get out of the house more

On Thursday I met a couple of close friends out for beers and we spent the evening talking politics, film, and generally catching up. On Friday I went to a cookout and then spent the remainder of the evening with my (now ex) girlfriend. On Saturday I ran a few errands, did work around the house, and went to bed early in anticipation of the kayaking trip on Sunday.

Ahhh…the kayaking trip. What an adventure that turned out to be. For those of you unfamiliar with the Southeast, we are undergoing a severe drought right now, and the water levels in the Broad River reflected this situation. My kayak must have gotten grounded at least a dozen times and many parts of the river were no deeper than a bathtub. Although I had a great time just being with my friends, the lack of water made the entire experience a little frustrating. The blistering sunburn I received, however, made it all worthwhile :)

Finally I got relax today by volunteering at a cat shelter adoption center and cleaning the filthy boxes and cages of 20 very, very unhappy cats. Apparently the people normally responsible for this little chore went out of town and failed to tell anybody. Nice. When I told the Pet Smart manager I was here to clean the cages, she scowled at me like a negligent parent who doesn’t wash their children. Sigh.
It was great weekend overall, but I think I’m looking forward to the peace and quiet of an average workday.

A friend called me tonight an asked if I wanted to go kayaking this weekend with a group of people. I’ve been kayaking once before, in the Virgin Islands, and it was an adventure that was fraught with embarrassment.

By all medical standards, I am not a small man. While I stand a mere 5’11”, 22 years of weightlifting and 36 years of eating have combined to give me a, shall we say, high center of gravity. I believe the local vernacular is fat ass.

The river is close to Athens, GA (home of alma mater UGA) and is not particularly challenging, so I think I’m going to try and avenge my former shame and do it again. Wish me luck!

This was certainly a less than memorable weekend. My back was killing me, my girlfriend dumped me, my mom got pissed off, I found out my yard will cost an extra 1000$ to complete, my milk went sour, the cat puked on the carpet and I ran out of beer.

I’m just waiting for the plane that will inevitably crash into my house.

On the surface, this weekend would sound mundane to most: On Friday night we went bowling and then came home and drank beer. On Saturday we went out for breakfast, took a nap, and then went out for Mexican food. On Sunday, we went out for breakfast and she left.

Now, here is the real story.

On Friday we did go bowling, and the five year old in the next lane was kind enough to offer my girlfriend some tips on her form. He he he. Having enjoyed a couple of beers at the alley, we decided to indulge in some cold suds at home. I broke out the full yard glasses, she fired up the stereo, and we reveled in a hillbillies paradise until 3AM.

After a good five hours of sleep, we ate breakfast, and then took a nice nap. When we (well, I) woke up, we made love and then laid in bed and listened to the thunder in the distance.

OK, time to eat.

We went to a local Mexican dive and, during the course of our meal, were treated to a little entertainment, compliments of the local meth addicts. Seems they were arguing over who was allowed to beg in the parking lot.

Since it was still early, we decide to go have a drink, and what better place than the (primarily) gay tavern where we had our first date. Nothing beats being a straight man and having the bartender at a gay restaurant recognize you and your girlfriend. We had a couple of drinks and laughed our asses off with the rest of the crowd. We came home, made love again, and then fell asleep listening to the rain.

This morning we woke up early and hit a new place for breakfast, an experience that was…ummm…interesting. Since it was freezing in Atlanta today, so we jumped under a quilt as soon as we got home. We snuggled up, talked, and laughed for two hours straight before finally drifting off into a nice, tranquil, afternoon nap.

Do weekends get any better than this?

Stayed home Friday night and got turd-balled with my girlfriend on Long Island Ice Tea’s and White Russians. I was definitely feeling every one of my 36 years on Sat. morning. We hit a deli for lunch, did some shopping, took a short nap, then hit an awesome sushi place for dinner. I whipped up a batch of terrible tasting mojito’s later that night. I used to make those all the time, but I guess I’m out of practice. Wrapped up the weekend with a very entertaining breakfast at IHOP. You always see an eclectic mixture of church folks and hungover Saturday partiers on Sunday mornings at the IHOP on Clairmont. Observing the contrast in the lifestyles of the two groups made for a humorous conversation. I’m proud that I’m part of the later group and not the former.

I spent the weekend at my girlfriend’s place…a huge step for a guy who loves being in his own house. On Friday night she made me a gourmet dinner followed by a bottle of champaign (or two) and a round from The Book of Questions. On Saturday morning she prepared what I would probably consider the best breakfast anyone has ever made for me. Afterwards went for a hike through a state park and then headed to her mom’s house where the three of us whipped up a kick-ass dinner together complete with a nice bottle of wine. After dinner we went back to her place, had a tequila shooting contest, and crashed. This morning we cured our tequila blues with a greasy breakfast at IHOP and a nap.

Now that is a good weekend!

Let’s see. The same girl I went out with last weekend came over Friday afternoon and we began what eventually became a 43 hour date…no bullshit. We went out to see The Last King of Scotland on Friday night, then headed over to my favorite pub for a couple of drinks. We got back to my house around 11:00 and then popped open a bottle of champaign I had in the fridge. We finally got to sleep around 4am then woke up at 9am. I fixed breakfast and later we went out for Mexican food. After that we went to the dreaded Lenox mall to do some shopping then headed out for Italian food before finally falling asleep around 1:00am. She made me fix breakfast again this morning and we finally parted ways around 1:30pm or so. I am utterly exhausted right now. I think I’m going to switch this goal to Stay in the House More :)

I had a date this weekend and we had a really good time just downing martinis and talking. We went to one of my favorite local pubs and just sat there and talked for about 3 1/2 hours. It was so fun to get out of the house and actually go somewhere with someone. Hmmmm. I might have to break my self imposed moratorium on dating and start doing this more often.

Met a couple of friends out for a long lunch. It was freezing-ass cold, but it felt good to get out for a few hours.

Well, it was worth the ten bucks just for the food, but the “art” was pretty lame and the AC kicked on just before the auction. Since I was freezing my ass off, I decided I had made a respectable enough appearance and made for the front door and came back home to the comfort of my furnace :)