2011

What better time to write about a new year than on 1/11/11. Sure, possibly 1/1/11 but that was over a week ago, and I can't sleep so its time to embark on the last phase of this blog's record keeping of the Willard boys trip to NYC that closed out 2010.

I realize that the last sentence may not make any sense. I apologize. But I am not going back.

At 8a.m. on January 31st, 2010, I woke up in the basement of a home in West Chester, Pennsylvania, having fallen between the cushions on a couch. I was extremely uncomfortable, and there was a skinny guy with smelly feet on the couch perpendicular to mine. His name is Jackson. He is my roommate with foot odor. Anyway, as we heard Jackson's new iPhone start playing whatever his alarm was, we both got out of bed. Half asleep and and still disconcerted, I groggily made my way up the stairs, where the Mateyks had just finished making a delicious breakfast for the boys and myself. I don't know what the name of the dish was, but there was french toast and nuts and syrup and bacon and sausage. It. Was. Glorious. I'm still pumped just thinking about it. Anyway, we ate our meal then hopped in the manvan for the trip into NYC.

We drove two hours into Jersey, the most unkempt state in the Union. Dirty with hatred, and smoggy with fumes, we drove as quickly as possible through this disgrace. However, apparently we did not drive quickly enough. As Jackson cruised along in the left lane at a solid seventy, we noticed someone behind us flick their brights, they then swerved around us, cut us off, brake checked us, and the driver gave us the finger with his mother in the passenger seat and his small son in the back. Welcome to Jersey.

After that mishap, we made it to the train station. All of us had drank a lot of coffee and dr. pepper that morning, so after unloading our bladders against the wall behind Jackson's car, we went and bought our tickets for the train. Exciting!

After the short train ride, We took our first steps into NYC. Tall buildings flanked us, but the first sight we saw was Ground Zero. Then we went into a chapel. Then we saw the Stock Exchange, and Jackson fell behind as he took pictures on his phone and looked like a total shoebie. Then saw the big bull with the ah... large features? Then we saw a dude dressed up like an army man. Then we saw the statue of liberty from afar. Then I got offered a rolex.

After that exhausting series of events, we headed towards little Italy, after strolling for a bit we found a hole in the wall pizza shop. Jackson and I shared a cheesey pizza. Mmmm. After the restaurant, we walked around some more and saw some more cool stuff. Sometime after China town, (where jackson and I bought tourist shirts) we began to lose energy.

After seeing a bunch more stuff, we went to the Museum of Natural History (I think) and saw tons of dinosaur bones. I tried to give a presentation to a group of people because I had found a way onto a platform next to a brontosaurus, and apparently I looked pretty profesh. Jackson thought it was hilarious. We lost Evan for this time.

Upon the museum's closure, we wandered around Central Park for a bit, swung on a swing set, and did other hoodrat stuff with our friends. We decided to look for a place to eat. When we saw a sign that simply read pub, we thought, oh look at our luck, this looks like a happening restaurant. It was not.

Don't get me wrong, the food was good. But the service left something to be desired. After finding out we weren't ordering alcohol, our waitress got us our drinks and that was the last time we saw her. We all were already in foul moods being hungry, cold and tired, and not much was said before, or during the meal. After the meal however, we were able to bond some more over our hatred of outrageous gratuities, and NYC's problem with over pricing necessities. At this point, we made our way to times square.

After getting wanded, being told that the Virginia Tech Huskies played good football, and skipping past a police officer, we made our way to the big time. We were able to snag a corner spot by the police barricade and we got ready for our three hour wait till the ball drop. It was actually a pretty enjoyable time. We made some friends from Italy and some more from Michigan, and had some good conversations. We had an hourly ritual we all looked forward to (except for Jeremy) and we played a fun game with words that Sam knew. Then the ball dropped. It was pretty anticlimatic actually. Just kinda happened then we left. Huh.

After the ball dropped we booked it twenty blocks to Penn Station. Where as Jeremy went to the restroom, the rest of us took a break from walking on the steps of the PostOffice, where three NYC natives came up and talked to us. They loved Jackson and repeatedly called him a word I cannot repeat, but they said it in a loving way and kept dapping us all up. They were having a great time, and told us the word wavy. which means cool.

We rode the train and met some bros from south africa.

Got off the train back in Jersey. Had to walk through a sketchy part because we could not go the way we had came to get to the parking garage and took a wide detour. Then once we got there, we were told "the stairs are broken" and we walked up the winding ramp to the parking garage. I couldn't imagine ending the trip any other way. We all thought it was hilarious. Except Jackson, because John hit him with a snowball, and that dampened his mood. It is two in the morning at this point, I made it clear that I was going to fall asleep, while the other guys said they were gonna stay awake with Jeremy and Jack. I was the only one who didn't lie.

We got back to Jeremy's house that night exhausted. But pleased. Pleased we had accomplished what all the naysayers said would never happen. But also pleased because we could all sleep now, with no threat of being pick pocketed or shot.

It was a great trip, a one and done thing, but I cant imagine having spent New Years differently. Ok well cant imagined is too strong of a phrasing, but it was a good experience with the best friends.

Sorry this account was so long...

<3's
James C Harris III