The Brother Week

I've been absent recently from the worlds of blogging and general everyday living. Since roughly last Wednesday, I've inhabited only the world of drinking and partying. Somehow the world of teaching has been unaffected. Time constraints being what they are, I'm afraid I'll have to skip the wondrous story of SecondLaw's cocktail party, which involved my meeting Powell the new boy and CaptainMarvel, who holds a job that many people I know would kill for. Also glossed over will be the tale of New Years in Brooklyn, starring JimmyLuke, HungarianPhrasebook, BigGayJoe, the Wii, most of the OCME, sink-booting prior to ball-dropping, and inexplicable offers of backdoor lovin'. Actually, it's probably best that I've skipped that story.

See, last Wednesday, my brother showed up. He'd been out on the West Coast, meeting friends and partying with people who he hadn't seen since he disappeared into Africa a year and a half ago. He arrived here far from partied out. Our first night was fairly uneventful, mostly just me watching TV, both of us having some beers and BrynJoe illegally copying my DVDs to his laptop. I can safely say this now that he's back at his home in a non-extradition country. Find him if you can, major motion picture studios.

The next night, BrynJoe was meeting some friends and invited me to join him. I met him and Toonces at a bar in midtown, from which we proceeded directly to Toonces' place, where BrynJoe was organizing a party for the following night. A few things about Toonces should be mentioned. She knows my brother from college, and is one of the select few people who posted regularly on the music blog that my brother and his college friends set up a couple years ago. Incidentally, Irish McJew found said blog a year ago and thought they were musically well-informed. Anyway, now Toonces is a lawyer in the city, and also a damn good DJ, who's met and become good friends with a couple DJs whose names I recognized. I even have the albums of some of them.

Toonces did a little spinning, we got the grand tour of the apartment, BrynJoe got a key so he could set up while the rest of us were at work, and then the three of us headed down to the village to meet up with some friends of Toonces. Upon arrival, it was clear that BrynJoe knew none of these other friends. So the three of us spent the night chatting and drinking in close proximity to, but not exactly in the same company as, the rest of the party.

The party on Friday at Toonces' place wasn't the first stop for me after work. Our school was welcoming our newest teacher, Fromafar, an exchange-teacher from South Africa who was replacing our chemistry teacher for a year. We had a welcoming party for him at a little Mexican place in the Village that started around 4:30. This was an interesting party, since Fromafar doesn't drink. Thankfully, the rest of the teachers drank for him. Our guest of honor left by 7 PM, and a hardy group of drinkers hoofed it to No Idea and continued the evening. The party at Toonces' wasn't even getting going till 9, but I was already quite wasted. I showed up after nearly 5 hours of drinking and was in a significantly altered state. All three brothers were in attendance. People who I hadn't seen in a decade were at this party. I'm not sure I've seen them yet.

As if things couldn't get any more drunk and disorderly, the three of us rallied for the big party at the Rogue the following night. I was the first to arrive, not wanting any guests to be wandering around midtown with no party to attend. I felt as though a train had removed my frontal lobe and replaced it, in a deft surgery, with an anvil. BrynJoe arrived soon afterwards and was shortly in serious danger of falling asleep in the booth where we were seated. Art-History sauntered into the bar in high spirits. He'd been drinking since 10 AM. Ahh, to be young again.

The Diez brothers arrived and lifted the spirits of those of us who had been feeling too hung over to utilize symbolic thought. In a short amount of time, I found myself surrounded by friends of old who I'd known since I was a toddler, friends from high school, friends from college, and current coworkers. Most marvelous of all, each of these groups seemed to be getting along and talking with one another. The same could not exactly be said of the groups of friends that each of my brothers had brought. BrynJoe pointed out later that it was easy to scan the bar and pick out who was who's friend. My friends were the chatty intellectual types. BrynJoe's friends were the slacker, hard-drinking types. Art-History's friends were the collar-popping preppy types.

It was 12:30 by the time I felt I should get things in order for my departure. I'd had a tab open at the bar from the beginning. I was dreading the moment of truth, but it couldn't be avoided for much longer. The damage totaled close to $800. Frankly, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Plus, by this point people were drunk enough to gladly hand over large sums of money when I flashed a bill in their face. I soon had an enormous wad of bills to compensate me.

The next morning, if it can be called such, was blissfully uneventful. Three straight nights of partying is something I'd have been proud of even during my most boisterous days in college. Now I just wanted to sit in quiet, darkened rooms for hours on end. It was not to be for long. BrynJoe showed up in the evening with SignificantTraveler, who had just arrived in the city. They were staying with me for one night, before adjourning to far-swankier accommodations in the Hotel Giraffe the following day. We had pizza, we had beers, BrynJoe continued to illegally copy DVDs.

Monday was the first normal day in ages. SignificantTraveler and BrynJoe were in their hotel. I was working a normal school day.

Tuesday I met up with BrynJoe and SignificantTraveler to have drinks and hang out. I met them at their hotel and we proceeded from there to a nearby restaurant where one of BrynJoe's friends from college was working. The place turned out to be practically stuffed with Hotelies who knew my brother. We enjoyed fine booze and complimentary food for hours. We were sure to leave a nice tip.

Wednesday night, BrynJoe wanted something low-key. It was his last night in the country, they were flying out the following evening. The three of us went to Big Daddy's for dinner, when BrynJoe's phone rang. It was V-Kav, perhaps his oldest and best friend, who was inbound on a bus. Low-key just got thrown out the window. We finished dinner, picked up a six-pack, and headed back to the hotel to await the arrival of V-Kav. An hour later, six-pack decimated, we headed to the Rogue, where we had instructed V-Kav to meet us. He was the only one of BrynJoe's friends to make the trip out from Bethlehem to meet him. BrynJoe hadn't stopped by Bethlehem at all on his sojourn in this country, but only one of his friends had managed to make it 70 miles down I-78 to NYC during the week in which he was here. That friend was V-Kav. The four of us had a few beers at Rogue, but BrynJoe wanted something special. I knew of a karaoke place. We hopped a cab.

We sang the night away. I think BrynJoe got the send-off he deserved. Brother, girlfriend, and best friend having a great time and enjoying ourselves for hours. It was 3 AM when I arrived back at my apartment. V-Kav crashed on the couch.

The next morning, the hardest thing in the world was getting out of bed. JimmyLuke looked surprised to see me. "I thought you were on the couch," he said. The dim light in the living room evidently didn't illuminate the identity of our couch-sleeper. It's not every morning that we have a half-clothed V-Kav passed out on the couch. I went to work and gave the worst lesson of my life. I sucked. Apparently, I need more than three hours of sleep to be a functional teacher. Who'd have guessed?

BrynJoe, SignificantTraveler, and V-Kav showed up at my school as I was helping some students complete some labs after school. I gave them the grand tour, they met some teachers, some curious students, and my principal; we parted ways at the front door. By now, BrynJoe and SignificantTraveler are back in Nairobi, where I can only assume that they're managing to avoid the ethnic strife that seems to be continuing in that country. V-Kav is back in Bethlehem, where he continues to try and find a job. Art-History is back in Baltimore, making more money than I ever will. And I'm here. I'd have to say, the time that all of us spent together over the last few days were perhaps my favorite days yet in this city. I don't know when we'll all get a chance to cut loose around the city like that again, but I hope it's soon.