3, 2, 1: blast off

yeah, i realize i cheater cheated my way through the last 5 of this list of 30, but i guess that's what happens when you don't have a computer or any time to do anything in the final hours of life as you know it. meh, here's my final three...oh, and p.s. i'm already gone.


3- the waaaaaaard

it's been said that boston is the place where misfits belong. i don't recall who said that, but it was said and i agree, and there's no exception to this rule in the mormon community. i love, love, love the randomness that exists in our relatively small group, and though this kind of self-contained community presents challenges from time to time, i'd take it over, ahem, other...wards...in...other...cities...any day. munch 'n' mingle aside, i'm sincerely going to miss that bunch.

2- skullvia, chreepy, and deathica

my roommates wicked (literally) awesome halloween names above (i'm ghoulie- he he). these peeps have already been stuck into a few posts on the list, but i have to give one final shout out to them. grills, you're awesome. i like us.

1- and the most obvious thing ever...

to all my incredible friends: you are boston to me. i love you.


welp, i guess that's it for boston huh? its been real, fer real. peace out (before i start crying again).

4: beat la

5: so indy

the campfire festival at club passim is one of the first boston activities i ever experienced way back when. basically a bunch of indy rockers get together and sit in a half circle on stage and take turns churning out melodies, and sometimes playing together. i know it sounds like a haven for tokers, but even drug frees like me enjoy the scene. also, passim serves some of the best mac'n'cheese this side of the mississippi. go there.

6: battling pink robots

sometimes my roommates and i find ourselves painfully tired, yet unable to go to bed because we're too busy singing about yoshimi saving us from pink robots. that, or death.

i'm going to miss that.

7: pahk ya cah

boston townies: the people you hate to love. sometimes in
conversations with these type i get so caught up in mentally noting
their accents that i completely miss everything they say. storing up
good phrases for future use requires quite a bit of mental energy, as
does remembering the many rules of townie speech; such as dropping the
r from the middle of the word (ha_va_d), or adding one to the end
(ideaR). lucky for me i've had quite a bit of practice through my
work, so i leave here prepared with a life skill that is sure to win
friends and influence people.

8: non-profit rocking

i'm really going to miss my co workers. especially duane (far left). and i can say that because i know he's the only one of them who reads this.

9: sweet caroline

it's hard to actually put down in words the joy of attending a red sox game, so i'll just let this picture or our happy faces do the explaining.

10: eat up

why does food show up on this list so often? maybe because going out to eat is just what we do around here. plus, it's all so good! in honor of #10 on the list, and to avoid getting lazy and blogging one of these each day until i leave, i'll just list my top 10 favorite restaurants in boston (in order of preference):

10. mr. crepe
9. au bon pain
8. anna's taqueria
7. felipe's
6. cafe of india
5. mr. bartley's
4. spike's
3. viga
2. boca grande
1. the greek corner

enjoy!

11: no he never returned

before moving to boston, riding the T was such a novelty experience whenever i came to visit. thinking back on my feelings then, it's funny how quickly something i used to think was special became a source of never ending complaint as soon as it became a necessity in my life. there's probably a lesson to be learned from that, but i'm too tired to figure it out. the point is that i'll miss having a transportation system in my world that can actually get me from point a to point b without first having to use my car. no offense, TRAX.

12: more lies

*as it turns out, the blog count down has been misleading about the number of days i have left in boston. partly because i moved my departure date up, but also because frankly, i can't do simple math. good luck to me in business school. anyway, i'll have to post a few tonight to make up the difference. read: tonight's entries will be short and to the point.*

number 12 belongs to the boston public library, which is not only the oldest library in the country, but is also an amazingly beautiful structure complete with lion statues and wall murals. i spent many a good hour at the bpl preparing for the gmat, of which at least 1/3 of my time was spent just staring at the walls and ceiling- not out of boredom, but out of complete awe for it's beauty.

i once heard that because of the weight of the books, the bpl sinks into the ground a fraction of a fraction of an inch every year, but that could be a total lie. either way, feel free to spread it around or put it on your blog for everyone to read.

13: and there are these trash piles in the ocean the size of texas...

considering the fact that about 1 out of every 7 of my latest blog posts is about the beach, it should come as no surprise for this to be included on the list. last saturday and today were both spent playing on the shore of nahant beach for hours on end, and have turned out to be some of my most favorite days i've ever had on the east coast. if i were mayor, i'd declare every saturday to be a beach day. mayor? maybe governor. or president. whatever it takes.

