So I had a fabulous weekend! :)
Friday
So I left work a little early and picked up the game that I wanted to get my Dad for his birthday at CompUSA. I scooted down to the parent's house in the hopes that I'd catch the whole family there (my sister was home for a doctor's appointment and was leaving right away) but it didn't work out that way because dad went to donate blood in the meantime and Amy was all antsy in her pantsy to leave after her appointment. So we did cake and presents just Mom, Dad, the two little guys and me. It was a birthday celebrated in two shifts because the next day on Dad's actual birthday Mom, Dad, and the two little guys drove down to Amy's school to pick her and David up (who'd gone down with Amy the night before to visit) and go out to dinner at a Japanese restaurant.Anyway, so I left the 'rent's house a little before 7 because they were all going to a Cub Scout pack meeting and I needed to go home and get ready to go out. I got to my apartment and looked around and thought, "I better pick this place up a little bit before tomorrow because I bet there will be people here at some point" but then concentrated on trying to figure out what I was going to wear out that night because that was more pressing than guests that may or may not be there the next day.
Then Alex called. He said he was on his way to the apartment and that the plan was for Foster and his girlfriend (Amy) to meet us at my apartment and then we'd all go to McGeary's and they were going to be on their way in about 10 minutes. So I said, "ok, well I'll be running around cleaning like a madwoman so you better use the key I gave you to feed the cats with to let yourself in because hopefully I'll be done cleaning and in the shower by the time you get here." Alex responded: "There's no need to clean." I thought, "oh, you're such a boy" and I said, "oh, yes, there is a need..." and I hung up and proceeded to dash around my apartment picking shit up. I cleaned the cat litter and emptied the trash and picked up dishes... the apartment wasn't really all that bad, but all I could think of was a couple of weeks ago when we went to Amy's old apartment for her moving out party and she gave us a tour and the place was just so beautiful. And now they were going to come to my hovel and it was in no state for a tour. I ran into the bedroom and was about to start trying to move the masses of clothing on the floor but decided that if there was a tour it would not include the bedroom and shut the door. So I moved on and was hurriedly trying to do the dishes when Alex walked in. He took a look at my face and said, "What can I do?" and I asked him to please take the garbage out to the dumpster and I proceeded to tidy up the kitchen and then just gave up and jumped in the shower.
I hurriedly got ready and had finally finished rushing around when Alex checked his voicemail and found out that Foster and Amy had gone straight to McGeary's and we had to meet them there. So the cleaning like a madwoman was all in vain! Ah well.
We met Foster and Amy at McGeary's and were surprised at how few people there were in the bar when you walked in. We reasoned that it was because it was so early (8:30). We got a round (I decided to start with Bailey's on the rocks) and imbibed for a bit in the front bar room. At one point we decided to go into the performance area... and there we found all the people. The performance area was packed. Seamus Kennedy was playing. I saw him last year at Irish Fest just as I was becoming drunk and I remembered that he was very funny. For some reason Friday night he was performing the Barley Mow, like, every other song. Perhaps he felt that he needed to get the crowd drunk. I believe he was doing a good job. We didn't stay in that area for too long because it was very crowded and we were mostly interested in seeing the last band of the night, the Glengarry Bhoys, so we went back into the less crowded front bar area. Joe, Alex's friend, showed up before too long to join us in our pre-irish fest partying. The drinks kept coming, but I was unfortunately unable to get drunk off the Bailey's. I did switch to Guinness for a round, which happily gave me a buzz, but when the next round was bought I was given another Bailey's and the buzz soon left me. I informed Alex that as I was unable to get drunk that night I would be driving home. He happily consumed.
We stayed in the bar area until the band that was playing in between Seamus Kennedy and the Glengarry Bhoys ended and then we went into the performance area to stake out a good spot. The Glengarry Bhoys were awesome. I'd only ever seen them once before and it was under the tent outside McGeary's in the summer and I don't really enjoy shows under the tent because they're not as "intimate" or something. This show ruled with tons of people packed in front of the stage dancing and jumping around. When the show was over everyone spilled out the door to the sidewalk in front of the bar and stood in clumps deciding where to go next. Foster and Amy went home and Joe and Alex decided to not go to another bar so we all went home as well.
Saturday
Alex and I went to breakfast at Quintessence and I had the best bacon and eggs I'd ever had in my life. Alex had the New Yorker breakfast which had corned beef hash under the eggs. He let me try some of the hash and it was awesome. Totally not from a can... The corn beef was so freaking tasty. Anyway... Breakfast was a little late (ok, technically it wasn't even brunch... it was definitely lunch) and we had to rush a bit to get ready to go to Irish Fest. Foster met us at my apartment at around 2:30 and we watched TV for a bit to waste some time. We were going to get the 3:15 shuttle from the Albany Hibernian Hall which is like a block from my place. We walked over there and were there by about 3:00. And we waited. And waited. We'd rushed over there without hitting an ATM because we were afraid of missing the bus. But it never showed up. There was a small crowd there waiting, so we knew we were in the right place. Around quarter of 4 Foster called over to the Mohawk Ambulance Station where he works to ask if there were any spare cars... and he got a lift from the ambulance to the ATM about 3 blocks up. When he arrived back he went inside the AOH hall to see if there was any news on the bus. They said it was stuck in traffic almost in the fairgrounds and that it'd be about an hour before it even got back here. We decided to abort on the bus and we were leaving the parking lot when one of the women who was waiting there also came running around the building yelling, "the bus is here!" We ran around the corner and boarded the bus...The bus was already pretty full. We made our way towards the back of the bus (flashes of Forrest Gump: "taken... this seat's taken...") and Alex and I found an empty seat while Foster sat with the woman who let us know the bus had arrived. The ride took a little over an hour because of the traffic caused by construction right outside of the fairgrounds. On the last leg there while the bus was in stop and go traffic a few of our fellow passengers who had apparently been drinking at the AOH hall convinced the bus driver to open the door and they poured out into a field to the right of the bus. We all watched as about four guys and one girl ran towards a small group of trees and brush. They'd reached the trees and had hidden themselves to go about their business when the bus started moving forward. The whole bus looked out the windows on the right side as we moved forward and our fellow passengers answering nature's call came into view, including the one female who could clearly be seen squatting with her shorts around her ankles. The bus erupted in laughter and the show continued as they began running to catch up with the bus. Traffic had actually started moving and they would have been left behind had it not been for their friends still on the bus who convinced the busdriver to pull to the side and let them catch up.
