Do Not Go Gentle Into that Good Night, Rage, Rage Against the Dying of the Light

Cosmo Tour 2008 has come to a close. We got back at about 3 this morning, so this won't be long, I simply wanted to point out the fact that I'm still alive.

The Tour could not have been better, and about 90% of the people aboard vowed they had never had a better trip in their lives. I think we all hit it out of the park in our own little way. I could talk endlessly about it, but we have lots of time for that. My convalescence must take priority. What I really want to say in this post is how incredible I find it that 13 people can come together and gel as this group did on this trip. When you have an experience like we had, it is thicker than blood. For the rest of our lives, the tag line of our opening sentences to each other could easily be "Remember that time in New York....?"

These are just some quick shots from Greenwich Village on Friday night. We had a wonderful dinner in Little Italy before walking (and cabbing) to this bar. I did a fair bit of research before we went and came up with a "loose" sort of map of restaurants and bars we could could hang around.

This is the White Horse Tavern. It opened in 1880, and has been home to the likes of Jim Morrison, Bob Dylan, Norman Mailer, Hunter S. Thompson, The Clancy Brothers, and of course Jack Kerouac and Dylan Thomas, both of which lived upstairs. There is still "JACK GO HOME!" carved into the mens washroom wall, as Kerouac had a tendency of being tossed out of the bar. It was Thomas' drinking at the White Horse that many attribute to his early death. A lot of people in out group were not aware of Thomas, but as we carved our way through our drinks that night I made it our new mantra for the trip. "Do not go gentle into that good night, rage, rage against the dying of the light!" The White Horse is also the birthplace of the now famous Village Voice.

We hung out until about 3 in the morning, a fresh night rain washed the streets. Our tab approached $500, a testament to our commitment. I had to include this picture of Dan. Not only does the smile on his face represent the joy we all felt on this junket, it is also one of the few where he doesn't have that goofy, surprised, bug-eyed look. See below.

On that note, I have to go back to bed.