I’m beginning to wonder how anyone ever has time to be prolific on this here internet. I barely even have time for my semiweekly update! Also, it’s possible at some point that there will come a NON-best weekend ever, but it’s kind of hard to imagine.
Friday lunchtime, Cindi, Andy, Stephanie and I assembled at the Happy Gnome before heading down the hill to Xcel Center for the Sioux/Huskies game. Though I would’ve preferred they both lose, I decided to cheer for St Cloud; Cindi picked UND, as they represented her homeland. Since I am a model of good-sportsmanship, I only glared at her whenever she cheered, instead of resorting to fisticuffs. If she hadn’t switched her loyalties back to the Gophers later, I just don’t think we could continue to be friends. We left with three minutes left in the third to hopefully beat the rush in downtown St Paul. We had plans to meet the rest of the group at Fuji-Ya, but it didn’t open til five. We walked over to the nearest bar (three blocks away? What the hell, St Paul??), which just happened to be Wild Tymes. As one would expect from the name, it was a tiny little slice of Wisconsin in the city. To make up for being packed in there like sardines with rival teams’ fans, we were rewarded with extremely cheap drinks. Because, you see, there is a bright side to everything. Andy and Stephanie and I went to Fuji-Ya to wait for Matt and Wendy while Cindi hopped a bus to return to civilization. After a couple yellow cake batter martinis, we were toasting repeatedly in the cadence of a hockey chant (Stephanie and I decided it’s represented in writing thus: ! ! !!!) and possibly a little raucous. In other words, we were ready for the game. Twas the Gophers vs the Badgers, and it was intense. The second period ended with the Gophers up 3-2, which was far too close for comfort. The third was tense and horrible; Wisconsin pulled their goaltender at the very end to put another player on the ice. Wheeler grabbed the puck and took off to score another point on the empty net with four seconds left in the game. HAT TRICK!! It was only later that Matt realized his aching right hand seemed to have a direct correlation to my sore left thigh. It was a hell of a game. We stopped briefly at the Happy Gnome to reorganize again; I left Miguel in St Paul overnight (gasp!) and Matt and Andy and I went up to Bella in Blaine. Shut up, it was for his article. The place is gorgeous (it’s owned by the same guy who runs Bellanotte and Escape in Minneapolis), but it was packed-full of people we encountered last weekend at The Loop. Apparently there’s some sort of shuttle service to the warehouse district. All the dudes thought they were seriously big pimpin’, and all the girls were pregnant and wearing spangly halter tops. I was very very not-in-my-element there, but thankfully Jumi came by to make it easier. One should always have their girls by their side when in Blaine. Let’s just say it got a lot better as the evening wore on. They delivered shots in brandy snifters. We went and danced. And, um, never mind. Dang. Saturday morning, I would have honestly considered dying, had it not been for hockey. We got up at 12:30, and moved very slowly down the block to Starbucks, where Wendy was waiting. Coffee, water, and free pizza from the Red Baron truck outside the X made things substantially better. So did the fact it was St Patrick’s Day and there were people already staggering around at 2pm, it was beautiful outside, and it was my one-year friendiversary with Matt. And did I mention hockey? Oh right. We probably would’ve skipped the consolation game between the Badgers and the Huskies, had Andy not purchased a ticket the night before. I’m glad we went, though, because holy crap, it was a great game. Wendy was sitting next to me making up her own chants about the Badgers; I was kind of tuned out talking to Matt, when I became aware of her yelling, “CHEESE MAKES ME POOP!” The game went into a five-minute overtime and was about to end in a tie, but the Badgers scored at the very end. In review of the video, though, St Cloud should’ve won in regulation on a goal the refs had not allowed earlier in the game. At least the Huskies still made it to the NCAA tournament, and Bucky did not. We headed out into St Paul again, trying to muster a plan that involved food and drink and not being trampled by St Pat’s crowds too badly, because there was a Gophers game to see. We eventually wandered our way down to Matty B’s, which was still packed, but at least there was some oxygen left inside. Wendy and Matt were very excited that Matt Birk was tending bar at his own restaurant (he was apparently giving out free drinks and refusing tips too); we didn’t find out til later that he’d been the grand marshal in the parade. We encountered an old guy in a Maine sweatshirt who incoherently mumbled something about being a scientist of whiskey. We decided he was Jack Daniels at first, then later revised it to Dr McGillicuddy. He passed me cash to go get