Hi and welcome to the recap I promised myself I'd get up on teendrama before I left for Sweden: 2007/2008 Ski Season Recap! Normally, I'd do this weekend-by -weekend but I was just so lazy / distracted this winter that I didn't get around to it, which is a huge shame since this was such a super sick season all around. Quick overview before we jump into things (and this is a loooong one) - 30 days, two *big* dumps in VT (15" each?) and *three trips of west* - Jackson Hole, Beaver Creek, Snowmass/Aspen - plus of course Sink or Stoopid Skim (sank, sorry for the spoiler, but you already knew that was coming). Anyway, ready? (oh, this pic? Mount Snow, somewhere around mid-season me thinks).



Early season wasn't looking so hot. Not sure when I took this (early January?) but I think we were all pretty sure this would be a classic VT season - snow, then thaw, snow then thaw, snow then thaw. Accumulation ruined by rain.



Januarys are for black out weekends (MLK), so we hit up Stratton for freeeeeeeee courtesy of my pal Sue (she's the one who was so good to us at the Google Ski Trip!). Thanks Sue! (and hope I don't get you in trouble for writing about this! :)



Stratton + holiday weekend + gondola = lines. McD looks less then thrilled, but if I remember correctly this was a pretty sick day. The parks are so super nice at Stratton (Mount Snow, please take note).

It's true (shut up!). At J & Jackie's wedding a few weeks ago, some of J's friends from Black20 were on hand shooting up wedding footage with fancy HD cameras. One of the guys (Mike Aransky) cut up this great video and set it to J + Jackie's wedding song. Gets me a little bit weepy every time.

Three weeks late! So what!? Hi! My birthday = Tues 6/19, party was on Wednesday. Original invite called for a dance party on the upstairs terrace at Professor Thoms, but due to a technical error in the reservation process (er, I never called to confirm - oops) and the factthat Prof Thom's was hosting some Wednesday night BINGO, we dragged everyone a few blocks east over to Heathers.

Hey, and thanks to everyone who came out as bday #31 was pretty slamming. For the sake of comparison (and procrastination) I offer you recaps of bday #30, #29, #28, #27 on this lazy Friday afternoon. ps: No real narrative here, but please enjoy these randomly strung together images.



Looks dirty. Blindfold came from K2's Pin The Tail on the Donkey party kit...



Which is kind of like Pin the Tail on the Oil Painting of JJ.



Are you really going to argue?

Hello Christmas 2006 recap! Man, I was gone for a good, what, two weeks? And just look at all the action packed excitement you missed! Let's start this off with Christmas Eve (we'll just fast-forward through those three days worth of last minute trips to the mall).

Now, if you remember from last year, Christmas Eve's main event is the Yankee Swap. 20 people + 20 gifts + everyone draws a number. Lowest number picks first, and after you pick (and open) your gift, you have the option of swapping for someone else's (already opened) gift. That person's gift (the one that just got taken) is then allowed to make *another* swap from all the opened gifts (though they can't take back what was just taken from them). Got it? Oh, and since whoever draws the #1 spot doesn't have anyone to swap with, that person gets their choice of *all* the opened gifts at the very end. So, #1 = the best number to draw. #2 = the worst number to get.

Now, let's hand out some numbers!



Poor Gam got stuck with #2(, sucker!)...



... though she chose wisely and got blessed with this this year's Must Have Yankee Swap gift, the garden gnome.



Meanwhile, Rob with #11 traded away whatever crap gift he got (scented candle?), quickly trading up for the gnome. I think the gnome traded hands two or three more times before Rob skillfully ended up with it after the final trade.



Anne drew the Golden Ticket which awarded her my gift - a mini reindeer made from recycled Christmas tree pieces (and yes!, purchased from the same dude that sold Mike + I the reindeer we dragged to Clay's holiday party).



