What did the five fingers say to the face?

SLAP!!! I'm Gina F. Pitera BITCH!!!!

So this Saturday night around 2 AM I received my first ever real slap to the face, and ouch it hurt!!! For some reason, either pent up aggression towards me, or just to watch me in pain, Ms. Gina decided that on the way out of Rebecca Roses' party to totally blindside me with a vicious, blind sided slap. While I have been punched in the face before, this slap rivaled any blow I have ever taken, as the unexpected nature of it totally stunned me. Due to this I lost my hearing for a good 2 minutes, and I also had a headache until mid-day Sunday. Now some of you will probably love the fact that someone I dated long ago whacked me in the face, and think I deserved it. That's absolutely justifiable, but the fact of the matter is I didn't even make a lewd or derogatory comment at the time, so the unexpectedness of it came as a shock to me. The funny thing about this is that I wasn't even mad about it , as I split a cab home with this Minnesotan about 3 minutes later. Shocked ans suprised and amused were my three main feelings at the time, and not so much anger. This is ranks high in the most random situation I have been in all month, and the overall situation is somewhat of an analogy for my friendship with Gina.

Besides that, my weekend as a whole was very much like shopping at the GAP or watching the Motor City Bowl, alright for a few minutes, but overall an average/ "blah" experience. Rebecca's party was serviceable, and I enjoyed talking to Mike, Rinee, and Gina P. Actually for the first time in a long time Gina and I had that fun friendly repertoire going on, which made my Charlie Murphy impression even more random. Rebecca's party overall was great but in my humble opinion the winner of the Christmas party contest goes to Katie (and Gina). There was nothing wrong at all with Rebecca's but the overall crowd at Gina's was more fun, lively and interactive.

Overall my roommates were probably the highlight of my weekend though, as each night was filled with drunk dials, and coming home to them at 3 AM, with them still being rowdy. Anyways I could continue on a bit and try to make my weekend sound interesting, but don't worry, I have a slate of events lined up this week that will be very "entry" worthy. Stay tuned....

Lets get all drunk and shitty, and meet me tonight in Atlantic City

A random thought: I think I have set a new Matty B record. I have noticed that in the past 3 months I have not once been in a prolonged (like more than 15 minutes) bad mood. I know this seems unreasonable but it is true. I just don't get mad anymore, it is so weird!!

A Second thought: Since graduation is about half a year in the past, I have realized a sad simple fact that seems quite obvious. I just realized that some of my friends who live in far places from me (FL, CA, IL, VA, etc.) will become bi-annual friends, meaning that on average I will see them only a couple of time a year. If I wasn't so distracted by all of newness associated with me living in Manhattan (the new people,things to do, places to visit) I would probably be really upset about this.

A Preamble: When reading this be aware that my sober waking hours < my drunken waking hours this weekend. Be prepared for fuzzy and inconclusive stories. Oh and by the way I am bagging the "timeline style of writing" that I have been notorious for recently. Time to go back to the superficial short style that I love.

After Working 55 hours this week......
Bye Bye office, hello weekend. After notifying my boss that I would be in Atlantic City for the weekend, I was off to Meet Mike, Liz, Rob G at a Thai restaurant on the Upper West Side. As I left my boss shouted "Don't lose your shirt, and watch out for the hookers!!!," My office is so freaking classic.

Friday Night Freak Show

After eating we decided to go to Hunter College to a "Rock Show Party." Now to be honest for once in my life I was at a loss for words, and cannot adequately describe this event.
Okay since I am lazy I am going to plagiarise Mike. Here is his rendition of the shitshow:

"My mouth dropped when we entered the room and everyone in my group feared for our lives. We were all wearing brightly colored JCrewesque clothing and were clear targets for these people. Hunter College events usually surprise me everytime I go because of how easily school organizations can provide alcohol to underagers, and now I was surprised with how they organized a mosh pit and let kids jump around and hit people in the perimeter of the room. Why couldn't these punk kids stay in the middle of the room? After Anthony's friend got roundkicked in the face, we had to make sure we left the room (to avoid people in our group retaliating) and find a place to drink."

I took pictures of this ecevent BTW, and it was worse than it sounds. If my computer didn't have herpes right now I would post this to exemplify this horrifying event. You'll just have to wait until I get my computer fixed on Saturday to see this disaster.

Introducing you to my new friends (who may or may not replace you)
After this experience I decided to NOT flake on my roommates, and go join them at this "classically college" bar on the Upper East Side. Now before I set the stage, lets be honest, this is a MAJOR achievement for me. I am the classic flake out. Ever since my high school days I have made a habit of planning to hang out with more than 1 group of friends in an evening, and totally piss off the second set. Now at around 11:30 when the roommates called me back to back from different phones, I knew they were expecting the classic flake out, but for once I pulled through, and made it to the bar just before my name was called to participate in my scheduled game of beer pong (Which my roommate Jayme conveniently signed me up for.).

Okay as usual let me set the scene of this bar.....I walk in and the bartenders are standing on the bar, handing out free beers for no particular reason. About 15 minutes later, after I had won my first game of beer pong the attractive female bartender was standing on the bar, pouring shots into people's mouths. In the back are 4 beer pong tables, and you sign up for the game on a chalk board. The name of this bar is "The Big Easy" and I give it a 17 out of 10 rating.

Okay so 2 of the 3 roommates made it out tonight, Jayme and Brian. Since this weekend was so eventful, I am only going to give the mini bio on each one.

Jayme- A super chill girl from California (went to UC Davis), who is the biggest partier in the house besides me. She is a mix of Rebecca Rose's ability to pick up random references and Kara, in her propensity of going out , and making everything a good time. She is working for a law firm right now, as an assistant of some sort, but has been accepted to George Washington, and Georgetown Law Schools to date...wicked smart. We watched Saved by the Bell together every morning before we go to work, and yes we are 22 year old college graduates, thank you very much.

Brian- A polite kid from North Carolina (Went to NC State). He seems like your typical nice guy, but can throw a zinger out there when you least expect it. He does research over at Rockefeller University, and is some sort of bio/chem/engineering major. At the bar on Friday this girl was trying her best to pick him up, and asked HIM for his phone number (My favorite bit of entertainment of the night). He was embarrassed by this, (the girl was not too hard on the eyes, but super annoying) and I have teased him about this and threatened to steal his phone and call her ever since. Classic Matty B-harassing my friends for my own enjoyment.

So to sum up the night.....I met a bunch of Jayme's friends who were really cool.

• Brian and I teamed up and won 3 or 4 games of pong in a row.
• It is very odd playing beer pong when you don't know your competition very well, it makes it much more competitive.
• I still have my shooters touch at beer pong
• I scolded the "shot girl" for exploiting an old drunk man at the bar. She felt bad and apologized to me.
• I walked home 30 blocks with my roommates, laughing the entire way.
• I bought Triscuts as my drunk food and Jayme hasn't let me live this down since.
• I got to bed at 4, and had to go to AC the next day.
  

Atlantic City Transportation
The bus to Atlantic City is ridiculously cheap, and pretty fast. If I was all Bourgeoisie like my good friend Justin I would have hated it, but it was so cheap I cannot even begin to tell you how happy I was.

Atlantic City
In AC Greg and I walked around looking for a sportsbook to sit in for an hour, but gave up and ended up at an Irish Pub inside our hotel, which was the Tropicana. To be honest this who night wasn't too eventful, as Villanova won a sloppy game in a somewhat dead environment, and Greg, Justin, and myself all got rip roaring drunk. Dinger as usual was about 71% less fun because he had his girl Anne Bibby around, and was toting around all of her friends. It was disappointing, as he went to bed early, and did none of his Dinger"esqe" antics that we love him for. He didn't even stay at our hotel, and was tucked in wayyyy before he should have been.

In conclusion, I knew it was time to go to bed when I was playing on a video blackjack machine at 3 AM by myself, not really caring if I won or lost. We all left planning our next get together, which will hopefully be over New Year's Eve in Philly. Dinger left me skeptical of his attendance as his classic Jewish line of "Hotels are expensive" and "Maybe my mom could pick us up on New Years" (so he could save the $$ a hotel would cost) left me with the feeling he might flake out on us. I guess it takes a flake to know one.

I am Alex Rodriguez

Bill Lumbergh: Heyyyy Matty, whats happening???? Yeahhhh were gonna need you to come in on Saturday, MMMMMMKay?

Matty: Ugh, okay.

From these humble beginings so began one of the best Saturday I have had in a very long time. This Friday my little company moved from our 141 5th Avenue address to 757 3rd Avenue. Because of this move all 20 of us in our companies employees were required to come in and help set up our new digs. Although somewhat tough to actually comprehend "working" on a Saturday, little work was actually accomplished, and it was more of a chance for me to become more social with my coworkers, as we ordered food and hung out for a lot longer than we were required to. I also spent about a good 2 hours playing around with the CEO/President/Founder's little girl who is 3. Needless to say it built me up an enormous amount of goodwill, and as all of you know I am about 6 years old at heart, so it wasn't a burden on me at all. At around 3 I decided it was time to get out of there and start gearing up the big game.....

'Nova Vs. Oklahoma.

I left my apartment around 4:15 to get to the Manhattan Villanova Alumni Gamewatch. In true Villanova fashion, this was held at a bar called "The Park Avenue Country Club" on 27th and 3rd. Now going into this Saturday I decided that my goal of the day was to be independent and confidant, and I had totally planned on going to the gamewatch solo, and end up meeting new people/mingling at the gamewatch. Right before I was about to walk out the door I gave the token "Hey do you want to come along with me to go______" that is a pretty common and act of simple courtesy to bestow upon ones roommate(s). No as ya'll know about 87% of the time the normal answer is "No thanks, but thanks for asking, I am doing _______." Well when I asked my roommate Thomas to accompany me to the Gamewatch, he decided to go against the grain and tag along with me. I would go into more detail about my Gemologist roommate from Chicago, but I will go into thourough detail and analysis of my roommates later this week.

