Some time last week, Frances mentioned that she would be heading down to NYC for the showing of FAF’s (Future Animators of the Future) 2001 festival. I asked her if I would be able to hitch a ride, and if so she could crash at my place in NJ. She thought it sounded like a plan, so it became one…. I concealed the trip from my parents in order to invoke the god of surprise, and so when we arrived on Friday Night, my mother was very excited (my father was already in bed by the time we arrived). Frances’ brother, John (a member of FAF) also came down for the ride and stayed at my place overnight. The next day I introduced them to Taylor Ham & Cheese sandwiches and my friends Chuck and Amy… We all went out for Pizza and then Amy came with us to Hoboken to drop off John at the PATH train.. We then met up with James and Chuck (again) at Cafe Eclectic for some dessert and tea/coffee… That place rules…

After we left the Cafe we headed to the Budd Lake Diner for some chillin’ and some gravy fries… :) I dropped off Amy and headed back to the house with Frances… We talked for awhile and then went to bed… Frances stayed in my sister Larissa’s room, which worked out well since the room was designed for two people, but my sister Aimee is away at school, so we have a spare bed. Unfortunately that bed is in the same room as my sister’s turbine fan she needs to sleep and next door to my father’s chainsaw snore.. :)

We just hung out at home most of Sunday, my Mom made meatloaf and we watched a few movies with my Dad.. Friday night we rented Spy Kids, which was so bad it doesn’t even deserve an IMDB link.. Monday, we woke up to hearing about the plane crash, and wondering how that crash would effect our planned trip into NYC…. After some confusion we decided to go in anyway, and while Chuck and James decided not to brave it, Amy came along for the ride. We found out soon before we left my house that Frances’ parents couldn’t make it down to pick up John, so we needed to bring him and a friend back to Duxbury, and since they had a flight today, we needed to do it after the show last night. Amy rode with us to Hoboken, and came to the show, but she took the train back to Dover (where we left her car) since we were hitting the road directly from the parking garage. We got into Duxbury around 5:30a and decided to just crash there…. Kindly, there were several sleep stations set up around the Holt household and I was able to get to sleeping right away…

It didn’t last too long, because the baby woke up rather early and John and Julien’s flight was rather early, so people were stirring about early. Frances and I decided to kick it back to Boston, and here I am. I now need to shower, start some laundry, and sleep…. All in all, it was a really fun weekend, and it was great seeing my family and friends again. Now that all that stuff is out of the way:

The city’s skyline is so depressing… I was near tears when we dropped John off in Hoboken, all the beautifully lit towers, the Empire State Building in Red, White, and Blue, and still, a giant void where the twin towers once stood…. It was quite sad, but it kinda made it real for me for the first time since it happened… I didn’t get a chance to get anywhere near ground zero, but it made it a bit more tangible in my head… It was quite heavy, but I might feel a bit better now…