At the last minute I started to dread this year’s Fourth of July celebration because last year was so wonderful, just hanging out with people on the Esplanade, listening to the Boston Pops, watching the fireworks from really close, and developing friendships. This year was different because Kelli and Kevin hosted a barbecue beforehand, which was fun even if I was a bit out of my comfort zone with all of the new faces that I didn’t know were attending. Kelli was kind enough to get me a cookie cake for my birthday, which was really thoughtful of her, all things considered. I got into my groove a bit more when I started hanging out with Igor and Alex and Jaina inside, but they all split off to go see the fireworks.

The remainder of us met up at an apartment in Kenmore Square to sit on the roof and get a relatively unobstructed view of the events. Pretty good, considering we didn’t have to stake out a spot in the heat for the entire day! Going up the fire escape…sort of scary though. Afterwards we went downstairs and hung out with the very nice new people, which I started to enjoy a lot more, at least until it started getting way past my bedtime, at which point I started getting upset because my very finnicky sleep schedule, which I’ve finally started to stabilize again, was getting all out of whack. Amazingly, despite getting home at 3am and not falling asleep until 4, I did manage to wake up at 10, which gives me hope that I’ll be able to quickly get back on track.

I think I went into the whole thing with the wrong attitude, and, in retrospect, enjoyed myself in spite of it. Were I to do it again, I would behave differently, and I hope I get another chance to hang out with some of the new people.

I’ve posted photos of the night on Flickr, you can also view a slideshow.