How was YOUR weekend?

The weekend was good... how's that for broad, general and vague??

I had Friday off, so I started my weekend on Thursday night... always a good thing. Except for Mike's dinner with the X thing... not always so good. But, whatever - I wasn't going to let that get me down. I decided to shush the little negative voices in my head and head out for drinks. I first hit the TGIFriday's with some friends (it's near work) and had a couple beers. Next, was a tour of E's new place - HOLY COW IT IS A POKER PALACE. Very cool - 3 levels with the bottom level being a giant rec room. I am definitely envisioning some swingin' summer parties there. Well, not swingin' like THAT. Aaand, if anyone needs to crash at his place due to copious amounts of ever-flowing alcohol being imbibed, there is a queen sized bed in the middle of the living room. (Maybe they WILL be swingin' like THAT.) After my mouth hanging open for 15 minutes or so, my tonsils were starting to dry out, so I made my departure and headed over to Little Italy to meet Myspace Maya. We decided on the Princess Pub as it was central to eateries, drinkeries and parkeries, the latter in which to place our cars. Our initial meeting lasted a good 1/2 hour or so until the rumblings in her stomach forced her and her date into looking for a higher class of food (one can only find fish & chips delectable for so long). I think it went well and I am looking forward to meeting up for Casbah concerts, picture taking, and produce poking in the near future.

Friday was a pleasant departure from the norm. Although it's nice to have an off Friday every other week, it's easy to push all those "chores" and appointments onto that day. This week, we had nothing we absolutely had to do. Mike is working on getting his pilot's license and I went with him to his meeting with his instructor. Since he's almost done with his lessons, the teacher is pretty much just getting him ready for his "check ride" - or check list of maneuvers for his flying test. Since he's so close to being ready, Mike asked if I could tag along. Ten minutes later, I found myself on the aiport tarmac, climbing into a plane smaller than most sedans. (Yeah, let's all get airborne in a Ford Taurus with wings!) Actually, it was really cool and I don't have a fear of flying or being in small planes. Also, lucky for me, Mike had an excellent day and the wind was so smooth... very little (if any) turbulence. The exciting part was when they practiced "stalls." The instructor has to test a pilot's knowledge in every area, including emergency, break-down kind of situations. So mid-air, this nutjob tells Mike to cut the power to the engine. And Mike does it. Hello??? Anyone besides me see anything wrong with this picture??? Luckily, everything worked out (otherwise, it would be interesting to see how I am typing this blog) and we made it back down to the ground all in one piece. The coolest part about the whole experience? There was a lot of blue sky, but also a lot of big fluffy clouds. It was a spectacular sight to be up amongst these clouds - so serene. When I wasn't enjoying this heavenly view, I was kicking myself for forgetting my camera in the car.

After flying was over, we headed to the mall and exchanged some birthday clothes for Mike. I was so nervous buying him clothes for his birthday... and my fears were well founded. I hate buying clothes for people. As he opened his gifts, he seemed happy to get them, but not necessarily pleased with the new duds. Oh well... I guess you live and learn. So, we exchanged pocketed shirts for pocketless shirts and a guayabera for a Hawaiin shirt. He was a lot more excited this time. Then, he treated me to a mini-spree at Vicky's Secret and we rounded out the trip by noshing on teriyaki chicken. MMM... chicken...

Friday night I was supposed to meet up with a bunch of friends at the Bitter End. I was a little tired and the thought of making the trip downtown was a little daunting, but what the heck, right? So I got all dolled up, put on my red shoes, red lips, and my new push up bra and was good to go. I got to the bar, expecting an entourage of familiar faces to be lining up and buying me drinks... alack! alas! the only ones who didn't flake were me, P and M. M is P's best friend so P was our middle ground. Although, P is a lightweight and was half passed out by 11:00, so M and I (as in me) got to be pretty chummy. Got it? Good. Anyway, as we were waiting, the other girls went out for a smoke break and I stayed on the dance floor, sipping my beer, watching people and kind of shuffling my feet to the tunes. This trio of girls started dancing next to me and kept bumping my elbow. Rude, but whatever. It happens on a crowded dance floor. Then I realize one of the girls keeps trying to catch my eye. When I look at her, she smiles. Hmm.. rather friendly. Then one of the other girls bends down to wipe up a spilled drink with a bar rag and starts feeling up my leg. Whoa, there! I have no problem with the occasional pinch hitting for the other team, but this was leering, lecherous behavior usually reserved for old men and their mid-life crises. It was about this time that I turned down the girls by trying to flee the scene lest they take me in some drunken orgy. (Sorry guys -missed opportunity, I know.) Luckily, M an P decided they wanted to get out of there and we headed over to the W. I called the guys, wondering where everybody was and was told they all flaked, essentially. After a short stint at the W, we cabbed it to Shakespeare's where some friends were just closing their tab. I then spent the last of my cocktail money on yet another cab (it's cool, though - the cabbie & I discussed our favorite Shakespeare plays all the way to my car) and we then car-pooled ourselves to the aforementioned POKER PALACE. We drank beer, played darts and then headed home around 1:30. (P & I thought there were some vibes between E & M. We're trying to play Matchmaker here... I'll let you know what happens...) I got home around 2:30 to find my sweetie waiting up for me... awww...

I know this is getting a bit winded, so I'll try and wrap this up. They say pictures are worth a thousand words, so here is our epic journey to the Wild Animal Park, in a photo-journalistic style:


Me, on the way to the park



Now Marisa, on the way to the park



Meerkat, already at the park



Wyatt didn't want to hold the bird.. thought he would get pooped on



Cool yellow plant



Avant-garde, blurry parrot picture


Okay.. that was my weekend... Over & Out!