I was so hot and sweaty that I actually snuck into my room and changed out of Black T-shirt Number 3 and into Blue T-shirt Number 7. (Yeah, right - like I have seven shirts!)
Lorelei and I kicked off the festivities with a duet. (By the way, I'm writing these caption in May of 2005, almost a year later so I pretty much have no idea what song anyone was singing in these pics).
Awwwww! Thanks so much guys! You are the best friends ever. (Sorry I moved back so soon!). I started to put my gifts away and they were all like "No, no, no. After all the time we spent rounding that stuff up, you're wearing it at the party, CALIFORNIA BOY!"
"Those are for when you go to Burning Man with your new California friends. Keep them in your mouth and when you're in the desert at night raving in the dark, it'll help ensure that no one crashes into you."
The next few gift were to help me fit in with "all of the homeless people that you're sure to be hanging out with." Fake moustaches (because my friends all know that I can't grow a real moustache to save my life).
Some incense. ("After you're done humping hippy chicks, you might want to burn some of this. It'll help clear the air in the room.") I wasn't sure what the next gift was at first...
First up, a sweet Haight-Ashbury tie-dyed shirt. When I was like "This shirt's way too big!" They replied "Don't worry, you're going to start smoking lots of pot and do nothing out there. You'll get real fat and grow into it."
Grant, Leigh, Meredith and Sarah (none of whom were super-pleased with my decision to move) came over to my apartment early to give me a series of presents they'd named "The New Yorker in San Franciso Survival Kit." My interest was piqued.
Candy stopped by early with Matt to drop off the karaoke gear for the party - and she and Leigh took a minute to laugh at my "getting ready for the party" outfit. Suh-weet.
Doug was still in town visiting and was kind enough to run all over town with me and help set up for the party. It was a BYOB affair, but because all the bodegas in my hood close at 9pm, we scored a shitload of cases of PBR and a buncha bottles of booze for back-up.
I'm not sure I handed my camera over to at this point but as you'll be able to see over the next few pics, they managed to grab some clutch snaps. I didn't even know I was capable of making a face like this. (Check out Leigh in the background losing her shit. Hahaha).
I tried to get Vin to wear it for a picture and he was like "No way, if anyone sees a picture of a brown guy in a bio-warfare mask, the terror alert status is going to increase. Fuck that." Hahahaha.
While packing my room up on Tuesday, I came across this crazy-ass Israeli bio-warfare mask I'd purchased from an army surplus store back in 2000 to use when had to sand the old paint off the walls of the loft we converted in Brooklyn.
Late night outside. Tinny getting sad because we realized with my impending move to San Francisco just ten days away, this was my 2nd to last Misshapes attendance (or so we thought at the time! Doh!). But that doesn't mean that she wasn't wishing me...
When Leigh and I met up with Meredith on the street, she was holding a shopping bag and laughing. Apparently, my birthday present that she'd told me was being "specially made" had finally arrvied and she informed me that she was going to "make me wear it out tonight." Well, Meredith's present turned out to be this uber-classy shirt that says "P is for Pussy" on the front (complete with a picture of the cookie monster doing the internation sign for pussy-eating)...
When I was younger, I thought that by the time I reached 28 I'd be grown-up enough to not think that taking Tic-tacs and using them to pretend you have buck teeth is something that's still funny. Go figure.
Mint chocolate chip tofu ice cream with a candle. (Later on in the night, I went out to for a birthday dinner at a fancy steakhouse, but somehow I fucked up and lost those pictures. Argh!)
Later that afternoon the ladies took me to Red Bamboo for some vegetarian soul food. (Most likely, because unbeknownst to me, I was being taken to a steakhouse for my birthday dinner and this gave the two vegetarians a chance to fill up!).
John Roche (who I went to Keystone Jr. College with back in '95!!!) even showed up with a friend. Although once we got a look at how crowded it was inside he was like "Uh, happy birthday dude. Maybe we can hang out some other time?"
Towards the end of the night, Amy got all hardcore and declared that she was going to finish the bottle of Stoli that was on the table. Hey look, you're almost at the, er, bottom.
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