Stories Unfinished: Best of... 2008

It has officially been one year since I started this blog. It has gone through some changes but I think I found the right layout for the things that I post here. I wasn't sure that I would make it through an entire year but I did.. And I don't plan on stopping now.

I compiled a list of the "Best of" 2008.. at least most of 2008. Bear with it, it's a long post. I've listed the top 10 first and the rest are in chronological order.. enjoy!

BEST OF 2008

TOP 10

1) Disc Golf - May 26, 2008... and all the time since then.

Thinking back, it's amazing that it's only been about six months that we've been playing this. It seems that we've been playing forever. The first time Ryan and I played, it was with regular frisbees and we enjoyed that enough to go get the real discs. Our games have improved dramatically, from six or seven on each hole to three being about average. I managed to get two aces (holes-in-one) and regularly get birdies (one under par.) We have gotten most of our friends interested in the game and we play regularly now. We've taken some trips to other disc golf courses, I've played in Buffalo, NY, Kentucky, Colorado, two courses in Delaware and several in Jersey. It's been a lot of fun and I look forward to playing more courses and hopefully entering a tournament in the year to come.

2) Cross-Country Road Trip - November 4 to November 10, 2008

What can I say about this one? Something I've wanted to do since I could drive.. or probably before I could drive. I didn't get to spend the quality time on the road that I would have like to, but I still got to drive from Jersey to California and it was awesome. The driving wasn't even grueling like I thought it might be at times. Nate and I drove to Kentucky on the first day and played Idlewild Disc Golf Course the next. We stopped in St. Louis and then drove through boring Kansas before getting to Colorado and the Rocky Mountains. They were an awesome sight to see. We played another small disc course there before heading down through Utah and to Arches National Park. This place was amazing and it has it's own spot on this list so I'll move on. We drove to the Grand Canyon next and camped for free. It was very cold that night. The canyon was pretty breathtaking to look into. We spent the whole day there before heading out and making our way through Arizona to California the next day. Los Angeles was amazing. We got to see the sunset on Malibu and have some drinks at a nice place. I got up early to check out some sights before I had to leave. After driving through 13 states, I had to fly over all of them in a matter of hours to get back home. I didn't want to leave and now I want to go back...

3) Argyle Gargoyle - June 2008 to present...

Chuck, Jeff and I wanted to start a band so we started trying out drummers. This is how we ended up with Steve as the drummer of Argyle Gargoyle. We started writing songs and played our first show on July 18 at Memories Lounge. Since then, we've played there many times and a few other places too, including the new venue, Hangar 84, in Vineland. That was our favorite place to play so far, even though it was just a battle of the bands. The sound system was nice. We have six full originals right now and about five more in the works. We have covered Dave Matthews Band's "Crash Into Me" and Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'." We're looking forward to perfecting more originals, recording some songs and playing plenty more shows in the year to come!

4) Demetri Martin Take 2 - Sold Out.. but still in! - May 27, 2008

On our second attempt to see Demetri, we arrived earlier to find that there was only one ticket left. We were so disappointed even though the bartender told us to come back and there might be extra tickets. We came back to hear that there were no extra tickets.. but a customer told us if we waited by the door, they often let people in after the ticketholders go inside. We were the first ones waiting by the door and we stood there for a long time until they let everyone inside. The woman who was taking tickets announced that we could just pay her five bucks and come inside. We were thrilled; even standing in the back of the room, we had a great view. It was a small place. Demetri was hilarious as always. We headed off to Whiskey River after the show to get a drink. We told Mike that we got into the show this time and he gave us some free shots to celebrate because "It's Whiskey River!" We only had time for one before we had to run to Penn Station just in time to catch the last train home. Great night.

5) Demetri Martin Take 1 - SOLD OUT, Whiskey River! - May 20, 2008

"Who's gonna drive us home??!?"

We heard that Demetri Martin was doing some small shows in New York so we went up looking forward to an intimate performance. We got there early and got some food before going to the bar where he was scheduled to perform. When we made our way to Rififi, we were informed that the show was sold out! Dismayed, we walked away. We didn't want the night to go to waste so we walked until I saw a bar that looked cool, Whiskey River. We went in and got some beers. We were basically the only people there. The bartender listened to our story and was a Demetri fan so he gave us free shots of Jameson because "It's Whiskey River!" Quite a few beers and another free shot later, Jeff wondered "Who's gonna drive us home??!!" It was me. I drove us home after what turned out to be an amazing night.

