March Madness - Dirty Deeds and Unclean Habits

March 18th...national hangover day.  I'm normally not a fan of hangover "days"..hangovers are meant to be conquered and killed at first sight by "awesome days".  Unfortunately I can't quite inspire myself today so instead I'm going to do the boring thing and be productive.  It actually is shaping up to be a gorgeous day which I'm enjoying at the coffee house across the street but sadly I have a lot to get done for work and the next week is going to be a real tester.  I'm traveling to Phoenix to help give a presentation to a very large beer distributor - my first time to ever be in front of a customer.  Soo the less I have to worry about the better.

Yesterday I experienced St. Patrick's Day festivities in NYC for the first time.  And despite it diminishing my faith in today's youth it was a fun experience.  I missed the parade unfortunately - which runs up 5th avenue for most of the day.  I didn't make it to the city as early because I met some folks from work down the street for an early Irish breakfast buffet at the only local Irish themed Bar/Restaurant.  They had a great set up - outdoor tents in their parking lot and a giant stage for bands to play on throughout the day.  It was an amazingly beautiful day and probably would have been a great spot to spend the day.  But I was determined to get a run in and make it to NYC.

The scene in NY is a sloppy site.  People start early - the parade starts at 10 or 11 and you can probably guarantee that most of the people got started at breakfast with celebrations.  Upon exiting Grand Central at 3pm I was a little shocked.  The streets are filled with groups of "kids" dressed in various green costumes, yellling, laughing, fighting, screaming, scarfing down pizza and very narrowly escaping death at every second.  I actually saw a group of them come within seconds of being run over by a cab as they obliviously crossed the street in front of an oncoming NYC taxi cab (very unwise).  Luckily the cab driver slammed on his breaks just in time.  And the group of drunkin kids screamed and then proceeded to laugh hysterically at their narrow escape of death.  It immediately made me wonder what I had gotten myself into.

The good news(kind of) is that most of these groups of sloppy drunks are either too young to come into the bars or tend to stick to the more popular Irish pubs.  So, there is a safe haven from it all if you find the right location.  Crowded though it was, my friends found a post at the bar and we were able to celebrate comfortably.

First stop Gingerman!  The crowd was just beginning to grow.

Some of the people I was with.

We had a very internationally diverse group.  My two friends met a guy from Germany that morning and he spent the day with them(far right).  In close proximity it's hard not to strike up a conversation with those around you and we quickly met a very nice couple who were in town for the festivities as well.  The woman was from Staten Island and her boyfriend was visiting from London.  Both were fully supplied with accents from their respective regions of the world.  The guys brother came to meet up with them after a little while and it was really interesting talking to them about St. Patty's day in London and their experience in America - the different beers, pub traditions and friendliness of the people.

After a couple of rounds they led us to another bar on the west side.  It's amazing how much people get into this holiday up here.  This place was normally a sports bar but today it was filled with bagpipers and people covered in green.  And despite so much crowdedness and so much drinking I have to say that at both places we went to the bartenders were very friendly and jovial.

Filling the bar with loud, musical spirit

Supporting the Brand - not sure where I go the hat

But obviously after a days worth of celebrating things inevitably start to get a little messy...  Parent, earmuffs.. I had my fair share of Guinness and you know it's never a good thing when shots start happening.  Luckily my friend and I called it early and flew back to Grand Central in a cab to catch the 9:07 home.  But that wasn't until just after I had two closely timed unwise shots.  They kicked in on our way out and it's a little fuzzy now but I think I ate a sandwich from hell on the train and fought consciousness for most of the ride home.  I called it a night as soon as we got back and missed out on having more drinks locally with another friend who couldn't make it out to NYC.  I woke up on the couch at 4am to Obama's State of the Union address blaring on my computer on Hulu.

So after kicking myself this morning I have decided that it's time to focus on developing some healthy habits.  I've read and heard many times the importance of forming habits in life.  With moving I have really gotten out of the habit(ha) of being habitual in my life.  I have kind of spent the last year experimenting, being open to many things and changing my habits frequently depending on what I feel like doing.  It's kind of been a quest to nowhere in the sense that I have spiraled around having many great and not so great experiences but never really landing anywhere in particular.  This article breaks it down pretty well based on ways to combat stress in life. Not that I am completely stressed out all the time but I am definitely disorganized and lost and troubled more frequently than I should be.  5-8 are where I need to focus and I am going to start by listing out the habits I want to have. I think once life becomes more habitual it becomes easier to plan and stay organized in all areas of your life rather than spending most of your time trying to figure out your next step every second of the day.  So, while I was going to include these in this post in order to hold myself accountable, I wasted too much time on St. Patrick's day and I'm already off schedule. (oops).  Now..to not be tempted by the sun and get some real work done...or..maybe I'll just go for a nice walk and then think about real work :)