Tuesday, June 3

 

Well, that was certainly an interesting weekend. I was far too busy yesterday to comment, what with all the computer crises and what-not (a crisis that nearly had me coming into the office on a Saturday morning!) I think I managed to keep busy enough over the weekend that I didn't even notice the rain, at least I certainly didn't let it put a damper on anything. I got pretty grumpy on Friday and was pretty ambivalent about going out, I didn't know what I wanted to do but nothing felt right. I had left some things at the laundromat on Thursday night, so after work Steph drove me to the laundromat and Hannaford after we stopped at the sandwich man's house to say hello and ask if he wanted to come see Marty Sexton with us. Got the supplies for S's date (more on that in a minute) that I was responsible for, went home to take a shower, and Johna called to say she was on her way. We hung out talking for quite a while, went to Cafe Hollywood, had some beers, fiddled w/ the neon lights upstairs for a while, walked over to the Lark Tavern to see what was going on then went to Savannah's to see a band (cannot remember who they were, but they played an awful lot of Rolling Stones covers). Of course this whole time I was keeping an eye on my cell phone; I was waiting for S to call to let me know when it was time for me to intervene... this is one of the sweetest things ever... he was on a first date w/ someone and had quite an evening planned... dinner, air hockey at the Pit, and a surprise "picnic" in the plaza complete with a blanket, candles, cheesecake and wine. I graciously agreed to help with that part of the evening as it was to be a surprise for his date and hey, I'll play Cupid wherever I can!!! That and getting back to the Lark Tav to see Dr. Jah and the Love Prophets were the two items on my Friday agenda that I was most concerned with. Anyway, Steph fell asleep and Johna was tired, so it was incredibly convenient that I bumped into an acquaintance at Dunkin' Donuts who I roped into going to the Plaza with me (didn't want to be down there alone at night!)... or so I thought. Note to self: in the future, try to assess the sobriety of an accomplice prior to dragging them through your apartment to grab the cheesecake, etc. and out to your car... I only had to explain about, oh, a dozen times what was going on. Luckily the actual setting up part went off without a hitch and from what I could see, S and companion were having a fabulous evening. My plan had been to dump off this crazy guy Mike at the Oh Bar and go home, but he suggested the Lark Tav and I wanted to go back anyway to see Dr. Jah so for the time being I was stuck w/ a crazy drunk. And why is it that I always meet people in twos and threes? I must know half a dozen Mikes at this point and it gets so confusing for anyone trying to follow along! He passed out there, I ran into some other people I knew and hung out with them for a bit, got a cool-ass lei from the lead singer of the band (which I will return next time I see them!) and eventually called it an early night and went home... of course instead of going straight to bed I fell asleep on the couch til about 4:30, but I hopped in bed, got some rest, and prepared to freak out about the rest of the weekend. Correction, I then tried to get in touch w/ Jim and Tom about Marty. Jim at least let me know that he wasn't all that excited about the show, Tom decided not to call until Sunday evening to apologize for having not returned my calls. Whatever. We had 5 tickets together so it worked out for the best anyway, Steph didn't have to get any tix for Ben & Molly and we all got to sit together, only ended up with one extra (sandwich guy bailed on us too!!!) Oh yeah, Ben. I don't think anyone knew what was going to happen when we saw each other again, but everything turned out just fine and once we all started drinking, life was just grand! The show was super and it was so great to have Marty Sexton here in Albany!!! We managed to keep a decent buzz for the duration of the show, got to go backstage to say hello, was asked to leave by Marty's girlfriend, I had a pouty moment and stomped off through the plaza, we all decided to go to the Lark Tav and Ben and I swung by my place quickly for more tequila... the Lark was hopping, some band was playing and I introduced the Bens - makebendrink Ben and other Ben, suggesting that makebendrink Ben branch out his website and have regional Bens! Yes, I realize how ridiculous that sounds. Like I said, if I know one person with a name, I know half a dozen of them. I'm hoping we can book makebendrink Ben for my party! So many things are turning 30 this year... me, the H/PNA, the Birkenstock classic 2-strap sandal... heehee. So that was that. We all got up early, had breakfast, drove around Albany, walked through Washington Park and hung out at my place while we waited for Ben & Jerry's to open, then Ben & Molly were on their way back to PA, Steph went home to take a nap and I fell asleep in the bathtub for about 2 hours. Had S over for dinner so I could hear all about his date, told him about my weekend, and turned in early. Work yesterday was another techno-crisis but it was good, being busy kept my mind off everything else. Steph and I hung out at Lincoln Park after work yesterday, ate at the Gateway Diner and just talked... which of course finally got me thinking about stuff that I'd wanted to ignore for the time being but I guess is unavoidable. Ugh. Why does life always have to be such a tumultuous journey for me? I guess I just think too much and of course tend to analyze myself to the point where I usually have a pretty good idea what's going on in my head. Hmm. That reminds me, I wonder when M is coming back from Germany... I thought he'd be back by now but I guess not, either that or he just has no interest in seeing me at the moment. I'd been looking forward to seeing him again too, oh well. I have this tendency to get excited about lots of things, I guess. Well, I can get unexcited just as quickly. If he wants to hang out I'm sure he'll send me a text message or something, so I'm not going to worry about it.

 

Which brings us to today. The sun is shining for the second day in a row, we're all extremely busy and the morning started with the KPIG playing an excellent selection of tunes... among them Hey Bulldog (yay, the Beatles!) and the most wonderful Somewhere Over the Rainbow as performed by Israel Kamakawiwo'le - I've loved this one ever since it was featured in the episode of ER where Dr. Green died. Sad episode, but such a perfect song for the moment.