黄 嘉 維

I know I say this every Labor Day weekend but I just cannot believe that the summer has already passed me by. While it wasn’t quite the whirlwind of activity that defined last summer, I still managed to keep myself busy. In place of going to an insane amount of concerts, I spent more time with friends – a fair trade by any standard.

As always, a recap of the summer in list form:

• The summer began on a high note on Memorial Day weekend as I sat in Yankee Stadium and witnessed a spectacular meltdown by Scott Proctor in the 7th, walking in the tying and go-ahead run in an eventual 4-3 loss to the Angels.
• The next day, I got a call from Justin to tell me that he had proposed to Dori over the weekend and would be getting married later this summer. I can’t begin to describe how happy I was to hear the news. Congratulations!
• The good news train continued later on that week as I was officially promoted to my current position. I had been a little worried that I wasn’t going to get it but, after being officially informed, it really did seem like there was never any doubt that I would get it. The lesson to take out of this? To not worry so much and let things happen the way they’re supposed to. Let’s see how long I can live by that philosophy.
• When the Mets played the Phillies on June 7th, I witnessed the Mets go yard back to back to back and take a 3-2 lead in the 6th. The euphoria wouldn’t last as Billy Wagner gave up a game-tying home run to Met-killer Pat Burrell. The night came to a sickening end when human gasoline can, Scott Schoeneweis, gave up three runs in the 10th for a 6-3 loss. Bleh.
• Justin came down here the next night for the weekend where we proceeded to hit the Big Apple BBQ Block Party, Rachael’s party at the Beer Garden, and bought an insane amount of beer to get some free bags from Crumpler.
• That was followed up the next weekend with free beer and a glass from Harpoon Brewery, my second Red Sox game ever at Fenway, and drinking way too much at Beer Advocate’s American Beer Fest.
• For the first time in an eternity (ok, it was six weeks but it felt a lot longer), I went to a game where the Mets on when Shawn Green hit a walk-off homer in the 10th to beat the dirty Cardinals.
• I added to the list of baseball stadiums I’ve seen a game at by watching the Brooklyn Cyclones lose to the Hudson Valley Renegades at Dutchess Stadium.
• We celebrated Jeremy’s birthday at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que. Afterwards, Aaron crashed overnight at my apartment…
• …so we could wake up early the next morning to get to Nintendo World at 7.15am and [finally] get the Wii!
• Hours later, Hunka-Hunka 4, which has officially become an all-weekend extravaganza, was officially underway. Justin and I pushed for a Korean BBQ theme and got it, which meant we got to spearhead the prep work and grilling. As always, it was a weekend of food, beer, and recreation – this year being the best one yet.
• I suffered through yet another rain-induced fiasco on the Queens Boulevard line.
• I saw The Hold Steady for the sixth time!
• Aaron and Jeremy took me out to Blue Smoke for my birthday – maybe next year, I’ll choose a place that isn’t barbecue… riiiiight.
• Rachael, Jess, and Dave celebrated with me at the Beer Garden. All I’ll say is that a tremendous amount of beer followed by sugary cupcakes is a very bad idea.
• I saw The New Pornographers for the fourth time – my first time seeing them with Neko Case!
• Cee and Susan took me out to dinner and The Lion King for my birthday.

With fall on the horizon, there’s plenty to look forward to. Justin and Dori will be getting married later this month – the guys will send him off in style with a spectacular stag weekend. There’s the promise of October baseball for my Mets and if that happens, it would only be the second time in team history they make consecutive post-season appearances. Things I might do include a visit to Binghamton for Homecoming Weekend to mark five years since I graduated, seeing Rent with the original Mark and Roger, and blowing through CMJ again. Maybe the fall recap will be as fun to write as this one was – I’ll certainly do all I can to make that happen.