Bean Town Rocks

Oh my God-- this visit was so much fun. I never realized it before but hanging out with a bunch of dorky guys is a blast!

I ended up leaving home a little late last Thursday (surprise surprise-- I'm so pokey) and hitting a ton of construction and traffic along the way, so I didn't get to Boston until after 5:30pm which was over two hours later than I was supposed to get there. Matt was pissed off and ended up meeting me on the main road leading up to his new apartment so that he could just jump into the car and I wouldn't get lost trying to find his neighborhood and residential street. When I spotted him and pulled over, he threw his books and guitar into my back seat, stuffed himself into the front seat and started directing me towards the hotel where we were meeting Ryan, Jon, Christian and Hiro. We got there just about six o'clock and it was fine-- we met the guys, went to the hotel rooms to pee, then headed out for the first concert. But it actually turned out that we had almost a half hour to spare, so we stopped into a pub for a drink beforehand, then headed over to the concert hall. The music was like nothing I'd ever heard, and after the opening band was over (that's who the guys had bought the tickets to see) we left, skipping the main concert and headed to a giant bar/lounge/pool place for the rest of the night.

At some point around three we all headed back to the hotel (only after stopping at another bar for a while) and parted so that me and Jon and Christian went via taxi and Matt, Ryan and Hiro walked. My trio got back 40 or so minutes earlier than the others and they couldn't have come in any sooner-- Jon wouldn't shut up and Christian kept farting. When they got in, Matt and I went to our own room and left the guys to their gas and chattiness and didn't hear from them again until Hiro let himself into our room to wake us the next day.

When everyone was up and ready on Friday, the six of us headed out to the Boston Aquarium which was awesome. We saw an IMAX about sharks, heard a lecture about feeding a giant 650 pound turtle to keep it from ramming into divers while they fed the sharks in the huge 24 foot deep tank, played with star fish and sea urchins in a touch-tank, and learned a TON about jellyfish. It was so neat! After that we appropriately went next door for a nice fish dinner at Legal Seafood (ha!). Christian and I were the only ones who wouldn't eat the fish, but it ended up being ok. When we were done, we headed back to the hotel for a little bit, had a brief soak in the hot tub and pool, changed and headed out for Friday night's concert which was also great. Afterwards we ended up going to the same giant bar/lounge place as the night before, except this night ended a bit earlier so we could get a more prompt start on Saturday.

Hiro woke me and Matt up again on Saturday morning, and when we were all set, the lot of us went to the Boston Science Museum for an afternoon of exploration and learning. I've always liked that kind of thing, and Matt had surprised me with a date there once before. It was kind of endearing to watch the guys' faces when they were playing with lasers, mirrors and robots, watching the creation of lightning, and a program on sensory perception tricks. They looked just like little boys discovering science for the first time. It was great!

Later that afternoon, the four guys headed back home to upstate New York and Matt and I headed home to his new apartment. I'd never seen it before since the last two visits we'd had took place at my house and at his parents' house upstate, so I was really happy to see how clean and bright the new place was! I met two of his three roommates (Claudia and Jerry) and really like them a lot. We ate a little bit and hung out a little bit and then headed for the movies where he took me to see Little Miss Sunshine. The movie theater had a little arcade in the lobby so for the first time in what seemed like forever, I got to play DDR! None of my friends ever let me play when we go to a mall or something, so I'd never played the arcade version, and since I'm a fatass the whole house shakes when I try to play it at home, so I haven't been able to do it really since college. And, being that it's my favorite game in the world (except Guess Who with Lee on Jewish holidays) and the sole reason for my having purchased a Play Station 2, I was overjoyed! I mean, I know I looked like an idiot, and I ended up being really rusty and terrible at it, but it was so much fun.

Sunday was my last day in Boston before I had to head back for work on Monday, and I tried to stretch it out. Matt and I ran errands and relaxed a bit. And I tried really hard not to expel my entire large and small intestinal system from out of my rectum. I don't know why I did it, but from Saturday evening until Sunday late morning I ate almost a half pound of roasted garlic cloves. I ate them plain, with olives, with hummus and baba ganouj and guacamole and with pita and they were delicious. But they definitely did a number on my digestive tract-- between the non stop gas and the terrible diarrhea, I was a mess. Matt thought it was funny, but I couldn't believe what was happening-- I couldn't stop! Seriously, I must have passed gas every five minutes for hours and hours on end... and not just little ones either, big, huge, loud roasted garlic scented ones. Ugh!

Matt probably couldn't wait to get rid of his incredibly stinky girlfriend and I had to head back so I wouldn't be completely exhausted for work the next day, so about seven o'clock I headed home. It was such a good weekend I wished it wouldn't end... but I also knew that in just about two weeks I'll be leaving for my vacation with Susan to Ireland. So many good things going on, I can't wait!