The Upstate Life

Tuesday, September 07, 2004

Labor Day Weekend Upstate Escape Edition

Words could not describe how much I looked forward to this past weekend. Between moving out, moving in, and living out of a suitcase the entire week, the four day break was exactly what I needed. All of my closest friends were going to be in town as well, including KF who I haven't seen since Thanksgiving of last year since heading west to Minneapolis, so there was some anticipation to get out of Maryland. Friday night I enjoyed my first home cooked meal in what seemed like ages. Nothing comes between me and a steak dinner, nothing. Afterwards, I headed over to BE's house for a reunion of sorts with everyone, having a few brews and watching some hilarious Futurama DVDs. I'm heavily contemplating buying a few seasons of those and the recently released first season of Da Ali G Show, Respect!

Saturday I spent most of the day with the grandparents that were in town from Queens, and I didn't even have to leave my house at all! The fam and I had dinner at Berlinni's which was excellent. I usually go for the chicken parmesan but switched it up and went for veal instead. I'm just unpredictable like that. Afterwards, me and my friends met up at BE's house for some pregaming that included a few rounds of beer pong while rocking out to some iPod selections varying from RJD2 to Death Cab for Cutie to Alkaline Trio. Around 11, we all headed out to downtown Saratoga for some bar hopping. First up was Desperate Annie's which we later realized was basically the Skidmore bar, but hey, they did have a foosball table. It was somewhat funny that before we left, we all agreed that we didn't want to go to Gaffney's, yet we somehow ended up there next for a good while. After a few more drinks, we capped off the evening at Saratoga City Tavern. As Ron Burgundy said, "It jumped up a notch!" BE proved to be the life of the party that night, effin hilarious. I won't go into details, but then again I don't think anyone can remember them.

I finally saw Garden State Sunday night and it instantly became one of my favorite movies. It's just one of those films that spoke out to our generation of twenty something's trying to identify who they really are. Of course, the soundtrack was amazing as well. I've always enjoyed "New Slang" by The Shins, but for some reason, every time I listen to it now, I get shivers running down my spine. Natalie Portman put forth one of her greatest performances, making Sam just come alive as this one of a kind free-spirited individual. I actually wouldn't mind seeing it again in the theater, and that's saying a lot, especially from me. If you haven't checked it out yet, get off your blog reading ass and do it now.

I got back to Maryland Monday afternoon, not before trying to find my car in the BWI parking lot of course. It took me at least a solid 30 minutes to locate the Buick since I couldn't remember where I parked it last Friday. It was probably the first time that panic button on my keyfob actually came in handy.

Posted by Brett at 1:36 PM |