Day 2 stats

Day 2: Havana, New Hope, PA

Day 3 will be held the Nottingham Tavern in Hamilton Square, NJ**** (see **** note below)

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After a 2 year absence, we crossed the river to Day 2 locale, Havana, in New Hope, PA, a gay friendly community, which made us all feel at home. I guess unless there was some kind of Anschluss between New Hope and New Jersey, we didn’t follow TDDoC guideline number 4 to the letter – the gathering site was not at a “pathetic central New Jersey establishment”. But to all of you relative newcomers to the TDDoC, be not afraid, for in 1997 and 2004, points were awarded under similar circumstances, and you, too, will get your point for your attendance last Friday night. And here’s a little trivia question for you: which TDDoC participants were wrongfully denied points in 2003 on a NYC outing?

I think most of us can remember back to when we were kids, how Christmas-time filled us with anticipation for all kinds of goodies and gifts and time off from school. I can’t speak for all of you, but over the years, at least for me, the high expectations for the season have given way to tolerance and maybe even just plain “stomaching the so-called holidays.” Now, as adults, we have so many material and time demands to fill and too many obligations to satisfy - Christmas has lost almost all its luster – it’s definitely a kid’s holiday, but our society seems to have taken a good thing way too far – could explain the actions of a certain gov’t official of a certain country in the war-on-terror – but that’s for another place and time.

Anyway, it’s funny how so many inventions seem to have come along just at the right time. Take the crapper, for instance – our parents’ parents’ parents’ … something like 6 or so generations ago, folks were just plain sick of the inconvenience of venturing outside at night to take care of important business, so a quantum leap in human waste disposal and management technology was devised to do away with the way doo-doo had been done. And where else but America, the land where without a doubt everything cool over the past 100 or so years has been invented (including the vac-u-jac), would a small team of misanthropes come up with a way to restore the heretofore unbearable Christmas season to its proper glory. I can’t believe that any of you would ask “how’d they do that?” or “what did they come up with”. Well, the answer, for those of you who need a thesaurus to get thru this edition of the stats, they founded the TDDoC. History will acquit them well – someday, they will take their place along with the Founding Fathers of this great nation. Rest assured, by the time their work is through and the dust, kicked up every time humankind takes a big step forward, has settled, in the same breath in which the names Jefferson, Franklin, and Adams are uttered, your progeny will speak reverently of Bobo, G-man, Ska, E-man, BillyBob, Pods, Czyz, and Joe Willy – especially, if they can stay out of jail.

What they’ve given us, what we can take from their wise and industrious pursuit, is the simple camaraderie arising from sharing simple beverages (alcoholic, of course, or no point for you) during this special season - at least, until Day 5, at which point we begin to regard each other with the type of the type of contempt reserved for in-laws; and by Day 8, instead of dreams of sugar plum fairies, our thoughts turn to the pleasure that could be derived from rippint anyone’s and everyone’s friggin’ heart of their chest and eating it before it stops beating. Look, no invention or advancement is perfect.

Here’s a very little bit of what went on:

We get there and we’re inside – yes, rather than outside, as Havana does afford their patrons the opportunity to purchase and drink outside, but since it is a bit on the nippy side, we opted for the indoors. I have to say that our crowd was mostly polite, perhaps even a bit subdued. Maybe the Day 1 antics of the previous night had taken their toll – there were rumors that some of the more loquacious liquor lappers required multiple trips to the Crapper earlier in the day. If it’s OK with you, I won’t say any more about that.

In attendance were the lovely and talented Dorian and Donna, who must’ve been getting along that night, as there were only 3 or 4 bar stools between them; also in attendance were BB, Eman, Bobo and M. Taddei, Milot, Art Neufeld and East Coast Julie, MD and Mel, fan favorite BIG LOU, G-man & Su, Scugi, Ska, Tamps, Katherine, and Goettle. The band was called Crucial and I bet none of you who weren’t there would know that Crucial is a reggae band. I’m sure they’ve got a website and CDs and all of that, but since this isn’t a commercial for them, eff them. Only the 609 band has exclusive rights to shameless, annoying plugs in these stats.

Aside from BB trying to throw the camera into the river, the gang was well-behaved, even sociable, as you can tell from the pics. Not sure if BB has found Allah and is worried about the camera stealing his spirit, or if it’s just some bias against visual evidence that could be used against him in the future.

And G-man managed to keep his pants on for the 2nd day in a row - and in New Hope of all places, imagine that.

We ordered drinks, food, and more drinks – yes, in that order. Havana certainly deserves some props for their beer and food selection – how many places do you know to have Magic Hat 9 on tap and duck breast on the menu? That was a rhetorical question – please don’t “Reply All” to give an answer, or the Day 8 heart-ripping-out-thoughts may be accelerated to Day 3. Speaking of Day 3 (which is tonite), it will be held at the place G-man has been begging for for years (usage of prepositions there is pretty bad – I realize that it’s a faux pas with which many of you won’t put up).

****No it’s not gonna be at Nottingham Tavern in Hamilton Square, a place where a full set of teeth or a set of parents who aren’t related, entitles you to pay full price for your beers. It’s gonna be at Tiger’s Tale on Rte 206, just north of Princeton – the address is 1290 Rte 206 (or US Highway 206), Montgomery (or Skillman), NJ. It’s on the Southbound side of Rte 206 – you’ll have to make a left into the parking lot if you’re heading North on Rte 206.

Here’s a link to Google Maps, if you’d like to see where it is on a map:

http://www.google.com/maps?hl=en&lr=&q=tiger%27s+tale+restaurant&near=Princeton,+NJ&cid=0,0,17648463361792713466&ll=40.404602,-74.649471&spn=0,.02&sa=X&oi=local&ct=image

If you need directions, ask G-man - he’s been clamoring for years to venture farther away from Rte 1 during the TDDoC.


Some more stats:

Drink of the Day, courtesy of Donna, was the prairie fire, a concoction of mediocre tequila and Tabasco – or some other Mexican fire sauce – Highly recommended it if you don’t like tequila or Tabasco or have a stomach ulcer.

Best photo of Ska and chicks: check out the last photo in the stack

Best photo of Milot with eyes closed and chicks: they’re all like that

Most interesting conversation: The discussion among Su, Mel, and MD as to whether men are sexier with or sans underwear (G and Goettle got to participate, too). I think that 2 out of 3 women prefer their eye candy covered up to some degree.

Least interesting conversation: I was so bored during it, I forgot what it was – must’ve been talking to myself again.

Surprise Arrival: Korean woman we ran into at BF a few weeks ago. She kept saying to Ska Maguire, “You had me at Hello.”

I’d say more about Day 2, but I’m afraid that would only make things worse.

The Points Totals:

Ska 2
Rose 1
E-man 2
Bobo 2
G-man 2
Scugi 2
Tamp 2
Kaden 1
Tool 2
Goettle 2
Mertz 1
BB 1
The Other Joe (OJ) 1
The Other Joe’s Brother (Mark) 1
The Swede 1
Dorian 2
Donna 2
Billionaire Pat Worth 1
BIG LOU 2
M. Taddie 1
Su 1
Kimchick 1
Cheryl 1
MD 2
Not CPL Larry 1
Mel 2
Jeff 1
Stu 1
Randy 1
Laura 1
Katherine 1
BIG AL 1
Megan 1
Sonya 1
Tytla 1
Uji 1
Rob (not Bob) 1
Porsche Linda 1
Milot 1
Neufeld 1
East Coast Julie 1