JZ's Steamy BM*

*BM stands for "Brooklyn Move-out," what were you thinking?

     The march toward departure continues on! I spent the night inside one of my favorite occasional mistresses, Brooklyn. The purpose of this visit, other than getting silly-drunk with friends, was to help JZ take the huge step of moving out of his apartment. After bumbling around the turnpike for a spell, we finally rolled into town yesterday afternoon. Most of Jon's stuff was packed up and ready to go, and we weren't picking up the rental truck till 11am the next morning, so we had the better part of 18 hours to get up to our usual inebriated hijinx.
     We like to be worldly when we get to the task of making idiots out of ourselves, so we went "intercontinental" with our bar-hopping. We started off at a place called Habana Outpost, which was pretty fantastic. They had cheap local beer, and probably the best Cuban sandwich I've ever had. That's high praise from a guy who's eaten more pork and ham than is probably advisable (an Israelite, I ain't).

Looks delicious!

     We probably would have stayed longer and ingested more swine, but we were sitting outside in the sun and it was approximately as hot as actual Havana, Cuba. So from there, we hoofed it over to a German beer garden. (See how I did that? "Hoofed?" Get it, 'cause I was talking about pigs? ... *sigh*) This place, Der Schwarze Kölner, was sparkling clean and sold some of the biggest beers I've seen outside of those weird tower things you see occasionally.

These cylinders of liquid will be inserted into my body.

     We hung out there for quite awhile, not only because it was cool, but also because it takes about 45 minutes to finish one of those gigantic steins. I was pleasantly surprised to see my friend and favorite Norwegian, Mathias, a talented musician and all-around great guy. Check out his website and music here: mathiastjonn.com. Thanks to him, I tried snus (a smokeless tobacco in a mesh pouch) for the first time, something I've been curious about for a while. All in all, I'd recommend it for the experience, but I doubt I'd do it again. It's pretty much like jamming a small teabag up into your gums while trying to keep your mouth from drying up like a dead leaf. I spit it in the toilet after about 5 minutes.

     The next stop on our tour brought us back to America, to a place called Moe's Bar & Lounge. The drinks were pricey and the lounge area was packed, so we decided to pick up a bottle of Jim Beam and keep the party going back at JZ's place. After polishing off most of that large bottle, things really devolved quickly, and I'll spare myself and others (but mostly myself) the embarrassment of all the gory details. Suffice it to say, I slept on a hardwood floor and woke up with one hell of a hangover and the requisite unremembered bruises. What a fantastic way to start off hauling someone's entire accumulation of possessions out of their domicile!

     It was hot and sticky out, my bagel with cream cheese was...rather unsettled in my stomach, and doing anything in Brooklyn can be a pain in the ass, but the move went well.

Dan's clearly ready for a day of physical labor.

     Jon didn't have much big stuff, it didn't take too long, and the general delirium of the night before hadn't worn off, so I was pretty giddy and laughing throughout most of the move. All in all, a great couple of days, and another big step closer to the trip. JZ and I are practically buzzing with the anticipation (well, that and all those German beers).