Labor Day...

Eric here:

New York was over a week ago and I still haven't written about the b-day celebration.
J-Ro plus One, E-Hals, G. Via G., my sister K, Paul, Dr. Smith & IMG (Carman 1201 Represent!), Mr. & Mrs. G-A, A-Scardino all were at John's for Pizza, as was someone else, I'm surely leaving out. Whomever you are, forgive me.

Post-pizza, we all embarked to Wogie's, where more people showed up. We took the bar over in the name of Eric. Lots and lots of drinking. B-Talbs, GregKinLA, M-Balfe, A-Wurth, D-Targs, Wisco B, JH4 (L.A. missed you) and many many more... Who am I leaving out? Again, I beg your forgiveness. A-Davie and J-Kraj rolled in smoothly near midnight. The highlight for most was the bartender putting on Beck's "Debra" on the stereo. Paul and I put on a lipsynch performance that would rival the best. I fell to my knees and did my best James Brown. Maybe it was the atmosphere, Maybe it was the combination of beverages in my abdomen (in addition to quite a few beers, shots taken by that point: jagermeister, maker's mark, kamikaze, tequila, and something red(?))... Whatever it was, I was a showman, and earned that applause. The highlight for me 'though, was seeing my friends and family; realizing: "L.A. might be treating me well, but New York & Connecticut are home".

Somewhere around 4am, I was eating french fries. I woke up around 9am. Ouch. In no mood for breakfast, I sat around and let Gatorade and aspirin work their magic. Met up with sister K on the train. Headed home. Amazing birthday dinner with the family. Mom blew my mind with the dessert, a fruit trifle, that was so fantastic of her to take the time to make. (I tend to prefer fruit desserts, as chocolate gives me a headache) It was a gargantuan trifle, layers of cake, sliced fruit, creme anglais (thanks L), and fresh whipped cream. Grandpa joined and we had a great dinner...

Monday, I went into the city with Mom and Sister K, saw the sister who is just starting college, and I then jumped in a taxi to the east side. Met up with JH3 outside his apartment and walked him to his dentist appointment... he could've walked himself, mind you... I just wanted to meet up with him while I had a chance... Wandered around for a bit... Ended up at Moma, where I wandered around for 90 minutes (Thanks E!) Mixed feelings about the new Moma. At times, it just feels like an Apple Store (is that a bad thing) but it was my first time at MoMA Redux, and I gotta say, I like it... I still don't know visual art well (thanks for nothing Art Hum), but I enjoy museums (No, I haven't been to the Mutter museum, but next time I'm on the East Coast, I hope to go) of all types... Fun people-watching... E & I jumped on the E Train (named after her or me?) and went to her apartment. A couple beers later, we split up. I met up with Mr. & Mrs. G-A for dinner at Frank. Great dinner, 'though restaurant was empty... I, suprisingly, did not have the usual rigatoni al ragu. I had spaghetti-esque pasta. It went well with the wine.

After dinner, we walked over to the Continental. Heavy Metal Karaoke. B-Talbs came down to hang out. E-Hals and the famous Rob both came as well. Heavy Metal Karaoke is great. You have a live band that knows hundreds of metal and punk songs that plays the music for you. All you need to do is rock the vocal. Maybe it was being nervous... Maybe it was that I hadn't heard the song in a long time, but my rendition of Sabbath's "Paranoid" was at times, pretty sloppy. You should definitely know the song well before you get up there. The audience still applauded heavily for me. If there's one thing I'm good at in life, it's singing Black Sabbath on karaoke night.

I went to Mr & Mrs. G-A's house in NJ for the night. I fell asleep watching a history channel type show about British paratroppers.

All for now, Eric

P.S. My company is matching for donations to the Red Cross. I donated today, and never has any donation I've made felt so small. Selling some stuff on ebay I don't need to try and raise some more money to donate. Anyone out there wanna share in how they're helping with the Katrina relief effort? I might try to volunteer at work to help with the clothing/food/etc. drive.