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Joe Cristalli: Rejecting Sobriety

Because having a blog is slightly less effeminate than tweeting.

From the Journal of Nathaniel Crouch, Last in His Class at Harvard

 

They said the real world would be hard after leaving Andover, but I had no idea.

It better be easier to be last in my class at business school.

I wonder how much Dad needs to donate for me to get to speak
at commencement.

If it were up to me, success wouldn’t be measured in grades. It’d be
measured in the amount of wealth each of us is set to inherit once
they take our respective grandfathers off of life support.

At least I still have that waffle named after me at the Student Union.

This better not affect my tax cut.

I still think this social networking site I’m working on could be really big.

I’d rather be last at Harvard than first anywhere else. Except for UC Berkeley.  That’s a really good school for the price.

I never went to class. I showed up the first day, bought a Harvard
sweatshirt, and just walked around in flip-flops.

Hopefully, no one at Goldman asks to see a transcript.

Hopefully, no one on the admissions committee at Harvard Medical School asks to see a transcript.

Hopefully, no one on the writing staff of The Simpsons asks to see a transcript.

I wouldn’t be last in my class if my roommate had killed himself. Bill, if you’re reading this, stop talking about it and pull the trigger. Preferably before finals week. 

I feel like a winner just for graduating in under 7 years.

If someone had told me that they ended the draft in 1973, I would’ve dropped out years ago. 

Whatever. I’m going to be fine. My dad just invented the Kindle Fire.

I really thought these new Sperry Top-siders would have given me an edge. 

Honestly, I thought I was applying to Haverford.

I wasted a lot of time hanging out with Rivers Cuomo.

D in Calc, but A+ in crew. Feels like that should be weighted heavier than it is.

Well, if all else fails, I can always do coke in the Texas Air National Guard.

Trying to get Kurt Vonnegut to write my paper on Kurt Vonnegut turned out to be a terrible idea.

I can’t believe I finished behind all those fat kids.

At least I’m coming out of here with a bunch of shit that says Harvard on it. That’s still good for a few handjobs on Martha’s Vineyard, right?

This is what I get for hanging out with the Red Sox. Next time I snort a semester’s worth of drugs in one night, it’s going to be with a team that makes the playoffs.

I still think I’ll have a chance at valedictorian once they add in the votes of the superdelegates.

I should’ve been studying instead of spending all those hours snickering about the pronunciation of “coxswain.”

I wish I’d gone to Hampshire. A sticker of a sad face would sting so much less than this D-.

I may have been last in my class, but I was first in nailing chicks over at UMass Amherst. Amherst? More like Slamherst. Ha-ha. Classic.

In hindsight, I probably should’ve told someone that I was taking a semester off.

I really hope you’re getting all these. I know you just started this internship, but your dictation has been piss poor recently. I expected a better class of people out of BU. 

This piece was co-written by Rob Turbovsky.

A Proposal for the Ages

I recently got engaged and all I’ve heard since is, “How’d you do it? How’d you pop the question?”

I don’t want to tell the story anymore. It was a special and intimate moment that deserves privacy. I’m not going to exploit my newfound engagement just to get some cheap laughs from a couple randos who don’t care about me or my fiancée Jessica.

That being said, I’ve decided to recreate the events here on Rejecting Sobriety. 

So without further ado:

Just a couple clerical things we need to take care of before getting into this:

Jessica wanted no part in this retelling. Apparently, I “abused her trust” the last time we had a photo shoot. Hey everybody—when I called her a whore, it was a joke!

Whatever. I’m an artist. You know what it’s called when art doesn’t offend people? It’s called crap. If I wanted to mass-produce crap, I’d work for Ed Hardy.

Anyway, the part of Jessica will be played by my manager, Jeff. Jeff was super excited to help out.

Aside from Jessica not wanting to be in this retelling, I think it’s also important to note, that while the proposal was elegant and simple, it would be a bit bland on paper.

That’s why I hired Michael Bay to produce this blog post.

What? You don’t believe me? Well, how about now!

Holy Christ… that’s freaking epic! Well done, Bay-Dog. I don’t use the word “awesome-sauce”, but if I did, this feels like it would be the appropriate platform.

Our night started off with a bang. I shot a homeless guy in the foot for Jessica’s amusement and then hired a marching band to play that Bon Jovi song that goes, “Shot Through the Heart”, and also hired recent American Idol winner, Scotty McCreery, to sing “Shot Through the Foot” (a parody song I commissioned Weird Al to write) while it happened. Boy oh boy, look at those fireworks!

From there we went to dinner… on the moon!

A lot of people claim it’s hard to get reservations for the moon, but you just need to plan ahead. Like 13 lightyears ahead! Ha-ha, no. Just like 10 lightyears.

