Thursday, January 3, 2008

Arsenal Opening Day 07: part 1, the night before

At long last, the post about opening day. First, learn about the night long journey to get there.

The night before AFC's first league game of the new season, Uber260's sketch group was doing the 1 year anniversary show. Because of this, and the game's 7:30 start time, we decide to pull an all nighter.

The comedy show was at the Impact theatre, which is in fuck-far away Brooklyn, but right by where most the group live, so good for them. Myself, Kodez, Bourbon, and Brownsox head down around 6 pm, and get there around 7:30. The nice thing about a sketch show is that the whole event is more casual than going to see other types of shows, so we spent the half hour before curtain drinking malt liquor in the theater with the sketch group. The show itself is lovely, as this group's work always is, and was augmented by the fact that this time, the light worked in the bathroom at the theatre. After the show we headed over to Groucho's house for the afterparty.

Groucho happens to live in an abandoned school that someone bought and turned into a (probably illegal) apartment complex. The pros are that his place is huge and the rent is low. The cons are they live on the corner of Sketchy and Drive-by. However there are two great stores around the corner, a bodega with the single greatest beer selection I have ever seen, and the most hilarious liquor store ever. The place has bulletproof glass around the register, and often looks like someone came in ten minutes earlier and bought all the good booze. The guys running it are always trying to sell you homemade Armenian wine. The first time I went there, there were five children playing soccer in the back of the store. Needless to say, it says something about the neighborhood.


The party itself was a good time, as I spent most of it either catching up with the people in the comedy troupe, or protecting Brownsox from the undesired advances of a rather large female.
The party began to wind down around 1 am, so my associates and I realize we need to find another party in order to last through the night. We make some calls, and learn Corleone is having a birthday party at a bar in the West Village. We get the address, and head to the subway.

Once we get off the subway into the West Village, we walk around trying to find the bar. Now either due to the old layout of the neighborhood, or the amount we had to drink in Brooklyn, we are completely unable to find the right street. Eventually, laziness sets in, and we hail a cab. The cab takes us four blocks to the bar. We did not really pay for travel, just directions. The moment we get out of the cab, however, Brownsox loses his lunch all over ninth avenue. Our first casualty of the night. Needless to say, Brownsox did not make it to the game that morning. Undeterred by the loss, we head to the bar and meet up with Arsenal, Renaissance, and Corleone. Now after some time at this bar, the amount I have drunk and the many more hours I need to be awake all hit me, and I decide food is what I need. Bourbon, who loves sleep much more than he loves the beautiful game, decides to stay at the bar, while Arsenal, his girl, Uber260 and myself head out for some late night eating.

Next post, learn about the surreal morning, and the game itself.

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