Meanwhile.... Michelle, a dartboard? Other amazing gifts included scratch tickets, bottles of whiskey, some African vase, scented candles, Dunkin Donuts cards and a toy Coast Guard helicopter. What else? (Sorry, no half-eaten hamburgers this year)



Late night (and post Yankee Swap) one of our departing guests found this Yukon Cornelious doll on their car. A crpytic note from the anonymous gift giver was attached. Me + Dig tried comparing the handwriting to the 100 or so Christmas cards my parents had hanging on the walls, but we couldn't find a match. (It's like CSI: Suburbia up in here!)



And then a few hours later, I got an email from Yukon! I tried dorking out with the email headers, but no luck. The gift-giver remained a mystery for another 24 hours until she revealed herself to me over some good'ol townie-bar karaoke.



Okay, Christmas morning. For the non-VIPs who haven't done Christmas with the Crowley's, it goes down like this:

Round 1: Stockings (from Santa)
Round 2: Presents from Santa
Round 3: Family presents
Round 4: Go to Auntie Jeans and eat melted fruit cocktail.

I'm going to try to sum up all of Holiday Party Season 2006 in one post... so let's rewind to last weekend (no, not this past weekend, but the weekend before - 12/9). After telling J that I wasn't going to get a Christmas tree this year, he + Jackie left this makeshirt Charlie Brown Tree outside my apt (which was the nicest thing ever, so thanks). Looks like it's made of a 2 inch piece of leftover stump and a busted off branch. Awesome.



I think that was Saturday night - yes, another night at Marshall Stack - where I ran into none other than my date Medway High's Ring Dance back in 1992, Maria.P! (you may remember Maria.P from such adventures as Thanks.g 05 or Caroline's txt msg banter from Thanks.g 06.)

ps: Ring Dance = where all the sophomores get their class rings! (, dur)



Since these prom photos seem to be a teendrama crowd favorite, here's #3 (of 9!) in the series. Oh, and the reinctment from 2005 here. [Flickr]



Tuesday. Me + Courtney hit up the Pokemon Holiday Party courtesy of McS's invite. You know, the last time we hit a Pokemon party it was a slamming hip hop dance party till the wee hours of the am. For the holiday season, they took a weird turn and hired some transvestite female impersonators (Streisand, Cher, Madonna) which is weird cause it's Pokemon(, right?). And they sub'ed out the hip hop dance party for an employee lip sync contest (huh?) where the winner (chosen by Pokemon CEO) was this girl who took off her top while dancing shaking around to a Shakira track (no singing involved). Huh.

Anyway, this pic = some poor guy who didn't realize the Madonna impersonator was actually a dude. Here he is trying to give him/her the hand-under-the-ass reacharound (this pic would have much uglier has I taken it 20 seconds earlier - he was seriously *all up* in this dude's grill).

To top it off, there was a raffle at the end and just as me + Courtney were walking out - holy shit! - they called our number! So we raced back to the stage to grab our loot from the tranny emcee but *some other girl* had already run up and claimed our prize! Of course, no one was checking numbers and we weren't going to protest at the Pokeon Holiday Party but come'on! Who does that! (btw, I dunno what the prize was - they were all wrapped up). Huh. We promptly left with our goodie bags (Pokemon calendar, Pokemon bathrobe, 2 Pokemon chocolate bars, Pokemon bottle of wine) and headed downtown.



Thursday = Happy Corp holiday party down at Lolita! Besides the woman with crazy eyeshadown (not to mention 14-year old son) who left DRUGS for me in the bathroom (Mom, Denny = drug free!) the night was pretty uneventful. I was also kind of hopped up on cold meds since I've had the BF (bird flu) for like 10 days straight now.

Oh the way out, Becca and I passed this fully decorated tree that was just left on the street. I like to think that Carlo's gf threw him out of the house - "...and take this fucking tree with you!" style - and so he just left it on the street for some happier couple to come by and claim it.



Friday was the opening night of 11 Spring Street. For anyone in NYC, everyone has already blogged the shit out of this (NYTimes, Gothamist #1, Gothamist #2, Wooster Collective Flickr), buuuuuttttt for everyone else: On the corner of Spring + Bowery there's this old building that's become one of the more well known landmarks for street art in NYC. Some developer (read: Rupert Murdoch's son) bought the building and is about to turn it into condos, but before they start demolition / construction, they invited all the big name artists who have covered the outside walls of the building over the years to use the space as a makeshift three-day gallery.

