COLLEGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

oh, new brunswick.

after having lunch with scotty i headed down to festival pier in philly. cobra starship was playing, so i was able to meet up with my really good buddies spencer and nate. sure, it's weird to have to avoid/dodge teenage girls just to walk down the street, but it's totally worth it to hang out with my dudes, catch up, tell stories, and generally be around good folks. there's nothing crazy in any of our lives, but it's still always nice to see your brothers in arms, people who understand what you deal with.

after saying my goodbyes to the boys i left philadelphia and headed north to new brunswick, nj. i figured i'd rather hang out with ross and my brother than most other places. i knew it wouldn't be a party and that i'd be with people i really, truly love.

ross and i caught up a bit, and you know what? he's incredible. my boy is within view of the finish line of his doctorate in astrophysics. exactly. wowzers. he's also the same dude i went drinking with for years, had more laughs than with almost anyone else, enjoyed romantic comedies (what can i say, we're lovers at heart), talked to tons of ladies, helped each other through breakups, grilled tons of food and generally made each others' lives more worth living. it's a bummer we don't see each other more, but these little catch ups are still wonderful.

a bit later my brother came home. man, that kid rules. anyway, he wanted a beer, and who am i to argue. so, we went to a party down the street that had died down, and also contained a variety of uncomfortable situations, including accusatory girls, and past students, which is always weird. brent and christina were there, and happy, as they'd just won the ability to continue their current political campaign. this i support and congratulate, but after catching up with them, brian and left to get some decent beers at a hopefully more hopping location. well, with that we got more than we bargained for. after fighting through a sea of assholes (today was the local free college music/spring festival, to which many idiots invite their idiot friends) we obtained some quality beers and made our way out to the patio where a friend of ours was entertaining. while back there a few inebriated gentlemen with a bit of an abercrombie meets against all odds leaning spilled a drink that almost hit us and then apologized and said they wanted to, "hang out with the beatles," and "get down with these guys." apparently brian and i look like the musical geniuses we so love, therefore we were slightly less perturbed than we might have been. still, dealing with jackasses of this ilk is annoying, so we moved our bodies multiple times to avoid consistent interaction with them. overall, it was amazing to hang with brian. i love the kid to death, and cherish all the time i get with him.

quickly we grew tired of the bar so we left, but i decided that being in new brunswick meant i needed to eat poorly, which most likely meant fried food. we were right next to cluck u and i'd been craving buffalo wings all night, but seeing as i don't eat meat, buffalo fries seemed like the obvious choice. last time i got cluck u i was feeling brave and ordered the second hottest sauce they make. the only reason i didn't go for the hottest was because a man way larger than me ordered just before me, and when he asked for the hottest and was met with an incredulous response, he exclaimed, "i'm from africa, i can easily eat this shit." i decided that since i was most definitely not from africa, perhaps i did not possess the same qualifications. i ordered the next down. this guy and i sat while waiting for our food and regaled each other of attempts at heat, love of spice and generally caroused. he was great fun, as were his friends, but my tongue soon realized my order was anything but. it took me a week to finish those fries, as it became a battle of wills, me against these buffalo fries. my ass never forgave me.
oh, and they're not the best spellers at cluck u. just saying.


this is after i ate a third or more. my goodness.

anyway, i was not to let this happen again. this time i ordered a reasonably mild version and enjoyed them on the walk home. i felt, and feel, disgusting, but come on, sometimes you have to live on the edge. i caught up with some old friends from a few years ago, saw a nice beard, got a beer to go with my fries and soaked in the ridiculousness that was spring fest rutgers new brunswick.

sweet beard.

now i'm sitting in my brother's apartment, finishing my beer and happy i have a safe, comfortable place to rest my head. tomorrow i'm hoping to go see the get up kids, one of my favorite bands from my previous years. i'm quite excited and looking forward to meeting up with some old friends.

on that note, i should go to bed. i hope this finds you splendid.

by the way,

the part that connects the mustache to the beard is called, "the dude." this is a sweet dude.