So the question is… what have I been doing? There is a lot to catch up on and if you aren’t interested, don’t waste your time reading this post. It may just go on forever, but I’ll do my best to keep it concise be minimizing the rambling. Ok, buckle up. It’s go time.
My last couple days in NYC prior to my departure were a severe nightmare. On Tuesday evening the plan was to meet with the Loose Record crew for a few drinks to celebrate the holiday season. Before meeting up with the kids, I finished off the leftovers from the previous Sunday’s big dinner at 186. Josh, Mike and I headed to The Hanger where Christina would soon join us for a few drinks. Natalka was (wo)manning the bar and hooked us up with some cheap booze. By the time Christina showed up, I was nearly doubled over in pain. About a half hour later, I removed myself from the bar and hustled home to lie down. The next couple days of my life were spent hugging a toilet bowl. I don’t know if it was the flu or food poisoning, but it didn’t matter. I was extremely sick and the simple act of breathing became difficult.
The next evening Frank and Noah stopped in hoping to rally me. Matt Leafcutter was in the neighborhood so he popped in for a quick hang as well. Wednesday night was the big Bowery Presents Holiday Party at The Mercury Lounge. All the elements of a killer evening were assembled. Mia lined up a karaoke machine, various employees were playing short sets, there was tons of food and the bar was open. Unfortunately, I could only stay for one drink. After a quick vodka tonic with Paul, Christine, Merida and Noah my ship had set sail. My stomach was destroyed so I returned home to sweat out the next few hours while I awaited Trevor’s arrival.
Around 5am I received a phone call from my good pal from Clearfield. Trevor managed to get some leave time before he has to report for duty upstate. He is now attached to a Reserve Unit that will be sent out west for some advanced war gaming before they take off for the Middle East. He was in the 16830 for about a week and came up huge with my ride home. On Thursday morning I woke him up around 11am and we hit the road. My stomach was still awfully shaky, but it treated me fine on the ride home. It was the worst ride back to Clearfield in recent history. It pissed rain for a good four hours and then we hit traffic due to an accident. The icing on the cake was a passed out Trevor for 75% of the trip back. Regardless of the ride, Trevor delivered me to the 203 by 5pm.
(Pic Lt: Momma B.) So my first night back in Clearfield was awfully slow. It was good to be home because my stomach began acting up. Mom hooked up some grub and we took to the couch. After some hang time with Mom and Bruce, they took off for the evening leaving Christine, Trevor and I to the living room. We spent the next couple hours smoking and watching Chris Rock’s new DVD titled Never Scared which was really hilarious. Around 11pm we stopped down at my old neighborhood best friend Brian’s house. I was psyched to see him since he is taking Natasha, his lady, and moving to Florida by the middle of this month. We shared some old stories over some Bourbon. I’m really happy to see him finish school and move on from the county. We also took some time to introduce him to knifers. I predict a global phenomenon to emerge. As the night pressed on, we picked up Evan and attempted to stop by the bar.
If you know me on a less cosmetic level, I’m often frightened or adverse to situations to that involve me running into anything that reminds me of the past. As we walked up to the entrance of Buster’s, this aversion became apparent. We opened the door and three fleece covered backs spilled out of the door. I quickly declined this option and we marched back to the car. A minute later we drove past the bar as a redneck fight spilled out onto the street. Thank god we decided to return to my house to waste the evening in front of the big screen.
The Christmas buzz was felt throughout the Belin house on Friday morning. Marie had dressed up the house in the typical lovely fashion. The tree looked fantastic and it filled me with a little of the old Christmas spirit. This fueled my desire to get in the kitchen to help bake some cookies. Most of the afternoon was spent baking with both of my sisters while mom oversaw the entire project. I kept proclaiming that I was saving Christmas. This is when my mom asked me how much of this would be on the blog. I told her that by asking for its inclusion would definitely get it mentioned. Later that afternoon, Trevor and I made the rounds. We stopped at the liquor store, the beer distributor and Walmart to finish our errand list. We then popped into Dingers for a couple beers. Some guy, Mr. Anderson, came up to me at the bar. He claimed to recognize me because I looked like my dad. He bought Trevor and I a shot because he was a friend of my dad in the latter years of his life. It was a strange feeling, but it was nice to know he is remembered.
Later that evening, I returned home to hang out with my Aunt Suzanne and Uncle Andrew who came into Clearfield for the holiday. After dinner, Trevor, Christine, Rachel, Mom and I played some games like Scattegories and Guestures. We were drunk by the time Matty showed up, and it was great to have him along for the ride. Later that evening, Matty, Trevor, Rachel and I cruised up to Buster’s to continue our drunken Christmas Eve. There was a hint of awkwardness in the air because the bar received news of a kid’s death that evening due to alcohol poisoning. The kid was the older brother of a former football teammate, but I had fallen out of touch with them. Either way, some kids were in bad shape. I did manage to shoot some pool with Green Teamer Todd and Weather Ninja Mike. Rachel was kind enough to act as DD, so around 2am the bar closed up and we took a very drunk Trevor home for sandwiches.
