-Learning the T system. Sounds kinda dumb, but I'm really going to miss the T!
-Breaking into Hillside Street apartment and throwing a kickass party. No one was living on the second floor of our house, so I used a coat hanger to pick the lock on the back door, hired a fantastic cover band, and threw a rocking party for about 100 of my closest friends! I think I made about $300, didn't get arrested, and even had the place shiny and clean by the next afternoon for realtor showings.
-21st birthday finale. At Flann O'Briens, the last stop of my 21st birthday bar crawl, I remember leaning against the pool table with my quarters in line. I remember being a jerk and smirking when the guys ahead of me missed a shot. Then, when I was up, in my brown/black out, I somehow miraculously ran the entire table in one turn after the break! Stumbling out of the bar, one of the bystanders who heard it was my 21st had bought me a shot and, in stride, I put it back and barely thanked him as we we headed out the door. Kind of a story about a jerk, but it kinda cracks me up when I think about it.
-Filming on Mission Hill and Arnold Arboretum. In my senior year film class, I had a blast shooting about 5 different short films with my good friends.
-Democratic National Convention with the Creep. After two cute chicks showed us a video of chickens in horrible living conditions, Novak and I were vegans looking to have a good time for about another 10minutes. We saw RHCP play too.
-Time Traveling convention at MIT. What an awesome nerd fest! We heard 4 different talks on quantum physics and worm holes and such, and then went outside at 10pm to welcome any time-traveling guests that had found an invitation that the host had been planting in obscure library books for years (even got the NYTimes to advertise it!). No one (from the future) showed.
-Patriots win SuperBowl in '02. I'm wasn't and am not a Pats fan, but as a newcomer to the city, it was pretty sweet to have the win. The city went berserk in the snow, and I remember a pastor offered to give Dave and I a ride back home (way out of his way) since all cabs were taken and stuck in traffic.
-RedSox coming from behind and beating the Yanks in the ALCS in '04. From my roof on Park Drive, I watched all of Northeastern come sprinting through the Fens towards Fenway to celebrate. It looked like a scene out of Braveheart or something. I sprained my ankle in a bball game the next week, so couldn't riot when we actually won the World Series, but the crutches did make for a good Tiny Tim Halloween costume...
-Giants winning the SuperBowl in 2008!!! 18-1! Thank you David Tyree. I can't believe I didn't get my ass kicked by some stunned and crying Pats fan walking down Gardner Street that night. I was laughing and yelling my face off in the middle of enemy territory.
-Celtics win 2008 Championship vs. the Lakers. Another big comeback for the title win in Boston. The following parade on Boylston street was a great hour long break from the work day.
-Marathon Mondays. Probably my favorite days in Boston.
-Gearing up in full pads and goaltending at Matthew's Arena with Koop. Since he was the nighttime rink manager, my old roomate Koop brought me to Northeastern's mens locker room one time and allowed me to dress in the backup goalies pads. I was in full gear from head to toe! Then, we went out onto the ice and he took slapshots and 1-on-1's with me, but I was horrible. Such a cool experience though!
-Husky hockey, Marino Center, Chicken Lou's, and NEU's secret bathroom.
-Working at Urban Outfitters for less than 2 hours. Fired before 8am.
-Being introduced to BU's Catholic Center. It was difficult at first to get to know this new crowd, but since then, I have built some incredibly strong bonds with many of these inspiring young Catholics. After taking/testing the RCIA program for two years, I finally got baptized by Father Paul at BU's Marsh Chapel on Saturday April 7, 2007.
-St. Clement's Eucharistic Shrine, Adoration, and Father Peter's homilies.
-Shows at Paradise, Great Scott, Middle East, and House of Blues (and Lupo's in Providence!). Bands that come to mind... Gogol Bordello, Devotchka, Arctic Monkeys, Explosions in the Sky, Goldfinger, BadFish, Middle Distance Runner, Sweet Thieves, 31 Knots, The Slackers, Parker House and Theory, and many more I'm now forgetting.
-Chasing down a shoplifter at Blockbuster! I had my hero moment. Some douchebag ran out of the store with a stack of about 30 DVDs and started dropping them as soon as he got outside. It was store policy to not chase down shoplifters, but after my boss ran out, I was all about it! I caught up to him about 10 blocks away (near Woody's pizza on Heminway St.) and stayed about 20 feet behind him after that, waiting to see a cop or something. He ducked into a back alley where he again dropped the stack. A lady was getting into her van and started laughing at him when I told her I had chased him down. He ran for another block or so, but finally placed all the merch on the sidewalk and I let him bounce. I felt like a freakin' redwood walking back into the store with the stack of recovered DVDs :).
