Goodbye Kim! (Kim moves to Portland Weekend Edition)

The Crewnit - together again for the last time (for a while)

Well this weekend was a fantastic one, with lots of great times to be had, but really it was Kim's weekend. Quick synopsis on what happened, and then on with the fun.

• Quick tour of First Friday
• Dinner at Crush with Amy, Jason, and Hannah
• Watching How I Met Your Mother with Jason, Amy, Hannah, and Kim
• Getting freaking obsessed with the Road
• Denny's with Kim in a leaf costume
• Kobefest 2008 (aka Kim's goodbye party)
• Snow City with Hannah and Kim
• Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist with Hannah and Kim
• Goodbye dinner with Kim, Hannah, Lorna, and Colver

Very busy weekend, and a super crazy one. Clearly the highlight was all of the fun we planned for Kim, capped by a party at the Captain Cook Hotel followed by going out that night. We had a ton of people over that night to celebrate Kim's time in Alaska and what she means to us as one of the primary Crewnit members, and it was an absolute blast (although not good for my head in a number of ways - aka hangover + racking my head against the ceiling while bouncing on bed + unknown eye injury = ouch).

Kim's goodbye cake - thanks Lorna!

The suite that we got for the party was absolutely, ridiculously awesome. It was on the 12th floor in one of the biggest hotels in downtown Anchorage, had a gorgeous view of the inlet and downtown, great access to everywhere we'd want to go, and ample space for everyone to have a great time. I mean come on, it was bigger than most of our apartments. I'm fairly certain I want to live there. Plus, we had (through various charitable donations) a tidy sum of alcohol for the party - most of which was consumed that night due to the voraciousness of us youngsters (and partially because of our family members who came by to say goodbye as well).

Terry, my mom, my sister, and my dad at the party

It was definitely a night I'll remember forever (most of it at least), as we had a ton of fun - whether it was just Kim, Hannah, and I, the full Crewnit, or the whole party, it was a blast and a half. There were dance parties, there were drinking games, there was storytelling, there was bartending, there was a group of us nearly getting in a brouhaha with a local foosball tough, there were makeshift beds, there were bath robes, there were sneaky hookers, and then there was Kim.

Jason, Kim, and Lorna (with Hannah buried)

The whole night was to celebrate Kim, and we did. Kim is an integral part of our group and one of the best friends we all have. Of course, we had her for two years here in Alaska which is a full year longer than we originally expected, so it was only fair of us to share her with our good friends in Portland. However Kim, please remember that you are not only always welcome here, but encouraged to return.

Like now. Seriously. You may have dominated my apartment for 6 days and turned me into some sort of QVC watching, handbag dealing, reborn aware person with a significantly more dirty apartment (and far less healthy dracaena) than before but you were a great roommate and are an even better friend. Already counting the days until next summer when you're back for Brian's wedding, and good luck in Portland. Of course you won't need it, but it's there if you do.

Hannah, me, and Kim behind our glorious bar

The Weekend Edition

Ahhhhhhh yeah!!!!!!

That's the sound I'm making because it was the first weekend of the year for me that really felt like summer hit Alaska. That of course is a very good thing, because summers in Alaska are absolutely incredible and the best place in the world to experience them. I can never get enough of them, and even with the late start this time I still feel as if this summer is going to be all-time, to quote Amy.

What made this bad mamma jamma so rad? Let me count the ways...

• Frisbee Golf fridays
• Margaritas at La Mex
• Bernie's outdoor patio, absolutely dominated by the Crewnit and the extended Crewnit
• Dance party plus at the Anchor
• Coffee with my sister
• Roughly 13 naps - very necessary
• Getting caught up on comics
• Camping out at Eklutna
• How I Met Your Mother redux
• Doing all that while keeping it vegan

Really, in an extremely unsurprising trend revelation, the days were decent but the nights were spectacular. Friday night we had a massive posse pretty much take over Bernie's Bungalow Lounge downtown and it was a heck of a time, and it all came on the heels of a great round of frisbee golf where Colver and I tied at even and an hour or two at La Mex having margaritas.

On top of that, after Bernie's a smaller group (key conspirators: myself, Amy, Kim, Cate, Patrick, etc.) went to the Anchor and had a blast rocking the dance floor. Suffice it to say, there was a significant amount of the running man thrown down that night, along with a lot of me getting strangely low to the ground. Little known David fact: I can get very, very low while dancing. I may be secretly good at the Limbo, if anyone in fact still limboed.

The Crewnit with our driftwood wizard wands

Saturday night may have been even better though, as Colver, Lorna, Kim, Amy, Hannah, Jason, and I went out to Eklutna for a camping trip featuring Loaded Questions (and the absolutely ridiculous answers that went along with them - my porn star name = Sir Francis Drake Huffman, for example), the First Annual Crewnit Beach Tag Football Game (Eklutna Megabowl? Discuss.), Johnson family domination (Jason's brothers Eric and Michael came out), driftwood wizards, steamrolling up the ying yang, and fitting everyone (besides Amy, who was satisfied by staying outside) into Colver and Lorna's mansion tent.

