Thursday, November 06, 2008
A Nice Final Weekend
My last weekend at home was a good one. It was an interesting, and unexpected, mix of old and new friends.
Friday night was Josh and Angelo’s annual Halloween party (how odd that they called it that…Josh gets worked up about people saying things like “PIN number” [you know, “personal identification number number”] but if you think about it, would a Halloween party be anything BUT annual?). A good time was had by all. The theme this year (and yes, there’s always a theme) was Royalty. Stan went as Caesar, and I went as...a condom. Specifically, “Royal Nights King-Size Condom.” Yeah, it fits. There were some really amazing costumes there (mostly of the drag variety) and lots of bare legs and bare chests. Nice.
We had a great time Friday night, leaving around 1:30am, then spent Saturday watching TV and running errands. Needless to say, I had a few things to wrap up before leaving. Friday was my last day in the office and everything after that was all about final preparations. Stan helped me do some work at home…they’ll be doing some work on the outer wall of our building starting this week and naturally we had to seal up windows and such. Yay Stan for helping me!!
Saturday night we headed up to Bethesda to catch a play, Altar Boyz. About 20 of us went thanks to Ethan who suggested it. We enjoyed the show a lot and I got a big surprise as soon as I opened the Playbill: one of the stars was an old friend of mine from my early blogging days. Michael Busillo used to write a blog while he was a college student and when I was in grad school we used to read each other’s stuff and write each other every now and then (he’s the guy who turned me onto Don’t Tell Mama in NYC). We met up while I was in school in DC when I took the train up to Philly to meet him while he was home on break. I later ran into him in New York 3 years ago when he was in an off-Broadway show. We’ve e-mailed on occasion since then but it’s been a long time, and I had no idea he was in this show. Afterwards we met up in the lobby and talked for a bit, though I couldn’t get him or the other guys to come out with us (they had a matinee the next day) and of course, now that he’s local and will be here for a while, I’m leaving the country. But it was cool to see him and I’ll put him in touch with my friends.
We went out to JR’s that night, which is just about my least favorite bar in DC, but with the right people it can be OK. We got home about 2am, and then remembered that this was the night we reset our clocks and end up with an extra hour of sleep. Yay!! Getting up Sunday Stan and I wandered into town and met up with my friend Christopher for brunch. We got to have a fun couple of hours with him before I needed to head back, as I still had a few things to do to prep for the trip.
Sunday night was dinner with Linh, and he was going to fix dinner for us, but a paper draft that was due on Monday suddenly got in the way of that. He took me instead to an Italian restaurant nearby that I hadn’t been to in a couple years, and we had a really nice evening. Hard to believe that when I get back he’ll be only a couple months away from finishing his master’s. We’re hoping to meet up when he’s in Asia over Christmas.
Monday and Tuesday were mad dashes to get packed and get everything ready for the trip. I had to do some financial stuff regarding my apartment, and get a new copy of all my course materials off of my work computer because the disk the IT folks made for me was unreadable (that’s a good example of how my last couple days went). Monday night I hung out with Adrian, and then we went and voted together Tuesday. Ethan made a point of seeing me one last time that afternoon, then Stan and I spent the evening together, with him bringing me to the airport Wednesday morning.
And unlike 2004 (and especially 2000) there was no question who the new president of the United States would be. I’m kinda proud of my country today for doing the right thing. I’ve been awfully unhappy with some things the last few years, but this was the right decision, and I’m glad so many people made it.
I’m typing this on the plane, during the 15-hour flight from Chicago to Hong Kong, and expect to upload it once we land. Next stop: Singapore!!
Friday night was Josh and Angelo’s annual Halloween party (how odd that they called it that…Josh gets worked up about people saying things like “PIN number” [you know, “personal identification number number”] but if you think about it, would a Halloween party be anything BUT annual?). A good time was had by all. The theme this year (and yes, there’s always a theme) was Royalty. Stan went as Caesar, and I went as...a condom. Specifically, “Royal Nights King-Size Condom.” Yeah, it fits. There were some really amazing costumes there (mostly of the drag variety) and lots of bare legs and bare chests. Nice.
We had a great time Friday night, leaving around 1:30am, then spent Saturday watching TV and running errands. Needless to say, I had a few things to wrap up before leaving. Friday was my last day in the office and everything after that was all about final preparations. Stan helped me do some work at home…they’ll be doing some work on the outer wall of our building starting this week and naturally we had to seal up windows and such. Yay Stan for helping me!!
Saturday night we headed up to Bethesda to catch a play, Altar Boyz. About 20 of us went thanks to Ethan who suggested it. We enjoyed the show a lot and I got a big surprise as soon as I opened the Playbill: one of the stars was an old friend of mine from my early blogging days. Michael Busillo used to write a blog while he was a college student and when I was in grad school we used to read each other’s stuff and write each other every now and then (he’s the guy who turned me onto Don’t Tell Mama in NYC). We met up while I was in school in DC when I took the train up to Philly to meet him while he was home on break. I later ran into him in New York 3 years ago when he was in an off-Broadway show. We’ve e-mailed on occasion since then but it’s been a long time, and I had no idea he was in this show. Afterwards we met up in the lobby and talked for a bit, though I couldn’t get him or the other guys to come out with us (they had a matinee the next day) and of course, now that he’s local and will be here for a while, I’m leaving the country. But it was cool to see him and I’ll put him in touch with my friends.
We went out to JR’s that night, which is just about my least favorite bar in DC, but with the right people it can be OK. We got home about 2am, and then remembered that this was the night we reset our clocks and end up with an extra hour of sleep. Yay!! Getting up Sunday Stan and I wandered into town and met up with my friend Christopher for brunch. We got to have a fun couple of hours with him before I needed to head back, as I still had a few things to do to prep for the trip.
Sunday night was dinner with Linh, and he was going to fix dinner for us, but a paper draft that was due on Monday suddenly got in the way of that. He took me instead to an Italian restaurant nearby that I hadn’t been to in a couple years, and we had a really nice evening. Hard to believe that when I get back he’ll be only a couple months away from finishing his master’s. We’re hoping to meet up when he’s in Asia over Christmas.
Monday and Tuesday were mad dashes to get packed and get everything ready for the trip. I had to do some financial stuff regarding my apartment, and get a new copy of all my course materials off of my work computer because the disk the IT folks made for me was unreadable (that’s a good example of how my last couple days went). Monday night I hung out with Adrian, and then we went and voted together Tuesday. Ethan made a point of seeing me one last time that afternoon, then Stan and I spent the evening together, with him bringing me to the airport Wednesday morning.
And unlike 2004 (and especially 2000) there was no question who the new president of the United States would be. I’m kinda proud of my country today for doing the right thing. I’ve been awfully unhappy with some things the last few years, but this was the right decision, and I’m glad so many people made it.
I’m typing this on the plane, during the 15-hour flight from Chicago to Hong Kong, and expect to upload it once we land. Next stop: Singapore!!
