1981
The next day I woke up to remember that it was my eighteenth birthday. For some reason I didn’t feel like I had metamorphized into a responsible man. I sure have the rights of one now. Oh well, it’s all relative. I got up early because I had to go sailing that day. I found out that my mother was already preparing a gargantuan meal for me. I realized I had to be back by two so I could eat before the bulls. I was at this point getting nervous because I know all too well how undependable a sailing schedule is.
I arrived at THE sailing club of Barcelona at 9:30 on the nose, to see that Bill, of course, had been there an hour. I asked if we would be done by 1:30 and as I expected he said no. Not only that but my captain might not be able to race because there were no other crew around. That made me feel wonderfully miserable. To make things worse it was a sunny day with 10-15 knots breeze. I had never sailed Snipes before and I was curious, although they didn’t look very hot. Not after Mr. Clark’s Red Herring. Of course the 12 meters like toys after sailing the Herring. Well, nevertheless I was tempted to go out anyway but there was no way I could make mama’s lunch. So I left, feeling like a burro, to return home. One thing for sure is that I ate too much! A good way to express it is that we started a little after two and I was a half an hour late for the bulls.
I made it there right before they left so I got there. We got to the arena and it seemed just like a baseball game. My first bull was certainly depressing. The matador seemed to have no grace or skill whatsoever. Not only that it took him 14 times to kill the bull…. The second was good and the third was very good. The rest were barely passable. After the bullfight we basically went barhopping. Everybody paid so I exploited the situation. I felt like Jake because I had too much. At least my parents were asleep when I stumbled in.
1982 — Written on Oct 12, 1987
I don’t remember my nineteenth birthday very well. Amy baked me a cake and I think I celebrated at Smith
1983 — Written on Oct 12, 1987
My twentieth birthday was one of the worst days of my life. I went to Barcy’s with Amy and some guy, whom I should remember. I drank two pitchers of beer. Back at the Delt, everybody had eaten the cake Phoebe baked for me. The little that was left didn’t look too appetizing after two pitchers. Lacking any sense of wisdom, I accepted Ponch’s offer to go to his room for a birthday bong hit. I had many more than one, and this was some of Poncho’s special killer weed. I was so sick I wanted to die. Bill Cosby’s rendition of the love affair between the toilet and the sick man was an understatement.
1984 — Written on Oct 12, 1987
On my 21st birthday, I was heavily involved in the darkness of the Rubberack, back in its imperialist days. Some random person, who I never got to know, convinced me to streak through Chi Phi’s traditional party on Wednesday, lovingly known as Wednesday night tap. I gave this guy my clothes and I flew through the basement in the raw. Nobody noticed. Later I ate plants and shot golf balls in the room.
1985 — Written on Oct 12, 1987
Thanks to Steve, posters saying “I’m 22 and ready for you” covered the Amherst campus. We had an incredible scavenger hunt followed by some party crashing. By then we were experts at making fools out ourselves.
1986 — Written on Oct 12, 1987
On my 23rd birthday, Marcos, Danny and I almost got lost in the middle of Los Llanos, Colombia. People had horses for us waiting at the road, but we were five hours late. We walked to the farm and partied. A local group of Musica Llanera came and we all listened. Fun.
1987 — Written on Oct 12, 1987
My 24th birthday, yesterday, I was travelling alone in Limon, Costa Rica. I saw Limon beat Guanecaste in 1st division soccer. Then I went with Idomuel by train to La Bomba, and swam in the river. We then walked down the tracks and waited at the stop in the middle of nowhere, for the train which came in the dark. We talked about Christianity the whole time.
1991
Friday, my birthday, I saw Lisa Popik. Her roommate is Laura. Friday night we went to Christopher’s for a nice dinner. We rented the movie “Awakenings” with Robert DeNiro and Robin Williams. Saturday I called Cammie, who lives four blocks from Lisa, but she was out for the weekend. So Lisa and I travelled the town. We hung out at the North End for a while. I would love to live there. I saw the Old North Church there. We checked out City Hall, Beacon Hill and the South End.