Welcome Back!

Ladies and Gents,

Welcome back to 9 & 3/4. After much deliberation, tribulation, and downright exhilaration, I am excited to announce the return of 9 & 3/4, as well as the cancellation of The Blinking Red Light. While promising, I realized that The Blinking Red Light was simply me running away from my true calling: Harry Potter.

I am back and very excited to be living in New York City. Stay tuned for some special posts! New people, new characters -- it will be a blend of a lot of things.

Train Stops Here

To the devoted followers of 9 & 3/4:

I regret to inform you that this, my 47th post, will be the last before 9 & 3/4 is laid to rest. But do not fear! Do not fret! 34 posts longer than Summer in Portland, 9 & 3/4 has been, for me, a great joy. I have enjoyed blogging the long and crazy nights of my last year as an undergraduate. I will continue to look back and re-read 9 & 3/4 to remind myself--literally--of nights spent traversing the city.

Check back in the coming days to find a link to 9 & 3/4's successor, The Blinking Red Light.

Cheers.

If It's Murder, You Know She Wrote It

Thursday. 40z on 40. Forty days until graduation (37 now). Most beautiful day of the semester by far, 80 degrees, sunny, slight breeze. Doesn't get much better. Wake up around noon, hit the steps with my double egg/cheese/bacon on a roll from HamDel, ready to enjoy my day, ready to bone, 55th exit, damn, damn, already we home. Get some color, talk to people on the steps, go for a run. TyRone is in town for an interview (he got the job!), up from DC, and I'm super stoked for his arrival. 5pm, I drink a 40 of Bud heavy on the grass with Horchata and her little sister, young Babrams, who is in town from LA for the week, before Cherry Island's show in Dodge, which was da bomb. Drunk by 8 --> perfect for TyRone's arrival. He will stay with me for two nights....

Glass Table; Reno; Happy Hour; Catcher in the Rye

Last Sunday I bought an approximately 30"x30" glass table from this girl living next door in 514, who was moving out the next day. She was a GS student, born and raised in Reno, Nevada, who was moving back to LA, where she had lived before coming to Columbia. She was quirky, in a sense, but had an inexplicable attractive quality to her, so I didn't mind waiting for a few minutes while she talked and wiped down the table for me. I bought it from her for $15. Rufus helped me carry it home. The reason I mention the acquisition of the glass table is that, for several days, it sat leaned up against my window because it was too big to put anywhere. When Cherry Island came over on Wednesday to take a look at it, we decided to do a little re-arranging. An hour later my room was completely transformed -- except for the bed and closet. It is a refreshing new look. But it also makes me sad to think that I will only enjoy my new set-up for another six weeks, until graduation. Ron Weasley sits atop the glass table, next to some newspapers, books, and magazines. I also keep my wallet there now, a nice place to throw shit when I come home from a long night. Ha! Bet you thought I was going to say day. If you're able to secure the big gray comfy chair which sits between the closet and the table, you will find yourself in a fortunate position; at just the right angle you can combine perfectly the activities of watching the television and keeping close observation on the other people in the room (if there are any), all the while glancing over an issue of Time Out New York to learn about where you can go to drink cheaply on a Monday from noon to eight in the evening. I have my Religion & Politics seminar tomorrow morning at 11, but I think I may just stay up all night and read Catcher in the Rye. Fuck it, I'm a senior.

Spring Break: New York City Edition

Drop. Drop. Drop. Rain. Wind. Rain. Rain. Wind. Home. Sunday. Through. Tuesday. Beginning. Beautiful. Weather. 4:59. Mile. Still. Fucking. Got. It. Superhuman. Sixty. To. Seventy. Degrees. Sunny. Dorrian's. Karaoke. Drank. Lots. Sang. Lots. Bruce. With. Gonzo. Sweats. Maple. Rufus. Horchata. Wholly. Foods. Tomb. Raider. P. Bear. Mazda. Blue. 3. Wednesday. St. Paddy's. Day. A. Behanding. In. Spokane. Christopher. Walken. Play. Absolutely. Amazing. Applause. Applause. Whole. Foods. Beer. Good. Beer. Lots. Of. It. 9. &. 3/4. young. BUC. Growlers. Saint. Tony's. Cornbeef. 14. Pounds. Blends. Guinness. Silk. Cuts. Cherry. Island. Heights. Rufus. Irish. Car. Bombs. Away! Old. Horse. Back. To. The. Stable. Very. Thirsty. New. Blends. Pop. Pop. Pop. I. Don't. Like. To. Pop. Thursday. Wake. Up. Disarray. Run. Hot. Unpleasant. Tomb. Raider's. Birthday. Downtown. LES. Kinski. Rivington. Norfolk. #128. Yum. Next. Cherry. Tavern. PBR. Shots. Next. Home. Drop. Horchata. Off. Cherry. Island. Chewbucka. Meet. Blends. UES. Pop! Next. Raines. Law. Room. Negroni. Negroni. Conversation. Good. Conversation. Ron. Weasley. 123. &. Hampsterdam. Bed. 5am. Friday. Wake. Up. 11am. Street. Cleaning. Sleep. Car. Few. Minutes. Gonzo's. Birthday! Bday. Brunch. Good. Enough. To. Eat. Absolut. Citron. Arnold. Palmer's. Drunk. By. 1pm. Pick. Up. Keg. Bud. Light. Basketball. Blends. Afternoon. Next. Billiards. Hall. Shake. Shack. Starved. Party. Begins. Around. 9. Pong. Another. Keg. OMAGA. Why. Did. I. Drink. So. Much? Haha. Just. Kidding. But. Seriously. First. Keg. Stand. In. Two. Years. Sixteen. Seconds. Full. Pump. Beat. BQ. Superhuman status. Don't. Throwup. Refuse. To. Throwup. Throw. Some. 999. In. There. For. Good. Measure. Great. Party. Saturday. Return. Car. To. Mama. Bear. Highline. Relax. Rufus. Horchata. Chelsea. Market. Vince. New. Sweatshirt. Softest. Thing. Ever. Most. Beautiful. Day. Ever. Scratch. Best. Week. Scratch. Best. Spring. Break. Senior. Year. New. York. City. WHAA.

How Do You Make It In America?

"Man, I think the main thing people tend to forget is, in order to stay focused on your mission, you gotta block out all the bullshit. I mean, it's, like, really easy to achieve a dream if you just stay focused and sacrifice a little bit, and remain determined. And you know, the bigger the dream, the harder you might have to grind for it. But everything takes time, you know, you just gotta have extreme patience. That's all."

Surreality

 

Let me start by saying that I truly did want to take it easy this weekend. I had every intention of doing so. Early Thursday evening Nelson picked me up after my midterm, which was unpleasant to say the least, and  we made the hellish drive up to Fordham University (that's East Bronx for those not up on their five boroughs), where we had dinner with our friend KoKo. Rumblings of a Saint Tony's "Surrealism" party had, indeed, reached my ears earlier in the day, which begged the question: to go or to GO? Which do you think I chose? S-S-surreal weekend begin in five...four...three...two...one...