So, I'm here in Medford. Ugh. To bring all of you up to speed, essentially I decided to rent a short term apartment. That's not too difficult, but I needed:
-Furnished (all of my things are in storage, and the expense is moving them in/out)
-Pet-friendly (I have cats, after all)
-I like space (can't be a studio)
-Well, wanted to be close to Boston (specifically in Cambridge)

As it turns out, if all of those conditions are met, it costs a lot more then it should. So I had to take my pick, and ended out with nailing all of them at a reasonable price, except for location. I am staying in Medford -if it was next to Tufts, that would be great (since I'd be walking distance to the gym/Alex's house!) but instead this is by the Fellsview (sp?) reservoir, which is essentially a higher exit off the highway. This is pretty brutal, since now I'm susceptible to traffic (ughhhhh) AND I can't walk to anything.

But here I am. I don't have internet (I was at Alex's house all day so I could use the internet; IF I'm able to post this before I sleep, it's only because I'm pirating a very flaky connection) so I need to decide if I'm going to buy a wireless card (I probably should) or call Comcast. (If I do that, it'll be done tomorrow)

So, I'm staying in JCmoussa's mom's friend's apartment. She is in the process of moving to Dubai, and it fits all the conditions - it's very large, it's furnished beautifully, etc. (JC's mom is a real estate agent, who hopefully will help me find something to buy!) Anyway, I got in here 2 days ago, and I'm already flustered at the driving. Also, it's a 3bedroom condo, but ~2 of the bedrooms are essentially lopped off. (So is the office) The condo is 2k sq. ft, so it would be huge just for me, but about half the space is not usable for me. (Her belongings are squared away in those rooms)

Also, for the next ~2 weeks, JC's mom is staying here too. JC's mom (named Claudette) is incredibly nice, but frankly I just don't like living with anyone, period.* I'll feel a little more comfortable when the space "is all mine". Funny enough, the women who owns the condo (her name is Monica) seems to love a few things that I (admittedly) love too - cats, candles, and honey. (Yeah, letting all my guilty pleasures out) Reason I bring this up is the condo is literally flooded with candles, and the kitchen has tons of various types of honey. (I've already tried 2 different types, vvv good) As far as the cat thing, she has a cat, so there are a few cat toys/scratchers around. So, that's good. (Note, my cats are still in northampton, MA - I'm picking them up later this week, wanted to get settled in first before bringing them over)

*Living in the Vegas house is an exception and quite different then full-time living. In fact, the camaraderie of a Vegas house is very fun.

Now that I'm back in Boston, what have been I up to?
Aug 1st - Went to Cafe Rustica (saw 2 of my friendly acquaintances who work there, Amare and Farook), then went to Dubby's for the entire day.

July 31st - Went to brunch w/ my friend Dianna; played basketball w/ Dub.& Ross. Pretty much just
dominated the streetball court. (We didn't lose) Came back and unpacked most of my stuff from my car. Very uneventful Saturday, go me.

July 30th - Drove in. Dianna has a band (2 women singers w/ guitars) that I wanted to see, so that's why I chose Friday to leave Western MA. I got there in the afternoon, which was enough time to play basketball w/ Dub, and met a new housemate of his named Ross, who seems like a nice guy. I dominated the court.

Afterward... I didn't realize they (dianna and her friend) were performing in the basement. (The venue was the Cantab, in Central sq... had never been there before, despite living 3 mins from it 2 years ago) I couldn't convince anyone to go (since poker players are such active, social, busy people) so I went solo. Again, didn't realize there was a downstairs, so stayed upstairs drinking coronas. A jazz band came and played. (I would say I hate jazz, but that's disingenuous. I had to listen to some jazz while in the car w/ Ryan over the summer, and it has grown on me slightly. I now only mildly dislike jazz!) They weren't bad, but it wasn't my thing. Left after an hour and a half or so. Keith (kbfc) is in town because, sadly, his grandfather passed away. He was staying in Woburn with family, so I drove to his hotel and drank a bit with him, his dad, and his uncle. (small note here - I had a gin & tonic. I rarely get gin & tonics, but they're growing on me. Or rather, I'm trying to force them on myself) That was alright.

This blog was supposed to be about western MA, and frankly ran over what I intended. So, I'll sum up with:
-Western MA was cool.
-Stayed w/ my best friend, DB. So, +FE.
-Went swimming in a river 4-5 times (it's called "Puffer's Pond," but that's actually a misnomer, since it's an offshoot of a river) and also hiked one day (pictures below - was very rainy that day but it made the short hike much better)

View from the top of Sugarloaf "mountain"


DB


Me


-Hung out with TB (DB's younger brother, also a very close friend of mine - he's still @ Umass Amherst)
-Spent a day w/ his family (Neil and Joan - again, I'm very close with them. haha)
-Played a fair amount of bball
-Played soccer! This was pretty awesome actually. I had to buy cleats since I didn't have a pair, but it felt good. I hadn't played in a long time. I actually quit, technically, after 9th grade... The reasoning for it was in 10th grade I really wanted to try football since I felt I'd never have the chance to play, and soccer would always be there for 11th and 12th. However, I got very serious about wrestling, so chose to run cross country in 11th grade since that's the best conditioning training for wrestling. That worked well and I loved being on the team, so I did it again in 12th. That kinda spelled the end of my soccer career. Anyway, I surprised myself. I felt I was one of the better players there - my first touch was pretty sound, I still have some ball fake moves, and my field vision wasn't bad. Obviously I can improve tremendously, but I just expected the worst (especially when some kids showed up in Netherlands jerseys/were juggling up and down the field/etc) but when it came to actually kicking the ball around the field I wasn't intimated. The main observation I have about soccer is conditioning is 90%+ of the game. The kids that ran out of energy early were just so useless.

-Finished the episodes S2/S3 of Arrested Development I missed in Vegas. (DB had the set)
-Started watching S7 of CYE. Started very slowly (below average) but has picked up immensely - I actually have 2 episodes left.
-Ended up eating at this BBQ place ("Bub's BBQ") twice. VERY good. I was shocked a Massachusetts BBQ place was good, but this place blew my expectations away. Highly recommend.
-Overall lost some money playing HU. Eh, didn't play that many hours, but got brutalized in a few spots which led to some bad play.
-Was able to eat a lot of farm fresh food. (Berries, corn, etc.) Around Sunderland/etc. there are tonssss of farm stands. It's the main difference (obv) between essentially near-rural areas (like Amherst, outside the immediate UMass campus) and Boston. (Or even Medford, which is purely suburban) Fresh corn was soooooooooo good.
-Lastly, watched every MLS game that was on. (Like All Stars vs Man U, which was total rapage) I *may* get into the MLS a bit, I want to like their product. It's funny, they're basically what the Euroleague is to the NBA. (MLS:EPL as EL:NBA)

I don't think I'm blanking on any details (important ones, anyway) but yeah, now I'm back in Boston. Or, Medford. I feel iffy about my decision to move here, but here I am, committed for 3 months.