Drink a Little, Mock a Little

I was very much looking forward to coming home and working on this puppy last night but there was a meeting of the Mutual Admiration Society last night (hey - the acronym is MAS as in "Mas tequila por favor!") and well, let me just say that I'm amazed the car wasn't parked on someone else's lawn when I woke up this morning.

On good nights when Joe, Jake, Bruce and I are together the MAS just goes round and round buying each other round after round. The evening begins with some mild mocking (Joe mocks Jake, Jake mocks Joe, Joe mocks me, I mock Joe, Bruce mocks everyone) and then moves swiftly to Jake announcing he's leaving, one of us offering him another beer and then, of course, reunion of Jake's ass and the bar stool (this is re-enacted several times throughout the evening). As with many bar outings in many different crowds, it's a good night if no one goes home crying. It was a good night.

I wish I had something hysterical to report but it was a bad day at Black Rock....thus, I will leave you with this: http://www.thelonelyisland.com/bingbong.html - not for the faint of heart.

AND ONE MORE THING: I've been experimenting with going commando because, well, sometimes underwear is just a pain....or not clean...or not the right color for my outfit and/or bra. I've had some suprisingly good and some "what was I thinking when I left the house panty-less this morning??" moments. So, here's my question folks: for or agin undies? In what situations? I need input (wait, that might be another blog - ah ha! Tomorrow's topic - "Put Out or Get Out!").

TTFN!

Courtesy of Jose Cuervo and Insomnia

I'm tired. Ridiculously tired in fact. I have not slept through the night since Friday, June 16. The onset of my insomnia, perhaps not so coincidentally, coincides with a wee quarrel I had with a certain someone over my recent clingy and possessive behavior...not for nothing, but HAS HE MET ME??

Let me tell you, it is no accident that 'mother' and 'smother' only differ by one letter. My whole life I've been motherly and over-attentive to the people I love. Case in point, they call me Mama at work and tell new hires that the first rule of working in the club is "Don't piss Mama off!"

At any rate, I'll attempt to get right to the point because I'd like to get into bed and NOT sleep as soon as possible. While I was frustratingly awake last night at some obscene hour of the morning I thought, oddly enough, about The Velveteen Rabbit. You remember the one about the childhood toy whose owner loved him to bits, quite literally, and that was what made the velveteen rabbit real. Well, it occurred to me that I was loving the stuffing right out of people. I love them so much I love the eyes right off their little bunny faces, the fur off their hossenpfeffer hides, and the cottontail off their rabbit rears.

The truth of the matter is that folks, especially men, like to keep their eyes, fur and tails thankyouverymuch. I've never really mastered the art of having without holding and I can make people (yes, you!) insanely angry with me. I figure one day I'll actually stop freaking menfolk out but considering my ability to be continuously kicked in the ass by life and relationships without learning my lesson and altering my behavior - it might be a while. Now, I know that you all know that all this excessive attention and fretting comes from a good place I want you to also know that I do realize how annoying it can be. I'll try to do better next time but in the meantime, the best advice I can give you is just to smile, pat me on the head (or the ass if we're cool like that) and say "Love you too."

Princess, Party of One

Doing things alone has never particularly bothered me. During a horrendous break-up a few years ago I discovered first the pleasure of going to movies alone. It's great. If you're one of those people who watches the credits you can sit back and relax without someone nagging. Conversely, if you wish to dash for the door as soon as they pull the plug on the Million Dollar Baby - sprint away.

My next adventure was to go to a bar alone. See, I wasn't always the experienced lush I am today... anyway I actually made the majority of my friends in Verona by simple parking my tush on a barstool and waiting for someone to talk to me. As a result I have become a regular (which sounds a lot less like a direct ticket to rehab than barfly) at The Parkside Lounge which sounds a lot more glam than it is as evidenced by this photo of what we fondly referred to as the White Trash Living Room. What began as a few old wooden chairs outside the back door so the smokers had a place to sit became the beginnings of a trailer park when our dear friend Bill Barrett decided to haul his old pink recliner up onto the stoop. Rumor has it that The Parkside's proprietor Drew damn near fainted when he saw that one...this photo is all that remains.

There was a point here somewheres!! Yes, ridin' solo...it can be a lovely thing but, of course, on some level, it reminds you of how much you enjoy the company of others. I had a VERY quiet weekend -- I was out for just 45 minutes on Saturday night - long enough to determine that my buddies were staying in - and about an hour today. Although I was looking forward to seeing my boys today (I saw Jake and Bruce for about 10 minutes each but Joe was a no show - no doubt still trying to conquer his Mao biography) and missed having our usual Sunday hijinks it makes me look forward to Happy Hour tomorrow night all the more.

The Maiden Voyage

The sun is over the yardarm has always been one of my dad's favorite phrases and since I've developed a great love for Happy Hour it has occupied a special place in my pantheon of favorite lines too...though no one ever understands it. Thus, for the record:

SUN IS OVER THE YARDARM - "(time for happy hour to begin). This expression is thought to have its origins in an officers' custom aboard ships sailing in the north Atlantic. In those latitudes, the sun would rise above the upper yards - the horizontal spars mounted on the masts, from which squaresails were hung - around 11 a.m. Since this coincided with the forenoon 'stand easy,' officers would take advantage of the break to go below for their first tot of spirits for the day. The expression washed ashore where the sun appears over the figurative yardarm a bit later in the day, generally after 5 p.m., and the end of the workday."

June has been an interesting month. It was my 31st birthday on the 14th and those directly involved, I'm sure, are happy that I was not blogging at that time. It wasn't the best day - HOWEVER - the week leading up to was (to use a Joe Meyer word) lovely.

On June 4, to backtrack to a happier day, our intrepid crew roadtripped to the Crawfish Fest.

This is the crew (me, Joe, Maurice and Capt. Jerry) minus Jake who is taking the picture. It was a terrific day all around. We ate, drank, listened to awesome bands including LITTLE FEAT and most of all laughed our asses off. It was such a good day that we couldn't stop talking about it for damn near 2 weeks.



In this next pic it may appear that I've fallen over but I SWEAR I haven't...eet wuz jes' a few beeeers Ma! I just couldn't resist including Jake in his festival outfit!


If I can get the pics of him doing his Little Feat dance scanned in they WILL make an appearance here! We actually have a ton of great pics from that day thanks to Jake.




Anyway, this was a long sucker. Gotta catch up ya know! Today I'm off to get a haircut which always terrifies me. I'll let y'all know if I look like a poodle when I get back - I'm sure there should be a Princess of Patron rating system for how bad a thing is - one, two, or three shots.

Cheers!