The Gamewatch

The Gamewatch was something that was very fun, but will be exponentially more fun once the college and pro football season commence. While about 95% of the bar area was there for the Villanova game, Wildcat fans only encompassed about 25% of the entire restaurant, as there was a USC football Gamewatch there too, so while cheering for 'Nova I had the good fortune of hearing corny cheers from my least favorite fan base in all of sports. Good times. The Gamewatch was fun, but it seemed like an event geared more towards the 25-28 year old crowd. Thanks to Thomas though, I was introduced to a girl who ran other alumni events, such as happy hours, and I gave her my email address to contact me. Yeay networking! Anyways I was very happy that I went, and it was wonderful to cheer on our squad in an impressive victory among partisan fans. After the 85-74 win, I left the bar around 7:30 to go eat dinner with Mike before going to the "Christmas in the Little City" party, hosted by Katie "Steel Reserve" DiPerna and Gina "St. Pauli Girl" Pitera.

In classic fashion Mike and I had a miscommunication, and ended up in different areas of lower Manhattan, and I made the decision to skip dinner and go straight to Hoboken. Now this was a good and bad decision.

Good-I got to spend much more time at the party by skipping dinner, mingling with a ton of people

Bad-I had no food almost all day, and was about to drink heavily after having 4 casual beers at the Gamewatch.....a recipe for a drunken disaster.

Night in Hoboland

After a Nova win I entered the party in a great move. The party was set to start at 8 PM, and I rolled in there very noisily at around 9:30, expecting to catch the party in the upside of its lifecycle. So I walk in and ....crickets. I was the 2nd guest there. So to review I went there an hour and a half late and it was ME who tapped the keg.

(Side note: there was a fine young chap there before me, and Gina and Katie claimed that he couldn't tap the keg!!! What 23 year old male cannot tap a keg?!?! This is deplorable to me. It is similar to one not knowing how to tie a tie at this age.....ooops I only learned that 2 weeks ago. Now back to your scheduled program....)

As I entered the party I had a ton of energy built up from a huge 'Nova win, and I entertained Gina and Katie with my antics for a good 15 minutes. For once Gina wasn't repulsed by me and all seemed to be in good spirits as people tricked into the party. The lack of attendees early in the party made it very easy for me to move around the Hoboken apartment and consume beers at an alarming rate....another sign of things to come....

Now around 10 or so the guests began to come in more steadily, and all were in awe of the decor and the detail of preparation of the girls for this party. Now it is no secret that Katie is one of my top 10 favorite, non family member people in life. This being said I was nervous beforehand about her party planning skills. Now in retrospect these worries were plain silly as even Rosanna Billias couldn't have put together a party so well from decour, to alcohol selection, and in layout.to aside. I give the party a 15.5 out of 10.

The party layout

So the feel of the party, was very much like a 6th grade social, Katie's coworkers conversing with one another, and Gina's doing the same. Now at this time I had consumed a plethora of beers so I was feeling quite social and ready to mingle, so I decided to introduce myself to all the random people at this party that I didn't know. I finally started to act like the person I want to be, carefree and confident. Nearly halfway through the party, while doing this I came across two good looking girls, one of which who was almost out of my league. Now being that this evening I didn't harbor my normal insecurities I decided to just lay it out there and totally flirt with these two. I decided even if I ended up looking like a fool, oh well, I need to put myself out there more and stop being such a prude.

To my astonishment these two enjoyed the "Matty being Matty" personality that many of you have seen from me, and I ended up holding at least an hour conversation with these Staten Islanders. These SUNY grads also were doing all the telltale nonverbal signs that I have picked up of the years to tell they were interested, which was very fun Now before I get anyone's hopes up about a raunchy hookup story or anything, nothing at all happened as I pulled out my standard "Dammit I got too drunk card". I have mentioned this in earlier entries, but it really is the equivalent to A-rod Striking out with the bases loaded in the playoffs. He plays a great season and sets himself up for greatness, and then kills himself in the clutch. I hate ARod but I totally understand his anguish. To be honest in retrospect I am sure the alcohol gave me an enhanced confidence about the situation that wasn't even there, but it's okay, becuase I enjoyed the situation more than anything else.

So as the night wrapped up Mike, (who rolled in the party around 11:30) the hosts, and myself, decided to hit the Hoboken bar scene around 1:45 or so. We were poised to enter a bar a few blocks from the girl's apartment, but unfortunetly some of us (me included) did not meet the dress code as we were wearing sneakers. I wasnt too upset about the denial of entry, but while drunk Gina was verbally harassing a bouncer (which is not a fun position to be in, as I have had much firsthand experience) my Connecticut drivers license proved not to be durable as I thought, and i broke it in my hand. Dammit.

The remainder of the night was a standard bar hopping/drunken eating/game playing event that was very typical college, and while a good time we all know how this works ,and it needs no more explanation. The next morning I woke up, and bullshitted around Katie and Gina's apartment and left around 1. Ialso drank dome of the wonderfully tasty alcholic cider, which tasted great, even in the morning. Yeay 12 step program, here I come. Shit I am so freaking tired right now I think I'll just post this and add more later.

Grades of Katie (and Gina's) Party

Decor/Drink Selection= A+
Environment/Vibe =A
Guests=A-
Preparedness=A+
Enjoyment of my hour commute home=F-
Enjoyment of the hosts=C+
Just kidding......A

Yes I can give good grades, and credit where it is due, who knew????

I think Pitsas may be "booting" cars today!!! Fuck it lets drink.

Drinking the pain of the Cowboy's loss away.

The Red Door was not a bore.

Friday was such a typical Matty type day I don't even know where to begin. As man of you know one of my major weaknesses is that I hate disappointing my friends. This frailty created quite a situation, as I had double booked myself with plans for Friday night. Now most people in life would choose between there two options, "Matty being Matty" dictated that I had to squeeze in both.

At 4:30 I met Timmy Dinan, His girlfriend Lindsay, and Greg Simpson-Byrne down at Madison Square Garden to see the Pre-Season NIT. As usual it was great seeing these guys, as we traded stories and planned our big Texas trip for January. Lindsay is planning on actually moving down there to be with Tim, which I thought was such an awesome and exciting decision. She mentioned to me that I was a partial inspiration for her in quitting her job. Yea apathy! On a serious note I think it is a very ballsy move by her, but a great move for their relationship. The odds of them getting married in my mind has now jumped to 80-85%, which I think is amazing. They are really a fun couple and I like being around them.

Now I would have liked to hang out with these kids all night, but I had another group that I really wanted to see. So what did I do? Obviously I left MSG during the first half of the Duke-Memphis game, left NYC around 7:50 and got home around 9:15. I am obviously insane. I only drove about 700 MPH to get home, and them left with Dustin, Vickey, Marcy and her BF. Now why would I drive this far and fast to get home you may ask?

ALCOHOL. Yes I have my priorities.

After meeting up and pregamming with Lisa and Lindsay at Lisa's house, we went to our classy destination The Red Door, which is a townie bar in Watertown, CT. (PS I am aware that many of you who read this have no clue who I am talking about right now. Sorry, you can just scroll down to the pics of Fatty Mike breaking through a chair if you are bored) Now while the Red Door isn't exactly the 40/40 Club, it was a great venue to just bullshit with these fine individuals whom I haven't see in a very long time. Now with 3 glasses of wine, 5 beers and 2 shots, post college Matty was feeling quite good. So good in fact I am not sure where in my house I slept last night, when and how I took my contacts out, and I also received an "are you alive you stupid drunk ass" text message from Mr. Dustin. Overall I would give the night a 17 out of 10.


In Summation:

Be impressed with my ability to post twice in the same weekend. I have probably had the best time I have had in Southbury since I plowed into one of my friends mailbox, may moons ago. Now my previous post was about 76.5% negative about everything that is Southbury, but overall this weekend has made me feel about 33% better about my 1983-2001 self.

This was the first time in a while in which I saw people in my hometown and actually missed not having them around.....I know cue up the sappy music and the "beach at sunset scene" because I am in a very corny mood right now.

Overall I was much more impressed by the progress of the girls I went to high school with, and I am proud to have had these people as friends, as Johnna, Vickey, Lindsay, Lisa, and Marcy all impressed me. Excluding very few (Dustin and Jimmy) most of my old high school guy friends disappointed me, with what they are doing with their lives, as they really do have more potential. I know that sounds like something a JV High School Football coach would say, but whatever. It's not 1999 any more, as much as many people would like it to be. I could rate everyone I saw this weekend, but I'm not motivated to do so. I feel that post will be better served at the five year reunion next yr. Wow reading that last sentence makes me want to cry. I think I'll drink my emotions instead. More to come later.....

Superficiality Central

Wednesday Night before Thanksgiving is one of my favorite nights of the year. Since Turkey day is a non religious and national holiday, almost everyone in America descends on their hometown to celebrate with their family. This combination of circumstances is what creates the phenomenon of Thanksgiving Eve, the biggest party night outside of New Years. As many of you may know I am form a small town in CT named Southbury. This relatively small town has a local Mexican place called Senor Panchos, which is where all of my ex-high school classmates prefer to go to celebrate this evening. Now that I have set the scene, let me discuss my experience throughout the night.

So this evening started around 9ish, when I drove over to my good friend Dustin's house, about a mile away. Dustin and I would both be drinking heavily this evening because we had a designated driver, who also it the biggest Spurs fan I have ever met. (Dating back to the pre-Duncan days) Now I know the idea of a designated driver sounds rather corny, but since Southbury isn't exactly packed with a raging nightlife, the police in town tend to be in full force, and preying on the patrons who leave this bar after last call.

