"Mischievous Molly"

No, the picture to the left is not my actual friend who I will call 'Mischievous Molly,' but she tends to have the same reaction to her medling. As told by Grace recently, I am in contact with 'Little Brother' and some (most) of my friends are not happy about it. I feel that it is my life and I should be able to live it and have fun while doing so. The difference between Little Brother and 'Jake' is that I know the 'type' of guy that I am communicating with and know that it more than likely won't go very far if anywhere. Jake, I thought might have some legs since we shared a love for the same sports teams, still had family in the state we grew up in and seemed to enjoy one another's company. I know I screwed up the chance with him due to my self-destructive tendancies and I am moving on....back to Little Brother :)

Little Brother and I seem to get each other's sense of humor, get along and are mutally attracted to the other. I think in order for me to get over the last 'relationship' I had, I need to have a fun guy in the mix. We text meaningless banter and haven't even seen each other in months (why I know its harmless and more than likely never going to go anywhere).

Anyway, back to the point of my blog, 'Mischievous Molly.' Because I have been communicating with Little Brother, Molly is one of the friends not so happy about it. Today we were hanging out and she decided to take my phone to 'play.' I wasn't really paying attention to her because I was looking up spa information online.....Big Mistake. Molly is known to be extremely mischievous and 'crafty' amongst our friends and I should have known better than to let her get a hold of my phone. The phone rang and it was my sister so I was allowed back its possession. After I hung up with my sister I had a text message from an unsaved number. Confused I open it and realize that it is Little Brother. Then I realize Molly must have deleted his number, check my address book and sure enough, she had deleted his number in attempt to cut off our interaction. What Molly had done that was incredibly contradictory to her purpose was text Little Brother before deleting him from my phone, 'Hi Little Brother.' He happens to be very responsive to text messenging (which she knows) and clearly wrote back, hence, making it possible for communication to continue.

I am generally very patient and calm when Molly is mischievous but to be honest, this really ticked me off! First of all, don't delete things from my phone, that is my property and my business. Regardless of if you are supportive of some of my relationships, I am a big girl and can manage my own affairs. Second, why would you text someone you didn't want me talking to? I would have not texted Little Brother today if he hadn't responded back and then I would not have noticed he had been deleted. I tend not to text him but every now and again when I'm feeling 'destructive,' I do.

So, I was rather perturbed that she would do this because it just didn't make any sense to me and although she thought she was being funny, I was less than amused. What really got my blood boiling was that she texted our friends what she had done and they all, of course, wrote back that they were happy she did that. People, I appreciate your concerns but I am a big girl and know what I'm doing (believe it or not) and really want to be left alone for now.

xoxo

Self-Destructive

Adventures with Gumbi: Part 1

Location: Peculiar Pub.
Attendants: Gumbi, 'self-destructive', Red, Bartender Stephanie and Mark #1 and #2.
Agenda: Drink Brewskis. Many of them.
As promised, I bring you my latest adventure with my beloved pal, Gumbi. It has been awhile since we've 'caught up' and Thursday night was consistent with our usual debachery. The plan was for him to meet me at my apartment around 8 and then we would head out somewhere from there. I received a call from him at 8 saying that he was running behind and would be able to meet me where ever around 8:30. That was fine so I emailed (the man refuses to have text messaging which partially impacted my decision to get a personal blackberry so that I could communicate with him without calling, it has helped our friendship) him directions to the Peculiar Pub. I took the subway to W4th and navigated myself onto Bleeker and made it to the Pub on time. True to form, he was not on time. I called him to see how long he would be and he was in the cab with a coworker (Red) and two British men (what the ?). I ask him how long he'll be and he says, '5 minutes.' Thoroughly confused by the British men thrown into the mix now for I had been under the impression that he was on his way to meet me straight from work, I started invisioning these two random Brits jumping in the cab with Gumbi and Red.

After hanging up, I was left with two decisions; 1) Wait outside for Gumbi and Co. or 2) Go inside, set up shop and get myself a brewski. I obviously chose option #2 and entered the bar, ordered up my beloved brewski of choice, Chimay may (for some reason I always have to throw in that other 'may') and made myself comfortable. While I sat and imbibed alone, I emailed and BB messaged friends thinking he'll show up shortly.....Come 9:05, the tall and limber, strolls into the pub with his 'entourage.' Immediately upon seeing him, I know he did not come straight from work but from another pub.

The boys gather 'round and with that come the introductions. Gumbi introduces me to his co-worker, 'Red' and the 'Marks' in town from England for the weekend. What makes the British pair even more humorous other than their complete randomness is that they are both named Mark. I figured they couldn't be too harmful since they immediately bought me a new Chimay so I dubbed them Mark #1 and Mark #2. Number 2 wasn't too happy with his number so I tried to sell him on 1a and 1b, that at least quieted him down for the time being.

