Beautiful

I relived college this weekend at another reunion of old friends in Jason's place in Philadelphia. It had everything: friends, drinking, laughing, smoking, eating, more drinking, poker, movies, chess, name calling, slammed doors, and crying. Truly epic.

I'm not sure there's any way to get across the story here, the cause and effect, the interweaving story lines, the divided loyalties, the drunken highs and sobbing lows, so the following is a totally disjointed and woefully inadequate recounting of just the best moments to shine through the alcohol and shisha haze:

Slurping down pitchers with Jason and Panos on Thursday night in some underground bar with excellent atmsophere and a passable imitation of Paul's loaded fries. Top notch.

Saturday evening: Fourteen already half and in some cases fully drunk kids raising a ruckus in Fez over eight courses of Mongolian goodness. Rending chicken from the bone and eating like savages.

Six of those same kids smoking shisha in same restaurant after dinner, tripping out mildly and digging on the chubby belly dancer and laughing like maniacs.

All weekend: A never ending string of chess matches complete with unwelcome advice from bystanders (almost entirely me) and liberal doses of trash talking.

Friday evening: Poker. Again I win. When will these motherfuckers get tired of me taking their money? Jason was spared his usual reaming, but I walked out with somebody's loot. Who lost?

Late night Saturday: Chilling on the riverfront, riding a night's worth of buzz and generally just enjoying the peaceful atmosphere.

Friday night, at the party: Bill Shraloe (whose name I surely just butchered) jumping up and down in ecstasy upon seeing the Spinal Tap collectibles complete with amp that goes to 11, zuchini, and Intravenous De Milo album covers.

Friday evening over dinner: The realization that Jill's friend Christine had done a nude portrait of Jason's "nemesis" Chris Daily. A sample of the exchange, "That guy was such a prick!" "I don't know about that, I just drew his prick."

Sunday morning: Brunch at the Continental. Amazingly the hot waitress is a sweetheart. Maybe they ran out of bitches to serve their customers. Food is once again stellar.

Seeing Adam Schreiber again and catching up news about all the guys from Theta Delt. Adam got some great pictures of the night that he e-mailed to us, Tripp can you help me get them up.

Sunday afternoon. Everybody else has left and I'm strolling up South Street basking in the glory of perfect weather, hot chicks, drunken fools in Irish regalia, U2 cranked from a PA in the back of a pickup and grabbing cheesesteaks from Jim's: the second best place I've had them from in Philly, trailing only the immortal Pat's.

Late, night Saturday. Crashing into Kelley, Christine, and Marcy's hotel room, waking up Kelley and causing a ruckus in general.

Several points over the weekend: Listening to Webber and Justin flay "Book of Rhymes" by Nas.

Saturday night. Rocking the iPod. I should have put together a party playlist ahead of time, but it was still worth every penny. I love that fucking thing. Excellent conversation piece too.

Saturday night. Dragging Chris and Jill into the Artful Dodger and (I hope) saving a night that had turned into a debacle for Jill. I'm not sure what her final verdict on the weekend would be, but it was awesome to see her. We kicked a bunch of cold ones back and got some pictures taken with Deep, Adam, Panos and I. I think/hope she at least had fun at that point. I also got to talk to her boyfriend Chris who seems like a pretty cool dude even if he is my deuce.

Friday Night: Drinking and dancing with some friends of Jason's, making a play at the wrong one, ruining a shot with the one I could have closed the deal with and still not giving a fuck because "We into havin' sex - ain't into makin' love - so come give me a hug - if you into gettin rubbed."

Watching Webber watch the crowd with a mixture of delight, disgust, and amusement that only he can pull off.

Meeting and hanging with Justin's new girl Sharon who is a total sweetheart even to the point of smoking shisha with us (the only female who was up to the challenge - don't think it wasn't noticed), putting up with our ridiculous horseshit all weekend, and handling an awkward incident with what I thought was an incredible amount of class and aplomb.

Not being unreasonably hung over Sunday morning

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