Now before Dustin and I left for Senor Panchos we were invited to his neighbors house to have a few drinks before we left. Dustin's next door neighbor's name is Vickey. Vickey was a close friend of mine in high school, and someone who I really enjoy seeing every time I come home. If I saw her more often I would imagine she would crack into my "top ten friends list" quite easily, but unfortunately I see her about once a year. I wanted to go over there badly to see her, some of the other girls and guys who I actually still care about / want to see from high school, but Dustin had his doubts, mainly because he didn't want to run into ex-girlfriends and others whom he didn't want to particularly see until he had a couple alcoholic beverages. It was then I started to realize, that this evening might as well been November 22, 2000, instead of 2005, so everyone break out your Sisqo CD's and lets go watch our "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" VHS.

So instead of going to Vickey's Dustin and I arrived at Senor Panchos. Now a lot has changed in my life since high school, but going back to this bar filled with these people brought me back into my insecure/mailbox destroying/bad dressing days of high school, as I felt very awkward for about 30 minutes. As time passed though I stopped feeling like 2000 Matt, and was back to my 2005 MattyB"ness". The 3 reasons why this was easy were as follows:

1)I feel I have been very successful, compared to many of the people I graduated with. I know this sounds Pompous and vain, but some people I saw were still stuck in the same rut and lifestyle they were in back when O-Town was popular.

2) I identified the people I wanted to interact with and made a point to talk to them for over 90% of the night.

3) I have gotten very good at being totally superficial to people I have no interest in. Like I rally only was intereted with seeing about 7-10% of the people that were there. The rest of the people I played up my "no eye contact with them" role, and "if they come up and talk to me, I will talk only about superficial and common things while just trying to end the conversation and get away" role to perfection. Nothing like living in NYC for 2 months, to make you know how to act like a dick.

Now I know it may seem that I am bitter and didn't enjoy myself this evening, but nothing could be further from the truth, as the trip down memory lane was so much fun. I want to explicate more on this night, but the effects of alcohol make my memories much less vivid. The night ended in a very high school fashion, in my friend Jim's basement. Jim's basement serves a similar function as the one in "That 70's show," as no matter what happened throughout the evening, most nights/events ended there. On a side note Jim and I talked about real estate investing for a good 15-20 minutes. Jim has such a good entrepreneurial spirit, and I really think he will be an excellent asset for me for advice as I plan to invest in real estate in the future. I really should get him to play Cashflow sometime too. He would love it.

Fatty Mike destroys a dining room chair. 

Mike in pain. 

Mike recovers from his injuries and continues to play the game. He is quite dedicated to his friends. 

Gillian and Bobby helping each other. We all helped each other and became better freinds in the process. 

That chair was supposed to be filled by a 5th participant. I guess we will have to run our company, and make millions with one less owner. 

Comedy. Drama. Education. Good Times. Better Friends.

This weekend my trustworthy friends and I decided to play a friendly game of Cashflow. This was the second time we played this life altering, thought provoking, and mentally stimulating game. Our first rendition of Cashflow paled in comparison to the second, in all of the aforementioned categories mentioned in the title. For this game there were four participants were myself, Mike Fiore, Rob Fiore, and Gillian.

Gillian was the lone new participant in this game and once the game came to a conclusion she was so moved by the experience of the game that she nearly was in tears. After the game Bobby the Sports Journalist asked her how she felt. She replied " Cashflow is not just a game, and not just a teaching device. Cashflow is a bonding experience, and we are all better friends for participating."

The game had many highlights (and lowlights) as all the participants discussed what they were learning with each other throughout the game. All of us taught each other and due to the game our business savvy and entrepreneurial ability was enhanced. Some of the highlights include:

• Gillian learning some of the power of real estate investment.
• Mike being so excited about the game that right during his turn he broke his chair and fell to the ground. The dining room chair he was sitting on was destroyed, (as accompanying pictures will show) but nonetheless, he didn't want to disappoint his close friends, so he valiantly played on despite the scratches on his back
• Bobby, despite a string of bad luck, played through the game to the very end, and started to gain some Cashflow. He showed that persistence and not flaking on your friends, pays off in the end.
• I happened to get lucky and win the game, although I feel that participating was much more important than the outcome.

Lastly Mike was so emotionally drained from the events of the game he made a mention of how he "wanted a Mexican slave to move his game piece for him, instead of having to do it himself."

Mike also mentioned that he was in a situation where he was at the mall, and someone of Mexican decent cam up and started talking to him. He wondered to himself "Why is a Mexican talking to me," before realizing that this was an old Spanish teacher from high school. Mike felt bad for this condescending attitude he displayed, and would hope his other friend would never display this behavior to people of Mexican descent. He felt strongly that people in South Jersey should know this, but alas no South Jerz players were able to participate in our game.

Matty being Matty.

Okay as usual I have 3 topics that I will jam into one piece, I guess it is just Matty being Matty, but anyways here are three things on my mind today.

1) I need to play a game of Cashflow in the very near future. For those who don't know, Cashflow is a board game that basically motivates you to be responsible financially and to invest in things that will derive you passive income (i.e. money without doing much work) Right now I need this more than ever because I am unmotivated in my life. I have no passion right now, whether it be a sports team, a girl, working out/ playing a sport, I am very lethargic. This does note bode well with my obsessive compulsive nature.
On a random note for our next game of Cashflow we have instituted a conditional invitation to Justin. Here are the terms of his invitation as presented to Justin by Rob Fiore:

Option 1) Next time we play Cash Flow (relatively soon), there is a 50% chance we will invite you and we will let you know 5 days in advance. But if the dice go the other way, we will not inform you at all (you won’t even realize you lost until you read about how the game went in our blogs).

Option 2) Next time we play there will be a 100% chance we will invite you, but we won’t let you know we are playing until some time that day. So you may get a call at 3 p.m. on Saturday saying that we’re going to play at 7 p.m. Or maybe we’ll tell you that we’re going to start playing in 45 minutes and you’ll have to speed to get here.

So there are your options, we have eliminated our conundrum and given you one instead. Are you willing to drop what you’re doing and be spontaneous to see your friends? Or will you settle for just a chance to see your friends and ensure that your schedule as you know it maintains its integrity? Or are you too busy altogether and you’ll choose option 3: delete this e-mail and never look back? Conundrum conundrum conundrum. I await your response, and remember if I don’t hear anything back within two business days I’ll assume you chose option 3.

2) Recap of the Matt and Greg Notre Dame road trip.....

• Greg and I basically drove 1,400 miles in 2 days to see a football game, but it was so worth it. We slept in rest stops didn't shower much, and almost got abducted by some hick while trying to check into our hotel....no lie this was a very weird situation. Greg and I had a good time checking out campus events, as the whole days events on campus is really focused on the game.
• On a side note Greg and I ate in the Notre Dame cafeteria. Not very interesting, but eating in a college cafeteria totally reminds me of the 12-1 PM hour breakfasts that we used to have back in freshman and sophomore year. The only difference at Notre Dame is that there was no and mean no eye candy in the entire place. Actually the whole weekend it was impossible to fine an even remotely attractive girl. I attributed this to 2 factors, tough academics and being located in a crap town in the Midwest. I gave Greg my entire theory on this, but I will spare you all the details.
• As most of you know Notre Dame pulled the game out 41-21, and we all left very happy. Notre Dame stadium is a great place, but if you value personal space it is not a place you should be if you value personal space, as you are literally on top of the people next to you(bench seating). In other word I think our good friend James (Chomps) would rather swallow a sword than watch a game here.
• Lastly so I don't have to answer this question again after every time I see Greg, yes Greg and Cait are still dating one another. They traded about 10 phone calls over the 48 hours I was with him, but to be honest I wasn't annoyed at all. the only annoying thing was him vehemently denying that they were together. He is a very bad liar, but a great friend for bringing me out to ND. Overall I think Cait is good for Greg as she keeps him in line and motivated. They will be engaged before the end of 2007, I'd put money on it.

3) Lastly, just a general thought on the myspace world. While I love the scandalous and sluty aspect of it I have to say that one thing I can't stand is some of the "blog" entries I read on there. I refuse to write in my myspace blog- I feel it is like it is the sewer of writing, in my opinion. I have read so much crap on there and I basically think there should be a rule for writing something on there. I think you need one of 2 things to write a successful entry.

1. An interesting story in which you get in ridiculous situations that are universally funny.
2. An ability to be uber creative and write in a particular niche style that is appealing.

Now I know in this forum I get away from this sometimes and ramble on about my personal life too much but I generally try to throw in a mix of the both. In future entries I think I am going to try to stick by my rules more, which will benefit everyone.

P.S. a second thought on myspace.....I was shocked to find out that this thing was partially a dating type thing, and people actually date and hookup off of this thing. I don't even know if I am old enough to use a tool like this.

Anyways I am going to go grab a late breakfast on 5th Ave, but one more thing.....When did I become ridiculously short? I am exactly 6 feet tall but as I walk down the streets I see not only guys but tons of CHICKS taller than me. These girls are not Amazon women either, most of them are really good looking. Now I know there are a TON of models who have photo shoots and the like near my building but not all of there chicks I see can be model, right? I feel like such a munchkin in this city.

Rebecca Rose guest appearance... Are you a New Yorker?

This past Friday I was a little bored at work, so I decided to ask Ms. Rebecca Rose a question that had been on my mind for a while...... What are the requirements for being a New Yorker? I assumed Rebecca had already qualified, but I wondered what the actual parameters were to be included in this 7 million+ club were. Here is the exact response that Ms. Rose sent me back. I for one think it is dead on.....

Rose's Response:

I fear that I have become a new Yorker! hahaha. I can tell you the biggest reason that people think I am a new Yorker. Fast walking. You have to walk fast wherever you are going. If you are printing something out, walk as fast as you can to the printer. hahaha-- that's what I do and that's what New Yorkers do.

I suppose Yankees doesn't hurt:)

You should talk on your cell phone in a restaurant

You should run for the subway from one train to the other if you hear it.

