Relax, It’s Only a Christmas Party

A five hour flight on Alaska Airlines, and a four hour train ride, felt like a mere minute for me as I closed the books on 2019. I had spent plenty of Autumn evenings and weekends pursuing a list of home renovation projects, and had paperwork to follow up on.

During the sailing days, I had little time or physical presence to carry out handy tasks at home. So I paid contractors and handy people to take care of things in my stead. This earned me a little ridicule onboard the ship, with comments like: “what would you do if the toilet leaked on the ship?”. The implication being that ‘real men’ are inherently able tradesmen.

Now in a shore-based assignment, I assumed that time would be the most abundant asset. I no longer worked overtime and weekends, so I would “pay myself” on the weekends by doing handy jobs on my own. What I did not appreciate is that community roots form on land, and so do social obligations.The fiercely libertarian and independent deep-sea Mariner or hunter-gatherer survivalist makes up just a small fraction of society. The rest rely on each other.

This year, retailer groups bemoaned the short holiday shopping season, as it was already December when Thanksgiving weekend was over. It was Sunday, December 1 when the college co-eds piled on and off the southbound train from Washington,DC to various Virginia universities. I am a bit out of touch with holiday consumerism. I spent the last few Decembers and Christmases with bags packed, ready to go join a ship overseas. I moved bags of midnight snacks, not big-screen TVs. But I do feel the time crunch in the density of ‘holiday’ parties in early December: Civic League, alumni network, work parties ranging from work center, to department, and command level. On a government supply ship, there might be one Christmas party, especially if the ship has a home port. On a working container ship, with crew amalgamated from across the country and the world, good riddance with sentiment- “you’re there to work”.

To those of us in the leisurely class: throw back, relax, enjoy the season, count the blessings.

113 x 2 Thanksgiving

I totally felt like a tourist. After getting off the and trying to figure out whether the express or local would come first (unlike most stations in the NYC subway, Penn Sta. blue line lacks a crossover), and dashing to the business dinner. We got on the local, and shuffled to the express at the next stop! Having had the NJ Transit train arrived in New York 1 hr 15 min late, we missed cocktails and part of dinner. Afterward, after a long delay, as a group, the younger St. Thomas alumni went out to in an effeminate style to the 68th street theater, ten blocks north. Duane Reade, Starbucks, theater closed and locked. How could this be? It was therefore necessary to go back downtown to 42nd street. Since all of us were cheapskates, we didn't take a taxi or a subway. When we all got to 58th again, somebody got hungry. Realizing that the last show was actually at 12:45am, and that no one really wanted to see Quantum of Solace that badly, we headed out to Bella Vita- the slices went up to $3 each! Anyway, because they wanted to rid of their pizza, they cut us deals. Some late-night supper with Chocolate News and Futurama before realizing that it was 1:30 am. By then, this was the most wasted I had made myself to date, surpassing the Dec.1 lock-in at the Cathedral last year (refer to a post around that date). So we got into bed and all. Truth and Dare with Stefane, nothing too weird, though, and we set the game into a logic loop (I dare Stefane to stop doing this game). So we all fell asleep. Or that was what I thought.

I had a good long sleep until 8:57 am, according to the clock on the microwave. I felt totally refreshed. Surprised not another soul was not awake, I looked at my own clock. It was 7:57. The clock had not been reset since the organist-in-residence left this posh midtown apartment (approx value 3,500+/mo.) in July. So I put my head back into bed. Some time later, I remembered that I needed to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade pass by on Broadway, for I never had the chance to do so.

Got some good shots. But where was Kermit? I had vowed to see him as a float while in New York. Well, I at least I saw the parade, I thought, as I got dressed for church. I took a wide look out the window. Some Escalade and a small dirigible. Then I heard loud applause. A green head. Sure enough, it was Kermit, and his dominating minions holding him to ground were dressed in florescent green jumpsuits, as I had been informed. I got two awesome shots, and jolly-lept to church.