(Pic Lt-Rt: Jay, Bruce) The next morning the family gathered in the living room to exchange gifts. Our family always seems to over do the gift-giving portion of the holiday and 2004, despite my poverty stricken attempts, proved to be no different. We took nearly an hour to get through all the presents stuffed under the glowing tree. I pulled in some much-needed loot like a humidifier, but I also scored some killer films and books. After we cleaned up, Bruce, Christine and I cooked up a big breakfast for everyone. By 2pm mom had the big Christmas dinner ready. Unfortunately, I wasn’t feeling my best, but I was able to put back some turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, broccoli casserole and some sautéed mushrooms. After watching the Shaq versus Kobe match up, Trevor and I took a ride to the cemetery to pay our respects to big Mike. After some an emotional ride, I hit the sack for a good portion of the day. I must say Christmas was pretty kick ass. Much thanks goes to the friends and family members for all the gifts and good times. Later that evening we once again found ourselves at Busters. Matty and I ruled the pool table for hours. We attributed our success to our Dodgeball inspired secret handshake.
A Nice Family Dinner,(Lt-Rt: Aunt Suzanne, Jay, Chris, Rachel)
Can You Feel The Love, (Lt-Rt: Rachel, Trevor, Jay, Chris)
It’s funny how disconnected I get while at home. It is nearly impossible for me to get phone calls, and my email rarely gets checked. This prevented me from wishing many of you a Merry Christmas, but I’m sure you felt me in spirit. The next couple days in Clearfield went very quickly. On Sunday Matty, Evan and I had plans to drive Trevor down to Pittsburgh so he could catch a flight to the base. Around 9am Matty stopped by to catch some breakfast with my family before we walked down to Trevor’s to meet up with the other guys. Upon our arrival we learned that Trevor had called the base and was granted an extension of his leave time. We were happy for Trevor, but pissed about being awake at 10am in the county. We then cruised by McDonald’s to watch Trevor eat burrito’s before going over to Matt’s house to once again watch Dodgeball. We eased into the afternoon football games. At halftime of the Steelers game, Trevor took Evan home and Matt and I to my house so Matt could get his car. Since my family locked me out and went to the casino for a day, I went back to Matt’s and passed out on the couch.
Later that evening, we stopped into yet another local bar called Legends where a group of older friends were locally premiering their film short titled Just Add Alcohol. It was an interesting crowd of kids who showed up to check out the 15 minute film about a young rednecks obsession with sasquatch. Though the film barely made sense it was great to see some kids actively pursuing the arts. After the film I caught up with Eric who runs a design company out of Raleigh called Malachi Inc. Check out the link if you are interested or in need of his services. He does great work. I’ll have you note that during the film I bought Bonnie, Evan’s mom, a beer. You probably had to be there, but I thought it was hilarious. After the film Matt and I went to Denny’s (yes, the place with the huge burger) to have a birthday drink with Shaz. Later that night we went back to Matt’s house to meet up with The Weather Ninja, Todd, Shaz, Stu, Danielle and Tommy Taco for an evening of gambling. My money didn’t last very long, but we had a great night dicking around. Unfortunately I had to walk home through the freezing cold ghost town that is Clearfield, PA at 4am the day after Christmas.
As December 27th became a reality, I was struck with a feeling not often felt on my trips back home. I didn’t want to leave. My time back in the county was well spent. On my last full day back home, I hung around the house doing a little bit of laundry hoping to complete my packing so I wouldn’t be rushed the next morning. As the evening rolled around the family gathered for a dinner of leftovers before Mom and Suzanne drove me to Phillipsburg so Rachel could drive me to the State College airport to pick up a rent-a-car. By 8pm I was back home and Matt was on his way to pick me up. We cruised out to our friend Ryan’s camp where he was chilling with our buddy Joel. It was a bit strange hanging in the room with those kids because we were such an inseparable group back in the day. For nine years we shared the same classroom at St. Francis. We were all from families involved in the church and we were a tight group of friends. As the years passed, we obviously grew apart, but we’ve been lucky enough to remain friends.
(Pic Lt-Rt: Jay, Evan, Heather, Matty, Jeanette) Kids continued to trickle into the camp. By 9pm we had a solid crew going. Around 11pm Matt and I finished our game of bumper pool and decided it was time to head to the bar. Buster’s was once again packed with a number of good friends. We finally got to see Jeanette who avoided us for most of the holiday. We drank tequila like it was our job before the 2am last call. So you know, I represented the best of both worlds while I was in the county. Every night at Busters I could be found drinking a Busch Pounder through a straw. Thanks to Brad for taking care of us during our late nights at the bar. A quick bunch of shout outs to the kids who kept me happy throughout my stay, but I neglected to mention: Lana, Mike, Janelle, Melvin, Olink, Heather, Jen and the rest. Another big thanks to my family for making 2004 a memorable one.
On Tuesday, mom woke me up and helped me pack the car. My ride back to the city was near flawless, and by 5pm I was completely settled and hanging with Kyle.
More Holiday Season recap on the way. You won’t believe some of the happenings. Before I sign off, I want to send a shout out to Cindy. Thanks for reading! Hopefully I’ll have a chance to include you in a future entry.
6 Comments:
how old is your sister
Jay---
Thanks a lot for hanging up on me when I called to wish you a happy new year...I hope you get AIDS. Then after you suffer for a while and get really skinny like Michael Stipe, I'll garden weasel your ballsack and perforate your beanbag so I can rip it apart like some crescent rolls. FUCK YOU ASSHOLE.
she's twelve for all you know. i wondered how long it would take someone to ask.
and i'm sorry paul. wait, no i'm not. you suck.
What I was going to say was, "Happy New Year." Sorry for calling.
of course i missed you.
paul, really, my apologies. i thought at the time it would be funny, and i was going to call you back, but it slipped my mind till i saw the comment. i wish you a happy and healthy one. i'll give you a ring soon to see how other rednecks celebrate the new year.
jin... so sweet.
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