Many Chimays (me) and Blue Moons (Gumbi) later, Mark #1 has invited me to his place in Bermuda, Red has admitted to having a crush on me and Gumbi is swaying but there is no music playing. Time continues to pass and even bartender Stephanie is leaving us so I make the call that we should hit the road as well. Gumbi at this point is truly at his peak and exemplifying his nickname. When he stands, it is as if all the bones in his body have turned to rubber and he is bending forwards and backwards, right and left limbs, jacket, hair a' flying. We walk toward the door and he is confused where he is. I hail a cab and ask if he'll go to Brooklyn (where Gumbi dwells), cab driver agrees, I throw Gumbi in and wish him a good night. I too get into a cab and the night comes to a rather not so destructive end.

What is in a nickname?

Recently, I was home for a whole week for the holidays. Keeping with tradition of Sunday Funday, I went to my father's to watch football. Also staying within the usual routine, I began my imbibing. I broke from my usual beverage of choice (bloody mary or Stella) and decided on a red wine for it was a blizzard outside and anything with ice or cold just didn't quite have an appeal. I cradled my delicious glass of vino while rooting for our team. Once our team had won, we decided to get to work on dinner. I am not a culinary woman or one who even really cooks but ever since I was little, I always enjoyed being in the kitchen with my dad making dinner or pies. My father, who is a great cook, chose to make a stir fry. Since it was a chicken stir fry and I was 'warmed up' from my previous glasses of red, I progressed onto white wine to compliment the meal. Once dinner was over I moved along to brewskis (Sam Adams to be exact) to pair with more football watching. Throughout the day, each time I got up from the couch because my glass or bottle was empty, my father gave me a hairy eyeball out of the corner of his eye. Then finally, he spoke up and said, 'do you really need another one, you little lushbucket?' Lushbucket! I loved it! Amused by my father's creative terminology I immediately texted friends to share my newest and probably favorite nickname.

Another reason why I love this new nickname dates back to Halloween '07 when I decided to dress like Britney Spears circa crazy hot pink wig wearing days. To my credit, I pulled the look together rather well. I had the hot pink wig, huge sunglasses, loose white baby doll top with a black bra underneath, cut off jean shorts with the pockets showing, fishnets and high heeled booties. That night, I did not only look like Britney Spears but I took on her destructive behaviors and truly personified her. I was drinking vodka sodas and instead of switching to beer when I hit that 'you should slow down and switch to beer phase,' continued down the road of vodka sodas. Next thing I know I'm wobbling in my heels and ALL OVER the place. Then, I'm not sure if we were taking a group photo or what but I lost my balance, falling backwards and to my 'luck' fell into a large bucket (please note picture above) that was to be filled with beers later. Oh yes, I fell in a bucket and for a very long time I was harassed by all with constant questions, 'Where's your bucket?' There were many photos taken of that moment that I unfortunately can not share with you because I do want to try to stay somewhat anonymous but I have added this picture to help you with an image.



So, over the years I have accumulated many nicknames due to my boozeness. I respond to boozebag, boozer, shithead (father contribution), special and/or specialness and now lushbucket.

I AM the 'Self-Destructive Friend'!

To anyone who is a frequent reader of my dear friend, Grace’s blog, you are already familiar with my behaviors for I am ‘the self destructive friend.’ I would like to give you all a background of where I come from. I hail from a wonderful Irish family (I am 4th generation) who are full of hard workers and hard boozers. As I came into my ‘boozabilities’ my father warned me, ‘kid, lay off the hard stuff, it only leads to trouble,’ as he poured his second glass of Chivas on the rocks….. Although my father shares the love of the drink, my mother does not. She will have a sip of wine and break out in hives or every special occasion she will have a Manhattan (I won’t even touch that) and her reasoning is simple, ‘I like to get it over with quickly.’ My sister is a good combo of both. She has definitely had her moments but generally she is a more controlled drinker but she is in all other aspects of her life. She is very scheduled and goes to the gym, puts in a hard day of work and is always on time for EVERYTHING. And then…there is me, ‘self destructive.’