6) Don & Chuck - June 28, 2008 to present

Chuck and I had this great idea to write a sitcom for the web. We started writing our first episode on our camping trip and since then have met up quite a few times to write. So far, we have our first episode written and ready and are working on the second episode draft right now. It has been a lot of fun already and I think we have some really funny things written. We are planning to finish up three full scripts and then move on to the casting/filming stage. Hopefully sometimes in January or February that will happen. Look out for more information.

7) Camping and Hiking in PA - June 27 to June 30, 2008

Chuck, Jeff, Sam, and I planned a camping trip to Pennsylvania for a few days. We drove up and set up camp and had a campfire to sit around and play music the first night. We had breakfast at a great little place called Kozy Korner before we headed off on a day full of hiking. We went to Rickett's Glen the first day. There were probably over twenty waterfalls on the loop hike. There were some really awesome views and cool looking falls. It was a pretty strenuous hike at times; the way back up was pretty steep. We all made it back up and were happy to rest for a while at camp. We made grilled cheese sandwiches over the fire and later made s'mores. Fires are always great. The second day, we went to World's End State Park, where I assured the rest of the group that it wasn't an uphill hike.. even though I didn't know. It was an uphill hike and when we started down the other side of the trail after seeing the view, it started to rain really hard. We got soaked and slipped on wet mud and rocks a few times. It wasn't pleasant at some points but I thought it was really fun honestly. I felt bad for everyone else stuck in the rain but once we made it down, we all agreed that it was a good time. When we got back and dried off, we made a fire and cooked some food before it started raining at our site and we retreated to our tent to sit in a circle and play cards. After the rain stopped, we got up to burn all the wood since it was our last night and I burnt myself on the fire poker. We left the next morning to drive to Brooklyn for Mike Birbiglia at Union Hall again. The trip seemed much shorter than four days but the little time we got to spend camping, hiking, and making fires was awesome.

8) Manhattan Bike Ride - October 11, 2008

This is something I've always wanted to do. I took my bike up to Manhattan on the train and rode my bike from the Financial District PATH train all over. I started by riding over the Brooklyn Bridge and checking out the temporary waterfall art installation under it. I rode through Brooklyn and back over the Manhattan Bridge. I rode through Midtown to Central Park and all over there. I came back downtown to check out Banksy's new art installation, The Village Pet Store. It had chicken nuggets eating from dipping sauce and fish sticks swimming in a bowl along with many other "statements" about animals. I'm just not sure what the statement was but it was awesome. I rode through the night back to the PATH train and to my car. It was an amazing day riding by myself in the city. It was totally even better than I expected. Especially riding on a beautiful night through New York. I want to live in the city and ride all the time.

9) Arches National Park - November 7, 2008

There are no words to describe how incredible this place is. We stopped on our road trip in Utah and drove back into this park expecting to see some cool things, but we saw so many amazing sights. The rock formations are staggering and you can walk right up to them and on them. We took a great, long hike up and over rock to see the many arches in the park. It was crazy. I wish we could have spent more time there but we were on somewhat of a schedule. This is a place that I will definitely be coming back to.

10) Falafel - August 18, 2008 and all the time now...

We went and got falafel before seeing Fight Club in Philly one day and it was amazing. It's basically chick peas ground up and fried in a pita with a bunch of veggies and hummus. It's quite addicting and we have gone so many times since then to get them, I can't even count. It has evolved to weekly trips we call Falafest. Cuz we're cool.

The rest of the best!

Associate's Degree - December 2007

After too many years, I finally got my Associate's Degree from Cumberland. It took me way too long to get it and now that I have it, I don't feel any different. However, I'm glad I finally achieved something.. sort of.

Will Ferrell's Funny or Die Tour - February 11, 2008

I bought tickets for this show before Christmas and was looking forward to it for a long time. We weren't disappointed with hilarious stand-up from Demetri Martin and Zach Galifianakis mixed with comedy skits in between by Will Ferrell. The show was awesome and we got to have breakfast the next day before driving home in the snow.

