Let me begin by saying that I don’t really know why I scheduled a 7:30 PM bus from New York to Philadelphia on December 23rd. That strategy probably would have worked awesomely if I had my own car, but since my parents are still my drivers, it wasn’t that great of an idea.
So since I had a late bus to catch and nothing to do yesterday, I spent my time squeezing in some last minute New York-only activities. I woke up far too early (for some reason, maybe it was the sun and the fact that we have no blinds on our windows) and immediately wrote the last post, then skated to Stuyvesant Town. This was at about 9:30 AM, after going to bed at 3 the previous night. Needless to say, my last New York skate of 2010 didn’t go very well, as my fatigue was throwing off my balance and stamina, bringing me close to injury a few times. I didn’t last very long. Even so, I’m glad I took the opportunity to go out that one last time.
So I packed and hung around with Eric and Justin for a while, and got myself some lunch at Yummy House (12th and 3rd) – General Tso’s Chicken: The Spicy Version. Yummy is a little bit expensive to eat there regularly, but every once in a while I find it very hard to resist. I also accompanied my friend Jen to a chocolate restaurant (bistro?) called L. A. Burdick where we got hot chocolate made from milk and melted dark chocolate shavings. This is not an exaggeration: absolutely hands down the best hot chocolate I’ve ever had ever. Of course it was rich and very filling, but apart from that I feel like it’s exactly what hot chocolate is supposed to be.
Check it out: after watching some Arrested Development and feeling a bit like a Mary without a Peter and a Paul, I caught my 7:30 Bolt Bus from Penn Station, and contrary to my expectation, we actually made the trip in under two hours – unheard of even for a Sunday night, let alone Christmas eve eve. So of course I get to the regional rail station in Philadelphia expecting to get right on the train that I’m now just in time for, and I see all of the scheduled departures on the board changing: “10 LATE”, “11 LATE”, “12 LATE”, “22 LATE”, “CANCEL”. Apparently some trees fell down on the tracks and made it impossible to get trains through, according to a stranger who was also in my situation and talking to someone with internet access. So I had to hang out at 30th Street Station and wait for my parents to drive the 45 minutes and pick me up. I listened to all of XO by Elliott Smith (what a great album) and did some reading, as well as some sleeping. And of course I bought my parents donuts for being so nice to pick me up.
So now I’m home and chilling out. I’m going out to buy some last minute presents, and then I’ll eat dinner with some family friends. Sounds good.
Since I’m home, check out the uncharacteristically detailed gingerbread men my family made in my absence:
We’ve got Will Ferrell from “Elf”, Goku, a penguin, a panda, the grinch, the phantom of the opera, a soccer player, Cleopatra, and some kind of mummy or zombie guy.
Also, I missed my kitty even though his hair makes me sneeze. His name is Carrot.