My team from the Eklutna Megabowl - Hannah, myself, and Eric

Camping is always one of my favorite activities during the summer (along with hiking, it forms a fairly deadly duo), and I have a feeling there will be a lot more trips like this throughout the summer. Sadly, I missed out on the first camping trip of the year (where the legendary Perv Com was created) but I vow to not miss any others for the rest of the summer. Or at least that's what I say now, as sometimes things are out of my control.

Picture of the Crewnit from Estadia de Bonfire, aka Bonfire Stadium in Eklutna

We had a rocking good time, and Amy and I even made it through totally vegan - vegan italian sausages are surprisingly delicious, FYI. If we can make it through an Alaskan camping trip without eating any animal products, I'm fairly certain the both of us are going all the way. Hurrah for our incredible willpower I say.

The Weekend Edition

Ahhhh...back to normal. My first weekend edition in a while, but boy, it was a good weekend and one that I'll enjoy writing about. Here's a breakdown of what happened:

• The Crew and I hitting up Tommy's Burger Stop (delicious!)
• Elton John!
• Foosball at the Avenue
• Vegan supply shopping
• BBQ at Jason's
• The Homie with the Crewnit
• Snow City for Amy's birthday
• Ballin' at the AK Club
• Day 1 of vegan David (Tofu Pad Thai ftw)

As per usual, I've chosen a couple subjects in specific which per particularly spectacular to elaborate upon, and you'll see those bad mamma jamma's below.

Elton John being spectacular at the Sullivan Arena

As I've mentioned a time or two, Elton John visited Alaska recently to much fanfare. Myself and the Crew went to the show Friday night at the Sullivan Arena along with a LOT of other people. Both shows were sold out (even exceeding capacity on both nights) and the town was abuzz with Elton fever. After seeing him myself, I really understand why they were.

The man is the consummate performer, putting on an incredible show, sounding fantastic, and seemingly genuinely appreciating Alaska's love for him. To be honest, I can see why in terms of the latter subject, as I've never seen an Alaskan audience go so nuts for a performer before. Truth be told, I don't think I've ever seen a show with such an appreciative audience. I was really amazed at everything that happened though.

After hearing his performance, I realized two things: I know very few Elton John songs and the man is an incredibly talented musician/songwriter. Almost every song was stellar, and his piano work sounded alternately beautiful and genius (he would "jam" for minutes at a time, and he was clearly having fun with it). With that said, his most powerful instrument was his voice - this man can really belt songs out. Loved the performance and I am very thankful I had the opportunity to attend it.

The Crewnit

Saturday night, Jason had a BBQ at his place and the entirety of the Crewnit was invited. Well, us and a ton of people I had never met before but who also ended up being awesome. This was a very fitting event though, as it was Amy and I's last night as meat eaters for a while and I really went overboard in consuming. Example? My second "burger" consisted of these layers: bun, salami, burger, cheese, shrimp, beef kabob, chicken, hot dog (one whole), bbq sauce, bun. About half way through I really felt like a nap and upon completion I felt like dying.

But god, was it worth it! I sure went out with a bang.

Colver, Kim, me, and Hannah - Serious faces only, please

After the actual BBQ section of the evening, the Crewnit segregated ourselves from the rest of the group by going out to Jason's deck/porch business. We had ten people or more out there quite often, and it was an absolute blasty blast, to quote Hannah. Sheer ridiculousness flowed from our mouths all evening, especially after more and more beer was consumed. The table team (my special nickname for the inside people) seemingly thought we were insane. Which, you know, we may have been.

Jason's "badass" face and Amy...being Amy

So what happened out there that made us seem so crazy? Hmmm...

• Jason rolling a pack of cigarettes in his sleeve as if he was a street tough from the 50's
• Lorna repeatedly getting her heels stuck in the deck and becoming frantic immediately afterwards
• Hannah and I wrapping ourselves in a blanket and taking pictures with nearly everyone
• Roughly 100 pictures being taken of us in various crazy poses outside on the porch
• Playing football from the porch to the grass
• Ridiculous amounts of yelling

Hannah and I in the blanket - I have my best Batman face on

Of course there is the distinct possibility that it was not animosity coming from the table team, but sheer envy of our awesomeness. That's a possibility, for sure.

Amy, Hannah, Nate, and I on the deck - I look crazy as per usual

No less, after a few hours of hijinks at Jason's, the entirety of the Crewnit rolled out to the Homie for sheer ridiculousness in a public setting. This was probably the most fun I've ever had at the Homie, and it was great that Colver and Lorna came out for the first time to it. The night featured a lot of awesome foosball playing, myself nearly getting into fisticuffs with a girl (but in a playful way), lots of shot taking, dance party plus on the dance floor (I was told I could get lower than anyone else on the dance floor...I got skills!), and of course feeding beer to each other with pitchers.

Because that's normal, right?

All in all, it was a great night. Insane, for sure. To be honest, it didn't cost that much, I had an absolute blast, and I wasn't hungover at all today. I feel great to be honest, especially as I look through pictures recounting our night. Very good times indeed. To quote Amy via Barney Stinson, this summer is going to be legendary. No diggity. No doubt.