New Years Eve…Day.
December 31, 2005 started out appropriately like a lot of days that year. I overslept.
I woke up at 11:00 EST, showered and got dressed. Susan and Jay came in at midnight the night before on the $10 Chinatown bus (as we call it) from New York. Being the old fashioned city Boston is, transit stops at 12:30am, effectively making it impossible for me to meet them until the next day. So I gave Susan the call to let her know I was awake and going to head into the city as soon as I packed a small bag for the rest of the day. She clearly was woken up by the phone call. Most of the following conversation was unintelligible due to her near unconsciousness. I recall her asking me to say my repeat my phone number for her so she could hear me say the number 4 with my accent (Foah!). I always was a fan of the following quote:
“The Boston accent is more of an attitude than an accent. Underneath everything you say has to be the attitude of: You’re an asshole, I know better than you, fuck you.” – Ben Affleck
So I packed my bag and off I went. I spent the rather uneventful subway ride with my face buried in a SuDoku book solving puzzles. It turned out I actually had a vague idea of the area around their hotel, so navigating my way there didn’t turn out to be the 3 hour tour of the SS Minnow I thought it might end up to be.
Once salutations were exchanged and they got something to eat at an Au Bon Pain nearby, we walked merrily down the street on a quest to find a record store. As we walked down Boylston Street, we paused across the street from the Hynes Convention Center for Susan to call American Airlines to make sure Christy‘s flights were on time. Fortunately I had written all her info down in my trusty moleskine. Susan got all giddy, as she does, when she saw the notebook because she had a similar notebook, only less cool, of course, lacking the inside pocket. Christy’s flights were indeed on time so we continued our search only to discover that Daddy’s Music by Berkley School of Music does not actually sell music. They sold instruments for playing music but no music for us to listen to that we could see. I was totally duped.
At this point, we felt it best to head to the airport to meet the redhead so we wouldn’t be late. We got to South Station and switched to the new Silver Line. It was my first time riding the Silver Line and I have to say it was a positive experience. It made maybe three stops and then went straight to the airport and stopped at each terminal with an overhead announcement of the terminal we were entering and what airlines it served. Definitely not what I was expecting and ridiculously better than trying to use the silly Airport stop on the Blue Line.
Once in the airport, I dropped Christy the call letting her know that we were there. I asked her where she was and she responded that she was in front of the Boston Deli. With that helpful piece of information I stared blankly at Susan (Jay was in the bathroom). Susan, being the quick witted one, ran over to the map on the wall and I followed. Together, we found where the deli was and realized it was directly above us. I told Christy she needed to come downstairs and she responded that she was downstairs. When I told her that she was not downstairs, she seemed in complete disbelief, but she found the escalator and came down. As we see her, I am still talking to her on the phone and am standing next to Susan. Christy says, “I only see Susan…” then hangs up her phone to give her a big hug. I apparently need to work on my celebrity a bit more. Jay returned, we made our greetings and waited for the next Silver Line bus to come, which supposedly had some more friends of Christy’s on it coming to meet her. We got on the bus and met her friends, then headed back to Jay and Susan’s hotel to drop off Christy’s baggage so we could dive into the festivities.
To Be Continued…
For Christy’s point of view of the day thus far, see here.
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