The Upstate Life

Monday, December 27, 2004

Festivus for the Rest of Us Edition

The Upstate Life is back and groggier than ever on this post-Xmas edition of the Wrapup. He should have taken some more vacation time like his roommate and slept in rather than have gotten up at the heartbreaking 6:45 this morning. I won't complain too much though as TUL was awesomely dismissed at noon this past Thursday, so I basically had 3.5 days off this past weekend. Believe in or not, this was The Upstate Life's first Xmas "break" spent away from home, and I've got to admit, it was rather fun. Seeing as how TUL is of the Jewish variety and doesn't celebrate the holiday, I participated in some activities over the weekend that simply glorifies a Jew on Xmas, so let's get down to it.

First off, The Upstate Life did in fact go to the Matzo Ball. Yes, you read that right. You can reposition your jaw from the floor back to your mouth. And you know what? I had a fucking awesome time. Eff the haters. I don't know whether it was the mass amount of alcohol consumed, the decent music selection, or the company I attended with, but I surprisingly and shockingly enjoyed myself. I have to admit that TUL was a little dubious about going from the start, but honestly, wouldn't you have gone to one of the very few bars open in DC on Xmas eve if you had nothing else to do? We started predrinking at my friend R's apartment in Van Ness for an hour or so before cabbing over to Lulu's. By the time I was in line, I had already established a nice little buzz. I made the wise decision of checking my new coat (which is practically near-identical to the old coat) to make sure another asshole wouldn't jack it again a la last weekend. I then made an even wiser decision by halting my purchases of Miller Lite and moving onto Gin and Tonics, based on the notion that I wasn't getting drunk enough. Those G&T's certainly did their job, attributing to the reason I was on the dance floor the rest of the night. Probably explains why I walked into a wall back at the apartment, too.

The next day, after trying to shake off one hell of a hangover, we all went to the movies in Georgetown. After failing to find an open establishment for lunch, we simply decided to order some overpriced, deep-fried goodness at the movie theater and chow on that instead during The Life Aquatic. It was a great movie and although Bill Murray was excellent in his role as Steve Zissou, I felt Willem Dafoe had some scene-stealers with his outlandish German character. Wes Anderson's choice of David Bowie songs was another plus in TUL's book too. Because one movie wasn't enough, Meet the Fockers was next on our Thank You Jesus for Free Parking in Georgetown Day. It was certainly entertaining, but when it came down to it, the film was basically the same old stuff witnessed in the first installment. Then again, any movie with a Randy Newman soundtrack isn't the greatest of signs.

Later that night we all drove to Chinatown for, you guessed it, some Chinese food. I forgot the exact name of the restaurant, but seeing as how there are thirty or so within a one block radius, how could you blame me? I did have some of the best Mei Fun in quite some time which really hit the spot. Certainly beats that Golden House shack that's a block from my apartment, but they're so convenient with their walking distance and all that they'll still probably (and thankfully) receive my patronage. We went back to our friend's apartment and hit the Trivial Pursuit Millennium edition until about 1am. I can't remember the last time I've played, but I know my rents have the Baby Boomers and Silver Screen expansion sets. That'd be more struggling to play than listening to that horrific go-go version of Pieces of Me I heard on the radio when driving home from work last week. Made Ashlee sound like Whitney Houston.

Posted by Brett at 5:19 PM |