Leftovers

Welcome to the 6^th floor.

Today's contributors are: Ann, Sara, Tabitha

Subject: 6^th Floor Sins: Gluttony

“Okay, help me find room in the fridge. Billy...Billy? Hey...where'd the guys go?”

“They went to Catalina's for a drink. They claim they need to unwind from the trip to Jersey.” Tabitha says, putting down a huge tray of food and hanging up her coat.

“Figures. Well, help me find room for all this food. Sue really packed us the Billy sized doggie bag.”

“There was enough to feed an army!”

“And we took home enough to feed at least a small platoon.”

“I'm sure it'll go faster than we think. Especially if we don't feel Billy otherwise.”

“We're going to have to toss stuff to make room in this fridge. Think I can take out some of these beers?”

“Probably. We don't really need to have...what is that, 30?! Beers cold at one time.”

“Beer's meant to be drank warmer than that anyway. Nix some of it.”

“Don't think Frank will be annoyed if we remove it?”

“He could've helped, instead he bolted for the bar.”

“Wow, is this a whole tray of Baked Ziti?”

“Probably goes with this entire cheesecake...sans one slice.”

“And I believe that one slice was mine..Did Sue really just pack up all her leftovers and hand them to us?”

“Certainly looks that way. I have a whole plate of deviled eggs here.”

“Those don't last long. Better put them here.” Tabitha gestures towards the counter.

“I agree.” Ann says, popping an egg into her mouth.

“Oh, a large plateful of mashed potatoes. Craziness.”

“Didn't Sue say she was going on vacation tomorrow actually?”

“Right! She's going to St. Louis with her husband. I guess that's why she gave us all the leftovers.”

“Did you notice everyone on the train eying us? I think we made the whole train smell like food.”

“Probably.”

5..4..3...2....1.....Happy New Year!!

Welcome to the 6^th floor.

Today's contributors are: Sara, Tabitha, Frank, and Scott.

Subject: 5..4...3...2...1....Happy New Year!!!

“Happy New Year!” Frank shouts, blowing on a noise maker as he enters the 6^th Floor wearing giant 2008 flashing light-up glasses with the 0’s as eyeholes.

“12 hours Frank. The new year starts at midnight, not noon.”

“I can’t believe you bought those glasses.”

“I can’t believe you didn’t buy a pair for Tabitha!”

“Oh! But I did!” Frank says, pulling out five more pairs of glasses. “And for you too!”

“Shit.”

“I wonder what they're going to do in 2010. No more double zeros for eyeholes.”

“They could make the 1 a little higher up on the nose, and use both zeros still.”

“Maybe, but once they get to 2011 it's definitely over.”

“That's kind of sad. I've grown accustomed to seeing those silly glasses around.”

“I thought you hated wearing those silly glasses.” Scott says, entering the room.

“I do! I still like seeing everyone else wearing those silly glasses though!”

Scott takes a pair and puts them on. “I have to go to work for a couple of hours. I'm going to wear these silly glasses the whole time!”

“Oh, and don't start rocking in the New Year until I get back!” Scott waves, and exits.

“Well then. I know Ann invited Amy and Sue, but do you know who else she invited?”

“A bunch of people. Most of them aren't showing up though, so no worries. I think maybe Mike from downstairs, and that might be it.”

“You mean Mike from upstairs right? I don't think we know any Mikes downstairs.”

“Sure, maybe. I don't know where he lives. I only ever see him downstairs, and I don't often take that sketchy elevator up so I don't see where he gets off.”

“I probably should take the stairs more often, it's good exercise. I don't see what you have against the elevator though.”

“I think it might be the feeling that I'm in a coffin that does it. And it certainly has a distinct odor.”

“I know they clean it, I've seen them cleaning it. I don't know why it still smells like that.”

“The stairs are safer..although I should be careful tonight and tomorrow. It always seems like stairwells are where drunk people go to puke.”

“I've noticed that too!”

“So..Anyone want to see if Scott is really wearing those glasses at work?”

“I was thinking the same thing.”

The three of them rise, grab their jackets and head out to see Scott at work.

Before you ask, he did have them on when we arrived. When we arrived, an old lady was praising him for being in the spirit of the holiday while she ordered her frappachino.

The Party From Hell

Welcome to the 6^th floor.

Today's contributors are: Ann , Sara, Tabitha, Frank, Billy and Scott.

Subject: Party from Hell

“So why do we have to go to this party?”