You should never look up (I know you don't... but I did for a long time) at the tops of buildings.
Apparently you should never refer to the colors of the subways, only the letters and numbers. This I did not know. Now I am aware, though:)

You shouldn't ever be afraid of pickpockets-- at least not out in the open. I feel like real new Yorkers know that this doesn't happen that much.

You also shouldn't be afraid of neighborhoods-- that looks touristy and like you read something somewhere about new York being dangerous.
(do you like how I'm making this all up?)

You can talk on your cell phone.

You should definitely have an ipod!

I don't know if this makes you a new Yorker, but you look like you belong here if you speak to people on the street. I say hi to the vendors I pass every day, and even the homeless man who sits right near 1221.

I think it's new yorkerish if you refer to what side of the street you are on by the directions of a compass. For example-- my building is on the south side of 49th between 6th and 7th.

Those are some ideas. Do you have others?


Okay back to me.
I think this is a perfect list and by this definition I would say I am about 90% a New Yorker right now. Who else has any ideas on this?

Remember to read the title of this space once in a while.

'Not for the faint of heart." No whining.

Homecoming Weekend

So finally after three days I felt the desire to actually talk about homecoming. My reasons for waiting so long were threefold
1) I was way too depressed about the weekend being over on Monday and Tuesday to even think about writing about it.

2) I needed a day or two to actually remember enough of what happened, so I didn't write a pile of crap (props will happen anyways though).

3) I couldn't decide actually how to write it.

This weekend was probably the last time I will see all of my friends and acquaintances from college all together in one place. I would be a little more upset about this, but about 92% of my closest friends are within a few hours drive of NYC, with Tim, Sean,Greg, and Kara outstanding. Now this would suck considering that 4 of my top 10 friends from school (I can rank later if you want me to) are out of the area, but write this down:

1) Greg will not live away from Jersey too long. For a 132 LB kid he will really miss the who jersey food scene. My confidence= 100%

2)Tim will most likely move back in the general NY vicinity because 1) His family is from this area 2) Lindsay Taylor (his girlfriend) and her family are from this area. My confidence=85%

3)Sean will move to this area or I will murder him. Also all of his friends live here. But mainly my confidence is based on the fact that I will threaten his life if he doesn't. My confidence= 92% (8% chance I bury him in the Everglades)

4)Kara = No chance at moving to the Northeast corridor. I feel this will be a friend who I will hopefully trade visits with. My confidence=0%

Okay so anyways the weekend= amazing. Best way to go about explaining it will be as I always do..............The return of the running diary!!!!

Friday Oct 21

2:15 PM - Dinger calls me to tell me that Curtis Sumpter is out for the year. At this point I am doing about 50 things at once, so I can clear my desk to leave at 2:45

2:45.5 - PM All Clear, now time to find R. Rose and get on my way down to 'Nova

3:10-5:30 PM - Driving down to Nova, Rebecca and I decide to both play the favorites of our iPod lists, the results= basically a singalong between the two of us. Very campy but very fun. Rebecca is in my top 3 of people to travel in a car with. Always talkative and engaging, I was thoroughly entertained.

5:45 PM - I get to my sisters apartment and she is already annoyed with my friends for being obnoxious. Not good.

7:15PM- After buying the sister some alcohol time to go to my favorite bar at 'Nova (besides when we used to go to McGillicutty's Junior year) BROWNIES!! Oh yeah its homecoming, so I waited for a half hour to get in.

9:00 PM - Kristin and the Noise is getting ready to come on stage in a bit, and Justin is flirting with with a girl!!! Excellent times!!! (On a side not this girl look exactly like a chick I saw on this late night mini series on HBO. Too bad the girl in it was a prostitute in a whorehouse in Nevada)

11:30PM - Dinger swoops in to cockblock Justin. Why you ask? That's just his style. Probably a good thing considering this girl has given everyone in our group of friends the eyes. Maybe she is from that late night show?

12:30 AM - Sean, Justin, Greg, and I leave to go to Wawa to get food. Dinger apparently left to go to Kelly's with the "girl" (all of our minds put together couldn't remember her name).

1:30 AM - Back on West. Kristene (Sean's ex shows up) and he goes and hooks up with her. Hahaha just kidding, I'm lying. We all get to bed around 2, and Justin is sad because his mom couldn't tuck him in, he didn't have his one piece pajamas and his concierge didn't leave him a glass of milk and a candy on his pillow.

Sat Oct 22

10:30 AM - I have my first beer.

12:00PM - We start playing drinking games in my sisters apartment, as she hosts kegs and eggs. Justin shows up halfway through and is a worse friend for not hanging out with us for the full time.

1:30PM - I take my first absinthe shot.

2:30PM - I take my 4th or 5th absinthe shot. I proceed to pass out, and according to my sister, Jinelle verbally abuses me. At this point what really separates the Brian-Jinelle relationship from Doug Christie and his wife? Maybe basketball ability, but that's about it.

3:00PM - For some reason I go out to my car. I think it was to move it closer to to the entrance to my sisters apartment or something. Regardless this decision has a major impact on my day, as I proceed to pass out for 3 hours. At this point I have been drunk since like 8:30 the previous night mind you, and when I wake up I still am buzzing real well.

6:00 PM - I wake up and go back into the apartments.

6:01 PM - My sister goes off on me because I have been missing for three hours. Naturally I left my cell phone in her room, and didn't tell anyone where I was going.

6:07 PM - Jinelle comes down the hall barefoot and crying, asking where Dinger is. I called him 3 minutes before this, and they were waiting outside in the car, getting ready to go to dinner, perfect timing.

6:08 PM - We leave for Manayunk. On the way there we stop at Dinger's sisters house near Saint Joe's to have a few beers. My buzz is now back up to it's earlier stature.

7:30ish PM - We meet Rinne and Mel at some restaurant (that for the life of me I can't remember its name) right on Main Street in Manayunk. Justin and I decide to get in a fake verbal spat to make all of our other friends uncomfortable. It was about 47% effective.

Okay so the rest of this night from about 9PM-3AM was kind of a blur and I don't have a great recollection of time. After we finished our dinner we walked about a block to Leah and Jen's apartment. I can't say enough about how much I like their location and setup of their apartment. It is a dream apartment and location for the 22-28 year old young professional. While we were there we met up with the rest of the crew: Jamie, Leah, Melissa, Mike, Dan, Bobby, Gillian and Marta. As usual with this crew we took our time and hung out, and had a couple of beers before we left. Dinger and Justin were antsy to leave (as Justin had to be up for a tee time/work/yell at his Mexican helpstaff) and they departed with Mel and Rinee.

A while after we left for the Manayunk Brew Pub. Now this place is just like John Harvard's, and Iron Mill Brewery in which they brew their own beer, under their own name. These places tend to be a little more pricey, and there were no brand names available besides Corona, so us Miller Lite aficionados had to open up minds and wallets a little more than usual. Don't get me wrong I love these places, but they have been popping up everywhere over the past few years, and I feel the market is becoming saturated with them.

While we were there we met up with Timmy and Lindsay Taylor, and basically Sean, Greg, Tim and I just bullshitted for most of the night. It was great hearing how Tim's summer went, what he was up to right now, and the fact that he is the MIDDLE SCHOOL BASKETBALL HEAD COACH ! I loved this, and was jealous, because I think it would be so much freaking fun to be a little kids team coach. As per our college style we ended up closing the place down, and left around 2:00 or so.

After we left the bar we decided to go back to Leah and Jen's place to continue the party. We called Justin and Dinger, but Justin was already tucked in with his teddy, and they were back at St. Joe's. About 5 minutes after we walked, as per usual about 3998 shady Guys walked in following the girls. Sean and I, realizing it was a sausage fest, and that we were kinda beat decided to cab it back to 'Nova, finally ending the night around 4AM on West.

Sunday Oct 23rd

Remember how you always dreaded coming home from vacation when you were a little kid, and were upset when it ended? (Well as many of you who were with me on the last night of Spring Break 05 can testify I am still like this, oh well) Well that was Sunday. It was a day filled with goodbyes, after such a brief and euphoric weekend. It started very lazily as Sean, Greg and I rolled out of West Campus around 1, and drove down to South Philly to meet Timmy and LT at Geno's, to dine on Philly's favorite 1,500 calorie food.

(On a side note who doesn't love Tim and LT as a couple? Probably the most fun couple I have ever bee around. I personally will be SHOCKED if they don't tie the knot.)

After leaving Tim and Lindsay at around 2:30 it was time for Greg and I to drive our favorite Floridian to the airport so he didn't miss his plane, beack into his hurricane ravaged state. After we dropped of the Accountant, it was time to go home and Greg and I drove together back to 'Nova. Now You many ask why would I drive about 20 minutes out of my way to Nova before I went home? The reason for this is I needed entertainment for my ride home, and enter stage right a trio of girls who needed a ride home, Katie DiP, Rebecca and Gina P.

At around 3:30 PM or so I picked them up and their presence was exactly what I needed as if I had to drive home alone I would be likely to listen to early '90's grunge music and drive my car off the Turnpike, I was beginning to realize the weekend was over, and getting sad. It was a fun trip back to the NYC as I had fun teasing Katie about her liberal political views and news slants, and I love joking on both Rebecca and Gina P. At around 7 the Matty tour bus had competed his last stop by dropping Rebecca off at her apartment in Manhattan. On the ride back to Long Island I was delighted to listen to an epic New York Giant comeback win on the radio, but also realized this weekend put a close on the "College Years" a chapter of my life. Tear.

Anyways I thought it would be fun to grade all of the people I was this weekend, on how available they were and how much I saw them. Below are my non inflated grades:

Top of the Class
A+ Sean Bennington- We basically hung out for 36 straight hours and were up to our usual shit
A+ Greg Byrne- When do I NOT hang out with him?
A- Dinger- He was back to his old, fun, college self, if only for a weekend, cock blocking and all.

