Well, folks, I’ve been working my butt off this year, and saving money like mad, and rarely lifting my nose from the grindstone for any meaningful length of time, and it’s time to do something for JACKELOPE.
My birthday is coming on November 3, and I am going to visit my favorite city, NYC, and one of my favorite people, Mike. Mike lives on the West Side, and I’ll stay with him, and we’ll make a nostalgia trip to Rocky Sullivan’s (~27th and Lex, near his old place) and of course The Strand (where I can always find a J. P. Donleavy novel I don’t already have), and we’ll hit that basement place in SoHo that has a great DJ and no name (just a sign out front that says “BAR”), and I have no doubt that during the four days I’ll be there we’ll manage to come up with a few new places to cause trouble and meet people and make noise and generally act like that oh-so-volatile mix of a Hunter-Thompson hillbilly (me) and a Woody-Allen Jew (him).
I can’t wait! I haven’t taken a trip anywhere for anything but family reasons in about a year and a half, and I am SO THRILLED, both to be taking a trip and to be seeing my old buddy (and former bandmate).
So, where are YOU going this year? C’mon, make plans now, while the plane fares are cheap! Go somewhere you’ve been “what-iffing” about for a while, and let us all know about it. I’ve been promising to do this for ages, and today I put the foot down, started saving, and said, “it’s time.”
Hey! You’re birthay is the day before mine. Spiff.
I might end up in NYC around december to visit a good friend. I’ll go, we’ll cause a ruckus, maybe I’ll get my naval pierced, I’ll come home and then get my ass kicked by mother for said piercing. It’ll be a great time.
Well yay for you. It’s always fun to spend money on yourself ain’t it?
Oops. I meant “your” up there. Damn grammar mistakes. I’m usually very meticulous about that kind of thing. Ah well, I blame it on the leprechauns that hide in my computer and screw up my typing. Those bastards.
We Scorpios are given to make typos in the rush of enthusiasm, then to catch them in later reflection. Don’t sweat it. And I assume you also meant “birthday.”
(And just to make it clear, I place no stock whatsoever in astrology, though I must admit I am always intrigued by people with my birthday, a group which includes Roseanne, Dennis Miller, Dolph Lundgren, and Charles Bronson.)
How am I treating myself this year? I quit my job, moved and grad school classes start tomorrow! It is really exciting, but it does prevent me from taking any good trips for the next couple of years. That’s ok, though. Come January, I’m in a wedding in Atlanta, so I’ll get to go back and see some folks.
My birthday’s coming up September 8, and I’ll be studying that day, most likely. Gonna be a grand time (actually, mom said she’d send me some cash for my birthday, since she knows I don’t need any more appliances).
Well, this Friday my son and I are flying out to Denver to visit my sister and for some hiking in the Rockies. We will be driving a Jeep Wrangler back to Florida with the top down all the way on Monday.
I really need this little mini-vacation after the really bad break-up with my wife, plus it’ll give me a chance to talk to him about everything that’s been going on and reassure him that A) It is not his fault, and B) I’ll always be there for him no matter what and that nothing will ever change that.
I’m taking PhD exams in October. I really, really, really need to spend the next month and a half studying like mad. And I have just started toying with the idea of taking off and going to Canada for a few weeks. (Hey, the Stratford Festival is there … it’s educational. Sorta.)
Afterwards, if there’s time between the exams and the prospectus defense, I think I’m finally taking the plunge and going to Thailand, if I can work up the nerve.
My birthday is the 11th of next month. I want to avoid the world. A sweet dear friend has invited me to a night of movies & eating Chinese food & drinking. I am so excited about this! I already got the time off from my boss, love her!
I went & bought me a house. Went to Italy for a couple weeks earlier in the year & it was nice but honestly buying the house seems much more extravegant.
Now with that ol house, and our second little devil on the way, I don’t think I’ll be travelling too much for quite a while but I don’t think I’ll have any problems treating myself. Beer, records and fried foods are easily available.
Now Jackelope, sounds like you might appreciate some of the great FREE live music venues here in NYC: Rodeo Bar, Lakeside Lounge, Arlene Grocery, Manitoba’s, Pete’s Candy Store. the list goes on but those are the main ones. They are all great places that book really good bands and they are free and serve the beer. Your friend prolly knows all about 'em, maybe you do too, but just thought I’d let you know 'case him & you didn’t.
Thanks, wikkidpis; I won’t have a lot of time in NYC, and I’ll go where Mike directs me, but I’ll certainly mention your list to him.
In general, I’d guess that there is enough to do there that I could spend ten years and not run out (one reason I love New York); we’ll have a certain requisite set of nostalgia places to visit, and beyond that we’ll see.
As with most trips, I figure we could spend the place at his apartment shooting the breeze and we’d have a ball. This is like when my brother comes to visit from Atlanta; I always ask what he wants to see, and we always end up sitting around my apartment, drinking beer, and talktalktalking. This is how it will be with Mike; I’ll come within a block of fifteen world-famous monuments, and all I’ll recognize will be the bars Mike and I visit. And it’ll be a terrific, life-affirming trip.
