Birthday Weekend

***NOTE: This entry was written on the train ride back from New Haven to New York. Metro-North trains are the WORST and I am incredibly hung over. I don't plan on re-reading this post before I post it so if it sounds like a bunch of drunken words thrown together, thats what it is.... enjoy all!***

This weekend was ridiculous. Thank you to everyone who wished me a Happy Birthday! Especially Tony who called and drunk texted me on Friday night/Saturday morning after midnight to be the FIRST phone call of many. As I had mentioned on the blog before, I headed to Connecticut to visit a bunch of friends that were heading up to Alumni Weekend at my college in Connecticut. My school doesn't have a football team so it's hard to get alumni back and fired up for an athletic event.

After work, which was ridiculous because I am training a new girl (more on that later) I got in to work at 10:00pm Thursday evening, and left work at 10:03am... 12 hours of non-stop working. Little breaks here at there of about 5-10 minutes of slow time but mostly I was running around doing everything. I got on a train at 12:07 and headed to New Haven. I slept almost the entire train ride to wake up and lock eyes with a guy wearing a Yale Rugby jacket. Beautiful blue eyes, blonde hair, strong facial features that a Rugby player is expected to have. The defined face and jaw made him a hottie on the train. We locked eyes and I was still a little groggy. With about 5 minutes left on the train, I eye fucked the SHIT out of him. I got a small smile from him while we were waiting for the train to stop and the doors to open. He held the doorway to the stairwell open for me because i had my bags in my hand. I said thank you. Made some small talk about how I was in town for the Yale/Quinnipiac hockey game and to see some friends from college.

When we got to the lobby of Union station in New Haven, he was greeted by a very cute brunette. She kissed him on the lips. As I walked past, he stopped, extended his hand out and said, "maybe I will see you at the game." with a slight smile. It definitely gave me a boost in my confidence for the weekend.

The train ride to New Haven is about an hour and twenty minutes, so I would say I got maybe an hour of sleep on the train.

My cousin picks me up outside Union Station and we head to a Best Buy so I can pick up my birthday present to myself. I needed a new digital camera after my last one broke at the Giants/Eagles game. I have been saving some money, and it was my birthday and decided it was the best for me to buy myself something fun that I know I will use this weekend and for the next few years. We get there and the camera I was eyeing was on sale for $249. I think to myself WONDERFUL! (my last camera I tried to get fixed and they estimated that it would be about $200 to fix because it was out of warranty, so why not buy a new one)

I talk to the awkward sales assistant and finalize the deal. We go to ring up the camera and he says, you are in luck, the camera was marked down to $205 plus you get a free memory stick and a $20 gift card. This is too good to be true. My cousin says it is a sign of how much fun the weekend is going to be.

After my new purchase, I open it up in the car we kindly call call OJ. It's a 1995 White Ford Explorer that kind of resembles OJ's Bronco he drove on his famous "I'm not guilty tour" We hit up a bar right off campus that was the local hang out for me and my fraternity brothers. I walk in and instantly I see about 20 people I know. My cousin thinks I am a celebrity, says that outloud to have my old roommate yell, "HE IS A CELEBRITY" as he jumps on top of me. My cousin stayed for one beer and left to go study for his Series 7 exam that he has in March.

From there beers were consumed, stories were told, hugs were hugged out and food was all around. 6:00 rolls around and the entire bar is filled with some of my best friends in the entire world and I loved every minute of it. I left the bar at around 6:30 to head to the Yale/QU hockey game at the new arena they just opened on campus. The place was nuts. about a thousand undergrads in yellow rally tshirts cheering on the mens hockey team against Yale. QU won 6-4 and I had an awesome time seeing a bunch of people in the alumni section.

The rest of the night was a little bit of a blur. I stopped by an engagement party for this girl I was friends with during school then headed to the bar the hockey team was celebrating at. I walked in and was immediately greeted by a bunch of hockey alumni. Dan was one of them.

3:30am Saturday morning I realized that I had been up since Thursday night and CRASHED in my buddy Mike's bed. He was sleeping at his girlfriends place so I was alone.

I woke up Saturday morning around 11ish. Took a shower and my sister picked me up to head to the ceremony for my grandfather. As some of you know, my grandfather passed away back in October and I was really close with him. He was being honored at the high school where he volunteered at for over 30 years. The ceremony was very nice and the fact that it was my birthday made it pretty special.

After the game, my cousin drove me back up to Hamden on his way to Boston to break up with his girlfriend. I headed to main campus and went to a reception for the 40th anniversary of the founding of my fraternity on my campus. There were graduates there from 1973, 1987 and some of the recent alumni from when I had just been initiated. Catching up with a lot of them was great. What was funny is some of the younger guys had seen my birthday listed on facebook, came up and wished me a happy birthday and the older alumni gave me birthday punches.

From there it's a blur. It was open bar at the reception, I drank more beers, ate food, headed back to the apartment iw as staying at showered, drank some jager and headed to new Haven to celebrate my birthday.

This is very blurry. I drank a lot. People bought me shots and beers all over the place. My old roommate Cameron and I were on our way to the bathroom and we bump into this girl we went to college with. Her name is Paula and she was on the Key West season of the Real World. I had known her while I was in school so it was always good seeing her.

I know we ended up at a diner, walked to a random apartment and passed out. I woke up the next morning and headed back to NYC.

I know, kinda long, un-eventful but I had a really good time. This weekend I am partying with some friends in the city. Can't wait.