Chooch visits his sister.

I love having guests!

Joe came to visit me two weeks ago for his spring break. The little bugger arrived at about 8 AM Wednesday morning. I eagerly awaited his arrival in Logan airport. He came down the escalator and I didn't realize until he was standing next to me that he'd grown another three inches. We headed to my dorm stopping at Dunkin Donuts for some breakfast. I brought him up to my room where he threw his luggage on the floor and spent some time looking at the things on my walls. The first thing he scoffed at were the advertisements of men (mostly scantily clad) on the wall next to my bed. I left him to ponder the greatness of my room and sleep while I went to work.

Several hours later, I returned to find him snoring like a chainsaw with The Mask DVD menu repeating itself on my TV. I took him to the dining hall for a little snack then brought him to an after-hours work event I had to attend. It involved passing out registration codes to freshmen. I figured he wouldn't mind checking out the girls. Apparently they didn't mind checking him out either. Several approached him to ask questions while I was across the hall handing out codes and trying not to gag after someone drive-by-farted in my area. He and my bosses made fun of me and then I dragged him away. We had a barbecue to attend.

Joe and I caught up on life while walking to the other side of campus. Drew came by work that week to inform me he really wanted to grill something. Joe and I headed to the house where Drew greeted us eager to work the grill. In the kitchen, Drew had already prepared six massive lumps of meat with a "special rub" he brought all the way from Texas. Joe and I were very excited. Meat and beer. What more can you ask for? A bunch of us stood on the porch. While Drew tended to the burgers, the other guys told me to bring Joe to a lot of parties and told Joe to tell girls he was actually a freshman in college. We took the burgers inside and ate around the kitchen counter. They were the best burgers I've had in a while. We all went to Zach's room where the boys played video games and made fun of each other. Joe got pretty accurate insight into the Chi Phi lifestyle. I was happy he got to meet people I see often. We went home and were so tired we passed out at 10:30. Day one, great success!

Thursday we woke up around noon and headed to the GSU for lunch. I finished my Stats homework while Joe ate Twizzlers and played on the Gameboy he stole from my room. I brought him to class so he could see what he has to look forward to. My Stats class is a 1.5 hour lecture taught by a Russian with a heavy, almost indecipherable accent. I guided Joe to the seat I claimed for myself this semester in the very last row. I took notes while he tried to beat Donkey Kong. About an hour into the class, we both bored of our tasks. He took my graphing calculator and we wrote notes to each other. Some read along the lines of "if you read this you have herpes" and "stop talking. your breath smells like dirty butt." We giggled silently as we insulted each other in the back row. After the lecture, I brought Joe to Uburger, a famous establishment here at BU. It was very enjoyable. Later that night we went to see Doomsday. The movie was bizarre, ridiculous and one long advertisement for the new Bentley Continental GT but it was highly entertaining and left me with the overwhelming desire to punch someone and then run them over with a Bentley.

Friday morning I left Joe snoring like a trucker while I went to work. The office was not busy and my bosses are wonderful so I got to leave a couple hours early to be with my brother. He met me at work and then we went to he GSU for some food. We went to Fenway to get him a Red Sox hat that fit since the one I got him for Christmas was a couple sizes too big. Oops. We went to the Prudential with the roommates hoping to go to Cheesecake Factory for dinner. Upon discovering there was about a two hour wait, we headed to the food court and got Japanese food instead. Some old man was leaning back in his chair convulsing. We thought he might be having a heart attack or something so Michelle and Ali informed security who then told them he was a "regular sleeper." Security woke him up and he wandered around the food court falling asleep while standing in front of various fast food booths. (Joe got a pretty good taste of Boston during the trip.)

That night we brought Joe to a party at our (often visited) friends' house. We sketchily entered through a back door leading us to a dirt floor basement that opened into a brick room with a bar, graffiti, Christmas lights and people dancing. Joe was able to meet some of my friends and experience dumb, drunk people as well as a dance party to Shipping Up To Boston and The Impression That I get, two Boston favorites. We left the party and brought Joe to T Anthony's for pizza. Free Falling was playing so we all sang along with the drunk people. We got a large pizza to share. When Erin and Noelle referred to it as a pie, Joe asked them to repeat five times and didn't understand. Don't Stop Believing came on so naturally everyone danced and sang loudly. Another accurate taste of college life here.

We had an early morning the next day. Steve came up to visit from Worcester. It was great to have both of my brothers here at the same time. We were a little late to meet Steve at the train station so, in a true OCD/ADD/whatever-you-want-to-call-it fury, Steve called about ten times before we reached the station. We had a lot to catch up on since we hadn't seen each other since Christmas so we went to Teriyake House. I got a delicious passion fruit smoothie and orange chicken. That place has the best smoothies. We left Teriyake House and Steve firmly stated, "I would never live in Boston." When asked why, he told me it was because there are "too many people and too much going on. I like being in small areas." Oh Stever. I know. We went back to my room where the boys watched Brick and I made weird noises while taking a nap. (Another trait I've inherited from my father.) We brought Steve back to the station then Joe and I met the roommates for dinner at Charlie's. After a power nap, Joe and I went to see 21 with Noelle. The movie was ok. It was exciting to recognize so many places. (The movie was film on our campus.) I made sure to point out every place to Noelle and Joe. "I forgot I hate watching movies with you," Noelle whispered loudly.

Sunday we woke up in time for Joe to pack and eat some breakfast. While waiting for the T I realized I forgot his passport in my room so I sprinted (ok... speed walked) to my room and then back to the station. We rushed to his gate to discover his flight was delayed a little. By the time I got back to my dorm he was calling to tell me his flight, which was supposed to leave at 1 PM, would actually be leaving at 8 PM! Delta! What the hell! So poor Joe was stranded in Logan with nothing but an old Gameboy, Donkey Kong and our mom calling repeatedly to make sure he hadn't been kidnapped by a pedophile.

Joe finally made it home ok. I was very happy he and Steve came to visit. Joe got to see a lot of my life here including my crazy roommates, friends, bosses, place of employment, boring Stats class, favorite places to eat and the city that I love. He even reminded me how much stronger than me he is by tossing me over his shoulder and slamming me onto the air mattress on the floor which squealed as it deflated under my weight. Come back Chooch!!!!