Middle of the Curve
B+ Jamie, Dan, Mike, Bobby, Gillian-As usual the myspace crowd was fun
B +Timmy- He was pretty busy this weekend (as he hadn't seen his girlfriend in a while) but his usually fun self shone through
B Rebecca-Had a hilarious time going back and forth from NYC. A female Dustin.
B Melissa, Mel, Rinee, Marta, Leah

Going to Community College
B- Justin- As usual he disappointed a bit.
C DiPerna, GP-where were you guys before Sunday night?
C- Kara- After Friday never saw her again. Hopefully see her next homecoming.

Wait listed at Central Conn. St.
D+ Nora-Going out for only one night during homecoming is weak. Worse because the excuse was studying
D Cait- Not around our group much at all. Only saw her once for like 3 seconds on campus.
F Chomps- Come on buddy make the freaking trip.

Anyways don't get mad, and please DO leave comments ifIi forgot anypertinentt part of this weekend. I want to hear if anyone else got as sappy about this weekend as me, and felt that they had an EXTREME case of the Mondays on Oct 24th.

Yeah this is what I wore to work on Friday, All Black and a Pink Shirt, you are more than welcome to joke on me, because I realize how redic I look. PS that "spot" on my shirt is due to my shit camera, I wouldn't be caught dead looking like that :) 

Mertosexual Matty Makes his return from his 4 year absence.

I'm Back! I am no longer writing from the outpost of Whitetrashville, USA, but from Metrosexualburg, USA. I work on 5th Avenue, in the fashion district, so although I may dress up a lot for me, it is a whole different league, as it is almost a runway show on the way to work. I feel like I am a rookie again and I feel under dressed very often. Because of this, I have awakened the echoes from 2001 and have found my style again. Although I know very few remember this but in 2001-2002 I refused to wear jeans, and made sure that it took me at least 20 minutes to get ready to go anywhere. Yes as a frosh I was very high maintanence. Actually a lot of things in my life remind me of that year right now.

I take public transportation everywhere

I had a devastating sports loss (ND-USC) which made me almost as upset as the Yanks losing the World Series in 2001. I know it seems unfathomable being that I am 23 now, but sadly true. I still can't even talk about this loss and if it wasn't for an Irish conference call with Sean and Greg, I might have caused some significant damage to myself or property in my house.

I am genuinely excited to wake up in the morning and go to work...I know, I know, DORK ALERT, I actually like work!!!!!!!

So anyways my job is really great and I have a ton of freedom and responsibility already. My job function is to schedule events for my clients (Yes I have companies that I am solely responsible for) to meet investors, and make sure they are in contact with the correct demographic of investors, and reporting to them what their peers are doing. I write press releases, that show up on Yahoo Finance and Bloomberg, and I have been sitting in on conference calls with the CFO's of these companies discussing strategy. Down the road I will be attending a bunch of conferences, trying to help my companies get their story across to investors too!!! ROAD TRIP!!!!

Anyways being that I have been there for all of a week and a half, I do not have full responsibility of all of these tasks, but I will. I also do a lot of research studies and internet browsing for info, so I am on IM constantly too, so IM me sometime at work, I'll respond. Anyways I intended on going into a lot more detail, but I have to be an old man and go to bed so I can be my chipper self tomorrow morning. The Ruth Group needs me to be my best, and I love the fact that I am again take pride in my work. Anyways I'll try to follow this up at work, Ill be there from about 8:45 to 6:30, so I'll have plenty of time to realize how horribly I am writing right now.

Sun King. 

Valley of the Sun 

The First Day of My New Life, Post Tempe Transitioning

Wake me up when September ends.......

I love October. It is quite possibly my favorite month of the year, due to a variety of factors, with one being how much I love the weather in the Northeast this time of year. Anyways I have a TON to talk about. I have two main topics I want to cover today, one being my recent trip to Tempe, AZ, and also per Justin's request my extensive view into my views of the dating game, or my lack their of during my recent history. Since this topic my interest like four people in the world I will first talk about my trip to Arizona, and roll this into my ideas/plans for dating in the imminent future.

First off, I LOVE the Phoenix/Tempe/Scottsdale area. The first time I visited this area was during my fall break of 2004 when Greg, Sean and I went to visit Tim Byrne for a week. After this week I was enamored with the area and gushed about it to anyone who would listen. It is a good thing I didn't write about it, because this trip basically reconfirmed many of my ideas about this area, and would be quite repetitive. Anyways just like last time Tim was an outstanding host, as he always tries to pack as much fun as possible into our trips out there, which is a reason why they are always so memorable. Okay anyways for fun, let me list the reasons why I will live there sometime in the next 10 years.


1) The weather. Being a weatherman in this area quite possibly could be the easiest job ever. All you have to do is say "It will be sunny today" and then assign a temperature between 105-90 to be the high for the day. Where is the monster.com listing for this job?

2) The attitude. Although the Valley of the Sun is not on the West Coast per se, the whole area has that laid back, west coast mentality. It is so refreshing and nice to be around people who take life a little easier.

3) The Girls. I will expound upon this in a second.

4) The availability to make a ton of money in the real estate market. This is a booming area, in which I could really make a decent amount of money on. I know for a fact that some of the richest developers in this country have taken advantage of this fact, and I feel it would not be hard to make a passive income on units in this area.

5) The proximity to 2 other of my top 5 favorite cities in the US, Vegas and San Diego.

6) The unbelievable scenery, and outdoorsy activities available.

7) Mill Avenue. This street probably has the best assortment of college bars I have ever seen, all within 3 blocks of one another. Any genre of bar you can think of is there from Irish Pub to Coyote Ugly style girls dancing on tables to a Piano Bar. You name it they have it.

Okay now lets go back to the whole girls aspect of this area. Both times I have been to Tempe and more specifically Arizona State, I have noticed that basically everywhere you look there are stunningly attractive girls. In my estimation there are several reasons for this, with the main one being that since it is hot all year round, body maintainance and staying in shape is put at a premium because the girls wear summer clothes almost all year round. That combined with the notoriously good looking crop of Californians who attend ASU make the eye candy almost overwhelming.

I don't mean to offend anyone form my alma mater, but I do not see any real validity to the rumor that Villanova was ranked in the top five of best looking girls, as every 5 minutes I saw a girl who could easily could have ranked in the top 10 hottest girls at Villanova if she stepped on campus. This combined with these females trying to make outfits out of T-shirts for the ASU-USC football game, made it hard even for this diehard football fan to concentrate, as I ended up looking at these tan and toned blondes. Even though my looks rival the mediocrity of the Philadelphia Philles, I saw some gnarly looking dudes hanging out with some bombshells, which made me feel like it would be very fun to meet people out there. Obviously many of these girls could have had IQ's of 54 or went to ASU looking for an Mrs. degree, but the desert scenery isn't the only scenery in the Valley of the Sun.

The only 2 things that could have made the trip better was an ASU win over USC (tragic loss, ASU really blew it) and if Greg and I could have extended our trip even longer.

Anyways, now that you all think I am the shallowest person you have ever met, I am going to write a little piece I've been meaning to write for a while concerning the dating game. If you A) don't care about my feelings about this B)Don't like me, the next thousand words or so will be very boring to you so you can cut out right now and go ride your bike around the block/ make a batch of brownies/ buy a pair of shoes/ or do whatever you do when you are not reading my drivel.

Okay time to switch gears.

The last good momnet of the game for ASu, goin into halftime up 21-3. 

With Leinhart down AZ St. was in good shape 

Part Deux!!

"Starin' at you takin' off your makeup
Wondering why you even put it on
I know you think you do but baby you don't need it
Wish that you could see what I see it when it's gone" -Rascal Flatts

Somewhat Serious MattyB here. Anyways since I have been in Delaware, and just trying to keep myself from being depressed and miserable , and really haven't concentrated on the whole dating game scene. While not an excuse, I have come to a few conclusions how I am going to proceed in the next few months, and I hope this will garner some tangible results.

As you most likely know I am generally a caring and decent person (insert your sarcastic comment about me here) and because of this I feel bad playing the game, that we all play. Now truth being told I am not the best player at this game, but in the few times I have I have played it quite well, and I have been somewhat successful. My whole problem recently has been keeping this up and not feeling bad for playing this game, while not being a complete ass.

The thing that I have in my favor is that I do know what I am looking for, and I think the Rascal Flatts quote above really exemplifies I find attractive superficially. I have been lucky, as in the past that I could have sung this song to any girl I was ever with and wouldn't have been a liar, and I also look for this same transparency in judging ones character. I feel that in life, I have had a very good record of correctly of analyzing people character and intentions early on when meeting people, and have not been burned or hurt by people of bad character and intentions. In the same breath, this is also why I feel I have struggled with this section of my life as of late. I think some of my fallacy can be attributed to the fact that my bar has been set very high, and that I have been spoiled by past relationships and friends in college and high school who have such class and are so complex, that I have not accepted anything less, which totally shrinks the pool of people who I would ever consider. I think I would benefit from letting my guard down a bit, and just swinging away, but that is not in my general nature. Again this shows how I am struggling in my effort to be more like a "Benny Guy" and less like a "Dinger Guy" as I documented back in May. Once I settle into an apartment in NYC (I am going to be looking at places all this week) I will try to put these words into action, as being more aggressive is going to be a necessity in NYC. I'll keep you periodically updated on my success or lack thereof. Honestly this idea frightens me, and I really don't feel overly comfortable in this mindset, but what they hell, some of the best moment in my life have come from me just letting my inhibitions go and "just going with it."

The adventure starts October 10th and I am pumped!!!

Almost there.

My life is almost settled.
I have chosen a job offer.
I have a temporary place to live.
I have been scouting out 3 different locations in the NYC area where I could potentially live.
All my coworkers know of my departure this upcoming Wed.
I have brought half of my stuff back from Whitetrashville, DE.
The Yanks are in 1st.
I am dominating at fantasy football.