The bus pulled up to the gate by the grove stage at the Altamont fairgrounds shortly thereafter. We filed out of the bus and got in the "express" line to get into the fest as we'd already bought our tickets. Joe (who Alex had convinced to come along with us the night before) showed up at the same time we did and caught up with us inside the gates. We immediately headed to the nearest beer tent where we got 2 pints of Guinness (Alex and me) and two black and tans (Foster and Joe). We took our beers for a walk up to the main part of the festival where the Young Dubliners were playing. They're sponsored by Killian's and if you've ever seen that Killian's commercial with a Celtic rock song playing in the background, that's them. They were pretty decent (think I might need to listen to them now). We needed a refill on our beers pretty quickly so we walked back down to the beer tent by the grove stage because it wasn't crowded (yet) and then walked back up and listened to some pipers before it was time to go see HOTD.
The HOTD show was awesome. It was a beautiful day and the concert was early enough that a lot of people stayed and it seemed like the entire festival was at the grove stage for the concert. The whole area was packed with people - all the seats were full and people were standing the whole way up the hill. And down in front of the stage was a giant mass of revilers dancing. We met up with Una and her boyfriend and his sister with her boyfriend and stood with them for a while. The boys left me to get beer a couple of times, but I had a good time with Una and that crew. Murph showed up with his wife and a girl named Sarah who also knew all the HOTD songs so I was glad to have people to sing/drink with. During the break Una and Molly (boyfriend's sister) went to the bathroom and invited me along. I figured I should go while I had company even though I'd be "breaking the seal". We walked up to the bathroom which of course had a line for the women's room that was 4 times as long as the line for the men's room. We got in the women's line and the girl in front of Una joked about just going to the men's room and Una immediately spun around and headed for the men's room with Molly in tow. I followed behind them and when we were just about to enter I kind of whimpered, "Una, I don't think I can do this" and they told me to just come along. The attendant in the men's room ushered us to the first two stalls and even offered to clean the seats off for us. He handed us a fresh roll of paper towels and we were generally accepted without any complaint. Alex called while we were in there and I drunkenly yelled into the phone, "I'm in the men's room, I'll be right out!"
We made it back to the group before the second set started and Alex came down to tell me that Foster had bought us a sausage and peppers sandwich and some french fries. I wasn't hungry but I figured that I'd go up and eat because I hadn't eaten anything since my fabulous breakfast at Quintessence. I'd never had a sausage and pepper sandwich that was so good... I finished the quarter of it that Alex hadn't eaten... and the fries weren't bad either. Actually, I bet the food was horrible but I was drunk at that point so I didn't know any better. Somehow I kept getting Guinness handed to me and I believe by that time I'd had 5 pints and we'd been there for 2 hours. And the Guinness certainly does make me drunk. We debated momentarily about whether to stay and watch the rest of HOTD or to go see 7N, but HOTD was so good and the vibe of the crowd was so contagious that we decided to stay for the second set. So after we ate I practically skipped down the hill with the boys in tow to rejoin the group. But I really wanted to be up front with everybody dancing. And I was about to just go up on my own when Foster said, "Let's go" and Alex, Foster and I went down to the pit of dancers. I can't tell you all the songs they played. But I can tell you that I had an amazing time. Alex and Foster left to get more beers and HOTD suddenly started up with "I Used to Work in Chicago" without any real prompting from the audience (usually the audience really almost has to beg to hear that song) and the beer mission was quickly aborted to rejoin me in the throng of celebrating drunks. After the song they left me to go get the beers and I danced with the random people around me. I believe the big guy sang "Love the One You're With" at one point and I think they might have sang "Me and Julio". The second set was less trad music and more just awesome party music (but I mean, there was plenty of trad thrown in there). It was the best HOTD concert since last irish fest.
After the show we stumbled up the hill to the main festival grounds to watch a couple of other bands but didn't really get into anything and decided to head home early. We had to go back to the grove stage area to catch the bus and a couple of the HOTD band members, Eric and Rick, were still there cleaning up. Foster, who knows everyone and can get along with any one, struck up a conversation with Eric (who gave him a sip of something out of his hip flask) and was soon dancing on the stage. We shook hands with Eric and yelled "good show" to Rick as we hurried towards the bus which happened to be waiting there. The bus wasn't full and we each took our own seat and didn't have long to wait before the bus started rolling home. Only it rolled over every bump. And this girl was not happy with that. And this girl will end the posting now about the bus because the rest is an embarrassing blur. I only have this to say: I would have been fine if the bus ride wasn't so bumpy.
Anyway... It was a fantastic night. I was slightly worried coming up to Irish Fest that I was building it up too much and it wouldn't be as awesome as last year, but it definitely was :) And now I'm all kind of sad because I don't have it to look forward to... but what a night! :)
