The next mornign we had breakfast with the fam (cinnamon rolls...mmmm) and Grant headed back into town. Meredith decided to stick around a little longer and we...
I got up to help him out and was told that he didn't need any help "figuring out his own camera, Goddamnit!" So I took some photos of everyone waiting. Hahah.
After all getting crunked up at The Barn (uh, except for me Dad, because I was the driver) we headed over to The Roxbury Diner (which we all know is really still called The Victoria Diner) for some late night grub. I like how when everyone started throwing gangsigns, my brother's gangsign is to simultaneously pinch both his titties and look "naughty."
...round up a crew and head to the local townie bar that's called "The Barn!" Believe it or not, The Barn actually used to be a restaurant called Seafood Shack when I was growing up in town! Seafood Shack. A winning name like that and they still went out of business. Shocking, right? Steak Shanty is gone as well. Go figure.) Anyway, over holidays The Barn is the defacto place that everyone I went to high school with goes to catch up with everyone else. Here's Amy (my brother's girlfriend), Grant, Brett and Meredith preparing for their very first Barn Experience!
We got to my parents house in NJ and found my brother all excited after months of (f)unemployment to finally be able to show proof of gainful employment by busting out one of his brand new business cards that announce him as a consultant for Ascenture. (Check out how happy my Mom is! No more hand outs! No more hand outs!) If you've been reading my site for a while, you know that anytime I'm visiting my family in New Jersey for a holiday, there's always one thing that needs to be done...
The next morning we got up and my brother needed a serious breakfast to help him recover from having been hit by THE NIGHT TRAIN! When you're super-hungover you do things like order pancakes...
On the way back towards my place I made them stop and get some slices, hoping it'd help soak up some of the alcohol (and anti-freeze) that was in their systems.
Sid and my brother, crunked out of their tiny minds, kifed a giant, two-litre bottle of Malibu (fucking Malibu!) from the house and sat on the ground passing it back and forth taking swings and cackling. See what happens when you get the Night Train in your blood?
The only thing funnier than the back or Mr. T's head is my brother's totally butt-ass wasted shit-eating grin. Just one bottle of Night Train and he was chortling like a wheezy hobo! Hahaha.
We left the party and by the time we got back out on the street both my brother and Sid had finished their bottles of Night Train. (The next day while we were looking at all these photos my brother got to this one and said "Yep, finishing that bottle of Night Train and posing for this photo is pretty much the last thing I remember." Hahaha. At the next party we met...
On the way over, we stopped in a liquor store where my brother and Sid, despite my repeated warnings, decided to try Night Train Express (the very finest of fortified bum wines) for the very first time. I was like "Yo, Guns N' Roses even wrote a song about how that shit's even too hardcore for them...do you know how hardcore that is?" At first they laughed at me, but then they started to understand that I wasn't joking around when the toothless 60-year old man at the register who had tattoos on his face looked at them increduously and said "Night Train? Are you sure you want to do that, guys? Wow." For a minute I thought they were going to back out - I mean shrugging off Axl Rose's warning is one thing, but to ignore the tattooed-face check-out guy? That's crazy. But in the end, they put their money on the counter. The checkout guy just kept shaking his head as he bagged them up and as we left the he called out "Good luck!" Hahaha.
The only thing that the Halloween Store had left in triplicate were these stoopids hats and grass skirts. Check out my brother's facial response to me saying "Well, I guess that settles it. Looks like we're going to be Hawaiian Hula girls!" Hahaha.
...Halloween costume shopping! The best way to select a costume is wait until like 45 minutes before the Halloween parties all start and then go to the Halloween store...you go through the ravaged shelves and try to put a costume together with what little supplies they have left. (This is the genius method that led to such classic past-Halloween outfits like Magnum P.I. and Sort-of one of The Misfits!). Since my brother, Sid and myself were all going to be going out together, we agreed to try to find costumes that matched.
On Saturday afternoon we met up with Sid, my brother's friend from college who now lives in SF. I took them for sandwiches at Love and Haight and my brother ate his first meal without meat ever. True story. Afterwards we fucked around the city all day and waiting until the last minute possible to do our...
On the way back to my place, we stopped at Whiz Burgers on South Van Ness. Despite being in a sketchy-ass gah-gah-ghetto section of the Mission (that I almost lived a block from), this old skool 60s drivethru burger place puts In N' Out Burger (which I love) to fucking shame. Hot Damn.
Later that night, we had a dinner on my parents porch and my mom brough out a birthday cake for me. She forgot to get birthday candles, so instead she substituted this 18" decorative candle that she found unused in a candlestick on the kitchen table. Hahaha.
On Monday (the day after my birthday) I went down to meet up with my parents and their little shorehouse near Long Beach Island in southern NJ. Here's my mom, brother, dad and Uncle Bruce chilling on the beach at LBI.
Saturday morning, I hopped into the car with Brett and Amy and we headed down to Medford, NJ (about 2 hours from where my parent's live) for Chris and Jen's wedding.
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