The prodigal blogger is back

Right now I am sitting on a train eating cold pineapple and ham pizza, listening to my best of 2008 mix: Kanye, theTingtings, Vampire Weekend, Eagles of Death Metal and others I soon will have to file away under “stuff I listened to when I was young.”

This train ride is a fitting end to my “Rumschpringhe.” The end being an unplanned trip to New York City for a vodka-infused-Scrabble-Wii-playing New Year’s Eve Party.

In my Rumschpringhe, I did like the Amish would do. Drank copious amounts of alcohol in all forms. Danced inappropriately in multiple venues. Slung drinks. Got outed at queer bar only to be reinstated as a hetero the next week. Convinced eighteen year-olds that the F-word was a perfectly valid adjective in describing chemical reactions. Participated in a bar brawl. Made out publicly and not so publicly with a leader of a moped gang (and by the way “moped” is not a typo.) Got in a drunken moped accident. Sliced my finger open with a piece of glass. Joined Facebook.

The real question is how do the Amish get reintroduced into society? How will I ease myself back into life of a job and responsibilities?

Until then I plan on springing an unexpected visit on my friends, drinking myself silly, gorging myself on Jamaican beef patties, and crashing on someone’s couch. As I said a perfect end to my Rumschpringhe.

Civic Duty

Just a reminder to everyone to get out and vote! And once you do, you can get all sorts of free stuff (Starbucks, Ben & Jerry's and Krispy Kreme to name a few), so not only do you get to cast your ballot, but you can experience a sugar rush/caffeine buzz on Corporate America's dime to boot!

Schadenfreude

definition: –noun. [German : Schaden, damage (from Middle High German schade, from Old High German scado) + Freude, joy (from Middle High German vreude, from Old High German frewida, from frō, happy).] satisfaction or pleasure felt at someone else's misfortune.

The BF is back from a 2 week trip to Russia. I was invited to go on the trip, but passed. The way that BF communicated his intention on going on the trip (without me) was... less than ideal. Also, he was travelling with 2 women (friends of friends), neither of which I really cared for, with one in particular that I would say that I actually dislike (the "Girl I Don't Care For"). The other is nice enough, but not someone that I would choose to be friends with. Acquaintance, yes. Friend, no. I will refer to her as "Acquaintance".

Admittedly, I can be paranoid about things -- in particular, I was convinced that BF going on a 2 week long trip in a non-english speaking country with 2 single women (one of which always seems to forget ever having met me) was a bad idea; that long hours spent on a train would lead to romance. This is probably a result of too many hours watching Lifetime (television for women) made-for-tv movies. BF is generally a stand-up, very trustworthy guy. I knew that he wouldn't cheat on me, but I was worried that he'd be charmed by the Girl I Don't Care For and then break up with me. I had convinced myself that if in fact that did happen, if things fell apart, then our relationship wasn't as strong as it should be after 4+ years. I am a fatalist in that sense.

Before the trip, BF had expressed some concern that travelling with Acquaintance would be tough -- she is a girly girl and not too keen on trying new things. He thought that the Girl I Don't Care For would be cool to travel with -- she's travelled a lot on her own in the past, always to interesting and exotic places. Plus, during the few times that I have seen BF and the GIDCF together, they always seem to be in themiddle of an extremely engaging conversation. Another item to feed my paranoia. I am relieved to report that there was no international romance between the BF and the Girl I Don't Care For. In fact, she sounds absolutely horrible to travel with. It secretly made me happy that she made their trip less than completely fun.

GIDCF did a good job of raining on everyone's parade. Also, she sounds C-R-A-Z-Y from many of the stories, blaming everyone else for her absent-mindedness and picking fights with Russian police for no good reason. As an example, as they were departing Moscow to head back to NYC (stopping over in Helsinki), BF reminded her that all liquids have to be checked into your luggage since they were transiting from a non-EU country through an EU country. She decided to ignore his advice and when the airport security tried to confiscate the $20 bottle of vodka she had bought in the airport (but before duty free) she started arguing with them and demanded that she be able to go back through security and passport control so that she could check her Marc Jacobs purse onto the plane (BF assured me that it was a purse, not anything approaching a carry-on bag), having wrapped her sweater around the bottle. This seems like the perfect example of the old adage "penny wise but pound foolish". She only backed down after she was surrounded by 5 Russian guards. This was all over a bottle of vodka that I saw at my local liquor store just the other day.

Occasional craziness can be overlooked, but not being willing to compromise on what sites to see, restaurants to go to, or food to order cannot. She also had a habit of berating the locals for losing her things in coat check, when she had never actually checked them into coat check in the first place, having forgetten them in other places. I'd like to think that I am a much better travel companion. BF and I have travelled to 10 different countries together and have never been arrested (or almost arrested). Although BF does routinely get pulled aside by airport security when we travel internationally--born in Tehran seems to be a big red flag--while I go straight through with no problems. After BF told me these stories I asked if he would ever travel with the Girl I Don't Care For again, BF said (not surprisingly), not in the foreseeable future.

Complementary Colors

{design: David Creighton-Pester & Evan Ferstenfeld }

Note which colors are speaking to each other. I Love it!