Things still to do:
Get ready for AZ.
Get in better shape.
Get myself back in the dating game.
Figure out how $2000 is missing from my banking account (not hard considering I currently work for a bank.)
Read a new book (been about 2 weeks since my last one)
Make sure I see the season premiere for Grey's Anatomy.
Write posts that aren't so random.

Anyways I'll explicate on my job in a later post, lets just say there have been few things that have made me as excited, like I will be doing EXACTLY what I want to be doing for a job right now. Once I get an apartment I will feel settled for the first time since Early May. Okay this post is going down the boring path so I'll wrap it up, but I want to leave you with 2 questions...

1) Why isn't ultra pasturized milk more popular? Like you can store it forever at room temp, and when you want to use it it comes in sizes where you don't feel pressure to drink it before it goes bad. I bought it the other day on a whim and I am in love. It also is only 80 calories per cup which is better that the standard 90 calories for skim milk.

2)Why is it only the ultra large women at my work eat the lean frozen food products such as "Smart Ones" or "Lean Cuisine." Like I understand they see a problem and are trying to fix it, but seriously I NEVER see the cute in shape chicks eating this. I mean the "Lean Cuisine" means shit when you eat a bag of chips and Peanut M&M's as snacks. I really want to just put a treadmill in front of the microwave, and explain to them benefits of exercise. WOW I am a cranky asshole, time for sleep.

P.S since I am home this weekend I will for sure put some pictures up. Keep checking back.

Clearing out the Matty Archives

Wow I have wayyyyyy too much to talk about. With over 2 weeks of material and about only 30 minutes of energy left before I pass out all I can give you are quick hitting, mind numbing anecdotes and short stories of my action packed and enigmatic weeks. I guess I'll just bounce around and explain my life in my standard haphazard fashion. You obviously love it because you are back here reading my biz-ness.

Saturday Night

• After Jinelle tried to attack me and personally offend me (like this could ever happen) because of my excitement of his "single-like" weekend, Mr. Brian, Mr. Justin and I went out to the bar and proceeded to act in a fashion in which 22 year old single guys should. Except one problem, my increasingly worse eye infection made me cranky and anti-social, as my retinas were burning. On a scale from 1 to Extreme Pain I was at an 11, but I would never tell my compatriots this because of the entertainment they were providing me. Mr. Brian reverted to his August 2002-September 2004 form, and for one night it seemed as he was back in his prime, spending around $100 dollars in a night for drinks, hitting on decent looking girls, and then complaining about how much money he spent later on. Add drunkenly dancing with the aforementioned girls and all of the sudden he is BACK!!!!
  
• Justin on Saturday September 1oth, 2005=LEGENDARY. For once he left himself vounerable to be embarrassed by some girls and blatantly started hitting on them. He basically morphed into Sean, and completed the Bennington Triple Crown. This involves, drinking 10+ drinks, hitting on and getting denied by girls because of your intoxication, and drunkenly leaving the bar to remove the contents of your stomach. Since it was his first triple crown, he was sad about his actions at first, but overall it was a great learning experience for him, especially if he ever wants to chase any girl not named Franchesca ever again.

Tuesday

• I almost crashed my car about 10 different times because I couldn't see/lacked vision on my way to work, as my eyes were in horrible pain. BAD, BAD times. This was also the day I told the roommates that I was leaving Whitetrashville for good. This was so easy and painless, it couldn't have worked out better-a good sign for the upcoming week. I also booked plane tickets out to Arizona for Greg and I. We leave on Thursday Sept. 29th for the weekend and the USC/ASU game. I am definitely taking this weekend trip thing to a whole new level. BTW I booked the tickets for $225, 16 days before our trip. I am officially the best flight bargain hunter ever, GO ME!

Thursday

• So if you were paying attention I am leaving for AZ on a Thursday. FYI I am NOT asking for the day off from work. So adding these things together what do you think I did this Thursday? Yup after nervously practicing how I would resign for over 48 hours I did the deed. I did it by leaving my boss an email on Wed. night asking him to discuss a personal matter on Thurs. After lunch on Thurs., we went into a meeting room, and I cited that my desire to move back home was my reason for quitting. My boss was very accommodating and nice, even thanking me for giving him time to find a replacement, and for doing it in such a classy way. It was very weird walking around the office now though, as some people know about my resignation, while others are like "hey it is going to be a busy October, a lot of work to get done." When they say this I silently and deviously laugh to myself and say "maybe for you, not for me, I'll be in Arizona/NYC suckas!!! No more "land of tax free shopping for me"

Friday

• I went to DC/ N. Virginia to see Greggy and SEAN MICHAEL BENNINGTON, who was on a business trip to DC, after that bitch named Katrina decided to wipe out the planned city of his trip, New Orleans. On the way to see him I had one of those moments that would only happen in a movie like "Serendipity" as Greg and I ran into Rebecca Rose in downtown DC. Like what are the odds, especially since she was over 5 hours from NYC. What a small world So anyways in chronological order, here is what our favorite leprechaun proceeded to do during the evening, making it a gold medal winning "Drunken Sean" night.
  

1. Upon greeting him, Sean (already bombed) proceeds to put both Greg and I in headlocks and kiss us on the cheeks. This happened 10 plus times in very public places. I actually started to apologize to the people around us, which will not be the last time I did this while in his presence
   
2. On the metro Sean decided to pick on the girl who happened to be sitting next to Greg. He started up a conversation with her and began to tease her about every aspect of her life. Her hometown (Minneapolis,MN), her college(some place in Wisconsin), and her boyfriend, were all things he made known he disapproved of. Of course Greg was very comfortable and relaxed in the time Sean was doing this. No, wait, on second thought, I think he would have rather jabbed himself in the eye with a fork.
   
3. Sean called Greg and I "his niggaz" in front of a crowd of about 20 African-Americans. At that point I would have put the odds of us getting stabbed at 2:1. Luckily we sneaked into the bar "Millie and Al's".....
   
4. Oh wait I forgot, Sean wanted to offend someone in there too. Mr. B wanted to hit on girls like crazy this evening. So in the bar he decided to hit on a B or B- girl, who was surrounded by 2 dudes, one of which we later found out to be her boyfriend. These 2 dorks were very wound up and didn't like Sean's forwardness, and started screaming at Sean. This got my Greco/Italian temper going as I screamed back a good old "Fuck You, assholes!!!, and made a gesture towards them. This raised the anxiety of the bouncers, but before it got ugly we pulled Mr. Sean outta there and onto the street.
   
5. The night was just about over as Sean puked in the bushes on a main road less than 50 feet from a cop. He took a cab home even though his hotel was less than 100 feet from a metro station.

So anyways I basically am about 75% sure which job I am going to take in NYC and I am about 62% sure of the area I am going to be looking to live in. Stay tuned for the details tomorrow as my employment will become official. FYI I will be living with family for a few weeks as I look for a place thats not a million fafillion dollars in rent. If any of you NYC people know any normal/non-white trash people who need a roommate, please gimme a call or shoot me an IM.

P.S. I want to start seeing more comments!!! OK bed time, i have a long day of going through the motions and pretending to work hard tomorrow. :)

We've reached a new low, posting at work

So I want to detail a legendary Sean, Matt, and Greg weekend along with telling about my job quitting experience, but I have been paralyzed by my need to make a decision in choosing between 2 offers with the exact same salary. Ugh. I am going to write a therapeutic ramblings tonight detailing my decision and the weekend. I do love how exciting life is right now, but it is also taking a lot out of me. Don't worry though, fans I'll be back with a bang tonight!

The contract signed by people, who were not too busy studying contract law 

We all were better friends for making time to play Cashflow together 

2 Part Rambling

Okay so 2 things to talk about to ya'll today.

1) I had the best Labor Day Weekend that I can remember.

2) I am 98% sure I will be moving to NYC this October.


This weekend I drove over 850 miles, yes Magellan over here drove to DC, to the Jerz Shore, to CT, and lastly to NYC all in my customized 4 day weekend, so I am kind of over the whole driving thing right now. Monday in Ct was just a relaxing veg out day, and Friday night in Newark was just a very college type night with house parties and bar hopping, basically a very standard Feb '04-May'05 night for me, nothing too special. Saturday and Sunday are the days of this weekend which made this weekend my favorite post college one yet.

Saturday

After clearing up my hangover I drove down to DC to hang out with Poppy before my tailgate with my friend Matt. For all of you not fortunate enough to go on our SB '05 cruise he is the friend I made on this cruise thanks to Megan, as she introduced him and his fiance Christina to our rowdy group. After downing a pizza and watching some collegiate football with Greg, it was time for me to go to the Tailgate that Matt and his friends set up prior to the Phillies-Nationals game. Don't' worry though I made sure I was late getting there by getting lost driving the mile from Greg's house to Matt's.

The next 3 hours were a blur as working Matty now gets drunk in about 20 minutes off 2 beers. Basically I sat and bullshitted with Matt and his friends in the parking lot until we realized, whoa, the game is 2 innings old, we better pop in there. After 5 innings we made like Californian's and left in the 7th, which was good because a) Christina wasn't feeling well b) the Irish were on c) I was so drunk I could barely see the game and follow the action from our awesome seats d) The Phils lost in extra innings (they are 2-5 when I go to their games)

SO Matt dropped me off back at his apartment and I watched the Irish for like 12 minutes before I passed out, as he went out to eat with everyone else. After I watched a Laguna Beach marathon on his HD TV, I left the capitol, and made my way to Island Heights, NJ. At some point I will have to explain my obsession with Laguna Beach, and how I wish I was 17 and living in a rich and shallow California beach town.....

Sunday, Sunday

At 7 Mike, Rob, Travis and myself started to play a game that would ultimately make us better friend and future business partners. The game we played was Cashflow, and it affected our lives dramatically and changed the nature of our friendships, so as those who chose not to play made a decision they will regret dearly, as they will be members of the "rat race" for the remainder of their life. Cashflow is more a learning experience that a game that has winners and losers, and the game really helps you to make wise business decisions. Only a true business major could appreciate this game, and it was a one of a kind experience. After our game we chilled out watched a very coked out but very good movie called "Sin City," and watched Mike antagonize his little cousins, who seem eerily too smart for their age.

