I wake up around 9. It’s late and I don’t care. This weekend has gone on forever and it’s been beautiful. Hooray for 5-day weekends! Monica and I stay in bed and watch some Friends for a bit, then I get up and make us some eggs for breakfast. We eat and watch some more.

I got the urge to clean the apartment last night, but didn’t feel up to doing it then. So now’s the time to clean. We go through and clean most of our bedroom, going so far as to move things and dust under them which is something that’s rarely done. With most of the room done, I leave Monica to finish it and then venture into the bathroom to clean that up.

We realize that we’ve actually got to get going so we quickly finish up the bedroom and then start getting ready. We’ve got a hockey game we’re attending up in Albany at 5 tonight so we’ve got to get moving soon.

After some showers and some quick blog posting, we’re out the door around 2. We make decent time up to New Paltz where we pick up some fast food at Burger King. (Ugh. Fast food two days in a row? What am I doing to myself?) We take a quick ride over to Monica’s parents’ house where we pick up her sister, Lindsay, then we’re back on the Thruway heading north.

Monica’s psuedo-cousins Jason and Doug (Monica’s grandfather married their grandmother) are meeting us up there. They had invited us to the hockey game on Christmas Eve and they’re pretty cool guys so we decided to make the trip. We meet up with the guys and then head over to the stadium. Jason and Monica get on line for tickets and the rest of us find parking.

The line was f’ing huge. From what they told me, it’s never this big. I guess since a lot of people are home for the Winter Break, the thing to do is go see the Albany River Rats. It could also do with the fact that Batman is scheduled to make an appearance tonight. Yes, that’s right. The Caped Crusader is taking a vacation from Gotham City and he decided to stop by this hockey game in Albany. What a guy.

We finally get through and pick up tickets, then head into the stadium. Some cousins of these cousins have season tickets to the games so they’ve got their own little section. The stadium is far from full and we’re able to hang out there instead of up high where our seats actually were. These seats are right next to one of the goals so it’s a pretty good view.

I’ve never been to a hockey game before. This was entertaining. I have no idea what was going on half the time, but it seemed fun. One thing I know for sure is that I could never play hockey. I’d be terrified. If I was given the choice of hockey or death, I’d just go for death because I’d die either way. One way I’d just have more teeth and less broken bones.

Monica tried explaining a few things to me about how the game was played, but I didn’t care enough to find out. I just watched the game. It was fun. I did snap a few pictures though.

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The game continues on and the River Rats win 3-2. Take that, Rochester Americans! We hang out for a bit after the game and talk to these other cousins, then we head out to Hill Street Cafe to get a late bite to eat. We chat for awhile and our food takes forever to arrive. In the meantime, Lindsay’s friend currently living in Albany comes by and sits with us. She was incredibly tiny, like the smallest full-grown person I’ve ever met.

After we finish eating, we wait even longer for the check to arrive. Monica and I have a long drive home, so we get going. We head south after getting turned around a bit by the GPS system, but manage to get Lindsay back home around 11. Then it’s a long drive back to the apartment in Westchester. I’m so used to going to sleep around 11 PM that it’s tough for me to keep awake much longer after that. What am I going to do on New Years? We eventually make it home before I pass out. We return to the apartment and I’m in bed and asleep within 5 minutes.