So Many Questions: Answered

Yesterday I attended a Gala at The Buffalo Club in association with The Western New York Chapter of the Penn State Alumni Association. Myself, Mike McQueary (chugabeer), Bryan Scott, Paul Pozluszny, and Lydell Sargeant were all in the same room. Oh. My. God.

In case you didn't know, Penn State Football is everything. So, if you ever wondered what me in my glory looks like, it looks like what this night was. I mean, there was Creamery Ice Cream! There were cookies that looked like the chipmunk head, footballs, and the Penn State helmet! They made everyone stand up and sing the Alma Mater before dinner! (Was I one of the only people in the room who knew all the words without looking at the screen? Hell yes I was.) There were Penn State football players there.

It was everything.

All that being said, here was the highlight of the evening: After dinner there was a question and answer session with the players. The very last question asked was: "Now that you are a Buffalo Bill, how do you feel about your home town teams; the teams you grew up supporting?"

The answer from one of the players (who shall remain nameless) (insert winking emoticon here) was: "I grew up a diehard Steelers fan. But I love the Bills organization. I mean, they are the ones who cut the checks."

Literally, the last thing I heard at this Penn State bonanza.

This seriously answers so many of the questions I have about professional sports.

Is my life to die for or what?

Best. Weekend. Ever.

OK, so this may go down in history as the best weekend ever. What constitutes the best weekend ever you ask? Free. Stuff.

Seriously, I had a weekend full of give-a-ways and it was unparalleled.

1. While Mother's Day shopping at Badding Brother's Farm Market (Look it up. If you live anywhere near Transit Rd., do your produce/plant/pumpkin/Christmas tree shopping there. It is amazing.) I received a free bag of popcorn. Now when I say popcorn I don't mean, like, popcorn, I mean popcorn. If you have never popped fresh popcorn, shucked (shucked?) dried corn off a cob, and popped it yourself on the stove, you haven't lived. It is the only way to eat popcorn. The point: FREE POPCORN. Absolutely fantastic.

2. Saturday night *may* have been the most epic night of my life. The family traveled to Pittsburgh for Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. Penguins vs. Canadiens. If a game at (as the previously mentioned) historic Mellon Arena is a White-Out, it is basically a bonanza for paraphernalia lovers such as ourselves. Free t-shirt, free 'rally towel' for everyone who walks in the building. Turns out, I'm awful at waving a towel over my head in a manner that makes it make sense (or keeps it from hitting other spectators), but the point is, anything that says 'Let's Go Pens' and didn't cost me a dime (I know I paid for the ticket) is spectacular.

3. Lastly, after the game, we returned to our hotel for some dinner and some celebratory beverages. Naturally, it ended up being me and S at the hotel bar with about 4 other people. We capped off our evening with a bottle of beer (as opposed to a draft) so we could take it up to our rooms to finish it. Not only did our fantastic bartender give us those beers for free but she then handed us bottles of water AND bags of potato chips because, you know, they would help in the morning and such. Come on friends: Best. Bartender. Ever.

OK, so in this case, maybe just awesome people and awesome circumstances equal great weekends. On the other hand, free stuff doesn't hurt....

At Least I Kind of Feel Like Myself Again

So it took a while to get back on this metaphorical horse. I had what I consider a quarter life crisis. One week ago the big 2-5 hit. Not being able to properly wrap my head around the state my life is in made me think it was not a good to be putting thoughts on the Internet. Pretty sure some things that may have gotten me committed would have come out on here. All that being said, I'm back! I'm old now, but I'm back!

OK, you can tell me all you want how 25 isn't that old but if you're not 25 yet, just wait, then tell me how you feel when you get here. If you're older than 25, you can laugh at me when I'm even older wishing I was still 25. For now, I'm going with 25 is super old. However, I am realizing I'm pretty much still just 12 years old in about a million ways.

My birthday party was at a bar (OLD). My mom was my ride home (NOT OLD). My friends bought me a birthday cake (REALLY NEITHER BUT FOR THE SAKE OF ARGUMENT, OLD). That birthday cake had plastic rings shaped like giant flowers inserted in it that I wore all night (NOT OLD). I started purchasing products with words like 'Anti-Aging' in the title (OLD). I spent my Sunday watching *all* the extras on The Twilight Saga: New Moon DVD because Robert Pattison is like such a dreamboat and Taylor Lautner, well, abs (NOT OLD). (Also I realize Taylor Lautner is about 12 years old but if you're going to keep someone shirtless for that many minutes of a movie there's no way we're not all looking.)

This list could continue but I think you get the idea. The point is maybe 25 isn't that old. But really it is. This didn't really get us anywhere did it?