Okay the NYC paradox, time to finally explain,


The past few weeks I have figured out the career path I want to pursue. The profession I found that suits me is Investor Relations, in which the needed skills are a mixture of marketing, communications, and finance. I have found there are many of these opportunities in NYC which first made me re-evaluate my anti-NYC stance.

The second determinant that changed my mind was seeing how many of my friends were living and loving NYC.

Thirdly I realized how ADD I am and how I need to be entertained constantly to be satisfied. Newark,DE is not exactly the entertainment Mecca of the world.

The final two decisions I made were that 1) my job's advancement/growth isn't that good, and as much as I hate the snow/winter, I love the fall more, and couldn't give that up. There is a lot more detail into each decision but that is the overall overview. I was offered 2 jobs in NYC today, and am on cloud nine, so I am going to sit back have a beer and pass out.

Next step in my life, learning how to quit a job and break up with my roommate, honestly I dread these 2 things more than anything, even the Game 7 2001 Luis Gonzalez World Series bloop hit. Any advice on how to do either would be greatly appreciated:)

I'm going, going, back, back to N-YC, YC

I guess the title says it all. I am going back to NYC on Tuesday for another interview with the company I met with on last Thursday. Conveniently I also am going to go on another interview later in the same day for a job I applied for this week. I am officially an interview slut. Anyways I have probably had the most non descript week of all time, as all I have done is work and watch TV. Okay this entry sucks, I'm killing it right now. I'll add more when I am not sounding like Daria.

Successful trip? TBD

Okay so it as taken me a bit too long to write about my "sick" day on Thursday, when I went to CT and NYC for interviews, but I have my reasons. First off I know as soon as I say "Wow, what a productive day, or I killed my interviews," I'll get some sort of rejection letter or something. I'm kinda superstitious about that. Anyways here is a running diary of my Wed night-Thursday trip.

Wednesday

5:15 PM- I am in my car and driving away from JP Morgan. I really have lost all interest in going the extra mile there or staying for any sort of overtime at all, my goal is to slack as much as I can without being called or labeled as a slacker, so as not to influence any future employment opportunities with bad references.

8:45 PM- I make it home. With a 10 minutes stop included on my way home I officially drove an average of 834843 MPH to get home.

Thursday
1:00 AM- Bed finally, I prepared my butt off all night, I am officially having that "before a big test" uneasiness as I go to sleep.

7:30 AM- After dreaming about bombing both interviews (a good omen, right?) I call my boss to tell him "I threw up all night and can't make it in." This was very uncomfortable for me because he actually picked up, and I couldn't just leave a message. WTF since when is he in the office this early.

(sidenote:when I went into work on Friday I blamed my sickness on my roommate cooking me up a bad hamburger helper meal. This is funny for two reasons
1) I absolutely hate hamburger helper. It reminds me of the trashiest white trash food that anyone could eat, besides grits
2) My roommate loves hamburger helper and grits. I now officially treat him with the same kindness Dan bestowed upon his roommate Chompaloaf during Junior year.)


10:01 AM- Fuck Connecticut road construction. My interview is at 10 and I am there not a minute early. This shit is going to to go well considering I am already a bit frazzled. I am in Norwalk, CT right now, and realize that if I get this job I could squat at home for a week or 2 to get myself set up, and situated. Ok I have to stop getting ahead of myself

11:05 AM- Interview #1 done. I LOVED the job description/training program. I am a little dejected though as I probably gave a B or B+ performance. The fact that I haven't been on a real interview in about 4 months and was a little off my game going in led to this, but I seemed to present myself in a good fashion. PS I don't think their office could have been more modern chic.

11:06: AM- Shit I have 4:30 hrs. To get to NYC for my interview. I am 45-50 minutes away. I am in official "kill time mode" before my next interview.

11:46 AM- I set up shop and prep for an interview at Starbucks. I hate Starbucks coffee/food but I needed a place to sit and work and I didn't want to loiter so it was an obvious choice. My latte tasted like pure crap as expected. Seriously I love the Starbucks business model so much, but I absolutely hate their products.

12:30 AM- Time to leave Starbucks. I am in a very residential/nice area but I found out the store next door was held up yesterday. Ummm yeah I don't need the drama today, off to NYC.

2:45 PM- Since my interview is in Midtown I killed these hours by driving and walking around, prepping some more in a juice bar, basically the most boring part of my day.

2:50 PM- I walk over to the office on 31st and Lexington. I was told they would see me at 3, and I am so bored I figured it was time to get over there. Also old people like it when you are early so I figured it was a good thing to do. This is already going a lot better than the 10 AM.

4:55 PM- I walk out of the office, beaming. After meeting with 3 people and told by the main boss that "That went pretty well, huh?", and being interviewed by a very attractive chick, I skip down the street to pay $30 dollars to retrieve my car from the garage I parked it in. I don't want to jinks myself by talking about the interview any more, but I don't think I could have personally done a better job, so I am proud of myself. I cant wait for this comment to come bite me I the ass......

4:58 PM- Hmmmmm I am in midtown right before 5. Something about this situation is bound to suck.

6:01 PM- Yup rush hour traffic out of Manhattan=no fun. Still on the positive high of my interview I am not particularly annoyed, and I call Gina and Katie to see if they want to hang out or get food.

6:15 PM- As perfect timing would have it I get in touch with Katie and end up getting to Katie/Gina's apartment about 5 minutes before she gets home from work. Katie had talked to Mike and Rebecca and they were going to meet us in NYC. In the mean time while waiting for Katie I scared the shit out of Gina, who stumbled upon me waiting for Katie while walking down her front steps. Honestly like how weird must have that been for her, having her ex-bf randomly sitting on her front steps. I wish I could have read her mind to see what she was thinking at that moment.

7-12 PM Okay I am tired of writing. Go to Mike's site and read about all the fun we had in NYC and be jealous. The prospect of having fun nights like this on a semi-regular basis made me very excited and pissed off at the same time. The only reason why I am pissed is because I am not there now.

Friday

2:02 AM- Back in Whitetrashville, DE. It seriously took me a 2 hrs to get home from NYC, and it is a miracle I didn't get pulled over.

So I had a really good weekend after Dinger did his normal flake job and went to go sit at the beach with his wife again for the 29398383 straight weekend. I guess I'll write about it soon, but I am so done with typing today. My roommate is having a "party" here now with his white trash friends, which is good becuase it is making me apply to twice of the amount of jobs in NYC so i can get outta here. Hopefully these applications will all be for nothing and I will get one of the jobs I interviewd for, but we will see.

Will I be a part of it? 

Or is it back to white trashville? Find out on Friday's update 

Have you cheated on your wife lately?

Being that I have never been married and that I haven't been in a serious relationship in 3 years, my answer to this question is no. This being said, this entire week I know exactly how a fella in this situation would feel, with my constant sneaking around and shadiness at work. As many of you have noticed my quote of the week has been ,

" Searching for a new job while at work is feels comparable to cheating on your loyal, yet ugly wife."

My week has been filled with me giving between a 45% and 50% effort while fielding at least 5 phone calls a day. Seriously this Friday I didn't even deserve to get paid, I literally did an hour worth of work all day. Well all of this sneakiness has paid off, as I have 2 job interviews on next Thursday. Both of these are in the New York area, meaning I am going to have to take a "sick" day on Thursday to attend them. I am really excited to go on these and have been prepping for them with about 50% more effort than the past. Anyways most of you have jobs so I'm sure talking about interviews isn't very interesting to you at all, so I'll quit talking about them and just talk about the results from them later.

Other Random things:

I just read 2 books in 3 days, one on real estate investing and the other was the famous "Moneyball." I think the fact that I have read 2 business books this week (with "Cashflow quadrant" being the 3rd book I have read this week) cements me as no longer being a carefree and oblivious college student. No longer is the fact that it is "M" or "B" night at Maloney's the center of my life, and it will unfortunately ever be that way again.

Justin, Dinger and Myself are all planning to go to Happy Hour at Brownies next week. I give this a 25% chance of happening, as there is a 25% chance that Justin will have too much law school work, and a 50% chance that Dinger will opt out for the normal "Jinelle is jealous" or "I have to go out to dinner" excuse.

I can't talk to most people on the phone for over 20 minutes without getting bored. If it is with a member of the same sex this threshold goes down to like 10 minutes. This ADD for some reason doesn't apply when I talk to Dustin. I think this is true because it is usually a "Seinfeldian" banter when we talk, and I have to do very little to explain certain scenarios, as he understand them instantly. Also, in a totally irrelevant topic, I have the feeling that in the next 4 to 5 years we will be business partners of some sort, as long as he is not married by then. His one wife prospect at this time would probably not approve.

Dinger has aged 5 years in the past 3 weeks. He is now 30 years old. He will have a mortgage and a wife within three years. He will have a pregnancy within 2 1/4.

If I get a job in NYC in the next few months I have a 0% of an idea where I will live. This intimidates me.

Regardless of anything that tries to hold me to this area, I will be moving by Thanksgiving. My drop dead moving date is Christmas, in which case I would quit my job with no job lined up or in waiting.

I like the center of town in Newark (DE) a lot. I do not like knowing but 3 people in the state, and having very little social activity during the week. I need to live in a city. I seriously might have ADD.

My roommate is either white trash, or a hick. I am leaning towards hick, mostly because I feel his family has some money. Regardless I have no desire to find an answer to this question, as I do not care enough.

All I have in this apartment right now is cereal and ramen. Time to go shopping for food, which might be the biggest event of my day. I'm being very lazy/nerdy today.

I will post some pictures tonight, I promise.

Your house (or future house) is not an asset, it is a liability. An asset is something that provides you with positive cashflow. I feel this should be taught the first day of business school.