The building was open all weekend long (I heard the line to get in was crazy), though Xtina snuck me on the VIP list for Friday's opening (thx!)

Yeah. So Easter. 10 days ago? Whatever! Got time for a few quick photos?

I had this masterplan of cutting out work of early on Good Friday and catching the 4pm Amtrak back to Boston. I even dragged my super big backpack into work. Fast forward a few hours and between Steve's 30th bday...



... Nathania being in town... (Jackie, why you gotta look all spacey?)



... and Chicken Marsala's bday, I decided to stick around for the night. We started off at White Horse Tavern for Steve's pre-birthday drinks (right around the corner from Magnolia Bakery... where I scored all these cupcakes, btw), then went to Lolita to meet up with some Google folk (Susannah + Sean + Dan.B) and then to Orchard Bar for KM's bday (which was packed with hipsters in headbands) and THEN to Libation (I know, I know).

ps: Libation is the only velvet rope club in the Lower East Side. I would never go there in 100 years, but we told Jackie + Cute Haircut Nat that we'd meet them there after leaving KM's. Looong line full of dudes with their collars popped and girls with the worse Strong Island accents ever. On top of that, cocksucker bouncers wouldn't even let us in...

Bouncer: Sorry, but we're not letting single guys in.
Dens: Yeah, but all our friends are upstairs.
Bouncer: We're not letting single guys in right now.
Dens: Er, they're all girls.
Bouncer: We're not letting single guys in right now.
Randy: Oh, how about if we're together? ("we're" = Dennis + Randy = love)
Bouncer: We're not letting single guys in right now.
Dens: How about we go grab some girls and then you let us in?
Bouncer: We're not letting single guys in right now.
Dens: How about we just wait in line till my friends get my text message and come down to meet us.
Bouncer: We're not letting single guys in right now.

... seriously, what a bunch of monkeys. In my frustration I may have said something along the line "WE ARE THE ONLY PEOPLE IN THIS LINE WHO LIVE WITHIN 10 MILES OF HERE" but even so, it didn't make a difference.

Nat eventually got my text msg and grabbed us outside (me = her finacee for the night?). Worst place ever. (oh, and $10 cover).

ps: To the girls in the VIP room, thank you for sneaking us in and sharing your $200 vodka.

Anyway, so Easter right? My plan was to grab a few drinks, stop by and say a few happy birthdays and then go to bed at like midnight, take a nap and drive to Boston at 8am. We ended up leaving stoopid Libation at 4am (ugh), I was in bed by 4:30 or so, got up at 8 and was in the car by 8:30 (suck it!).



Made the trek from NYC -> Medway in like three hours (record time!), met up with my Dad + Little Sister Katie for some chicken parm sandwiches. Medway House of Pizza was rocking some "Denny" artwork.



Spend the first part of the afternoon driving around with my Dad, sticking "CROWLEY FOR SELECTMAN" signs in people's front yards.

End of the season as Mount Snow and you know what that means? Sink or Skim time!

For those who may have missed last year's adventure, on the last weekend of the season the nice folks at Mount Snow dig this 100 foot ditch in the snow, fill it with filthy pond water and invite people to try to skim across it on their skis or snowboards. $20 buys you one run. If you make it across, you win a free season pass (that's like $600!). If you don't make it across, you fall into the freezing cold water in front of a few hundred people.

I was the only one to give it a try last year. I was actually being super-cocky about it, "guaranteeing victory" to all my friends in NYC. When it was my turn to give it a shot, I came in with a lot of speed, a bit shaky, maybe at an angle... anyway, I fell... about 1/3 of the way in. So anyway, this year Jonathan + Katie + Matt.U + Sara.F (Katie's friend) came up to give it a try.



The problem with last year's Sink or Skim was that it was so cold out - like 30 degrees and half snowing / half raining. The forecast this year suggested that it would be sunny and warm (like 50 degrees!), but, alas, the weather screwed us again.