“Because they're new in the building and it can't hurt to welcome them in and make new friends can it? Isn't that how we met Sue and Amy when we moved in?”

“Amy and Sue are hot though.”

“What are their names?”

“Jack and Cinthia. The party's at John's, on the 7^th floor, who you should know.”

“John's the guy with the daughter who sells girl scout cookies right?”

“'Figures that's what you remember about him. Thin mints.”

“I think my stomach has a better memory than my brain sometimes.”

“We're here. Hi John!”

John: “Hi guys! Come on in!”

“Hello. So you have any thin mints hiding anywhere?”

John: “Nope, sorry Billy.”

“Lets say hello to Jack and Cinthia and then find a corner to hang out in.”

“Sounds good.”

So we do just that, and find ourselves a spot near the window out of the way.

“I'll go get us some drinks, come help me carry Tabitha.”

“So Jack seems nice. What was it he said he did?”

“Something about trade..or commerce. Shipping? I don't know. Frank?”

“What? Oh..I wasn't listening, sorry.”

“Whatever it was, it was boring.”

“We've got a dire situation, we have to go.”

“Go? What's the matter?”

“Nothing, he's just upset because they have no alcohol.”

“No booze?! Lets go.”

“We can't go, we just got here. You'll live without a drink.”

“Drinks are the only way I can get through party's like this. There is nothing more boring than a party with casual acquaintances.”

“Look, lets get some soda, wander around and talk to everyone, and then we can politely leave, with everyone having remembered talking to us.”

“Fine. We already talked to Jack and Cinthia, so let's talk to the others.” Billy looks over to the rest of the people. “Mike! Come here!”

Mike: “Hi guys, what's up? Nice to see you.”

“So how are you Mike? What are you up to lately? How's work? Good? Great. We're all fine, normal stuff. Tabitha did great on her finals, is thinking about waitressing for the summer for some money. Isn't that wonderful? Okay, you can go now, nice talking to you Mike.”

Mike: “Uhhh..umm..I..Terrific! Nice seeing you!”

Mike walks away confused.

“That doesn't count! Be nice!”

“Do we even like these people?”

“About as much as fruit salad.”

“Fruit Salad?”

“Not a bad dessert, but not quite what you're looking for.”

Sara groans and flicks Scott's ear. “That wasn't funny.”

“Come on, lets go get some soda and talk to some people. We can worry about leaving later.”

“Oh fine, lets go.”

Brett: “Hey 6^th Floorers, how's life treating you down there?”

“A hell of a lot better then being on the 14^th floor. I can't imagine having to wait for the elevator all the time to get up that high.”

Brett: “The view from my bedroom is so worth it!”

“Not as good as the view in Ann's bedroom I bet.” Scott says with a wink.

Ann punches Scott. “You've never seen the view, so how would you know?”

Henry: “Ann! Good to see you! You written anything lately?”

“I've been writing in our blog, but other than that nothing since we were helping each other out last year.”

Henry: “Yeah, why did we stop doing that anyway? I've been too busy to get much writing done since then either.”

“We stopped because Carol got jealous that you'd meet me once a week.”

Henry: “Oh. Right.”

“Where did Scott go?”

“He was right here a second ago.”

“He better not have left!”

“I'll go check the hall for him.”

“Aha, no! You stay right here. No sneaking out.”

“But it's so boring! And the soda's not even name brand!”

“Oh woe is you. You have to drink a White Rock cola instead of a Coke. The world's going to come to an end.”

“How do you know it won't?”

“I'm a college student remember? I know everything.”

“Come on, lets go talk to Jack and Cinthia some more, make them feel welcome.”

“Ugh, could there be more boring people on the face of the earth?”

Cinthia: “Who's boring?”

“These two guys I work with. They drone on and on about nothing. It's a pain to have to work with them.”

Cinthia: “I understand, everyone can't be as exciting as me!”

“Yeah, I guess I should just be thankful that everyone is not as boring as them.”

As Cinthia walks away, Tabitha whispers to Billy. “Nice save there.”

“Wouldn't want them hating us right off the bat. We should give them at least a month for that.”

“Maybe even two months.”

We mingled for a little while longer, and then slipped out as some other people arrived. Scott was already asleep on the couch watching television when we got back downstairs.

Nothing Loosens Lips Like Alcohol

Welcome to the 6^th floor.

Today's contributors are: Ann, Sara, Tabitha, Frank, Billy and Scott.