In high school, my freshmen year, I could not WAIT to go out drinking for the first time. Sadly, the first attempt resulted in just two beers, no buzz and a big disappointment. Then one night, sophomore year, I had a sleepover and my friends and I discovered a hidden and forgotten stash of vodka bottles….JACKPOT! We would have sleepovers taking shots, dancing, playing pool and sneaking out at 2am on adventures. We probably did not have much to drink but we definitely had a good time. Then Junior and Senior year when we were old enough to drive, we started frequenting the ‘Rez’ and the ‘Pit’ where mostly upper class men would navigate through the woods, start a bonfire and drink. Those evenings would typically be broken up by the ‘5-Os’ two to three hours later and everyone would run as fast as they could to hide and get away. The best part about it was that most of us were athletes and could easily outrun the town cops who had pretty much engraved the chairs at Dunkin’ Donuts with their butts.

Then onto College. As most college kids, I did not have too much of a preference since I would take whatever I could get my mitts on. My freshman roommate and I had a love of the Captain and preferred Natty Ice since, to quote my mother, ‘got it over with quicker.’ Then I believe it was the summer going into my Junior year that I discovered Stoli Vanilla and Diet Coke….it was like a light tunnel flashing down from heaven and I was HOOKED on the delicious combo that reminded me of a cream soda. Senior year I continued that trend and also got myself into a little vino as well, but wasn’t so much of a fan....YET!

Post college, the obsession with the Stoli Vanilla continued but then I dabbled with cosmos and then was introduced to Appletinis….. THAT was a blur of a time. I remember going out and having at least 5 or 6 of those bad boys in a night, my liver was less than pleased. A couple years later, my company had been bought and I decided to make the move to NYC which then, introduced me to one of my favorite ‘hours’…..HAPPY HOUR!!! The best part of Happy Hour was that at many places it consisted of more than just an hour, I was in heaven.

So, here I am, going into my fourth year living in NYC and I have certainly found my way around bars and Happy Hours. I have also become less picky on my alcohol choices. I am happy with a Cosmo, Dirty Vodka Martini (with olives of course), Vodka sodas, pretty much any form of ‘brewski’, have opened my repertoire of wines and have been known to proudly hold a can of Natty Light at Bro Jo’s just to bring me back to the good ol’ days at college. I have also formed a love for brunch cocktails mainly being Bloody Marys first and Bellinis second. My Sunday football partner and I rate sports bars to watch the games based on their Bloody Mary and Wing quality….it is hard to find a good one to satisfy both necessities.

Now onto the more ‘exciting’ things, such as my drinking-capades that lead me into certain ‘mischiefs.’ My pure as can be dear friend Grace, has been able to escape many of my experiences because she understands the term I hear often thrown around called ‘moderation.’ This is a term that I’ve heard and have been able to apply to my life in certain realms but am yet to apply it to my bar outings. That being said, she is foreign to the ‘one night stand’ and the waking up next to a stranger in a twin bed with another twin bed in a room with a man who claimed to be a lawyer the night before. Yes, I have experienced both and am not particularly proud of those moments but heck, I’m single, I’m social and I like to have a good time. The next day I tend to leave knowing that I will not hear from these men but generally I leave not feeling bad about it because with the exception of getting overly tempted (one night stand) I tend to keep myself to a limit of making out because you never know what is out there. I would also like to throw in the disclaimer that although many tend to have their ‘experiences’ in college, I was not one who took advantage. When I moved to NYC I could count the number of partners on one hand and now after living here for three plus years I have added another hand. I believe that not too many people of my age can say the same and I am not upset or bothered by my number. Yes, there is the occasional ‘sleepover,’ but its mainly because I am a HUGE fan of the cuddle... Oh yes, I think that if it had been a class in college, I would have EXCELLED!

Then we move onto instances where I have lost my personal property. Most recently was my wallet which contained; my discover card, my license, my work I.D, my health insurance card, my Weight Watchers lifetime member card (I’m quite proud of this), my work ‘key fob’ to get onto my floor and most importantly, my ‘Treat Truck’ card that had 10 holes punched and I was eligible for a free treat! I was mortified for allowing myself to get to the point that I clearly lost it in some cab while running amuck in the city but also devastated for losing all my personal information. Thankfully, due to ‘luck o’ the Irish,’ I received a call days later from a lovely couple who had found my wallet under the front seat of the cab driver. When I picked it up the woman said, ‘Yeah, we probably wouldn’t have seen it if it weren’t so….shiney.’ (Thanks mom for hookin’ me up with the gold Kate Spader!)

With all that said, welcome to my life and my chronicles as I meander through the city day to day, mostly going from home to work to the gym and to the couch but come ‘Thirsty Thursday’ through ‘Sunday Funday’ the gloves come off and the ‘Self-destructive’ habits come a’ flying! So I leave you until Friday, when I will share with you my adventures with my beloved partner in crime, Gumbi…you will be filled in on his nickname then….until then, live it up and never discriminate a beverage or when to drink it!