14: cape crusader

today i made my final voyage to cape cod for work and as i was driving down in my new car* i realized that, as is often the case when something becomes commonplace in life, i have taken for granted the opportunity i've had to travel to such a beautiful place every week, and get paid to do so. among the many reasons i love the east coast, cape cod is very near the top of the list and i'll definitely be missing the beaches, the people, and the taco bell in hyannis.

*pictures and blog forthcoming!

15: it's no WSJ but...

as much as i complain about the poorly reported and often offensive articles in the metro, i really think i'll miss having the daily news delivered right to my hand as i walk through the subway turn-style each morning. i'm not ambitious enough to research the economy or world affairs on my own, so having the metro cut down and regurgitate associated press stories to me every day has helped me feel at least a little more in the know (even if only about sports and celebs- to which 78% of the paper is dedicated). it may be the world's crappiest newspaper, but every day it becomes my worlds crappiest newspaper, and that makes it special to me.

in truth, the only thing i'll really miss about the metro is the daily crossword. now, if someone can tell me a 4-letter word for "dry watercourse", that would be great.

16: apples and bees

choosing where to eat based on high ratio of entertainment to food.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

17: tbm

if you've ever tried it, then you know why it made the list.

18: nothing compares to you

new england in the fall.

19: stays together

as a primary kid i had an arch enemy who lived down the street from me who once included the request "and please bless julie will die" at the end of his prayer in sunday school. i was terrified, of course, because if there was one thing we'd all been taught at that young age it was that God answers prayer. luckily for me, God can be selective about which prayers he answers and i've now lived long enough to turn this once traumatic situation into my favorite pre-prayer anecdote. because, well, every good prayer begins with a joke, right?

okay, maybe not, but that's how it usually happens in my apartment. it's usually sylvia and me who can't stop laughing while christy stares us down and jessie sits quietly probably wondering if all mormons are this irreverent. eventually it quiets down enough for someone to inform me that it is once again my turn to pray (somehow it always is) and we commence with a bit more reverence (until sylvia feels the need to supplement the prayer with additional information). by the time the "amen" rolls around, we've usually come out alright.

i make light of this nightly tradition but in all seriousness, praying together as an apartment family is one of my favorite things about my living situation, and probably the biggest contributor to our household success. that and the fact that we're all so freaking cool. it's been a good lesson for me and above all things, this is the time spent with my roommates that i will miss the most.

20: oops, i did it again

technically i missed blogging yesterday, but it's only because my
yesterday hasn't yet ended and has been non stop party since I woke
up. beach, bbq, friends, more fun than one person can handle-and the
extrordinary thing is that this isn't totally out of the ordinary. my
life rules.

it's a harsh reality to know that my life will never be the same as it
is now. i'm certainly hopeful for better things to come, but like that
one guy once said, or wrote, (or maybe i dreamed it), "you can never
go home again."

the lesson in this? just keep partying like it's 1999.

21: hearting n.y.

some might say that if you've never experienced the fung-wah bus (china town boston to china town new york) then you've never truly lived. i say you've not only lived, but you've also increased your chances of living. i will not be missing the fung-wah.

however, proximity to new york (and relative ease of getting there) is definitely something worth missing. new york is one of those places that so many people dream of going to in their lifetime, and i've had the great fortune (or mis-fortune depending on the events that transpire during the trip) of going there multiple times. lucky for me, my final (pre-move) voyage to the big apple was amazing, leaving me with a good feeling towards the city. also, we didn't have to ride the fung-wah, so perhaps there is a correlation.

22: melting pot

it's funny how sometimes i can walk down the street in my own city and feel like a tourist with all of the different dialects being spoken all around me. i admit that when i first moved here i was uncomfortable in this position. however, i now see the diversity in boston as an amazing opportunity to learn about others and to see the magnitude of amazingness that is God's greatest creation. i'll miss this* daily occurrence in my life.

*including this on the list of things i'll miss does not indicate a belief that diversity does not exist where i'm headed. on the contrary, i believe that school will probably afford me a lot of international interaction, but i doubt there is anyone who would (or logically could) argue that for the most part, utah is extremely homogeneous, and finding these opportunities might require a little effort on my part. at least more effort than walking to the local 7-11 for a slurpee**.

**don't forget that friday, 7/11 is free slurpee day!

23: live deliberately

walden.

a public service announcement

just a quick break from my regularly scheduled blogging to bring you an important announcement...

our beloved king google has benevolently taken the security of the land into his own hands and developed a new tool enabling his faithful subjects to monitor activity in their accounts. a quick glance to the bottom of your gmail screen will tell you when your account was last accessed, from where, and if it is currently open at another computer. to find out more, click here.

tis all for now. carry on!

