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.