Alright ACME time. Yanks go for the sweep tomorrow. I have been investing about 55% of my baseball emotion to the Yankees this summer with 45% going to the Phillies. My usual percentages are like 95.5% to 4.5%. I have been to 6 Phightin' Phils games and only 2 Yanks. I feel very odd about this. So for the record I am cheating on JP Morgan and the Yankees this summer. I am a slut.

Revelations (not the bible type)

So in the wake of Csik's party I had a pretty bad week overall, but one that helped me make many decisions about near and future decisions. On Tuesday I realized how much I didn't like my job. Granted everyone bitches about this in real life/on TV shows, but it is not the actual work that I don't like, in fact it is kind of easy, and relaxed. What I realized on Tuesday is that I don't, at any point want to have my managers role/position in the company in any circumstance. Being that this is the thing you are supposed to want and strive for I felt that I wanted to get out of this situation right now, basically cashing out before I get too deep in my job and have too many ties to this area. SO after work on Tuesday I totally checked out of my job, like I'll still do it to the best of my ability, but I just don't care/want to learn much more about the job and department in general. When things are explained to me I nod and smile, but really don't pay attention. I know this sounds awful, but whatever you know how awful I am by now. So that same night I brushed up the resume and started job hunting again. I spent until 2 in the morning looking into jobs, and even applied to a few in the city I love to hate, New York. I also called the Navy to confirm my security clearance is processing along too.

So basically in a span of a week I have lost my mind, but whatever I feel very good about this. My roommate isn't helping my desire to stay in this area either, as he is a pretty awful. To describe him, Basically think of someone like me, but with absolutely no tact, an annoying/bad sense of humor, no motivation, no future prospects, and 25 lbs heavier. He is a good role model of what not to be in life.

So after my revelation of a week I decided I would spend my weekend here in Newark, breaking my summer travel regiment. It was a very good and very bad decision.

BAD: I sat at home on Friday night all by myself, watching movies. This was a good break for me, but reminded me wayyyyy too much of my sophomore year in high school (ie the worst year of my life) where I basically did this every Friday night during the spring and hated my life, and had few friends. This also coincided with my decision not to become a pothead like all of my friends, but this is a totally tangent topic.

GOOD: I spent Saturday Day walking around downtown Newark so when any of you actually come to visit my shitty state sometime I'll have fun stuff to do with you. There are seriously so many great places to eat, fun/cheap bars, and cool shops, that I can actually make this place seem really fun for a weekend.

GOOD: I went to Jenkinstown and hung out with my one of my top 5 favorite people, Nora. Just to think 5 months ago we were teetering on non-friendship makes me pissed. She has the ability to talk through a and contribute in conversation in very diverse array of topics, which is very rare. Salvaging our friendship after not talking for a long while is comparable to finding an extra $1000 in your bank account that you totally forgot about. Good times! I also felt really good going to church for the first time in a while, I think I am gong to make a point to do that more. Overall visit, about 12 hrs, Grade= A+. Also she has an amazing apartment and hot friends from school, all good stuff.

GOOD: I read and finished "Cashflow Quadrent" by Robert Kiyosaki today. Amazing book, it is a great motivator, and teaches some great lessons in it that I really want to apply to my life.

BAD: It makes me feel like a piece of shit worker in the rat race and makes me feel like I should kill myself.

Overall a good weekend, Phillies and Yankees swept, I cut my disgusting hair, I bought 4 good books to read. In unrelated news my sister is coming home tonight from Spain, and my brother got his drivers permit.

P.S. Sorry no picture updates recently, I have been very bad about taking them.

Comments

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South Jerz

It is really ridiculous how action packed this weekend was. In 48 hours I accumulated 6 or hours of sleep, which made me be a lazy bitch all day and I am still a zombie right now, with no motivation to go to workout. I figure I'll try to let you get a feel by recreating a running diary of this monstrosity

Friday

2:01 P.M - I literally zoom out of the parking lot a minute after my scheduled departure at work (It was a flex day for me), go home and chill out in preparation for Csikfest. For once I'm not rushing out the door to get somewhere on Friday, and not fighting rush hour traffic, I'm in a great mood.

4:50 PM- 5:30 PM- I drive aimlessly around Medford, NJ, as I for some reason only vaguely remember where he lives. Sadly I have been to his house 3 times. At least I know some of the girls will get lost on the way there too. Leah and Nora confirm the easiest bet I have ever won with myself, and promptly give myself a pat on the back.

7 PM Gametime. After about 1/3 of the party arrives at J.C.'s house we head on over to the catering hall. For this affair we have people coming from 5 to 6 hours form both north and south. Quite a feat. On a side note Dinger is dressed like he either came from a country club or a is trying to pick up dudes. Take your pick.

7:05PM Justin's baby picture dominates the entrance! A nice embarrassing touch by mom and dad.

7:05PM-12AM A classic 2001-2002 St. Mary's group gathering. To those who don't know the parameters, this involves basically all of us busting on our shortcomings, catching up on all the current gossip, and acting like we are about at a 15 year old maturity level. Highlights include out infatuation with the ice cream bar, getting excited over ducks, and drinking the St. Mary's beer of choice, Miller Lite. We all got to meet Justin's mysterious home friends, who he has rarely even mentioned, and we get to see Ding Dong get in trouble with his wife. Another bet I would have won with myself. Another time to pat myself on the back.

Friday

12 AM-3AM Being that about 85% work full time jobs staying up late for us is a treat. For the next three hours we engorge ourselves with leftovers, drink even more beer, and start to get even more tipsy. Around 1:30ish we broke out the game called CashFlow, which is a game that only a business student could play well. If I wasn't drunk and exhausted this would have been a great time, but I tired very quickly while playing.

3AM-10AM- I don't want to talk about this time frame. Lets pretend it didn't happen.

10AM The spread Justin's parents laid out is about what I'd expect. Over the top, and very very fulfilling. I could write a whole entry about how Justin's party was a microcosm of his life, but I feel like being shallow and superficial right now.

12PM- We bid adeu to most of the party, sans Justin, myself, Mike, Bobby, Chomps, and Gillian. At this point anyone who is willing to take bets with my on Nora and Justin getting back together, inquire within. If you bet on no, I will give you great odds.

12-4PM To Seaside! We spend the afternoon at the beach/getting a tour of Seaside Heights/ prepping for the fantasy football draft scheduled for 4 or 4:30. Justin and I will be drafting together and we have the first pick. This is my first fantasy draft not done over a computer and I am very excited for it. Mike is excited too, and he wants his team to pick up Tiki Manning with their first pick. If they can't get him he wants Gary Sheffield, because he heard he gets a bunch of RBI's

4 - 10 PM Drinking and eating makes manual drafts go very slow. It took us approx 6 hrs to pick our teams, with JC and I picking first (L. Tomlinson) and last (Greg Lewis), with about 170 picks in between. JC and I were the nerds with our laptop and our reports, but this will pay major dividends with our team in the log run, as we are very solid. Also by the end we are all very drunk and full of food. After cleaning our dirty/fantasy nerd, asses up, it is time to go out to see Jerz at its best.

10-11PM But not without a stop to the Shore Shack first! Mikes cousins and younger brother rent a shore "house" for the summer, and we went there to drink. This was probably my favorite hour of the weekend as 2 of my favorite moments happened here

• Justin being introduced to the Plain Jane stories of Mike's life. Justin being the good hearted/do gooder/innocent one of all our friend was shocked and amazed by the porn starish scenes Mike had participated in. I was more shocked at the amount of info his parents knew about them. All aboard the train to awkward city
• Mike displaying his infinite knowledge of ball sports. To Mike's credit he is a great sport about all the abuse he takes about his apathy towards baseball/football/basketball/etc. But his "I thought all of the good Yankee players were buried in Monument Park."was something that sent me rolling to the floor. You can make this stuff up! I also liked his dad's info, that he once owned a Charlotte Hornets starter jacket, because of the colors, and how he once irritated his dad by saying, "My team (San Diego) is beating your team (Yanks) right now," because of his then current residence in San Diego. BTW the yanks came back to win that game after trailing 2-0 min the eighth inning, highlighted by a 2 out game tying homerun by Kenny Lofton. They won in extra innings. I know too much information.

11Pm-3AM

If I forgot to mention James "the Diva" Gosselin left during the draft to go home because of the sleeping arrangements. He drove 5 to 6 hours in order to sleep in a bed rather than a couch. Kind of a silly idea to ask me, and I feel with his demand for sleeping arrangements he should also have an entouage and travel everywhere via limo.

So in the absence of James we went out and got the true Seaside experience. This included almost getting in a fight with a group of deaf guys, drinking $1 beers and being harassed by people trying to make us participate in boardwalk carnival games. We ended the night by forcing Mike to show us where Plainy's house was, which was a monstrosity.


3 AM - 10 AM Around 3 I found a mini couch to set up shop on, and I proceeded to get approx 4 hours of sleep on before I rolled to a surprisingly more comfortable floor. After a quick breakfast I drove to Philly to meet my dad and brother for a 1:35 Phillies game. By the way I'm exhausted by this point.

12PM-4 PM Phillies game. After 1 beer with my dad I am exhausted and actually fell asleep during the 8th Inning. I did happen to show them a good slice of Philly as we ate water ice cheese steaks/pork sandwiches and drank yuengling. I was so tired, but I was able to show my Dad a good time. I was amazing. The Phillies were hapless and lost 2-0, shwoing almost no effort.

5PM After a drive through the heart of the ghetto in Chester to find a gas station, I finally make it home and put my room together, which was a task I had been meaning to do for a week. I then proceed to pass out intermittently until around 12 when I finally go to bed.

Overall a 9.5 out of 10 weekend, probably top 7 of the year when its all done. Im sooooo paying for it now though, and it hurts my head to write. I' done, and as usual there is no point to this except to exhibit my superficiality.