Good Times

6:11 p.m.

I totally forgot to mention that my friend Chris Nielson came down and hung out with us on Friday, also. Chris is my mormon friend - he goes to Brigham Young University in Utah and has been away in New Jersey for two years doing missionary work (the door to door thing), so it's been a long time since I've hung out with him.

I wasn't sure what to expect when he came back. I was sort of afraid he'd be slightly more hardcore about his religion, maybe try to quote some scripture at me. Which would be fine, but I'm pretty stuck in my own ways - I'm not really very ripe for any sort of conversion. Also, he'd been hanging out in the absolute fucking ghetto for two solid years. I was preparing myself for just about anything.

Chris is the exact same guy he was in high school, right down to his haircut. I was both relieved and happy. Those that know me realize how well I react to change, so seeing the same old Chris was absolutely wonderful. Especially since everybody else I know (including myself) really isn't the same sort of person since back in the day.

Yesterday was fun. Stephen and I hung out and talked, grabbed some lunch, watched a movie (eXistenZ - Stephen is a big fan of director David Cronenburg - he's the guy who directed the remake of The Fly, if you're wondering), worked out at the A&M Rec Center, hit up The Tap again, and went swimming.

Talking was good. Stephen reads my diary and he found he expressed similar interests and sentiments as I do in many of my entries. My entry on people from high school spurned a long conversation on who's doing what these days. He also told me a lot about what's been happening with him. He's apparently dating again - his new quasi-girlfriend (they've been together a short time) has quite an interesting occupation. I'm not so sure I can mention it here without his permission. I'll just let you guys guess. You'll probably come up with crazier stuff than she actually does, anyway.

The movie, eXistenZ, was.....well, interesting. David Cronenburg has this really bizarre fascination with fleshy, gooey, gyrating things. The movie was about a virtual reality game that features controllers that look like large flesh bags with gigantic nipples for buttons that you tweak and flick, and a long umbilical cord that plugs into your "bio-port" - which as far as I could tell was just an additional sphincter in your spine. This movie had Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jude Law, and Willem Dafoe in it too. Good Lord.

Working out was great. Texas A&M's rec center is like one gigantic health club. It's a ridiculously nice facility, and Stephen made sure to tell me that more than once.

I'm pleased with my work-out routine now. I've finally gotten to where I can run longer without tiring myself to the death point, and at the end of my work out I don't feel like collapsing - I just feel like I've been worked pretty hard. It's a good sort of worn out - like I accomplished something. It takes a while to reach that point, I think, and I'm glad that I'm finally there.

For dinner I made us pilaf rice and chicken that I'd marinated in an Italian dressing. While we ate we talked about cooking methods like a couple of girls.

Stephen: So what kind of a marinade is this?
Lee: I make my own Italian dressing and let the chicken soak in it overnight. Normally I might let it soak longer but since you're here I put it in early. I hope that it still has some flavor.
Stephen: Oh, yeah, it tastes really good. Did you sort of heat it in the oven or sear it in a pan?
Lee: Oh, I let it boil in its own juices down in the oven. I feel like it soaks up all the flavors better that way. Don't worry, I trim off the fat, so it isn't as though it boiled in fatty runoff.

Then we hit The Tap, and before anybody gets excited - yes, I saw my waitress again, and no, nothing came of it. She was almost bipolar, the way she acted. One time I'd talk to her and she'd be warm and receiving and do things like touch my arm and smile, then I'd come back a little later and she'd practically give me the cold shoulder - never even look me in the face. If all that was a game of some kind, I'm not really into it. I'd prefer some consistency, thanks.

I could never even find out if she even had a boyfriend already or not. I may be able to talk to girls without much problem most of the time, but I've never found a way to ask them if they're single without being way too blatant for my tastes. Most girls find ways to work their relationship status into a conversation anyway - especially if they're either with somebody, or both single and interested- so it's not like there's much to be done.

At a certain point I more or less threw in the towel. When I passed by her or she came by I'd chat with her, but I stopped going completely out of my way to find her.

Stephen claimed, "Bitch doesn't know what she's missing out on, man. She's snubbing ya - you don't need that." I shrugged my shoulders and said that she probably already had a boyfriend, or at the very least just had a policy about not getting too chummy with bar-folk. This, to me, just seemed understandable.

Still, there was nobody at that table that could wave off her immense hotness. I liked Stephen's explanation of it. "She's like Southern Hot, you know? Spicy. Trust me, I've been up north. When I was interning at the Supreme Court in D.C. I saw a lot of girls come through - many of which were hot. But this type of hot can only be found down here, man. It's ridiculous."

I know he didn't mean it that way, but Stephen's comment sort of made a sign light up in my head that said, "Perhaps Out of Your League. Try again."

Of course, girls being out of my league never stopped me before. But when the interest isn't there, it becomes an exercise in futility and frustration. However, it did inspire me to try harder to meet new women - something I haven't really done since Andria and I broke up. The fact that I was able to hold this woman's attention for as long as I did at least convinced me that I'm still charming and cute, in a dorky sort of way.

Kudos to me.

Ah, and everyone got drunk. It was grand. Right up until I made the mistake of ordering a pineapple martini without fully realizing what it was going to look like. Talk about a girly drink. Served in a huge novelty martini glass, and it's this bright red - I had to walk all the way across the bar with it - by the time I reached my table I'm sure my face matched the beverage.

But wow, was that ever stout. I was soaring by the time I finished downing it.

Todd got so wasted. He kept pawing at his girlfriend and she kept slapping his hand. Joe and I were dying. He bumped into people and got loud and boisterous. Oh, that Todd.

I stayed pretty reserved for most of the bar - it wasn't until we got home that the full effect of everything we'd drunk slammed home. I know we went to Whataburger later on, but I don't remember anything from the time we left the bar to about halfway through sitting in that fast food place. Lordy.

Then, of course, everybody went late night swimming. Well, everyone but Todd - he got sort of sick, if you know what I mean. Five or six Long Island Iced Teas and a big glass of Guiness will probably do that to you.

By the time we were all ready to turn in, Stephen admitted to me that this was, "The best weekend ever."

Let it never be said that Lee doesn't know how to show you a good time.

Listening To: Kylie Minogue - It's In Your Eyes, Rooney - Blueside, Garbage - Parade

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