him a shot of whiskey, and while Stephanie and Wendy were attending to that (trying to get the Viking’s attention), he leaned over and slurred, “I’LL PAY YOU FIVE DOLLARS TO BNAJSDNJAKRRRK.” I said, “Excuse me? I couldn’t hear you.” He replied again, “I’LL PAY YOU FIVE DOLLARS TO BWENNANRTETRRRK.” I turned and pretended to be deep in conversation with Matt and Wendy, who were in the process of liberating unattended beers from the counter. We left shortly thereafter, Wendy with ten flashing shotglasses shoved in her pants. Since it was still early, we went down West 7th, the heart of the holiday revelry. I got me some St Pat’s bling, and Stephanie got herself a leprechaun. We stood in line and made our way into the Liffey, losing my sister in the process. We had a round and left, and then she called to tell me she was heading out with a glass of whiskey. Not like shots, but a glass of it. St Patrick’s Day makes St Paul awesome. We were back in Xcel Center with plenty of time to go to the bathroom 42 times, get nachos, and see the teams announced and the faceoff. Again, the game was nervewracking. It ended in a 2-2 tie and headed into overtime, though this time there would be no tie. And then it happened; not just a goal, but the most unbelievable goal I’ve ever seen. I don’t know what Blake Wheeler did over last weekend to transition into a superhero, but I hope he keeps that up in the NCAA tournament. Here are a couple of my videos from after the game, and of course photos on flickr. Here’s my favorite, though. GO GOPHERS!!!! After the game, we decided it would be smart to forgo revelry amongst the Irish, and headed back to Minneapolis so Andy could experience two legendary locales: Jaros and The Otter. Jaros was insane, with premade greenies lining the counter. It took Cindi very little time to begin harboring various items in her cleavage. At one point she was calling a dude’s bluff on his style of underwear, and made me feel his leg for seams. We ran into several people over the course of the night who had been at the game, so it was mad Gophers love all around. At the Otter, we played naked lady photo hunt distractedly while Matt sang karaoke. Round about last call, Andy made a dangerous miscalculation with the round of shots he ordered: Wendy and I were driving, and Cindi wouldn’t drink Jagermeister. When he later staggered into Santana’s far behind the rest of us, it was clear he was a dude who was unlikely to be remembering St Patrick’s Day aught-seven. Sunday was a day of great relaxation. I went home to visit my animals and work on home-things while Matt wrapped up his article, we took Andy to the airport, I ran a bunch of errands, then we laid on the couch for a while before joining Wendy at Chiang Mai for her actual birthday dinner. Matt went to play cards, and I went home to pack for the cruise. I managed to get eight days’ worth of clothes in less than half my suitcase space, because I am a genius. I went to bed early, and woke up surrounded by cats, who seemed fascinated by my presence. Mostly because they could eat first thing in the morning. Yesterday, I looked at a lot of photos of the Gophers. Also, I talked a lot about the Gophers. Jan shook my hand when I walked into the office, because I equal Gophers hockey around here. I printed out the NCAA tournament brackets. I watched Wheeler’s goal forty more times. Then I did some actual work. In the eveningtide, I went to the knitting store, the craft store (for items like ribbon to finish my sexy knitting project and vines to make us headwear for toga night on the ship), then picked Matt up to go to the mall. At the sporting goods store, I bought darts for trivia on Thursday (94 people registered! woo!!). Then I got shoes to wear on formal night (I have hotttt shoes that go with that dress already, but they’re not conducive to walking all over a giant ship, or to dancing). I knew they were the right ones when Matt stared and said, “Um, yeah. Those.” We stopped at the King of Pizza (Beek’s: sorry, Luce) for not one but two pizzas, since the dude burnt a little of the first one and gave it to us for free. We also picked up a bunch of cheap DVDs at Mr Movies, which is finally giving up the ghost after living in Hollywood Video’s shadow for several years now. I picked out 8 Mile. Oh yeah. The rest of the night? Couch, pizza, canasta. Et cetera. Hooray. We leave for the cruise at 5:30am on Sunday, so this week has been devoted to preparation for that, for trivia, and for spending time with the boy I’m already pre-missing. After a long chat with T-Mobile yesterday (in which they gave me a bunch of free minutes just because they’re awesome), I have determined that it’s free to call from Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, so that makes it a little better. And speaking of the Virgin Islands, Bill and Katie were just there last week, and they left a note for us to find when we’re there. I can’t wait!! Fear not, I shall return before then. I think. Jenni