that our cutie was actually looking for donations for Meals on Wheels and the hats were what they were giving away for them. It was quite a story though.

Later that night, as we were attempting to get to Molly's sister Katie's house on the Upper West side, we accidentally got on an express train to the Bronx. It made one stop before the Bronx, at 125th St. For those of you that dont know, that is Harlem. Very Southern Harlem, but Harlem none the less. Which would have been OK, except that we had to get out of the station and walk three or four blocks to the subway that we needed. I didnt realize where we were until I saw a bus that said Harlem, and then we started passing Ulysses S Grant houses. Projects. The two little white girls walked mighty fast down that street...

All but the first night we stayed at my cousin Ashley's apartment on the Upper East Side. Ashley is 5 years younger than me, and she and all 3 of her roommates are sophomores at Marymount Manhattan University. She lives with a friend of hers from grade school named Ruthanna, another girl she met in the dorms named Kaitlyn, and another guy from the dorms named Ryan. Ryan is a sweetheart, and as queer as a 2 dollar bill and proud of it. This weekend his mother and grandmother were also in town, and Ryan's boyfriend Chris stayed every night as well. So there were, count it, 9 people in this fairly small, 2-converted-into-3 bedroom apartment on the 32nd floor of this building. And it was a blast. Every night we were there, we stayed up late talking and laughing. For such a random collection of people, we had a GREAT time.

Combining all of this with seeing Katie sing in Carnegie Hall (and getting to sing along at the end- I SANG IN CARNEGIE HALL!!! (the fact that it was a sing along with the Pops and the whole audience is irrelevant), going to see Rent on Broadway (Frenchie Davis didnt perform that show though- bummer- although Drew Lachey did a really good job and Jeremy Kushnier is HOT), the great Indian food we ate last night, bagels with lox, New York Pizza, and everything else, it was an awesome weekend. One of the best Ive had in ages. Of course, that could all change in 2 weeks when we take the New Year's excursion to Austin for New Years....

A Series of Unrelated Thoughts

I think I have finally realized just how spoiled I have been in my job. I got nice and used to working as long as I needed to, and when I was done for the day, leaving. Now that our CO has implemented mandatory 0600-1545 working hours, I have begun to understand why people hate their jobs, and why people are forced to do things to waste time at work like play on the internet, or read the paper, or sit on the phone... Mostly because thats what I do now. My vocabulary has been greatly expounded by the Washington Post Crossword Puzzle, and I know more about whats going on the news in the past three weeks than Ive known in months!

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I love Christmas time. Christmas music playing everywhere, lights, decorations. Molly and I kept saying we were going to put up lights, and find all our Christmas decorations. Not so much... the closest weve come is the little tree being up. Nothing on it, but its up! Except that I was writing this I decided that I needed to decorate. So in the 45 minutes since I started writing this I have dug out all my ornaments, put them on the tree, and put lights on the Christmas tree, the other tree in the house, and up on the balcony. I feel so festive...

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I realized earlier that this weekend was Messiah weekend back in Annapolis. As hectic as that weekend always was, it was one of my favorite weekends of the year. 2 performances of Messiah, performances and taping of Christmas in Washington... Then I just found out that this year they didnt even do Christmas in Washington. Ever since TNT took the show from NBC a few years back, theyve been slowly phasing the Glee Club out of the show, and this year Doc Talley finally decided that they werent going to do it anymore. Good for him, but that stinks for the kids that wont get a chance to experience it.

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Navy 42, Army 13

Army Navy... The memories of actually being at the games are so good, we always had a great time and usually managed to get into some sort of trouble. Watching it on TV is almost as fun, especially when you're with a good crowd of friends. When the pregame show started I was surprised to realize that I got chills when they showed the march on. But that subsided quickly as the beverages started flowing and the touchdowns just kept coming. Everyone was having a great time, basking in the successes of our Midshipmen, until Ron Winchester's dad came on. I was at a party with several guys that had known Ron since high school or earlier, and what would have been an emotional moment anyway was heightened by the fast emptying keg on the back porch and the freshness of Ron's memory in their minds. While I knew of Ron and saw him around the yard all the time for the three years we were there together, I did not know him well enough to be emotional about his death any more than anyone else- I was sad when I heard that he had passed, but each time I saw his picture or heard his story I didn't feel the urge to cry. But yesterday it was different. There I was, standing with about 7 grown men who could not withhold their tears for their friend. Yes, I was sad, and yes, seeing those guys cry made it hard for me not to, but I also felt such a sense of pride in knowing that people like Ron are dying every day doing what they love, willing to give it all for their country and what it believes in. What would America be right now without people like 1st Lt Ron Winchester, or 2nd Lt JP Blecksmith, or Major Shea, or Captain Gannon? I hope we never have to find out.

Broadening My Horizons

I know my parents and grandparents used to always talk about broadening my horizons, and taking new opportunities, and all that other stuff that we all thought was garbage when we were kids and still do now, only now we understand it a little more. Well, thanks to my dear roommate Molly, I have jumped on the Blog Wagon. Maybe this will save you all from the mass emails I tend to send out when I get too lazy to write individual emails, or just give some of you a little more insight into me. Either way, its a new experience and we'll see how it goes...