Today was kind of a sad day for me.
St. Paddy's Day has always been one of my favorite days. I know this comes as a shock to all of you. Really. But it's the one day of the year where it's actually cool to be Irish, and unlike every other cool thing that I pretend to be a part of but actually am not, I am actually super Irish! I like how everyone expects me to be just balls-to-the-wall crazy on this day, and I love living up to it.
All through grade school, my mom whored me out in my green finest. It was my thing. We had corned beef and cabbage for dinner every year, and it was delicious.
It took me longer to get into the booze-aholic version of St Paddy's, because it took me awhile to get into the drinking thing.
I actually do not remember the St. Paddy's of either of the years I was at Wagner. I feel like I probably should, but I do not. Somehow I've managed to forget a zillion things that happened in those 2 years.
Junior year at Fisher, I greened it out and went to a party, but if I recall correctly, I was sick or something, so I did not have mucho fun.
Senior year. I started drinking as soon as I got out of class. Spent the whole evening in the quad, drinking with the girls, and Mark Waldron and his rubber face. It was greeeeeat.
Although I was drinking, like, hard iced tea, which is questionable in and of itself.
My first year living in Rochester, Jhole and I were so poor. When St. Paddy's rolled around, I was sort-of-employed-but-not-actually-working-at an irish pub, and would actually go on to get my first real job the next week. Soooo I had the whole day free for festivities.
I started my day by going with Chris Fanning to Geneva for an Irish lunch and green beer with his dad. Delightful.
It should also be noted that this was during a time when I was....uh....connecting with my Irish roots, and became sooooort of obsessed with a little group called Celtic Thunder, which is not actually a bunch of Irish Chippendale dancers, but is in fact a musical group. I don't really have a defense for this, other than to say that I love men with accents. And there was a particular boy in the group, named Keith, who is cute as a button and speaks with an almost unintelligable Derry accent, and has a birthday 2 days after mine, which, it must be said that there's nothing a gemini loves more than ANOTHER GEMINI!
ANYWHO, so my dear friend Heather, who actually GOT me into Celtic Thunder, because she and her mom were even more into it, was that very day attending the St. Paddy's Day parade in NYC, because Celtic Thunder was performing. She was there with a group of Celtic Thunder fans, and the guys ended up actually coming over to meet them. So I am at Chris's, when my phone rings, and it's Heather, so I pick it up and I hear "[garble garble garble] my friend Colleen?" followed by "Hullo Colleen!" from the adorable Irish boy's mouth! I, thinking she was holding the phone out to him at a distance that he couldn't actually hear me, made some sort of enthusiastic squawk, which I imagine was quite unpleasant, considering he had actually taken her phone and was holding it up to his ear. Just another example of me embarrassing myself in the presence of pseudo-celebrities (see also: JC Chasez.)
Anyway, this was a very special St. Paddy's Day, because not only was it the most Irish of days, but it was also Jenna Bellucci's 21st birthday. Imagine, if you will, that situation. The drinking that ensued. The evening was spent at The Colony, the bar down the street. It was also, by some karmic magnificence, karaoke night. Throughout the night, Jenna did the following:
1. Went around the bar telling everyone EVERYONE that it was her birthday. Some people gave her stickers.
2. Did a somersault, at the end of the night, across the bar floor. Gross.
3. Got up in front of everyone in the crowded bar, took the mic from the karaoke guy, and made a big speech thanking everyone IN THE ENTIRE BAR for coming out for her birthday. One of the funniest things I have ever witnessed.
Then she woke up the next morning, feeling fine and dandy, while Chris Fanning and I barely woke up.
That weekend, Jenna, Amanda, and I continued the birthday celebration in Syracuse, specifically Tipp Hill. We had so much silly fun, including eating tacos in Amanda's kitchen at 2 am, and me making tactless yet timely Natasha Richardson jokes.
Last year was much more of the same, except with slightly less birthday fun, as it was not a milestone b-day for J Booch. Also, I had to work all day. And in an exercise in poor planning, I had to work the next day as well. Which turned out to be unfortunate, because I got more drunk that night than I have ever ever gotten in my life. I don't really remember much of the night, though I imagine it was magical. I do remember waking up in the middle of the night to puke in my trashcan, only to find out when I woke up the next morning that I had completely misjudged the location of the trashcan and had actually projectile vomited all over my bedroom floor. I think I was probably more ashamed of this situation than I have ever been in my life. Especially because I did not have enough time before I left for work to completely finish cleaning it up, so my room smelled like vomit all day. It should also be said that while getting ready in the morning, I was still drunk. Being drunk turned into being hungover while I was on the bus to work. Which, as you can imagine, is not the best place to feel hungover. I sat with my purse open in my lap in case I needed to vomit into it. I was lucky that day, because the phones were not busy, and best of all, my boss did not come in until halfway through the day. So I sat at my desk and slept off my hangover for 2 hours. Better yet, I had a work-related dinner to go to that night, which I still felt like crap for. Fun times. I didn't drink for....months afterward.
So much fun, so many years in a row!
This year, I wore a green shirt. That was the extent of it. I worked late. I came home to an empty house, because my parents were at a St Paddy's Day celebration in Oswego. I called my sister, but she was on her way out. I had pickle dip and Mountain Dew for dinner, because they're kind of green. I don't want to sound like a big moper, because I've done SO much moping in this blog, which I intended to be full of hilarity. But there are certain days where I'm just really sad to not be in Rochester anymore. I feel like everything's happening and I'm missing it. Today was one of those days, big time. I know this was my decision; I've made my bed and now I've got to lie in it, but it's just hard sometimes.
However, writing about the great March 17ths of yore have brought a smile to my face and to my heart.
Much the way this does: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCbuRA_D3KU
Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!
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