So this weekend was yet another weekend of partying, chilling, and not doing too much outdoorsy.  I’m seriously debating why I’m posting these, BUT this weekend also marks my return to climbing after this infernal rib injury, so I figure that it warrants posting.

 

Friday –

 

Friday was a fairly busy day at work, but once I actually got home was when the real work began; my buddy Mike had been slowly moving into his new apartment all week, and Friday Night was when the guys and I were finally all free, so Mike had rented a U-Haul and we were set to move all the heavy stuff; furniture beds and dressers.

 

I met up with Dave and Mike at his old apartment, and by that time they had moved a few pieces into the truck already.  I helped them stack in the rest, organize it up, and we closed up the van and headed over to the new place.  Since the van had to get there first, and I was going to be driving significantly faster than a fully laden U-haul, I grabbed a bite to eat and some cash before heading over there, and I still got there while they were still backing the truck into position.  Unloading was a fairly quick process, although the distinct lack of a couch made slacking off rather difficult, which probably helped a lot.

 

After we finished up unpacking Dave and Mike dropped off the truck while I stayed in to hold the fort and play a few licks on Mikes guitars.  When they got back Mike and I Jammed for a bit while Dave set about drumming on anything he could find.  Through this we made the key decisions of the night; what to eat, and what beer to drink.  We ended up with Chinese from a place down the street, and Magic Hats winter brew combined with some Sam Adams and Anchor Steam Lager. We picked up the drinks and the eats, but in our rush to get back forgot one major thing…

 

How to eat the food.  Not usually a key question to a group of guys, but in this case it was pertinent… especially since Mike hadn’t packed any silverware into the stuff we brought over.  However, a quick trip to the convenience store through the local hoodlums (turns out their more scared of you than you are of them!) brought us plastic forks and a hundred paper plates.  Too many, you may say?  I would disagree, seeing as Mike now had a fireplace.  One that didn’t have wood, but was able to burn paper… The rest of the night saw us drinking, chilling, and lighting everything we could get our hands on.

 

Saturday –

 

Saturday started out perfectly; waking up semi-early (read: 10:45) and relaxing for the morning.  I talked with my folks about heading out to meet them so I could get a GPS for my upcoming trip, and they told me about a cool “gentlemen’s lounge” style of museum in Bostons center, and we agreed to meet up there.

 

We toured the museum for a while; it was exactly what one would want out of a Gentleman’s lounge, it smelled of old leather, cigars, and scotch and had many comfortable chairs spaced around.  We saw an exhibit on an artist named Gorey, who drew fairly morbid comics, which were pretty impressive.  We ate a quick lunch at Cheers in Faniel Hall, I grabbed the GPS, and we parted ways after I promised to bike home safely, not get blown off my bike, and to have fun in California.

 

I relaxed for the rest of the day, simply waiting around for the party this coming evening.  Dave and Snowman had the apartment to themselves, so we were planning a pong championship challenge and general night of tomfoolery.  I met up with my buddy Pat and his friend Melinda, and we all headed over after a quick glass of scotch, where Pat and I grabbed some quick food before we parked and walked over to the apartment.

 

By the time we got there pretty much everyone was already there, and the championship had already begun in earnest.  Dave and Snowman had picked up a pair of glowy necklaces for the winners to wear, so they were changing hands pretty well as we slowly drained the beers.  Shotgunning competitions were had

 

Side-story the shotgunning comp was started by Dave, since he had a fancy “beer punch” he wanted to use.  It didn’t work too well, so we graduated to my knife.  The knife not only looked much cooler (shanking beers…), but itworked much better at opening up the can, and it scared the living crap out of the girls in the room… so hey, no one got stabbed, and we looked Badass!

 

nachos were eaten, and horrible shots were mocked mercilessly (such as the one where I left my beer on the table, and Dave sniped it PERFECTLY, ending the game).  The night itself was pretty much perfect, a generally awesome time had between friends where we fought over the glowy necklaces and rocked out like there was no tomorrow.

 

Sunday –

 

But tomorrow did come, and with it came the promise of a good day of climbing.  Not outdoors unfortunately, since it was still rather bitterly cold, but Metro would have to do for now.  I relaxed for most of the morning, leaving home by around 3:00 or so.  Met up with a friend while bouldering, and we busted out a few topropes before calling it quits when the gym closed up at 6:00.  I didn’t do impressively well unfortunately, but was able to work out the knots in my arms and stretch my arms from the three weeks of resting I had done thanks to my rib.

 

I was pretty dead after climbing though, since even at the low levels I was stuck at I had still worked myself pretty hard, in order to get my strength back for California.  So, to treat myself, I decided to drive up I-93 to Chili’s for some ribs for dinner.  I got there and ordered up a full old-school spread; Classic Nachos, BBQ Ribs, and a Milkshake.  I almost always order the Nachos, thanks to an old friend who couldn’t live without them, but the combination of all of that left me nearly unable to move, even with having three ribs left over.

 

So I Packed everything up, and headed over to Mikes new apartment to check out the couches that he had picked up while I was climbing.  We chilled and jammed for an hour or two, I’m actually starting to get pretty good at this whole guitar thing, and then headed out to check a new lounge out with another friend.

 

Our night took us all around the North End and Govt. Center, adventuring from one place to the next and having a grand time rocking out.  We started out at The Living Room, a very laid-back place with large couches and strong (expensive) drinks, but moved out fairly quickly due to the lack of people there.  We tried to get into the Cigar Bar in the North End, but were turned away by the private party being held.  So we headed to Dirty Nelly’s where we ran into Mike Barrett, an amazing Irish singer who does his own “unique” takes on a lot of popular songs.  While his songs were just as dirty as normal, the bar itself was a lot less exciting than his usual haunt, so we had a few beers and headed out yet again, looking for adventure.

 

Our final destination of the night was chosen fairly randomly, solely due to the band playing in the window.  They sounded pretty good, and seeing live music is always better than most other things.  However, when we got inside we had a startling revelation; this band didn’t have a singer, they were a Karaoke band.  This meant that they were the ultimate cover band, able to play a few hundred songs while drunk bar patrons howled along with them.  So Mike, Filipe and myself set ourselves up at a table and started going through the song list, while listening to a rather fun rendition of Love Shack.

 

We ended up singing All-Star by Smash Mouth, and clearly had most of the bar rocking out with us.  There’s just something about old 90’s songs that everyone loves… their so upbeat and rocking that you can’t stay sad or annoyed when your listening to them.  We didn’t do an encore, unfortunately, but had to head out fairly soon after our song, since the band was tearing down and heading out.  So Filipe jetted out, and Mike and I headed back to his place to jam again for a bit.  I headed home a bit afterwards, ready for a slow day of working at home.

 

Monday –

 

Monday was a pretty chilled out day, mostly because of the holiday allowing me to work from home.  I spent the day alternating between working on a SolidWorks project and playing rounds of Starcraft, making myself a nice lunch of reheated ribs, orange slices, and some juice.  Overall a relaxing and chilled out day, without very much going on.