And get this… we were lucky enough to book noted lunar crooner, Roy Orbit-son, to sing table-side!

He looks vintage.

After dinner, I wanted to do something really romantic. I wanted Jessica to remember her life changed this night and it would never be the same. She was no longer just my girlfriend… she was going to be my wife.

So I hired a monkey to punch a clown in the groin!

It was amazing. I could not have asked for a more perfect anything.

Things were really beginning to fall into place, and I knew it was time to bring out the ring. We drove down to Venice Beach and got on the back of a killer whale that was waiting for us. I got down on one knee, and asked my beautiful girlfriend to marry me.

And guess what… she said yes!

Now it’s time for the Hawaiian wedding! I really think that we’re going to make it. We could not be any happier.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The “Special Occasion Trucker Hat” is a product of Rejecting Sobriety LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of HumorCo, which is a joint venture by parent companies Fung Shu Steel and Yum! Brands. Accept no imitations!  Rejecting Sobriety LLC is not responsible for any bodily harm caused by the usage of this product and/or service. Buy it today!

As always, a special thanks to Jeff Greco for all the photography work.

Welcome to my ongoing review of controversial new genetic startup, My Little Me. In case you missed it, check out Day OneDay Two and Day Three of my adventure.

Day 4: Armageddon

I wake up, even more dazedier and confusedier than the day before. The last thing I remember is turning around in the fear that Little Joe would be there. Given that I was knocked out and somebody changed my clothes, I have it on good authority that that’s exactly what happened…


This is a disaster. My place is trashed, my clothes are torn, there is blood everywhere…

I step out my front door and it’s a wasteland. Chaos is in charge now. Life as we know it is coming to a screeching halt…



I can’t help but feel partially responsible. I have to do something. Little Joe can’t be indestructible. There must be a way to stop him!

I go back inside to look for anything I may have missed. Oddly enough, there’s another small envelope near the box he came in! How do I keep missing these?



I pop open the letter and there are a couple suggestions on what to do if all else has failed, and the end is near.

Option one is terminating Little Joe. They suggest using a garbage disposal. Honestly, despite all he’s done, I don’t think I could do that to him. He’s really not ALL bad. He’s just confused.

I hear what sounds like gentle sobbing coming from the living room, and to my surprise, it’s Little Joe…

 “Little Joe, what happened?” I ask. “I got stuck!” exclaims Little Joe. “I was sad and drunk, and I thought, ‘Hey, I should get in this hurricane glass’, but now, the sides are super slippery and I can’t get out!”

“It’s ok,” I reassure Little Joe, “I’ll help you out of your tiny glass prison.”

 “You’re not so bad, are you Little Joe?” I said. “You’re just like me. Only little.”

 “And with no genitalia,” responds Little Joe.



I tell Little Joe it’s ok. “Ya know what, little buddy? I think we’re gonna be just fine if we…wait a second—what, the hell!?”

 “Where did you get that gun, Little Joe? You’re not gonna kill me, are you?”

Little Joe giggles and shouts, “Of course I’m gonna kill you!”

While the tiny bullets ripped through my flesh, I realize Little Joe was merciful and just, avoiding any major organs but effectively sending a little message. As I lay on the ground, life flowing out of me, Little Joe scampers to the door…

 Sure, I could give the people at My Little Me a bad review, but honestly, they have quite a product on their hands. If they ever work out all the kinks, man oh man, watch out! And, yeah, did Little Joe shoot me? Sure, but I truly believe in my heart of hearts that he has a fundamentally good soul, and…

Little Joe, c’mon, I know you wouldn’t do this to me. We’re pals! I love you Little Joe! Let’s work this out! If we just…

 BANG!

Thanks to Jeremy Slome and Jeff Greco for help with the photography!

Welcome to my ongoing review of controversial new genetic startup, My Little Me. In case you missed it, check out Day One and Day Two of my adventure.

Day 3: Complete Confusion

I just woke up totally dazed and confused. What the heck happened last night, and what’s with all these empty liquor bottles…

I head downstairs to find Little Joe but something is very wrong. The house has been ransacked. I call out for Little Joe but he’s nowhere.

As I turn the corner, I see Jessica. Oh my God…

She has trouble speaking because she’s so close to death, but manages to get a few words out.

“Little Joe drugged you last night, ” groans Jessica. “After you were out of the picture, he tried to…cough….put the moves on me…”

“What did you do?” I ask.

Jessica shrugs and says she was kind of into it…

Jessica continues, “It was actually going well until we got back here and threw you upstairs. We started getting down to business, but I quickly found out he was…ya know….not quite complete.”

