my friends are awesome :)

Tomorrow I'm leaving for Australia. Since I'll be gone for three weeks, I decided to plan a semi-impromptu night out at the bar for last night. I emailed the gang and we all met at Ashburner's for food, drinks and kick-ass music. It was the most fun I've had at a bar in a long time. First of all, EVERYONE was there! Sam, Karen, MK, Rich, Heather, Michael, Tim, Inara, Steph, and Dooner all came to hang out. And two of Tim's friends showed up later. The only people missing were Mike and Erin (understandably), but Erin called and sent texts and Mike sent me adorable phone pics of Henry and Leo. So they were there in spirit.

The Ashburner was Rich's suggestion, and it turned out to be a great one. There was no cover and the drinks were dirt cheap ($2 bottles of Coors Light during the Phils game!). The crowd was pretty decent, the DJ rocked and there was plenty of room for everyone to hang out and even dance. I definitely wanna go back there again.

I can't quite put my finger on what it was that made the night so awesome. It just seemed like everyone was in a great mood and having a great time. Inappropriate text messages were flying, drinks were flowing, and everyone was laughing. It felt like one of those nights where everything worked out perfectly.

Props to Sam and Dooner for buying me beers (even though one got punched when an attempt to hug me went horribly awry), to Heather for sharing her pizza and to Miguel for suggesting a movie (that I promise I'll watch when I get back!). Oh, what the hell... Props to everyone who showed up. You guys rock!

smack down!

Last night I went to karaoke at the Roadhouse (dive bar!) with Karen, Rich, Heather, James, Gabby and Sarah. I had planned to post about the bar experience, but Karen beat me to it. It was complete soap opera-esque drama, but it made karaoke night a million times more enjoyable than it should have been. For those of you who don't read Karen's blog, here's a very long story in condensed form:

Rich's friend James is dating/hooking up with a girl named Gabby. A guy at the bar saw Rich and introduced himself as Justin, and asked if Gabby was coming. We asked if he knew Gabby and he said he'd been dating her for over a year. Oh SHIT. James and Gabby show up, Justin drags Gabby off for long drawn-out conversations, Justin confronts James, security gets involved, drama ensues. But no fight, much to my dismay. Justin gets up to sing and dedicates the song to Gabby... "Shameless," by Garth Brooks. Classic. Is it wrong that I totally enjoyed every minute of the drama? Openly? Karen and I didn't even bother to conceal our glee when the heated arguments took place right in front of us.

Anyway, aside from that drama, karaoke night was uneventful.

I've been going to Chestnut Hill College for teacher workshops all week, but today I decided to play hooky. I didn't get much sleep last night, and I couldn't bear the thought of dealing with turnpike traffic on 3 hours of sleep. Of course, I was halfway through my shower when I came to that conclusion. So I finished my shower, put my pajamas back on, and got back in bed. And slept for four more hours. It was glorious.

Today wound up being a nice relaxing day. I met Karen and Sam for coffee at Starbucks, where we discussed men (they suck) and plans for an upcoming party. Then I FINALLY got to Target to do some trip shopping. Let me just confess something now, so I can get it off my chest: I am a Target-oholic. If such a thing exists. I went in with a list, but wound up buying several things that I didn't need. For example, "Hope Floats" on DVD for $5.50. It called my name. Harry Connick, Jr. in tight jeans for under $6? The price is right, baby.

I also wandered into the book aisle. Big, big mistake. Books are like candy to me. I'm addicted. I have a pile of books upstairs that I still haven't read. At least fifteen of them. And I felt the need to buy five more. Sigh. I'm also a book-oholic.

And speaking of books, Erin (and Mike and Henry) stopped by yesterday to drop off a book for me to borrow. It was Tasha's first encounter with a baby, and she was extremely confused by Henry. She spent several minutes dancing around the sofa, trying to get a better look at him, sniffing his car seat and diaper bag, and cocking her head in his direction every time he made a cute little noise. I think she was looking for Leo... and clearly, Henry wasn't an acceptable substitute.