-Dapper Vagrants practices and shows. It didn't end well, but I think we all could say there were some great times in there. Not a bad band either, if I may say so myself! I dream of a reunion show in a few years ;)
-Graduation day. Man it felt good to graduate Northeastern. After a checkered highschool graduation, this one was particularly special.
-Backchannelmedia. What a gong show! Run by a bi-polar visionary, the company was convinced it had the answer to time travel, it just hadn't invented exactly how to do it just yet. Long story short, I came home drunk a lot.
-The absurdities of media parties and rep outings. I quickly learned that interactive media was a fun industry to work in! With such growing success, as well as being on the agency side of the industry, I came to enjoy many (MANY) a free drink, lunch, dinner, and outing. It was just how the industry worked- everyone was young and had company money to spend on getting people buttered up! We had a drinking team that played softball, had free happy hours with gourmet food on random days of the week, sushi and steak lunches, baller fishing and cruise excursions, sports tickets... For the most part, it was a blast! and it made my roomates wonder how such an industry and working environment existed. In the house, it was referred to as 'the cartoon factory'.
-Meetings with Fr. Jeremy (then Br. Jeremy!), Br. Gary, Br. Pat, Sr. Olga, and Br. Sam. Vital to my young, growing faith. Thank you!
-Jazz at Wally's, Regattabar, Ryles, Top of the Hub, and Scullers.
-Watching Dolo and Sam graduate!!
-The Harvard bar circuit with Jesse and Jack. Good times! John Harvards, Jimmy's Chicken Shack (aka Charlie's Kitchen), and Tommy Doyle's.
-Rubik's cube class and certificate. Eureka Puzzles in Coolidge Corner, one of my favorite stores ever. Nerd toys. I went to 'class' one night and was taught how to solve a Rubik's cube. Upon completing the cube on my own, I was awarded a medal and certificate which I still hang with pride. In the bathroom.
-Nearby trips to Rockport and Green Harbor. Cliff jumping! 10-year old bridge jumper: 'These abs don't lie'. 7-year old on beach upon seeing Chris Mills: 'Manbearpig!'
-Southie with Tania and Peseta
-The Castle(both of them)!!! Halloween parties, Christmas semi-formals where people either brought a bottle of booze or a toy for charity, Easter/Thanksgiving feasts, 2 Beer Olympics, Valentine's 'red' party, basement billiards, gargoyles, sweet decks and yards, mirrors going from one corner of the house to the opposite corner in the old Castle, getting a soccer ball kicked in your junk as sport (too many years being oppressed with 'no ball in the house' I guess), Sherlock Holmes and the case of the missing Naked Eye, puzzles, Beer-B-Qs, salads that would somehow set off fire alarms, moving that f*$#ing massive TV, and too many other hilarious memories.
-Dirty Waters Futbol Club winless season. All losses were forgotten when Beer-B-Qing on the old Castle's deck and front yard afterwards though. Great summer fun.
-Mount Auburn cemetery. Gorgeous. Graves start at $10K and I think you need to be a Cambride resident...
-Volunteering through Boston Cares. Creating audio books for the deaf, ushering inner-city kids to an orchestra, distributing food to families before Thanksgiving, taking donations for local public radio, assisting in cooking class for inner-city kids, and mailing requested books to prisoners. This has been some of the most meaningful work I've ever done and I'm so grateful to have found the BostonCares organization.
-5 on 5 Spikes brawl.
-Valentine's Day charity Date Auction. So much fun! Thank you to all auctionees and especially Matt Z for MC'ing the whole night! I think we raised about $1,400 that night! I also had a lovely Italian dinner with Lindsay and Amy the week following :)
-Cantab poetry slams in Cambridge. I didn't realize it until only last week, but apparently Cantab is the bomb.com for poetry slams around the country! If you ever want to have your mind blown by some lyrical wordsmith genius', head over there on a Wednesday night. Thanks for being my poetry slam buddy, Sam!
-Catholic men's group. I had been looking for a group like this for years and finally found them. Thank God :) We usually got together every other Friday night for dinner, a reading about the life of a saint or holy man, and then a relaxed but candid discussion among 5 or 6 guys. We would end these nights with evening prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours, and Psalm 88 always struck me deeply. Also, our 2 men's retreats ('Sacraments as Tips for Survival', and 'Fishers of Men')in the woods in New Hampshire were fantastic!! This will be close to the top of things I'll miss in Boston.
-Charlestown Chef. Well, not the longest run, but it gave me so much pleasure to cook for good friends!
Goodbye Boston, I'll miss you a lot. Thanks for the great memories and opportunities for growth. Don't forget to write.
