Home from New Hampshire - Party Hardy!

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Well, I'm home from New Hampshire. I was just about ready to be home too. Being on Lake Sunapee for a week is always great but being away from friends, technology, and summer fun gets annoying. I slept most of the way back listening to my iPod. I got out of the car to what I would later find out was the hottest day of the summer so far - and it's a been a HOT summer. I embraced the heat and began unpacking. After a little while of bummin' around I decided it would be a good idea to find out what was going on in town tonight. My buddy Steve's parents were away and he was having a few people over. A friend from high school, Rupolo, was also having a party at his place where there would be more people. My plan was to go to Steve's for the beginning of the night and try to end up at Rupolo's - but how was I going to make the move since I was drinking? This girl Ashley who I've been talking to said she was going to Rupolo's after work and would probably be able to pick me up - ok, problem solved.

Now that plans were settled I started getting ready for the night. Over the past week I've read 175 pages of "On The Road" by Jack Korouac - that's a lot of reading for me but it's an awesome book so it was a fun. The book's core values revolve around freedom, friendship, creativity, partying, & love. Maybe the characters in the book are a little too free but it still puts a different perspective on how we do things. I've always had a pretty good outlook on life but at times I stress myself out with things and through reading this book I've learned that I have to be just a little bit more free - a 'live and let live' attitude (within boundaries, of course). It is through this attitude that I will be able to enjoy myself more and get closer to a perpetual state of happiness. Well, enough rambling about my philosophies; the point was that I was going to try and turn over a new leaf from here on out - or perhaps slowly turn it over since it's hard to fix things that you're used to doing. I told myself that this would start tonight!

I showered and headed to Steve's. I went inside and he said we needed beer so I head to 7/11 with him. He grabbed two 18's with his fake ID and we headed back to the house. My car's A/C is broken (it's starting to become a jalopy) so we were forced to drive with the windows open. Good thing though - although it was hot, the heat made for a beautiful summer night. It was very humid and brought back memories of a typical Cancun night. We got back to Steve's and started playing beer pong. It's kind of weird to comprehend but I definitely felt a little more free - as if I had less cares. Maybe my brain was still on vacation or maybe I was just a step further in my quest for absolute happiness. Whatever is was, I embraced it. After an hour or so of beer pong I was able to get a ride to Rupolo's with my friend Joe who just got out of work. He picked me up and off we went. On the way I called my job to see if I was working in the morning. To my satisfaction, I was off! They must have made a mistake since I didn't request off for New Hampshire past Saturday. No matter - my brain was still on vacation and I think it was healthy for me to be able to fully enjoy the night while trying to turn over this new leaf. I need money very badly as I save for Italy but one extra day off wasn't going to kill me.

We got to Rupolo's where I said what up to all my friends. People shuffled in slowly but surely and I kept on drinking steadily. It was a good time. I played some beer pong, some high-intensity games of flip cup, and funneled. That girl Ashley eventually showed up but I was having such a good time that I didn't initially give her too much attention - I didn't really need to since I knew I was probably going to hook up with her later. After I got pretty drunk me and my buddy Tj started some talk of jumping into Prospect pool (the public pool in our town) later in the night. Me and my friends are well-versed in this activity. It's tons of fun and gives you a special kind of rush to end the night with. We spread the word and made some recruitments - we were going in the pool for better or for worse. As the night went on I grew more and more drunk. At one point I found myself outside talking to a girl named Autumn - a beautiful name to match an equally beautiful personality. Me and her hooked up back in the day but we hadn't really talked in years. She's the cousin of my buddy Anthony and she lives in Brooklyn. A couple of months ago she started coming to Long Island more but she quickly started up a relationship with my friend Alex which impeded my talking to her (even as friends). Tonight, however, Alex was somewhere else (didn't care enough to ask where) and I was able to talk to her a bit. In our drunken stupor we ended up talking about life. It was a pleasant conversation and it was bound to happen eventually. Every party that she was at with me she gave me a little eye every now and then - not an eye as if she wanted to hook up but more of an eye as if to say 'we should talk and be friends again'. The conversation reminded me why I thought she was such a cool person - she's very beautiful, very 'chill', very respectable, and very awesome.

