Massive Nights
(For those who like their blogs to be a multimedia experience, may I recommend hypem.com/#/track/828892/The+Hold+Steady+-+Massive+Nights as a soundtrack to this tale?)
Friday night I went to two parties full of boys.
First, the nerd boys, to celebrate Ian's return. Mike and Andrew, Andres. Eric there with Anna, despite the breakup. Maggie too.
Fun fun. Bonfire down by the river. Discussion of nerdy things, Dune, Magic, WoW, etc. chimed in with the occasional fact or opinion, but mostly rude comment. Mostly met with laughs, and that tiny amazement someone with ovaries would know what gold farming was, much less its legal status in China. (Mostly I came away thankful I kept up on my industry reading, Andee, time to catch up on Penny Arcade). Eric especially seemed amused by the off-hand snarky comments that boil out of me in those situations.
John Knapp and Rhys called to tell me that I should be at their party instead, by 10 at least. Which was good, because on Wednesday, John Knapp and I agreed to party together three times before I'm gone for the fall. By 20 to, they were calling me repeatedly, and when I didn't answer, calling others at the party, in order to talk to me. And we did go, Anna, Eric, Ian and I. The least double date there ever was. Ian got falling down drunk. John Knapp, Eric and Rhys all were perfect gentlemen at keeping a drink in my hand, Eric in particular, who had started giving me beer from his personal 6 pack down by the river. John Knapp was overly concerned with my smoking, even wrestling my pack away from me at one point. Rhys talked to me like we'd been so close and hadn't caught up, which I suppose is somewhat true. Rhys, Anna and I decided the guy whose house it was kinda a douche, and it would be funny for him to get busted for the party. We proceeded to hide beer cans around his house: in the tree house, in the grill, down the laundry chute, in a light fixture. Rhys pissed off the tree house onto the garage. John Knapp, even after the sake they convinced him to drink lots of, treated us to some lovely jazzy piano in the sitting room. Rhys stole a family photo from the wall, and later a cookbook. If I have ever seemed arbitrary or capricious to you, please recall that I pale in comparison to my friends here.
Rhys and John were both intrigued by Anna and me discussing "practice dates", and the likelihood of either of us going on them this summer. (Her: maybe, me: slim to none). John especially was curious, hurt when he thought we wouldn't tell him about it, and understanding when we did. Rhys was betrayed I hadn't told him about my experience with edibles, and thinks we should smoke with John before I go back.
By the time we left, Ian had to be helped into the car. We fir him into the front seat, leaving Eric, Rhys, John and I clown car style in the backseat. Luckily, we didn't have far to go to drop John and Rhys. The trip to Ian's house was mostly Eric harassing Ian for the cookies he thought we left in the backseat. After Ian got out, the conversation took a turn for the less expected. I got the front seat, as Anna was getting fed up with Eric. For his part, Eric decided he should argue with me about how ditched who for the plans to see Public Enemy with Anna and Jet. He asked "I hope this isn't offensive or anything, but what are the parties like in lesbiantown?", so I could understand how confused he was when he first started out with us, and our parties were all sobriety and Disney movies and Frito Pie. Remembering things now, I had actually invited him to visit Mills at Ian's party, because he said he was coming to California, and I was remembering that I actually thought he was a fun dude. From the talk of defining "parties", we moved to discussing what drugs we'd done or seen people do. I mentioned that the people I'd seen on shrooms had been boring. Happy, but boring. The trips were not unbelievable. He proceeded to speak rapturously about some shrooms he had once. "Like, if there was a beautiful naked woman in front of you, and these shrooms, you'd choose the shrooms". He's never done them though, but wants to, and was suddenly, in that drunken way, regretful he and I couldn't do them together.
FInally, as we closed in on my house, Eric asked if he could text me, even though he and Anna were broken up. He almost never texts me, so I was confused. I told him that if he did, I'd just tell Anna about it. He insisted it was a simple question, he was just looking for a yes or no. Could he text me? I said if he needed a definition for a word or something -- honestly one of the few things I could think of him texting me about -- he probably could. But that's all he asked, that's the only thing he could text me about? I left the car, confused about what else it would be about.
It wasn't until the next day I realized what shaky ground I'd been on. Anna's not huge on her friend being drunk, or discussing drugs. Anna doesn't like Eric drunk, doesn't like him talking about drugs, doesn't, in all honesty, like him talking much to girls who aren't her at the time. Even if they aren't "together", they are certainly still significant others. The bonhomie of inebriation wasn't helping.
Luckily, Anna and I had plans to meet up again, about 6 hours after she dropped me off, so I could help her clear out her sister's old room so she could move into it. I was still slightly drunk (or at least felt that way) when I got there, but I managed to say the right things to unlock the "Eric was weird last night conversation", in which she admitted she doesn't like to see him "acting like he's single". I don't quite know what she meant, other than the drinking. And I'm not convinced it was me.