24: like sailors

this is not a post about my roommates, per se, because they probably
deserve a post that takes more than 5 minutes to write. this is just
about one aspect of my living situation that i'll miss
dearly-swearing.

let me clarify up front; none of us go around cursing up a storm in
front of small children or anything, but sometimes the casual swearing
around this joint comes all too naturally. plus, we've all adopted the
parry's heirarchy of swears (ask her about it sometime-it's truly
fascinating), and generally keep it on the lowest tier, so none of us
should be going straight to hell. most often the swears are in context
of quotes, so that's ok too, right? in fact, parry called me a jack
ass thrice tonight under the guise of quoting a canadian sitcom. Maybe
she meant jack ass eh?

11:55 so i better hurry up and publish so as to keep on the straight
and narrow. sorry dad for all the swearing. i learned it from mom.

25: "charles mgh: mass eye and ear infirmary"

the bus, the train, the walk, the crowds, the smell, the pain in my shoulders and neck, the heat, and the fact that i have to do it again at 5--but then the one moment each way that makes it all worth while:

26: a room with a view

this is kind of lame to be putting on my list of top 30's, but i just really love my bedroom. it's also heavily on my mind right now since i just awoke from a 3.5 hour nap, which was so needed after this weekend's many late night adventures. don't tell my roommates, but i've had the best bedroom in the house for these past 2 years. sure, the proximity to the main road makes it impossible to sleep past 6:30 am on saturday mornings, and yeah, my heater is the last on the rotation and rarely comes on in the winter, but it's been my safe haven for a long time and i'm going to miss it at least as much as the ice cream here. so i suppose that lame or not, it has it's place on the list.

all this blogging has made me tired. back for another 3.5!

27: el templo

one time i overheard someone telling another person that the big white house on the hill in belmont was mitt romney's house. they were mistaken. mitt romney lives in the big pink house on the hill. the other one belongs to a higher authority.

who would have thought that moving out of utah would put me in closer proximity to a temple? living two blocks from the boston temple has been a blessing in ways i can't begin to express in one short blog. even more so has been the chance to serve as an ordinance worker there for the past year. the experience has helped me gain a deeper understanding and testimony of the importance of the work, in a way that i otherwise would not have been able to. i have long been convinced that one of the main purposes in my coming to boston was to be extended this calling, and i know that it will have lasting affects and will always be one of my favorite parts of my boston life.

28: duh

boston on the 4th. freaking awesome. enough said.

29: you scream

utah may have a corner on the ice cream consumption market, but the stuff that's worth consuming in mass quantities is definitely made right here in beantown. in order of my preference: herrell's, j.p. licks, brighams, toscanini's, and ben & jerry's. on any given day, and almost at any given hour, you can easily access the most delicious ice cream this side of the atlantic ocean. additionally, if the health nut inside ever prevents you from indulging in your baser senses, you can always find nearly guiltless delight at berryline.

oddly enough, as good as the ice cream is out here- no one seems to know how to make a decent milkshake. go figure.

30: dangerous curves ahead

i came up with the idea of my 30 day blogging while doing the following activity, so i think it's only fitting that it goes down in history first.

the other night seth and i took a drive. this is not uncommon for us, hence, one of my favorite boston activities. the evening was beautifully warm and clear and we zipped through the backwoods of concord, sudbury, and maynard with the top down, the wind whipping through the car, and the music blaring an almost eerily matching soundtrack to the activity. at one point i laid the seat all the way back so that i could stare up at the stars through the frame of the trees overhead. it's always a good time, but that particular experience was nearly transcendental. if you've never done this, you really should.

day 1- check. think i can keep this up?

30 days

here's an announcement: i'm moving. but that's old news, right? well,
what you might not know is that today marks the beginning of the
end-at least in my mind. i've got 30 days left to pack in all the east
coast action one person can handle. luckily, there's not much I
haven't done. come on, try me. if nothing else, i could use some
suggestions. be ye warned, i'm making you do it with me.

another announcement: i've been a bad blogger Q1 and Q2. i plan to
change that by posting a different boston memory or east coast
favorite moment every day until i leave. a hefty endeavor, no doubt,
but in doing so i hope to kill two birds: restore my readership's
faith in me, and pay tribute to this amazing place i will always call
home. so stay tuned.

p.s. no birds will actually be harmed in the making of these blogs.