“He’s not complete?” I question. Jessica, barely alive at this point, grabs me by my lapels and pulls me close…

 

“Little Joe was engineered not to reproduce. When he unzipped and saw he had no genitalia, he freaked out. He started drinking and kept going on and on about ‘unfinished business’. He’s gone crazy with depression and murderous rage. You have to stop him, or the results will be dire!”

And with that, Jessica was dead. She was a bit cliché, but dead nonetheless.

I mourned her death…
 

 
…briefly. I mean, I only met her yesterday, and if I understand her story correctly, she started hooking up with Little Joe after she explicitly knew he drugged me.

Maybe Jessica wasn’t the girl I thought she was…



There was no time left to waste. I had to find Little Joe and figure out what was going on.

I looked through Little Joe’s things, hoping there would be some kind of clue. I open the box he came in and out drops an envelope…



That was odd. Why had I not seen this before? I remember back to when Little Joe first got here… he never let me look in the box! Oh boy, this could really be cashews for me!

The letter reads: “While adorable, your Little Me should never be left alone, given alcohol or trusted. Their tiny genetic makeup makes it very hard for them to process alcohol, trust and freedom the way we do. Do not give your Little Me any of these things.”

Crap! I did all of those things!

I continue reading and find a number to call if Little Joe goes “berserk.” That’s their word, not mine. 

I dial and prepare for the worst…



It rings a couple times and a message starts playing:

“So you’re having some problems with your Little Me, ‘eh? Not to worry, there are several simple solutions that can get your life and your city’s life, back on track! Let’s go over a few things to get a better understanding of the problem. If your Little Me has gone berserk, please press one.”



“You’ve selected one, meaning your little me has gone berserk. If he went berserk because he is self-aware, press one. If you gave him alcohol, please press two. If he’s realized his genitalia is missing, please press three. If all of the above has happened, please press four.”



“Holy God, you’ve pressed 4? No need to panic yet, but if the whereabouts of your little me are currently unknown, please press 1.”



“You’ve selected that yes, the whereabouts of your Little Me are currently unknown. Not to worry! We’ve just alerted your town’s local authorities, as well as local SWAT and local FBI. They should be there shortly, and hopefully, in enough time to prevent any vandalism, murder and/or mayhem. However, please be advised that you are currently NOT SAFE. Your Little Me, while tiny in stature, has the strength of three normal sized men. We know what you’re thinking and yes; this was dumb. We know that now. We would suggest getting out of your home, because odds are, your Little Me, who by now is drunk on murderous rage and alcohol, has probably fashioned a makeshift bomb and/or firearm out of your household materials. You are not safe. In fact, if you’ve had your back turned for a while, he’s probably behind you now. ”



“Good luck!”

Continue on to Day 4!

Thanks to Jeremy Slome and Jeff Greco for help with the photography!

Welcome to my ongoing review of controversial new genetic startup, My Little Me. In case you missed it, check out Day One of my adventure.

Day 2: New Best Friends!

I awoke to find Little Joe brewing a pot of coffee…



I ask why he’s up so early and Little Joe informs me that it was his first time seeing the sunrise.

I agree that it’s a truly beautiful sight and turn to look out the window myself…



Little Joe says he wants to see all that Burbank has to offer, so we drive to a nearby 7-11. Little Joe promptly set about examining the merchandise…



Embarrassed, I helped Little Joe off the hot dogs and assist him in quenching his thirst…


Little Joe asks the 7-11 attendant for a pack of Marlboro Reds. The attendant asks for some identification, which Little Joe gladly provides…

 

We leave 7-11 and head home. I have a big date to get ready for!

Little Joe, despite being created only a few short weeks ago, is super smart. He has this idea of sitting in my ear and telling me what to say so my date, Jessica, will like me! I think he said it was from the movie Cyrus. I don’t know, I’ve never heard of it.

Little Joe and I finish getting ready. We are super excited about having a good time…



We get to the restaurant and sit down with Jessica. Little Joe has the most clever things for me to say, like, “I can’t believe how expensive cheese is.”



Obviously, Jessica is nothing but entranced…



We finish up dinner and Little Joe pops out, pretending he has just arrived. “Am I late?” he asks.



I told him no—he was right on time!



Little Joe says we should go sing some karaoke to impress Jessica and I totally agree.

I suggest Randy Newman’s “Little People,” but Little Joe doesn’t care for it…



Little Joe suggests something by Elton John. I think it’s a great idea!

After a quick outfit change, we’re ready to go…



I tell Little Joe I’m nervous because I really want to impress Jessica. He pulls a tiny candy out of his pocket and tells me to eat it, because it will calm me down.

Little Joe is ALWAYS looking out for me. We start singing “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”, but everything starts getting a little hazy…

Continue on to Day 3!

Thanks to Jeremy Slome and Jeff Greco for help with the photography!