Okay, gotta go get my laundry.

yikes

I think it finally hit me that I'm leaving for Australia on Sunday. And that I'll be gone for 3 weeks. And that I'll be taking approximately 10 plane rides during the course of the trip.

Ummm... is it too late to back out of this??

Okay. I can handle the whole traveling-to-another-country thing. Been there, done that. Well, when I say "been there," I'm not referring specifically to Australia. I've been to Europe, which isn't quite as far, but it's the same concept. And the length of the trip doesn't bother me too much. When I went to Europe I was there for 2 1/2 weeks. So it's pretty much the same thing.

So maybe it's the plane rides that freak me out. I'm okay once I'm actually on the plane. It's the anticipation of the ride that gets me spazzy. And the take-off. And the turbulance. And the ear-popping (note to self: buy gum). And the fact that it's a very large, heavy piece of machinery that somehow defies the laws of gravity and stays suspended in the air for 8 hours at a time. And the fact that I've seen "Lost" one too many times, and unless Matthew Fox is on the plane with me, I'm not gonna enjoy an emergency landing on a deserted island.

Okay. I'm going to look at this as an adventure. Not many people get to do this kinda thing. It will look amazing on a resume. I will take a shit-load of amazing pictures, which will then be immortalized in a scrapbook that I'm going to force everyone to look at. I'll be fine.

Now I just need to pack. And figure out how many books to bring with me.

Fire Island

Fire Island. I promised a blog, so here it is.

First, some background info on Fire Island itself. It's a barrier island off of Long Island. It requires a 3-4 hour car ride to NY (depending on traffic), followed by a 30 minute ferry ride. No cars allowed on the island - only emergency vehicles. Which means that people either walk or bike everywhere, and they use hand-pulled wagons to transport things.

The island is bordered by the bay on one side and the ocean on the other side. My friend's family has a house in Ocean Bay Park, which is on the bay side. In fact, their backyard is a small boardwalk/dock which leads directly into the bay. It's a five minute walk from the house to the other side of the island, which is the beach. The beach is always clean and never crowded... and there's no boardwalk or stores or anything commercial like that.

Usually, I drive to FI with Becky (she lived with me and Bonnie in college). But this year, she's going out there another weekend with her boyfriend. So I asked Sam if she wanted to go with me. Lo and behold, she made it back alive! And relatively uncorrupted!

Upon our arrival on Friday night, we were greeted by Bonnie (my friend and former college roommate) at the ferry dock. At the house we found Denise (Bonnie's friend) and Mitch (Bonnie's husband). That night, we mostly hung around the house and relaxed. We had a few drinks (Sam introduced NY to the Apple Pie Shot!) and had some bbq. Later that night, we went out to a few local bars (and when I saw local, I mean you walk down the street and you're there). No one in FI dresses up for anything. It's a lot of shorts and flip flops. Very beachy and casual, which is kind of nice.

On Saturday, we hit the beach. The weather was exquisite. Blue sky, warm sun, the occasional breeze. We set up our chairs and blankets and spent about 4 hours being lazy. We met up with Jordan (Bonnie's friend) and his boyfriend Nick, who entertained us with some gymnastics on the beach. Back to the house for showers, naps, and more Apple Pie Shots, and then we were off to Cherry Grove!

A sidenote: many people think Fire Island is a predominantly gay hangout. Only two towns in FI are known as "gay towns." (Not that there aren't gay people in the other towns...) Anyway, Cherry Grove is one of the towns known for its gay bars and entertainment. It's a bit too far to walk, so we took a water taxi (which is exactly what it sounds like) to Cherry Grove for dinner and dancing. We were a rather large party of 13 (having been joined by Bonnie's best friend Michael, his boyfriend Brad, Michael's brother Keith, Keith's wife Michelle, and two other friends of theirs named Rich and Laurie), but Bonnie had made dinner reservations a week in advance. As it turns out, the restaurant was not equipped to handle such a large party, and after two hours we still didn't have our meal. So after much drama, tears and complaining, we paid for our drinks and appetizers and went for pizza.