Beerfest - March 8, 2008

Jeff scored tickets to Beerfest through his work and invited Sam, Nate and I to come along. Beerfest is basically a large convention of beer vendors and microbreweries giving samples of their products to eager tasters. We were some of the eager. We tried tons of different beers, drinking out of our small glasses all night but never really feeling drunk. We had a great time and discovered some new favorites before last call.

Jeff's birthday/graduation celebration at Dave and Busters - May 10, 2008

Jeff graduated from Stockton this year with his history degree! This was cause for celebration so we headed to Philly to get dinner and drinks at Dave and Buster's. We took a pretty big group, which is always great, and had a tasty dinner while making our own cola stronger in the Star Wars video game.. We played games all night, winning tons of tickets just to trade them for useless stuff, including the most useless - a disco ball that doesn't light up. It was a great, fun night out.

Marrakesh - May 17, 2008

It may seem strange that I'm listing a night out to dinner here, but this was an experience! Marrakesh is a Moroccan restaurant in Philly and it has to be the best time I've had just going out to eat! The outside of the place is discrete but decorative and you have to ring the bell so they let you in. We had seven courses, from salad to chicken to a giant bowl of fruit! A course towards the end was awesome mint tea and pastry. We had a belly dancer for entertainment and John danced with her. It's crazy how much fun it was just having dinner!

Mount Tammany - May 25, 2008

Ryan and I ventured to northwest Jersey to hike up Mount Tammany. It was a warm day and a pretty steep hike. The terrain was pretty challenging at times and we actually got to a false summit at one point. We reached the true summit shortly thereafter and took in the view for a while before descending. The way down was pretty great as well, with waterfalls and logs to balance across a stream. This was one of the best hikes I had been on before this point. We had a good time and I got some sweet pictures.

Night BBQ's and Bonfires at Sam's - Spring, Summer & Fall 2008

On several occassions this year, we had BBQ's at Sam's house. She grilled us some amazing veggie sandwiches on the grill and there was plenty of other great food too... marshmallow chocolate chip cookies, salads and warm hard apple cider were just some of things we had. We got to light up a fire and sit around it all night. I'm not sure why, but sitting around fires is just an awesome thing. Friends, fire, and beer. Can't go wrong with that combination.

Demetri Martin Take 3 - Tickets & Drinks - June 3, 2008

For my third trip, it was just me and Allie. We went up to New York early enough to get tickets this time! Then we decided to walk around for a while as I took pictures. We caught a subway to the bar when it was time and had a few drinks while we waited for doors to open. We ended up standing in the same spot that we did the week before but again, the show was great. Mike Birbiglia was the intermission comedian and he was almost better than Demetri that night. It was a hilarious combo. After the show, Demetri came out and we talked to him for a minute. He was a super appreciative guy and really down to earth with us. He took pictures and even gave us free drink tickets! We enjoyed our free drinks at Rififi and, since it was Allie's birthday, I took her to Whiskey River. I don't think we paid for a single beer or shot all night because Mike is awesome... and also "It's Whiskey River!" We got pretty drunk and I couldn't really drive home so we slept at a rest stop and finished the drive in the morning.

Mike Birbiglia - June 8, 2008

Chuck and I couldn't get enough stand-up comedy, so we went up to Brooklyn to see Mike Birbiglia at Union Hall. The bar itself was pretty awesome, with lots of good beers on tap, books on the wall, and a bocce ball court. Definitely not your average bar. After spending some time drinking and enjoying the upstairs, we went downstairs for the show. Mike was very funny and we had front row seats. We met him afterwards to get pictures. It was a nice, warm New York night and we had a great time.

Baltimore and Less Than Jake - June 23, 2008

Diebra, Tracy, Jimmy, Jeff, and I piled into the car and drove to Baltimore for a day of fun. We had Golden Corral for lunch and then headed to the National Aquarium. It was a little disappointing but still enjoyable. After that we went out on the harbor in a large dragon paddle boat. We peddled around while Jeff took pictures of us for quite a while. We headed toward the club shortly after that and got drinks at an outside restaurant before going in. I was pretty drunk when we went in to see Less Than Jake and Goldfinger. Goldfinger was the best of the night. Jeff, Tracy and I had a great time in the pit while Jimmy and Diebra watched from the balcony. It was a long drive home after a good day out.