Subject: Nothing loosens the lips like alcohol

After the game Friday night me and Frank headed over to Union Square to meet the rest of the gang. As we get off the train I call them and it turns out they've also just arrived, so we all go to Max Brenner together. We're about to head in when we're stopped by someone calling most of our names. It's Amy and Sue, two girls who used to live on our floor before moving in with their respective boyfriends. Sue is actually getting married in a couple of months.

Sue: “Hey guys! It's funny running into you, especially today! Me and Amy just decided to meet up and go out and have some drinks tonight. You should come with us, it'll be just like old times!”

“I'm in, are you guys okay with skipping chocolate tonight?”

“It's a tough choice, but I guess I can skip chocolate for these two...as long as one of them buys me a chocolate Martini where ever we're going.”

Amy: “Certainly! I'll do it, Sue should be saving for her wedding!”

“Did you pick a date yet?”

Sue: “Not quite yet, we're decided between two dates in the spring of '08. So what are guys doing out besides getting chocolate?”

“We were grabbing dinner at the Corner Bistro, and we just met up with Sara and Frank returning from the game.”

Amy: “The Met game? How'd they do?”

“Mets won 3-2, Pettite thought Endy was bunting, instead he swung and hit a two run home run. One more win and Frank loses our bet.”

Amy: “Oooh, a bet. That sounds like fun. You guys going to any more of the games?”

“Nope, I'll have to wait until they come to Yankee Stadium to see them beat the Mets I guess.”

We arrived at the bar Amy and Sue were headed to, and found ourselves a semi-empty corner to hang out in. As is typical when we go out to bars, we ended up forming a circle so that we could all talk to each other.

Sue: “You guys look like you're already a little tipsy, a bit too many beers with dinner?”

“You know we can never pass up those McSorley's. It's just a shame that the real bar is always so jam packed.”

“We had a couple of beers ourself at Shea. It's such a rip off but I can't help myself.”

“Just trying to drown your sorrows huh Frank?”

“Absolutely.”

Sue: “So what's new with everyone? What have you guys been up to? Any dates recently?”

“I was on a date just last night actually. It was kind of a bore.”

“You never did mention how that went. I noticed you didn't come back with him and you certainly weren't home very late.”

“Well you know he was a guy from work. He really seemed to not want to talk about anything except work. We talked office politics, coding solutions...it was just like lunch in the cafeteria.”

“What a snooze.”

“Exactly, I didn't even have to make up an excuse to part ways after dinner, he wanted to go home because we had work the next morning.”

“As I recall, you're asleep early most nights too.”

“Yeah yeah, we don't all have the luxury of your schedule.”

Amy: “Still doing well with the Poker I take it?”

“It pays the bills, and it certainly beats rising with the sun and trudging off to work.”

Sue “I imagine it would. So Tabitha, you think you did well on your finals?”

“I think so yeah, I wish I didn't have to wait so long to find out my grades.”

“Tab, are you chewing on the appetizers menu?”

Tabitha pulls the wad of paper out of her mouth and opens it up. “Looks like it, you want more food?”

“I'm not into paper as a snack actually, I'll pass.”

Sue “So how about the rest of you? Anything to write home about?”

“I drove the M train this week!”

“Yes, that's all very exciting. You still travel a lot for work Amy?”

Amy: “Not quite as much, but still some. I have more seniority now that one of the older guys quit. Means I get to pick and choose more about which trips to take. Last week I was actually in Vegas; best trip for work ever.”

“I bet. You should have told me, I would've flown with you. I rarely pass up an excuse to go to Vegas, it's like my Mecca.”

“Yeah, he actually makes sure every time he plays poker on-line he faces towards Las Vegas.”

Amy: “Ha! Well maybe next time I go out there I'll give you a call. I assume you feel much the same about other gambling places? Atlantic City? Reno?”

“Yup, although AC is close enough that I really don't need an excuse to go there.”

We continued chatting and drinking and having a grand time late into the night, but none of us really remember much after that. Tabitha did develop a small cut on her lip, and Frank's arm felt sore the next day, and it certainly wasn't from cheering for the Yankees.

The Mets slaughtered the Yankees on Saturday, having starting pitcher Darrel Rasner leave with a broken finger in the first inning killed them. The Yankees managed to eke out the third game so Frank will not be my slave, but he does owe me a couple of drinks. I'm thinking of ordering every drink with top shelf liquor.