2009 starts off with a bang

What an interesting year it has been thus far...and it's only been 2 weeks! I started off 2009 with a lovely stomach virus. Woke up in my hotel room after a great New Year's Eve seeing Hall & Oates with my parents and best friend at Mohegan Sun, and I didn't quite feel right. We hadn't been drinking the night before, and I actually barely ate a thing (our much-anticipated BBQ dinner wasn't quite what we expected), so I didn't really know what was going on, but it wasn't good. I was incredibly naseous and could barely move without feeling like I was going to lose whatever food I had in me. It was a very long three-hour drive home, to say the least - for me, and for those in the car with me. And it wasn't much better when I got home. I was sick for the rest of the night, throwing up just about every hour, and feeling just awful. Even the next day, although the vomiting had ended, I still felt terrible. And on Saturday, I forced myself to get out of the house for a while. By nighttime, I felt almost entirely better, but boy was it a doozy.

Tuesday rolls around, and I wake up for work with a terrible migraine. I'm talking terrible. I get migraines a few times a month, but with the right medicine, they haven't been really bad in years. But when you get them while you're asleep, there is no stopping them. Monsters I tell you. So that wiped me out for all of Tuesday, and still on Wednesday I didn't feel so great. This week, knock on wood, so far so good.

Maybe I'm just getting all my sicknesses out of the way in January, and I'll be perfectly healthy the rest of the year. Yeah. That must be it.

It really hasn't been all bad in 2009; I have had some fun in between the illness. Last weekend I went out with a guy I've been talking to on Jdate for months, and we had a really nice time. After, I met up with Brian to go to some bar by NYU where we were supposed to meet a whole bunch of my friends from my Birthright trip. Unfortunately, the weather was just awful, and instead of the 15 people who said they'd be there, only three were able to make it. But it was really great to see them, everyone brought friends and it ended up being a fun night. Hopefully more people will be able to come when I plan another reunion for the summer.

This weekend is a Morristown weekend. It's going to be a high of 15 degrees on Friday, so once I get there, I'm pretty sure we're locking ourselves inside Vic's apartment for the night. And Saturday we're having dinner in the city, drinks at our friend's apartment and then out for his birthday with a whole bunch of his friends. It should be a lot of fun, and we're looking forward to it despite the frosty, frigid weather. We'll be sure to bundle up and hope to make it home alive.

fun fun fun

Back home from a really fun weekend in my home away from home, Morristown, with my wifey, Lizzy, Morristown friends and a whole bunch of strangers. The weekend started off a bit rocky, when no LIRR trains were running from Jamaica to Penn Station - major issue. I planned to sort of wing it, and knew there had to be another way to get from Jamaica to the city other than by train. Rather than completely throw caution to the wind (I'm not exactly known for my spontaneity), I called my dad to see if he knew what subway I could take. He told me the E would bring me right to Penn Station - good old dad, always knows what to do. As we pull into Jamaica, and everyone is getting ready to find their way into the city, we hear the announcement that service has just resumed, and we could stay on the train to get to Penn Station. OK, crisis (and adventure) averted. I can't lie. I was a little disappointed. While I'm not exactly the most adventurous person, when I take my little weekend trips, I seem to get a little more gutsy. I was looking forward to a new subway adventure. Oh well.

We still got to Penn a little late, so I had to run through the station to get to NJ Transit to catch my 4:50 Dover Express to Summit, where Vic can pick me up straight from work. This train skips all stops before Summit, so it's only a 35-minute ride, which is great. I figured I'd pay the $5 extra, and just get the ticket on the train, rather than miss it completely. As I get down the steps at track 4 at 4:45, I am amazed at how packed every train car is. I go all the way down to the end and see no where to squeeze in. Hot, sweating and red-faced, I am determined to find a spot for me and my suitcase. I head back down the length of the train and see my space - barely enough room to get in, but I'm on. Turns out, this train has been changed to be a Dover Local, rather than the Express. A NJ Transit train had broken down earlier, so this train included two trains worth of people. It was insane. I stood in between train cars the entire 50-minute ride, squished in between other commuters trying to get home after a long day at work. All I wanted was to hear "Summit - next station," and get to Vic as soon as possible. What a stressful day of travel.

Even with the rocky start, the weekend turned out to be so wonderful. Celebrated Vic's 23rd birthday all weekend long. We ate at our favorite places in Morristown, and some new places nearby. I met some of Vic's Morristown friends. We went to Morristown bars - Sona Thirteen (?), The Office, The Grasshopper and George & Martha's. We did some amazing people-watching. We played drinking games at Vic's, and felt like we were back in college. We got hit on by married men in wedding parties. We laughed...a lot. And we had a great time.