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December 26, 2005
The Rest Of The Trip (Its a long one)
There was a lot going on to write about, so this entry may be a bit jumbled and hard to follow. Hopefully it will make sense but hey, Im not sure it all makes sense to me.
First off I'd like to say thank you. Thanks to my sister & Larry, Kym, Marc, Patrick, Stan & Reid, Nadine & Erik for putting us up.
The rest of the visit to my sisters went well. Josh slept in a bit after surviving our drive through the snow storm. We had mulled wine the night before and it was a chance to relax.
I went to breakfast with my mom and my sister, which was nice to spend quality time alone with them. I wanted to go to a restaurant that would possible have something other than grease so that I could bring Josh back some breakfast but Tupper Lake being the hunting/fishing/country town it is, there was nothing but grease pits all around.
Breakfast was good for me since I don't mind grease. I had a ham, cheese, and mushroom omlette. We sat and talked for a bit and I really realized how time can pass us by. Everyone is older. My nephew is driving, my nieces are dating, they are doing many of the things I did at that age. My mom seems to be having more and more health problems and my sister is playing the role of the parent in some ways.
After breakfast we stopped by the grocery store. They laughed at me when my sister asked if they have anything healthy. "like organic" they said. I hate them for not knowing but I guess if I wasn't with Josh I wouldn't know this stuff either.
I showed my sister the ingredients of the whole wheat bread which every brand we picked up had lots of crap in it including corn syrup. My sister found some pretty healthy organic cereal which actually seemed ok. That, along with some Silk soy milk, kiwi, bananas, lemons, and tuna fish, I knew it was going to be the best I could do.
Dinner at my sisters was nice. She and Josh made a pork roast with mashed potatoes and corn. It was delicious. More wine and more relaxing until we had to go to bed.
Early am we we're heading back to Rochester. Smooth sailing all the way back. We stopped at Barnes & Noble in Pittsford for coffee and headed to see Nadine.
We both agree we love her house. Her kitchen was decorated in 1950s style, a 1950s tv in her living room with 6 lavalamps inside, freak lights on the ceiling, and a jackalope head mounted to a wall. When we pulled onto her street, we wondered which house it was until we saw the giant ballon figure of the abominable snowman from Rudolph in her yard. She is outrageous which is one of the reasons I love her.
After dropping off our stuff and visiting for about an hour with Nadine, Josh and I set out for our evenings. The plan was to go to California Rolling for sushi and then I was heading out for another night of drinking at the Pub. Josh was heading off to see Bruce and visit some more while he had the chance.
California Rolling was everything we had remembered. Out of all the sushi places in SF, I have to say, the best is still in Rochester, NY. The service was great and the food was great. They accomidated our request to be out of there in an hour and they did it with time to spare.
After dinner we stopped back at Kyms to watch smallville which was a repeat and around 9pm Josh dropped me off at Tara. The plan was to meet Chris and go to see Tilt which I was anxious to see. As time got later, and Chris got there, I determined we should just go to the Avenue Pub and forget about Tilt. So off to the pub for another night of drinking and seeing friends.
Friday came early and I was up with Nadine who took me to visit old friends at Blue Cross. I wasn’t certain that anyone would remember me or that there wouldn’t be anyone left that I knew there. I was sooooo wrong. Everyone greeted me with open arms and I forgot just how many people I knew there still. It felt really weird being there, like I didn’t belong but yet was comfortable with everyone who came up to me and said hi.
I realized how much I really miss certain people there and it was really nice that I actually got to see my old friend Renee. Renee has always been someone I have admired for her work ethic and she never seems to get what she deserves from working hard and doing a great job. Im hoping things get better for her there.
Around 11:30, Josh and I went to see our friend Steve’s new office. He had just moved his practice from downtown to Penfield and was very proud of his new space. He took the place from a gutted space to a great office space with walls.
The place looked great. You walk into the front door and it already has a warm feeling to it. The high counter in front, the aquarium to the left with a liquor cabinet above it. The hall to his office in the back, passed by a nice little kitchen area and finally his office. His office was painted with two shades of green to reflect the window lighting. A few plants, another aquarium, and a lot of personalized stuff which I recognized right off the bat. His coasters with the pictures of his shitsu and pug (lucy & ethel as they are known to friends). It was nice being able to be there for him and Im really glad we got the chance. The cosmo and martini at 11:45am wasn’t something I was used to though but we survived.
We went to Hogans for lunch which was really good (as it always was). From there it was off to meet Steve again (along with Chris) for bloody mary time. God, I haven’t been to BMT in ages and it was nice to get a chance to go. Nadine met us there as well and I got to see Marty Taylor who looked good. I was afraid I wouldn’t get a chance to see him so I was really happy I had the chance.
After about an hour there, we went back to Nadines for a nap. I wanted to go out one last time on a Friday night in hopes to see a few of the people I didn’t get to see. This didn’t happen. I ended up bored at most places, remembering that every night in Rochester isn’t always a lot of fun. I remembered that most times it was pretty dead. There were many nights that friends were busy and couldn’t go out. The one reason there has been so much interaction with old friends this week, was because I was home visiting. If I lived there again, Im sure it would dwindle quickly and pretty soon it would be no different than being in SF. To sum things up, Im really glad I live in SF even though I do miss my friends so much. I guess it does make seeing each other again so much better.
So Saturday we were up at 2am after 3 hours sleep and heading to Buffalo. Dropped the car off and checked our bags. The flight was on time and we actually made it back to Oakland 15 minutes ahead of schedule. It was nice to step out into sun and 60 degree temps again. It was beautiful. We arrived home and I took my shirt off. First thing I did was go out on our deck without a shirt to feel the warmth and to smoke. Its nice to be home.
Our roommate for some weird reason, decided he would take advantage of our absense and do nice things for us around the apartment. He changed our light in our bathroom. He bought new floor matts for his bathroom and gave us his old one so we aren’t using a towel on the floor. He bought firewood. He also bought a bakers rack which we have been talking about getting for a while now. God bless Ste3ve. He is truly an amazing individual. If I haven’t told you how much I appreciate you and the things you do, please hear it now. I will try and say it more often but sometimes we forget. Anyway, thank you.
Off to Roseville.
Along the way we stopped by Red Lobster for dinner, ran around a bit looking for a CD for his grandmother and all intentions of stopping by Walmart so I can get picture frames. No success with Walmart, it was already closed.
We arrived to his grandmothers around 7 or 8pm. I was exhausted and managed to pass out pretty quickly. I felt a little bad but my body was just saying to me “you need rest”. Once in a while, there is no way to control it, your body just shuts down, and you have no choice but to let it happen. This was one of those times.
So much for Christmas Eve but today will be Christmas. We shall spend the day with his family and it should go well. Im still a bit anxious to get home and settle in. Hopefully we can be back early enough so I wont have to go right to bed. I still need time to unwind.
Posted by Des at December 26, 2005 09:27 PM
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