What the hell?

Every environment provides unique challenges

In 'burbs of my parents it is the draconian dial-up.

Cable. DSL. Must haves. My fingers have slowly been rotting away from lack of typing and internet access. How DO people live without fast access?

Tomorrow I spend the 2nd half of my eve flying back west. And I don't want to go.

Whaaaat?

Well, I've never been one for celebrating birthdays. Since the middle of December is too close to vacations, school breaks, etc. parties have been held off since I was 17. (The year which everyone who did attend my shin dig wished me a happy Sweet Sixteen. Er. Fine. And no candles on the big 21 either, so sniffle sniffle.)

Actually, that's not entirely true. My first year after college/ study abroad an impromptu party was thrown in my honor on the upper west side. Long story, but a nurse from Wisconsin I had met in Rome (who I met in a god awful hostel next to the train station the night of a big soccer final) knew other nurses from Canada who were subletting a HUGE (real) 2BR apartment. and...it really is a long story, but that night was a very nice introduction to the open nature of new yorkers. I came with a cheeky smile and they proceeded to cook a spectacular dinner, repeatedly visit the wine shop downstairs and purchased a decorated cake with my name on it(!) Random. But yay!

Coming back to my original meandering train of thought...Parties. Birthdays. Last year I decided it was high time to throw a 'real' party. I proceeded to fret and picked a really loud place. Which we were literally tossed from at nights end;) (Another long story:) But a very merry one.

This year I planned a trip to visit the Mom & Dad before Christmas. I strategized that coming before the big Santa day was an absolute necessity in order to catch my friends before they went home. Southwest. Cheapo fare. Puuurfect. I throw a few dates at my friends on a busy weekend. No can do. Busy, busy, busy. Poo. BUT wait! Friday night worked for most.

And whooeee did i have a lot of fun! I wasn't thinking party party for Irene. Actually I wasn't really thinking at all until someone reminded me I aged the day we'd be meeting. Since I didn't beat people over the head with ME ME ME ME* I was suprised to see cards galore. And ribbons. And most importantly.... P R E S E N T S! (*I wasn't feeling particularly merry about work/CA/housing/etc and had a piss poor attitude about everything. So celebrating the year of my birth didn't seem like a prudent thing to do, you know?)

Hot damn I made out. It wasn't the stuff. It was the thought process and rationale that touched me the most. After waking up to one of the most crappy family mornings ever, my friends well, were my friends.

Ahem.

I have really, really, kick ass friends.
(These are not words that Hallmark would see fit to print, but suit me:)

Friday was bitterly cold, wet, and dreary. And you all managed to come.

Thank you for the BEST birthday every. As someone else once said, it's great when your friends get along with your friends. Especially when they've done the meticulous screening process for you;)

I am shamefaced (and need to apologize to one person in particular) that I drank too much and my loose lips verbalized a confused brain pattern. (I mingled the mean wife of one past coworker with another. Ooops. But the mean girlfriend-at-the-time really is mean. Granted she was defending old territory, but how was I to know they'd had the 'let's break up' conversation earlier in the day? Her face was crimson with rage as she watched her boyfriend feel the back of my hands and comment on how soft my skin is. Come on! I'd been laid off that day. Beer was involved. Anyway, I got the red-faced girl confused with another.)

My parents were duly impressed with my Jesus cards, stories, and the fact that batteries are not required for any of my presents. (There is a happy rabbit that my father still puzzles over.)

My only other regret (aside from the questionable tights I wore) was the high degree of musical chairs played. Don't get me wrong. I loved that. But I wish I had more time to catch up with some of you. :(

Saturday I had brunch and realized how long it'd been since I laughed so much. And I walked around the sidewalks of Manhattan. And pretended to be more important than I am in B. Goodman. And finally resolved the bracelet situation with Swatch. *eyeroll* And visited an old roommate (who really made me laugh. Trisha's party was in full steam when I jetted out, but I'm thankful I left when I did or I would have missed my train by mere minutes. Traffic. I had the honor of a cabby who spoke an interesting (and undecipherable) blend of Indian-English. I ended up throwing money through the window partition and sprinting 3 blocks to Penn.) And then I rode the LIRR the long way home to the burbs.

I miss New York.

And so seeing everyone made me happy and sad at the same time.

posted by irene @ 12/16/2002 11:52:00 PM