Mom + Dad (and special guests Mr. and Mrs. Donahue) came up from Medway to check out the scene. Oh, new rule this year = you need to wear a costume. I guess in the past they gave out free season passes to anyone and everyone who made it across the pond, but this time, of all the people who make it across, one winner is picked (apparently based on who has the best costume).

I busted out my Mom's 1992 ski getup (Yeah! Me and J used to fight - like literally brawl - over who'd get to wear this jacket back in the Black Mountain days). Also playing: Sara (the bunny), Jonathan (Dr. Aluminum, dur), Matt (getting his money's worth out of last year's halloween costume) and Little Sister Katie sporting Jonathan's old robot costume (awesome!).

Not shown = my helmet cam! (foreshadowing!)



We got out kind of early and made a bunch of runs - a few down Canyon to get a feel for the approach to the pond. We take this shit seriously! We were reviewing the tapes (er, digicam videos) from last year the night before trying to see what I did wrong (sketching my speed! Coming in at an angle! Too much weight on my back foot!).

Saturday = No Data. This weekend was was the first weekend I've been in the city pretty much all winter (or at least in 2006). We did it up at Loreley again on Saturday night with 800 of our closest friends.



Miri was sporting the season's hottest No Data fashions (and rollerskate shoes).



Me + Randy + Grellan dj'ed again. Randy = best. Me = second best. Grellan = last place. Seriously, how many girls have to come up to me and say "Um, when is your friend's set over?" before we do something about this problem?

ps: K2 was not one of those girls.



We started late. Around 11pm. It got crowded around midnight. I have a few more of these pics.

Yes, another weekend in Vermont. Heading up = a tough call seeing that there was apparently a slamming No Data on Saturday (pics!), but since it snowed All Week Long, me + J + Jackie + Matt + Will took off on Thursday Friday night, to get a few days in.

Saturday = almost perfect weather. I took this over on the North Face of Mount Snow.



We even had a dusting on Saturday night (3 inches maybe?).



Most of us are rolling with season passes, but Jackie got sucked into the $73/day deal. $73? For real? American Ski Company can go fuck itself. Even Vail ($81) Squaw Valley ($65) is cheaper.



Saturday and the backside of Northface.

We did New Years up in Vermont for the 2nd year in a row (sorry, no pics from 2004/05 - teendrama sucks!). You know, New Years in VT is so much better than dealing with New Years in NYC, Boston, etc. You see, up in Vermont you're kind of just stuck there - there's no better parties to go to, no $100 bar covers, etc... just a bunch of random people and 800 beers. And if you can't make good times out of that, it's pretty much your own fault.

So anyway, we had a good crew up there this year - 13 people total? This pic is actually from, er, our *last* day riding (sorry, Rob + friends for not making the cut).



I journeyed up on Tuesday night (right after Christmas) and met up with J and Katie and Will and Matt.

Holiday week = holiday lines. And this is about as bad I've ever seen it. (read: singles line!)



Okay, let's start with Wednesday - I skiied a half day with Katie in the pouring rain. Chairlift up = almost zero visibility.



Pouring rain = waterlogged gloves = Katie Milking the Cow. [video, 8.5mb]

Four days of Halloween is a little much, no? See, that's the problem with these Monday holidays. I'm looking forward to taking tonight off.

(Costumes? Oh, we'll get to that.)



Start on Friday with Youngna's 23rd birthday @ Dove (happy bday, yp!). Friday = too early to be wearing costumes so I went as a Johnny Red Sweater. Actually, no one was really dressed up except for The Happy Corp kids - Doug rolled into Dove in this giant domino suit... and 4 hours later (by the time we were all at the Magician) Matt rolls in wearing, er, another giant domino costume (hence the "Die domino die!" dodgeball message for anyone left confused).

Anyway, late night + Youngna's birthday + Youngna really crunked + Youngna's super tiny frame + giant domino costume = Youngna toppled over, on the floor, wearing this stoopid suit and unable to get up turtle-on-its-back style. Hahahahahahaha.

ps: Youngna b'day party = setting dodgeball records for most people checked-in at one place.

ps2: For extra credit, check out YP's Flickr pics.