The service was quite enjoyable, with good company. Sitting in the wide, dark, balcony of Saint Thomas Fifth Avenue that was unknown to the hoards of tourists let us rest in peace. I pulled out two knit finger puppets I bought in a hurry for $5 on the way over. A lion and a giraffe. THe crocodile would have been nice, but they were sold out. Yes, I had meant to buy them as a gift for someone all the way back in sixth grade. I lost one brief window of opportunity, and he was gone when I returned from church then. So I willed this not to happen again and all. How's that for rewriting history? Some greetings, nice to meet yous and all before taking the walk down Avenue of the Americas, cutting to Seventh and Times Square perpendicular to Radio City. With the grand avenue closed, Little Brother and I alternated taking touristy shots of each other as we rattled to Penn Station (at 33rd, not 34th!) past Macy's Herald Square. I didn't get to see any large floats being deflated of helium, though. They were probably done at 28th street, a larger street than the others. Looking for a cheap lunch took us around the large loop under Madison Square Garden, and out to a falafel vendor outside, who sold those lamb gyros for $5. Coupled with two cans of 99 cent Arizona Iced tea and a $1 bottle of water, we faced the train departure board. Twenty minutes delayed. The only one out of 20 trains on the board. Oh well, the train could catch up time. Better start late and fast, rather than on time, go fast, then wait for the schedule to catch up. We looked for our unaccompanied minor friend, who might get us bumped into business class. Eating the gyro on the floor in the coach section of waiting room wasted a little time. Just looking into the sparsely populated First Class waiting area... 2:25pm. The 169 was supposed to be here, with the delay. Instead, the message went vague. 'Delayed' I was in so much anticipation of my first Amtrak ride.

Not present for our class was NTFletch and his co-partner and twin brother, Zak. The school board thought that Thanksgiving was a racist holiday, so they had school until 3, and band practice, too. ?!

Even with your stock fund in the gutter,
We all have to be thankful for gas in the $1.-- range. That's what matters most.

Oh, and yes. I found out that three of the brothers went out to the 24-hour Apple store at the GM building (59+5th ave) to seek out internet. Why? Facebook.

Post 100 Day

Remember, this is a special day for the Atticus Sawatzki's blog production crew!
This is our 100th post. And by luck, 100th falls on a holiday called Valentines day. Unfortunately, I did not have religion class today, and therefore did not re-learn again who was St. Valentine. I was thinking of making the milestone on February, 29, but daily blogging pushed the date ahead. We will still celebrate our blog's first anniversary on March, 1, capping off our first 366 days. Next year I plan to post 365 posts. That's tentative, though.

As for my other life, I just came back from the Trajan party, a brief little Latin translation brouhaha. Before that, I was doing It's Academic. I thought it was 4:00 when the party started, but I guess they started a little before, and I didn't get the first few lines edited. Oh well. I actually did the work before the parties, and therefore did not crash because of missing a few lines of translation. Only one more thing; "Mom, I'm on the first shuttle (at 4:40pm) and it left on time for a change."

And a psychology question: If you read the post labels, you may have been drawn to the Injury section. Nothing wrong. I understand what people want: Drama. Which brings up the point- what do you look for in the news? integrity, or entertainment and mindless ballyhoo.
What we call the news- Tragedies, adventures, romances, dramas, and inspirational coaches.
www.jibjab.com

Atticus Sawatzki's Blog
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I did it again

Some people say it's for personal achievement, but I only do it for practical reasons- getting home fast. Maybe it is sort of the former, seeing if I can make it to be with everyone else. Classmates, and friends, if I may be that bold. I know what it is like; looking at the street below from the Fort Totten red line platform, watching anxiously for the next shuttle to drop off the rest of the entourage before the next train came.

I guess it's something to see someone come up the escalator out of apparent nothing.
As I am suggesting, I repeated the B51-passes-you-then-you-run-for-the-80 routine. It worked, again. I must mention, this event somewhat resembles what happened Wednesday, February 6. I avoided a mob and ended up behind the benefactor, making me #15. If I would have counted carefully beforehand, I would have avoided the situation and left him in his #15 place. So I did the aforementioned routine.

It was lucky that the routine worked, particularly today, when there was a train delay (Our train repeatedly malfunctioned), which kept me out of home for half an hour. For that matter, it was so bad that by New York Avenue, I was doubting my ability to get off at Metro Center, therefore requiring me to Farragut North it. I got out fine, and I was mighty glad I had the communal entourage to support me through those hard delays.

Now...about after the successful awards ceremony last afternoon

I zipped over to the Cathedral (the place I spent a miserable night on Dec. 1, 2007) to watch a fellow St. Thomas alumnus sing evensong. Went well, got to boast of my recent part in victory, came home and had a nice pasta dinner. And I worked on the history project.

Our Progress

I am very pleased to announce that we have had a steady increase in visitors to our website. Thank you very much! Invite your friends to see!

Also, we have started a video series. More on that soon including DVD's