We spent the rest of Saturday night bar-hopping, dancing, taking a bunch of really funny pictures, watching Nick do his drunken imitation of Super Mario... good times, good times.

We woke early on Sunday, due to a certain text message from Mike (yay!). Then we had breakfast on the back porch, watching the boats drift by on the bay. After breakfast, we packed up and caught an early afternoon ferry back to the mainland. The car ride home didn't take as long as the drive there... plus we had a nice distraction: Erin called with the story of Henry's birth, and then Mike sent pics via text message. We stopped at Starbucks for some refreshment, and made it home just in time for dinner.

All in all, a fabulous weekend. I got to see some old friends and meet some great new people... I got some color and I had a chance to relax. I can't wait to go back!

Can't sleep... clowns'll eat me...

I just got home from Karen's place, where I was hanging out with Karen, Joe, Dooner and Jeanette. We were drinking and playing Wii, which I thought I would hate... but I do not. I am addicted to tennis and I kicked Joe's ass in bowling. Wii is very good indeed. I need more Wii.

Anyway, now I can't sleep. I already uploaded the few pics that I took tonight and I put on a "Friends" DVD for background noise. I had several glasses of Coke (with Stoli Vanilla) at Karen's and the caffeine and sugar combined are making me kinda shaky. Plus I'm anxious about tomorrow. I have a job interview tomorrow. Actually, it's the first step in a three step process for a school district. I know I'm a good teacher... and I know I have an impressive resume and an equally impressive portfolio... and I know that I have good people skills and have no trouble talking during interviews... and I know that I'm more than qualified for this job. But I still can't help being entirely freaked out by the whole thing. I haven't been on a job interview in about 6 years. I do all my worrying beforehand. Once I'm in there, I'll be on auto-pilot, and I'll do fine. I just need to get through tonight and tomorrow morning's drive.

Cross some fingers and toes for me. I'll let you know how it goes.

everything hits at once

The past week has been crazy. To sum up last week: work, work, work, finishing grades, writing report cards, making an awards list, cleaning up the entire classroom, shoving as much as I could into closets. Friday was our last day, and while it was short (two hours), it was emotionally draining. It was the last day for our principal, our third grade teacher and our fifth grade teacher. So the entire week was pure chaos.

After school on Friday, the faculty went to breakfast (an annual tradition). And from there, I picked up Sam and we headed to New York for the weekend. That's a blog for later. I promise I'll get to it.

On Sunday morning (Father's Day), I got a text from Mike at 7 AM saying that Erin was in labor. I didn't expect to hear anything from them until later in the afternoon, but he texted back two hours later to say that Henry Michael was born at 8:38 AM. Probably the shortest labor in history. He came two weeks early, so no one was really expecting it.

When I came home from NY, I found out that my uncle (and godfather) had passed away on Saturday night. He had been sick with throat cancer and receiving treatment, but he developed bronchitis and had complications from that... anyway, it happened pretty quickly, and it's still kind of a shock.

Today I went to visit Erin, Mike and Henry in the hospital. Everyone is well and the baby is absolutely adorable. Of course. It's still so weird to think of Erin and Mike as parents, but they're already pros. Mike's got swaddling down to a science. Henry looked like a little baby burrito.

And then about half an hour ago, I got a phone call from a school district that I had applied to months ago. I had thought it was a lost cause, since I hadn't heard anything from them. Now they want to set up an interview for this week. Yikes! I'm nowhere near ready for that. I need to get my portfolio together and find interview clothes and brush up on my interview skills... it's kind of overwhelming right now. But wish me luck. As much as I love my current place of employment, I really need to find a job that pays more money.

I leave for Australia in less than two weeks. I have about 12 days to get ready (physically and mentally). Holy shit.

And that's what's been going on.

later, gator

Leaving for the weekend. Don't miss me too much. :-)