On to Saturday. Again, too early to dress up, though that didn't stop Jackie and JJ. Jackie as a unicorn (, obviously!) and Jonathan as, um, a cat. Seriously?



Jay was giving me shit for leaving the house without a costume so he gave me these sweeeeeet tribal arm band and Sigma Chi tattoos.



I went out as Johnny Grey Sweater this time and got in a sword fight with Lisa at Motor City Bar.

I certainly did not pass out in Becca's bed with Dianne.

Last weekend of the summer. I had all these elaborate plans to haul a bunch of kids up to Vermont, but things started falling apart one person at the time (and Big Red 2.0 is all f'ed up - more on that later). On the Thursday before the weekend started we called the Vermont Labor Day Fieldtrip a bust - planning on just sucking it up and staying in the city instead.

Late Friday afternoon, JJ told me of his secret plans to escape the city on the Amtrak and head to the cape to hang out with Mom and Dad. I decided last minute to tag along (last minute = 10 mins before he left for Penn Station).

We caught the 7:30p train out of the city. The plan was to get off at Providence where Mom and Dad had left a car for us and then we'd drive the extra hour-and-a-half to the cape. The train ride was almost uneventful. We had baby Jaia tio play with most of the ride (we sat in one of those four-seats-facing-each-other setups... the train was *packed*) and the conductor scolded me ("Don't do that!") when I placed the ticket in my mouth so I could grab my cellphone. Stoopid.



Fast forward four hours later. We're in the Providence train station. We locate Jay's jeep (which Mom and Dad stashed in the garage for us). Problem is: it's full of shit from our garage. Like chock full of shit. As in: nowhere for a 3rd person to sit.

See, our house at home is full of old crap. The garage is packed, the loft is packed, grandma's room is packed. With old stuff that really should just be thrown out, but forrrreeeeever my Dad has had this master plan that he is going to make a fortune by selling all this old stuff. At a yard sale. And that is how the garage (and the rest of the house) is magically going to clean itself out. And that yard sale is going to be this weekend. And it's going to be awesome. I didn't really realize this when I signed up for the weekend trip, but whatever.

So, anyway, here we are in the parking lot with the jeep stuffed with crap. We did our best to re-org, making just enough room of the three of us to squeeze in.



The biggest offender was this dusty old sled (which I was *sure* was one of my Mom's prized garage possessions). Jonathan took it for a test drive down the parking lot steps to determine whether it was worth keeping. [video, 9.5mb]

(And, yes Mom and Dad, that's how the handle broke. Sorry.)

Memorial Day Weekend 2005. So, me + Dianne + Grellan + Andy set off Friday night to spend a weekend up in Vermont. We werenever able to get our shit together enough for a Montauk beach house (sniffle) and nothing was really going on in NYC, so we figured we'd spend the weekend just lounging around, maybe hike the mountain (Mt. Snow), whatever. As long as we were getting out of the city, right?



So we left around 8pm. Made the obligatory stop at Exit 40 (read: Wendy's) and then decided why not just go to Foxwoods?

So we did. Kind of. We went to Mohegan Sun instead. Rolled in around 11pm, valet parked and hit the craps tables. By the time we left at 1am, Grellan had learned how to play craps (and was up $40), Dianne lost her slot machine virginity (and was down $20), Krucoff was up $150 from one lucky pull at the slots and I was up about $240 thanks to the Spanish-speaking woman who stood next to me at the craps table rolling hard eights for 20 mins straight. (the the record, Grellan and I held the dice for about 180 secondstotal).



ps #1: Def Leppard and Tesla on June 27th.

ps #2: Cinderella + Quiet Riot + Firehouse on July 21st.

(btw, Mohegan Sun pit stop = the new Exit 40. Just wait till ski season kicks off again)



$240 up and about 1.5 hours out of our way. Next stop Vermont.

We rolled into Vermont around 3:30am to find the place a little cold and with NO RUNNING WATER. That means no sink, no showers, no flushing. Mom and Dad just put a new washer and dryer in there so I figured maybe the water never got turned back on. We all went to bed thinking we'd just deal with it in the morning.