Vacation

Festy's back, back again.  Festy's back, tell a friend.

Festy's back Festy's back Festy's back Festy's back Festy's Back. BOOM!!!!

Lights camera action and I am back to my blog,

I've been idle for the past month like a Lincoln log.

Im back by popular demand, because demand is what I got,

You can count on me to lay a blog up in this spot.

This post is really long, its the longest I've ever done,

Mark my words as the truth, this post is tons of fun.

Im going to talk about my vacation, golf and movies I seen,

Your gonna love this post like a drug dealer loves a crack fiend.

So sit back, relax, and enjoy what you see,

Please turn off all cell phones, pagers and hold your poop and pee.

Vacation Part I - (06/27 - 07/04)

The first week of my vacation I felt was going by way too fast.  On Sunday, Simone, Murph, Porter and myself went golfing.  We didn't play for money, at first, but that soon changed when we decided to have 2 "closest to the pin" challenges.  Although Porter and Simone took home the best scores from that golf session, Murph and I each scouped up a challenge which net us free lunch that was paid for by those who lost the challenges.  So on behalf of Murph and myself, we'd like to thank you two for a wonderful bagel lunch.

Looking back on it now, Im surprised that what Im about to tell you actually happened.  On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, I went to the movies and saw Transformers 2, The Hangover (again) and Public Enemies respectivitly.  I have never in my life seen back to back movies in theaters let alone 3 in a row.  My thought process was simple, "who gives a howling hoot, Im on VACAAAAAAATION".  Because I have a lot to get through on this post, Im gonna give you a quick movie review of the three I saw:

• Transformers 2 - I don't know why Transformers 2 got such a bad review.  There was tons of action and not one, but 2 smokin' hot babes in Megan Fox and Isabel Lucas.  I, nor should anyone else go into a Michael Bay movie and expect a killer plot.  The guy is an action movie genius and thats what his movies should be about.  So lay off of this poor guy and let him blow stuff up without having to worry about having an oscar worthy plot.
• The Hangover - I think its safe to assume if I had went to see The Hangover for a second time, its a pretty funny movie.  Just like it was a first for me to see 3 movies in a row, it's a first for me to see the same movie twice in theaters.  What made the movie so great for me was the 3 main characters and how well they worked together.  Bradley Cooper played the know-it-all group leader who was just way to optimistic about their little predicament.  Ed Helms play the role of a good man trapped inside a bad relationship.  He had weak men all over the world looking up to him for marrying a stripper while about to get engaged to Satan's offspring.  And then there was Zach Gallafanakis.  "Who let the dogs out, RUFF RUFF RUFF RUFF!!"  Im pretty sure there wasn't a sentence he said in that entire movie that I didn't find funny.  "It's not a purse, it's a sachet and Indiana Jones wears one". (see below for Stu's Song)
• Last movie I saw was Public Enemies.  The overall movie I thought was good.  Johnny Depp played a badass John Dillinger who had a never say die attitude that most of us bloggers live by everyday.  Unfortunately, Christian Bale was way underused in this film.  On the way out of the theater I said that within reason, anyone could have played his role.  That is nothing negative about Bale, but more the fact that his assets as a good actor were not used well or at all.  Few things I really enjoyed about the movie: The old school cars, gun battles and the opening & closing scenes (very important).

Vacation Part I concludes with Simones 4th of July party.  When good times are had, you don't mind revisiting some stories time and time again.  The story I am going to revisit now is when Simone jumped into his pool.  There was a good number of people there, about a 2:1 ratio of Simone's MHS crew to his South Side cronies.  Simone swore he would jump in the pool no matter how cold it was.  For us normal people, the temperature of his pool would be the last thing that worries us.  It would be the strange aquatic life that could grow at the bottom of that pool.  But the swimability of his pool is not up for debate here.  

After his promise to go in, it was finally time.  He gets prepared to jump in, probably thinking to himself "should I do a canonball, front flip or a classic olympic dive?" The reason I think that is what went through his head is because his jump in looked like a combination of all three of those styles along with what sounded like a loud grunt of disappointment.  "He meant to do that" Murph saaid to which I agree thinking that was just a cheap way to get some laughs.  But to our surprise, we couldn't have been further from the truth.  As though he was drowning and in his hand was a floatable object, he arose from beneath the deep end of the pool like a rocket, IPhone in hand.

I can't imagine his ride up from the bottom of the pool after taking his phone out of his pocket.  But as the good sport he is, Simone took quite the verbal beaten from everyone, starting and ending with Murph laughing so hard for so long that I started getting worried he wouldn't ever stop.  Some random highlights from the party for myself: jalepeno burgers, Yeeeeeeeee-Haw (drinking game Bingman brought state side from Spain) and Blueberry Crumb Pie.

Vacation Part II - (07/05 - 07/12)

The Sunday after July 4th was one of the best days of the summer with not a single cloud in the sky.  So my dear friend Michael Falcone decided he wanted to go to our pool (community pool in the development) and sit out to relax.  I felt like I could relax just fine inside but he was having none of that.  So we headed down to the pool, he had his back pack filled with magazines and an Ipod and I had my book and Harry Potter towel.  We were there for a grand total of 3 hrs and yours truly had a grand total of 0 SPF's on him.  I didn't think we would be down there that long and I paid dearly.  I don't wish the sunburn I got on anyone. 

I was burnt on my upper-arms, armpits, shoulders, chest, thighs and feet.  I was a walking Thanksgiving dinner disaster.  I couldn't reach my right arm over to apply aloe or cream to my left arm and visa versa for at least 5 days.  To put in perspective how bad it was, I turned down Yankee tickets the following day because I was afraid to be in the sun like a vampire.  It's now more then two weeks after this incident and Im just at 100% now.

Anyway, it's now Wednesday, 3 days after the roasting and I go to visit my brother for a fun filled few days.  So the first night we just hang out around his apartment playing Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune and Are You Smarter Then A 5th Grader? on his playstation.  I unfortunately lose almost every game but I don't get discouraged because the guy has a masters degree along with years of experience being a nerd (I can get away with calling him that because Im about 96% confident he doesn't read my blog).  

Thursday rolled around and we went up to Cooperstown, NY to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame.  I busted my parents chops for never taking me there when I was a child but Im glad they didn't because I don't think I would have appreciated it as much as I did now.  Some of the best things I saw there was Donnie Baseballs Gold Glove, all the championship rings over the years and the entire Babe Ruth section was awesome.  We had to have been there for 5 hours and I feel like I could still go back there and enjoy it.

After the HOF, we went to Turning Stone Resort and Casino.  The only thing I could report about this part of the trip that didn't involve me losing money was my favorite dealer of all time, Kong.  Kong was my boy, not because he dealt me out some winners because that surely wasn't the case, but because he loooooved the women.  Every time a good looking women passed he would be like "Daaaaaamn, you wanna play with Kong?" He even fooled us a few times by saying that to the lesser visually pleasing women.  He's the kind of dealer you just want to wrap up in a ball and take him on every casino trip.

That pretty much wraps up my two week vacation in a nutshell.  I just lounged around for the final weekend trying to recover from this sunburn before I had to go back to the daily grind of all work and no play.

Im sorry I took some time off from my blog but I assure you faithful readers, I am back!!!

In Festy We Trust