Tuesday, May 20, 2008

From Burbank to Boston to ... a blog live from Bloomfield, CT!

My last night in CT for awhile, and finally, reality begins to set in. After a crazy few days in Boston, the last few days here in Bloomfield have been a welcome bit of rest and relaxation. Because, man, Sunday was fairly insane. We had the giant, all-BU graduation early in the morning - luckily, unlike mine four years ago, this time the sun was shining over Nickerson field. In addition, the speeches were solid, especially the commencement address given by Redsox team president, Larry Luchinno. Brief, funny, and chock full of solid life lessons, Luchinno gave a nice speech that everyone pretty much enjoyed. From there, we went next door to the new Agannis Arena, which I had never been inside of before. Pretty impressive. This was where the College of Communication's commencement was held, and it was here that each graduate gets their name called and steps up to the stage to receive their diploma (or at least, a placeholder certificate). It was a bit of a mad rush to get seats and ensure that my grandparents were able to find seats that didn't force my grandmother to walk down any precarious arena steps, but things worked out okay, and the only remaining challenge was sitting through the 700 or so names that were subsequently called out.

After the COM ceremony, me, my parents, uncle, aunt, and grandparents joined my brother in a post-graduation meal, at the good ol' Longhorn restaurant near BU, a little place I believe I disscovered way back when, when it opened next to the big movie theater by Fenway. Nothing too fancy, but hey, for better or for worse, the Barams rarely do fancy. In any case, the atmosphere around Boston was pretty crazy. Thousands of students in red robes roamed the streets in a post-graduation haze, armed with cellphones as they tried to track down friends and family amidst the mobs of pedestrians. Meanwhile, the regular residents of Beantown laughed, sang, and drank, sporting red and green. Both the Sox and Celtics had bigtime games that Sunday, so suffice it to say, there was a lot going on around town. After our late lunch / early dinner, we were all ready to retire to quieter surroundings. Finally, exhausted, I drove back to CT with my parents after a few long days in Beantown. The next day, Monday, Matt himself came back to CT with all of his various things packed up. And after eight years, for the first time, neither of us was a BU student.

Monday consisted of a lot of sleeping. Tuesday a little more sleeping. Of course, in order to make sure that Matt's head hadn't gotten too big now that he was a fancy college graduate, I at times had to deliver a brotherly beating or two to remind him what's what. I also enjoyed some Betucci's pizza, and even got to meet up Monday night with Stephanie P. to share stories of my weekend in Boston and reminicse about our own good ol' days at Boston U. Somewhere in there, I watched the Celtics beat the Pistons in Game 1 of the Eastern conference finals, caught up on a little Lost, went with Matt to check out the Chronic-(what!)-cles of Narnia, and partook in some Indiana Jones-age in order to prep for the upcoming sequel.

Reviews will pop up here shortly. But the hour is late, I have to pack (big surprise, I know), and it's probably best if I leave this blog as To Be Continued, for now. But hey, how often do I write to you live from Bloomfield by-God Connecticut?

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