Wall E - June 26, 2008

Yes, I had to put Wall E on the list. I saw this movie the day it came out and it was even better than I hoped it would be! It's my new favorite Pixar movie and he's my favorite animated character. If you haven't seen it, you need to!

Bubble Tea - July 3, 2008 and on...

This is more of an honorable mention, but I felt that it deserved that at least. We made several trips to Philly specifically to get this flavored tea with tapioca "bubbles." It's really good but we just stopped getting it after a while.

Whole Foods food - Summer 2008 and beyond...

The hot bar at Whole Foods was a wonderful discovery because it's great food, pretty cheap, and it's healthy. They have lots of vegan options, including vegan "chicken" dishes, not just salads. There is so much good food there, they have great chefs. It's not typical buffet bar food, it's like having a nice restaurant cater your trip to Philly. I think the buffalo vegan chicken and the grape leaves are my favorites.

Disc Golf camping trip - July 7 to July 8, 2008

Less than two months after we discovered the game, we decided to go on a trip to play other courses. We went to the Phillies game for Chuck's birthday and then made our way to Lancaster to set up camp. The next morning, after a breakfast buffet, we headed to our first course of the day, Buchmiller Park. The park was pretty nice and open for most holes. There were a few nice wooded holes and one very long hole 18. I enjoyed it. We moved on to Roland Park in Akron, PA. This course was a lot of fun to start. Really fun holes and nice setup. Eventually, though, we started to notice some of the hole numbers we repeating and there was no real path from one to the next so we played the last hole that we were looking forward to and left. We headed back home, but not before stopping at the course in Wilmington, DE that Ryan and I had played before. We only played certain holes to avoid passing out on the course, but it was fun nonetheless. I look forward to more Disc Golf themed camping trips!

Shenandoah camping trip - July 21 to July 23, 2008

Katie and I took a trip to Shenandoah National Park for camping and hiking. We got to go along Skyline drive, which has amazing views of the mountains and valleys of Virginia. The camp we stayed at in the park was nice and there were deer walking right up to us at the site. We saw a nice sunset over the valley from a rock lookout point at our camp. We also made the best food I've ever had cooked on a fire. We had seasoned eggplant slices and veggie burgers. It was surprisingly awesome. The next day we hiked down to Dark Hollow Falls. The hike was nice, but a little too much for Katie so we came back and relaxed for the night and made another fire with more good food. We left the next morning, driving through fog on Skyline drive. We stopped in Baltimore for Bubble Tea and Whole Foods dinner. It was somewhat short, but a fun trip.

Nate & Don Bike to Sea Isle - August 2, 2008

Nate and I had been talking about taking a long bike ride for a while and we decided to go to Sea Isle since his parents had a beach house down there. We met up in East Millville and headed down Route 49 toward the beach. It took us about two and a half hours to make the 35 mile trip. It was strenuous journey but it felt good to sit on the beach when we arrived. We hung out at the beach house and went into OC at night before coming back to drink some beers on the roof. Sitting under the stars on a beautiful night was a great way to end the day after our trip.

Katie's birthday in New York - August 9, 2008

For Katie's birthday, I took her to New York. We walked around the city and had smoothies in Bryant Park on a beautiful day. We just enjoyed walking until she got hungry at the perfect time, right when our reservations were at a nice vegan restaurant. The food was good and she was surprised. Next, we made our way to Angels and Kings, Pete Wentz's bar, where Katie had her first drink at a bar.. legally, that is. We had some good drinks and saw some great acoustic acts perform. We headed home after that and I presented Katie with her very own disc golf discs as a present.

New York sightseeing... - August 12, 2008

Three days after going to New York for Katie's birthday, we went back up with her cousins so they could see the city. We went to Central Park, Times Square and a few other tourist hotspots that I normally wouldn't be caught in. We ended up getting tickets to a comedy show and going to the club where they filmed the opening sequences for Seinfeld. The comedy show was pretty great, but the two drink minimun ran us each about twenty bucks. I ended up winning a raffle and got free shots for our entire party! I had a surprisingly great time on a postcard tour of the city.