It started to rain and I found myself outside with Tj. At this point we were both very, very drunk. The rain picked up and turned into more of a pour. For some reason Tj wanted to stay in it for a minute - I'm not really sure why but I figured why not! It cooled us off a bit too. After it slowed down and we had enough, we went inside totally refreshed by a nature-shower and played some more flip cup. Everyone was trashed at this point and the party slowed down. I found myself outside(I say 'found myself' because even though I have a very good drunk-memory, I still have to piece things together and small events don't resonate very well in my head - so I say 'found myself' as if you say 'I don't know the small event that happened which led to me being outside) and flirting with Ashley in the front yard. It's about 2 AM now and she was getting ready to go home but I wanted to make out! We did, on the driveway, and then she said she had to go. I pleaded like a child in my drunken stupor for her to stay for just a couple more minutes but her ride showed up and that was that. Surely it was time for pool hopping now!

I talked to everyone that said they wanted to pool hop and almost everyone backed out - most people back out. In the thick of the night everyone's energies are high and they agree without much thought. I found myself walking with only my buddy Germann. Fifteen minutes later and I realized how far we were! And it was hot. All for the better, I guess - the pool would be refreshing. We got to the gate, hopped it, walked to the pool, stripped to our briefs, and hopped another gate. We've done this so many times that it's become clockwork. I climbed to the top of the high dive and looked to my left to find Germann throwing up on floor-level.

"You ok?" I asked.
"Yeah, I'm good, just yacked everywhere" Germann said as he stood up.

He was ok - I could tell. We spent about 15 minutes doing jumps and messing around in the pool. At one point I attempted to do some kind of flip which I probably wouldn't have been be able to do while sober even. I landed on my back and it hurt like a fucking bitch! Fortunately I was very drunk and quickly forgot about it. Afterward, we grabbed our clothes and headed to Prospect Avenue to get picked up by our friend Steve. Here we are, almost stark naked besides our briefs, walking on a pretty frequented suburban street. We were even holding our shoes! The only thing working to our advantage was that it must have been close to 4 AM so it was a little quieter than usual. We spotted Steve coming down the street and hopped in. He dropped me off home and that was that. Another fun night in my home town of East Meadow!

The next day, which would be today, I sat around like a bum with a wicked hangover. It was well worth it though. I was as productive as I could be from a computer chair - which means I got technology-related things done such as uploading and editing photos from New Hampshire, uploading blogs, et cetera. Later in the night I headed over to my friend Michelle's. Me and her have had a little 'thing' for each other for a couple years now. We enjoy each other's company. We don't do anything else but kiss and hang out, watching TV. She's leaving for school in month and I'm going to Italy in about the same time. I can tell she's very reserved about doing anything past kissing. Part of her just isn't a slut at all (she's very respectable) and part of her doesn't want to get attached before leaving for school I think. It's probably for the better - I don't want a relationship right now and I wouldn't want to hurt her.

Although this is a travel blog, I felt like it's also appropriate to write a little bit about your home adventures. I leave for Italy in a month and then the real blogging begins! I'm super-excited. A lot of the stressful paperwork is over with and all that remains is preparation-type things and packing! I might write one more blog somewhere in mid-August which basically details my anticipation as well as my pre-departure life. Until next time!

NOTE: All of these pictures are from the past since I don't think anyone took pictures last night. They are basically just some pictures of me and my buddies from home as well as some of the ladies I mentioned in here.

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Photos

Germann, Joe, Mike, Me, Ant, Dan
The boys from back in the day!

Joey
From back in the day

Ashley
only picture I could find that the blog would let me upload