Keep The Dream Alive!

That was the battle cry on the bus ride back from Amy and Greg's wedding reception. For those of you who were on that bus, I thank you for not having the driver pull over and dump my drunk ass off in Deliverance country.
In retrospect I'm not surprised I went off the way I did. I was a veritable powder keg waiting to go off. That's what happens to me when: 1) the bride and groom see to it that the table that I am at is located right in front of the bar, 2) making the inevitable switch from gin and tonics to Long Island Iced Teas (man did those go down good) and 3) not enough time on the dance floor.

What transpired on that 40 minute ride back to the Holiday Inn was something that can only be appreciated by those who were there. At one point it seemed like I was leading a spirited pep rally all in the name of Greg and Amy's nuptials, which eventually gave way to an impromptu karaoke specatacle. All the while I was on my feet the whole time ranting and raving like a lunatic determined to keep the good times rolling.

I can recall most of the rest of the evening's events after we arrived back to the hotel:

-I bolted off the bus and made a beeline for my room but before I got there I noticed the Brown soccer team sitting in the lobby surrounded by pizza boxes. Before I could ask for a slice one of the player handed me a whole pie, apparently he noticed the drunken state I was in and figured that I needed it more than they did (What can Brown do for you indeed). Having that pizza would loom large later on.

-I spent an inordinate amount of time looking for my room key which was in my suit jacket the whole time.

-I remember being psyched by the fact that most of the folks from the bus actually took me up on my offer on "Keeping the Dream Alive" and gathered at Max's (the hotel bar). That's where I met a lot of Greg's relatives, in particular with his cousin George and his girlfriend Kristen.

-I recall multiple people requesting me to perform the infamous "Jodi Walk" which I hadn't done in god knows how long. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, The Jodi Walk was named for the ubiquitous Jodi Harris who was one of the few Sachem folks that didn't attend the wedding. It was first performed on the Malabuyocs driveway as a way to deride the silly way Jodi would storm off whenever we would poke fun at her (which was quite often). Needless to say it didn't take too much to get me to do it and I hope the people that wanted to see it weren't disappointed.

-Had we been anywhere else besides Ithaca there coulda been more potential for even more shenanigans but alas, everything closed around 1am which I found that to be odd since it I've always heard that Ithaca was a big drinkers haven. In hindsight it was probably for the best.

Much to my surprise I woke up the next morning without the massive hangover that I was all but guaranteed to have earned. And I have that pizza from the Brown soccer team to thank for that as well as the clean upstate air. Go Brown!
So I took a shower, packed and went out with Jim to get some breakfast. We walked around the Commons area to take in the "local flavor" and I wound up getting one of those "Ithaca is Gorges" t-shirts (yeah I'm corny like that, but most of you knew that already) from one of the shops that were actually opened before noon.

K, Allen, Karen and Shane eventually got up and we were on the road back to the city around noon. On the ride home we were really able to enjoy the changing of the leaves as well as the overall scenery as the clouds began to recede while we made our way through upstate NY and Pennsylvania.

What a great weekend.