Niagara Falls - August 23 to August 25, 2008

Katie and I wanted to go on a trip somewhere before summer ended, so we decided to join Ryan and Carissa on their trip to Niagara Falls. We drove up late at night after the Argyle Gargoyle Show. I slept on the ride up for a while and we got into Canada the next morning and met up with Ryan at the casino where we parked. We did the Maid of the Mist boat ride first. It was crazy to be that close to something so massive and powerful. We walked around the area and saw it from a few different views and caught a few rainbows on the way. The falls were lit up at night and they had fireworks. It was an exhausting but fun day. The next day, Katie and I went to a winery and did a tour. It was interesting and a beautiful day. We got to sample some wine before heading back to the States. We also played a cool disc golf course outside of Buffalo and stopped in the city to get falafel at this really sweet little falafel cafe. We rode home after that. It was a great trip.

Store - September 4 & 5, 2008

This is hard to explain without videos, but basically it goes like this: There was a store called simply Store on South Street. We received a menu with many items on it such as Just Love for 25 cents and You Don't Lose Any Cent for 20 dollars. Inside were two men performing skits, sort of. They take orders and then they perform what you buy. You can sit in without paying and watch but you can also buy things. We did both. They were really entertaining and I think I wouldn't do it justice to try to explain what they did but maybe the pictures can help. If you ever see Matsune and Subal performing, stay and watch, they're great.

Halloween Costumes - October 18, 30 & 31, 2008

We had some fun with Halloween costumes this year. I got to dress up thrice, once I was Mac from It's Always Sunny for a costume show at Memorie's that Argyle Gargoyle played. Chuck was a great Silent Bob. I wore my standby costume of denim and a mustache to school the day before Halloween and then I was J.D. from Scrubs for our party the night of Halloween. Katie was a turtle, Dave was the Joker and Nathan was a bible salesman. We had a good time this year.

Important Things with Demetri Martin - December 6, 2008

It took us too long to get into New York and uptown, but we made it in time to get in line to see Demetri Martin's taping for his new show, Important Things. In the studio, we were coached on how to clap and laugh before Demetri came out and recorded segments for several of the episodes. He did a lot of stand-up and mixed in pre-recorded clips and bits as well as multiple instrument playing. He was awesome and we even got to get a picture with him after. He's always the greatest to see because he's so genuine.

The End!

Well that's the list. Looking back, I did a lot of amazing things this year, many of which I have wanted to do for a long time, so this year was good in that regard. I hope that the coming year will provide as many or more great experiences! I'm just happy that I had enough great times this year to be able to make a "best of" list, so thanks to everyone who came out and made it a great year!

Also, since I'm a dork, I compiled this list of information about the past year. It's more for me than anyone else really but some of the stats are interesting.

Concerts Attended:

Brand New/Thrice/mewithoutYou @ Electric Factory
Straylight Run/Cassino/Dear & The Headlights/The Color Fred @ The Troc
The Starting Line @ TLA
Thursday/Circa Survive @ Starland Ballroom
Bayside/Straylight Run @ Croc Rock
Emery/Mayday Parade/As Cities Burn @ The Troc
The Starting Line/Bayside/Four Year Strong @ Electric Factory
Brand New @ Stockton
Jimmy Eat World/Paramore/Dear & The Headlights @ Taj Mahal
Blue Collar/TuPhace/Where the Ocean Meets the Sky @ The Troc
Goldfinger/Less Than Jake @ Ram's Head Live
Alkaline Trio @ TLA
Good Charlotte/Boys Like Girls @ Northern Star Arena Six Flags
Jonah Matranga @ Maxwell's
New Found Glory/Four Year Strong/ISOH @ Starland
Ace Enders @ CCC
Copeland/Lovedrug/Lydia @ First Unitarian Church
Saves the Day/Anthony Green/Moneen @ Hangar 84
Anberlin @ The Troc
Jonah Matranga @ First Unitarian Church Chapel
Bayside/Valencia/The Matches @ The Troc

Times I was drunk:

Times I was in Philly:

Times I was in NY:

States I visited:

Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, (Ontario,) West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, California

Haircuts: