Third and Fourth of July.

Day One

After working three ten-hour shifts over the past three days, I was really looking forward to hanging out with my friends, socializing with strangers, and getting hammered. Ha ha. Got out of work Sunday around six. Showered, got my stuff together, and headed off for the yearly bash at Erik’s parent’s house. As usual, I found the lot of them, Erik, Trent, Ken, and Kat watching Erik play a video game. He was nearly finished with Dragon Age II.

Those that know me well know I have some level of social anxiety. Or, at least, I used to. I think at some point I just stopped giving a shit. Sure, I enjoy keeping myself. Sure, there are some people I prefer to be around, and some people I prefer not to be around. But at some point you stop judging yourself for preferring your company. Parties should be fun. And if you aren’t having fun, goddamn it, do what the fuck you want!

See, at some point, Erik and the rest of them wandered off to fetch some leftover goodies from the bakery he looked at. I had gone to be, and unbeknownst to me, so did Liz. So I wandered around the party a little bit, wondering who to mingle with. I eventually decided, “You know what? Fuck this, I’m going to go inside and play video games until they come back.” That’s when I bumped into Liz and we, well, kept each other company. Screw strangers, just stick with who you know and feel comfortable with.

As most people in Jersey and the related area know, it rained like shit on Sunday. Absolutely terrible weather for a party. Somehow, they managed to get a massive tarp up to shield part of the back yard from the rain. I was rather impressed. The sun had come out a little by the time I got out of wet, but it was still very, very soggy outside. No fireworks last night.

It was a much different party than years past. Surprised I didn’t notice the complete lack of old people. Turns out they were coming today. Much, much better today. While the number of people our-our age hasn’t changed, there were more Adult Kids. Jessi (Erik’s little sister) seemed to be friends with a rather large collection of bros. Supposedly it’s an insult to call guys bros, but seriously, THEY’RE BROS. Very nice, polite bros (who tried to do a kegstand), but bros just the same. A hippie is a hippie, an emo is an emo, and a bro is a bro. But back to last night.

I brought a bottle of strawberry rum, and spotted myself three shots. Well, it was over an hour, but still. Sipped on a bottle of Mike’s Hard Mango Punch. I normally like Hard Mike’s, but this variety didn’t call to me. Other people liked it, though! This got my usual buzz going. We tried playing a game of Worst Case Scenario. Unfortunately, we all looked at the clock at 11 PM and said to ourselves, “Holy shit, we’re tired. When the hell did we got so old?” Jessi and her friends, on other hand, were energetic well into the night.

Oh, quote of that day. Just, the comedic timing. The transcript probably won’t sound as funny, but if you can just imagine, just for a moment. Liz’s little brother, Jimmy, was pestering us. He was trying to fit a large marshmellow in his mouth. He said,

“If I can fit it in my mouth, so can you.”

So I said what I think most people would think in this situation, “That’s what she said.”

Now that by itself wasn’t what was so funny, but it was the follow-up from the mouth of this ten-year old boy. “My mom didn’t say that. I don’t think my sister said that, either…” He went on a little bit naming some other females, but that point, we had all completely lost it. He laughed with us, but OBVIOUSLY did not understand why we found it so funny. I told him he’d understand in five years.

I’m telling you, freaking hilarious.

Day Two

I passed out sometime after 12:30. Want to say I first woke up around 8 AM sharp, but didn’t get up from the couch until 9 AM. I’ve always found Erik’s couches at his old house to be very comfy. I have no problem crashing there at all. Liz found her happy place on the couch and was there well into the afternoon. Erik, Trent, and I went to IHOP for breakfast. Pretty tasty. I then came back and could NOT keep my eyes open on the couch. Ugggghh. Napped.

One, was it? I forget. It was sunny outside and I decided, “You know what? I’m going to go outside and get burned.” Slight sarcasm. I just wanted to hit their pool and bask in the sun. To my surprise, they followed my lead. While it did rain heavily yesterday, it was sunny and awesome yesterday. Glad I brought my trunks.

Trent sprayed some stuff on me. I giggled like a schoolgirl. I do embellish slightly, but it’s funny to do. Trent and Erik commented on how old we’re getting because we just wanted to lay in the sun, rather than splash around. And what the hell is wrong with that? We could get a whirlpool going in the pool, by walking around the edge in circles, if we wanted. But I just wanted to lay in the pool and soak in the sun.

I might get a little color, but I don’t think I’ll burn. Jessi later said, “Did you go tanning? I thought something else looked different about you, other than the hair, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. You’re usually pale as a ghost.” In fact, I had a whole bunch of family saying, “Hey, didn’t you have hair?” And me thinking, “Holy shit, I’ve been coming to this party since 2002 and I STILL don’t know the names of his family members.”

Dried in the delicious sunlight. Ate a hot dog with beans on it. And promptly took another accidental nap while Trent and Erik played Dynasty Warriors 7. (Good game.) Erik and Trent may be able to a crotchety old man impression better than me, but I’ll be the one hitting 30 first. I woke up to the sound of Jessi. This surprised the hell out of me, because it meant that she literally had nobody else to hang out with except for us. She’s a different person when she’s not around her friends. She’s friendlier and stranger (in a good way).

I don’t remember how the set-up went, but one of Erik’s uncles said something about the “breakfast of champions.” And for some unknown reason, Jessi declares,

“I am the breakfast of champions!”

Given the mixed company, I simply could not follow up with a cunnilingus joke.

Wandered outside. More of Erik’s family arrived, and there was old people! This felt more like the party that I had come to expect. But since it was the second day, I didn’t feel any pressure. A much more relaxed atmosphere. Erik played bartender and took charge of getting people smashed. Look up something called “Liquid Cocaine”. It has Bacardi 151 in it, and some other stuff. Night started to fall. I threw a burger on the grill for myself. I wanted to get a buzz going, so I started drinking. Well, not a hard buzz, but SOMETHING. Sangria, mudslides, and four jello shots later… nothing. Nothing. I thought maybe we’d drink harder later, but that never happened.

Erik and I carried the table of fireworks out from the neighbor’s house. Now, it occurred to me that I’ve never actually taken a picture of this beast. This year’s was relatively modest, to put things in perspective.

Also, to put things in perspective, fireworks are illegal to set off in Jersey without a permit. I decided pictures of the actual fireworks wouldn’t come out okay, but seriously, LOOK AT ALL THOSE EXPLOSIVES! They went kaboomie. Honestly, I never cared for fireworks much until I started coming to these yearly parties. The lack of fireworks last night made the evening feel… empty. Somehow, the fireworks cap the party.

Also. You obviously can’t see the labels of what everything is, but this is all the hard liquor Erik had to work with to make drinks.

We never got around to drinking heavily tonight. We never had our morning-after game of Apples to Apples, either. Nonetheless, this party felt significantly better than the last year’s. We originally planned on crashing again tonight, but simple logistics took over. Erik has work at 3 AM, and they wanted to check on their pet animals. I wasn’t going to crash there all by myself, so I went home.

Next year, Cruzon rum for my get-buzzed-now shots. Goes down easier. Still remember the year I shared a bottle with Carlee and she handed it back to me empty. :: laughs :: Ah. My two days of the year where I treat my body like crap. I’ll eat a healthy breakfast tomorrow and hit the gym Wednesday.

Happy Fourth of July.

Addendum: This also marks the first year the cops have driven by. Just driving by. Right in the middle of our fireworks display. See the car drive by and them shine a light. We went around telling people to hide anything illegal. Cop went on his way. Woo! Bet he was just enjoying the show. Everybody in the neighborhood lights fireworks.