Local Liquors

Last night after picking up my friend Jill from the subway we all had a run to the local liquor store. Being New Year's Eve and all, I decided it would be a good idea to ring it in with my favorite drink. Brittany and I being the boozers that we are had never been to the liquor store even though we can get there from our apartment in under 30 seconds, so it was an adventure for us.

We did not realize just how big of an adventure it was going to be until we stepped foot into the craziest store I've ever seen. I am going to now use my amazing ASCII drawing skills to demonstrate the layout of the store:

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booze booze booze booze booze booze booze booze

                 till    till
--  ---------$$----------------$$---------  ------
    --> booze                    booze <--
-------------  ----------------  -----------------

people looking to buy some celebration in a bottle

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booze booze booze booze booze booze booze booze

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As you can see, there was alcohol of every variety lining every single wall of the store from floor to ceiling. The customers walk into the center, and choose what they want by searching the rows. All this is made more complicated because everything is behind plexiglass (this store is not for the faint of sight). Two people running the till ask/shout to you to tell them what you want, and they run (no joke!) to grab it. They put it in a black bag and you slip the money under this tiny slot on the plexiglass. Once you've paid, they slide your bottle through an opening in their plexiglass and you grab it from your opening.

It sort of felt like all the alcohol was in prison, and we were bailing the bottles out. Curious... If you still can't picture it, have a look at this picture which closely resembles our friendly neighborhood liquor store. I also should add that it was definitely worth going as I got a "free" mug out of the experience which I was particularly pleased about. Somehow the blow of paying $20 for alcohol is softened when you figured you're getting a fancy $3 mug out of the whole deal.

After playing some games and having dinner I went to Pratt to see the train whistles be blown. If you've never stood right next to an old fashioned train whistle, you should try it. There was lots of steam being let into the air and the train whistles are super loud - your whole body vibrates when they go off next to you! We also got to see the engine room (I think that's what you call it) for Pratt, which was fun to see - and really warm!

I was woken up early this morning (8 am, to be exact) by a good friend of mine who told me some news that rocks my world (well, hers more than mine but I am so happy for her), and I also saw that my dad had been riding around in Model T's until 2 in the morning in NH, so so far the New Year is off to a good start.

(No resolutions, as normal I've resolved to not resolve and created my favorite contrary statement.)