It was even weirder when I considered that almost a year to the week when I last had this thought process about how I had forgotten that a friend's boyfriend was so much fun to hang out with, and it was a shame their relationship was on the rocks. Which, as dedicated readers will know, led to Silly Choices: Summer '08 Edition. I usually like to imagine putting my predictions about what wacky bullshit I'll get myself into in a sealed envelope. Mostly I do this by telling someone about it, usually Andee. Like when I thought I was choking, I thought it was important to make mention of that, not so someone could save me, but so I could fit that one post-mortem "I knew it" in. Have to say, if I had made a sealed envelope with a "Top Three People I'll Flirt With More Than Is A Good Idea" this summer, Eric would not have made it on there.
Not that I even think anything is going to happen. I am certainly much further from dating Eric than I was from dating Alex, and I care much more about Anna than I did Kamieka.
Anna and I are working on her room again tonight. We were supposed to see Public Enemy, but Eric backed out to see a concert instead.
Fun fact: June 13th was the last weekend I didn't drink.
This week: try to fix bathroom wall Wednesday, play pool; go to an Art Crawl with Rhys on Saturday; ???
After all, the most interesting parts of last week weren’t really on the calendar beforehand. There's little enough summer left that I am trying to consider what I actually want to get done before I go back.
To steal Jess’ words: Here I am, week!
Friday night I went to two parties full of boys.
First, the nerd boys, to celebrate Ian's return. Mike and Andrew, Andres. Eric there with Anna, despite the breakup. Maggie too.
Fun fun. Bonfire down by the river. Discussion of nerdy things, Dune, Magic, WoW, etc. chimed in with the occasional fact or opinion, but mostly rude comment. Mostly met with laughs, and that tiny amazement someone with ovaries would know what gold farming was, much less its legal status in China. (Mostly I came away thankful I kept up on my industry reading, Andee, time to catch up on Penny Arcade). Eric especially seemed amused by the off-hand snarky comments that boil out of me in those situations.
John Knapp and Rhys called to tell me that I should be at their party instead, by 10 at least. Which was good, because on Wednesday, John Knapp and I agreed to party together three times before I'm gone for the fall. By 20 to, they were calling me repeatedly, and when I didn't answer, calling others at the party, in order to talk to me. And we did go, Anna, Eric, Ian and I. The least double date there ever was. Ian got falling down drunk. John Knapp, Eric and Rhys all were perfect gentlemen at keeping a drink in my hand, Eric in particular, who had started giving me beer from his personal 6 pack down by the river. John Knapp was overly concerned with my smoking, even wrestling my pack away from me at one point. Rhys talked to me like we'd been so close and hadn't caught up, which I suppose is somewhat true. Rhys, Anna and I decided the guy whose house it was kinda a douche, and it would be funny for him to get busted for the party. We proceeded to hide beer cans around his house: in the tree house, in the grill, down the laundry chute, in a light fixture. Rhys pissed off the tree house onto the garage. John Knapp, even after the sake they convinced him to drink lots of, treated us to some lovely jazzy piano in the sitting room. Rhys stole a family photo from the wall, and later a cookbook. If I have ever seemed arbitrary or capricious to you, please recall that I pale in comparison to my friends here.
Rhys and John were both intrigued by Anna and me discussing "practice dates", and the likelihood of either of us going on them this summer. (Her: maybe, me: slim to none). John especially was curious, hurt when he thought we wouldn't tell him about it, and understanding when we did. Rhys was betrayed I hadn't told him about my experience with edibles, and thinks we should smoke with John before I go back.
By the time we left, Ian had to be helped into the car. We fir him into the front seat, leaving Eric, Rhys, John and I clown car style in the backseat. Luckily, we didn't have far to go to drop John and Rhys. The trip to Ian's house was mostly Eric harassing Ian for the cookies he thought we left in the backseat. After Ian got out, the conversation took a turn for the less expected. I got the front seat, as Anna was getting fed up with Eric. For his part, Eric decided he should argue with me about how ditched who for the plans to see Public Enemy with Anna and Jet. He asked "I hope this isn't offensive or anything, but what are the parties like in lesbiantown?", so I could understand how confused he was when he first started out with us, and our parties were all sobriety and Disney movies and Frito Pie. Remembering things now, I had actually invited him to visit Mills at Ian's party, because he said he was coming to California, and I was remembering that I actually thought he was a fun dude. From the talk of defining "parties", we moved to discussing what drugs we'd done or seen people do. I mentioned that the people I'd seen on shrooms had been boring. Happy, but boring. The trips were not unbelievable. He proceeded to speak rapturously about some shrooms he had once. "Like, if there was a beautiful naked woman in front of you, and these shrooms, you'd choose the shrooms". He's never done them though, but wants to, and was suddenly, in that drunken way, regretful he and I couldn't do them together.
FInally, as we closed in on my house, Eric asked if he could text me, even though he and Anna were broken up. He almost never texts me, so I was confused. I told him that if he did, I'd just tell Anna about it. He insisted it was a simple question, he was just looking for a yes or no. Could he text me? I said if he needed a definition for a word or something -- honestly one of the few things I could think of him texting me about -- he probably could. But that's all he asked, that's the only thing he could text me about? I left the car, confused about what else it would be about.
It wasn't until the next day I realized what shaky ground I'd been on. Anna's not huge on her friend being drunk, or discussing drugs. Anna doesn't like Eric drunk, doesn't like him talking about drugs, doesn't, in all honesty, like him talking much to girls who aren't her at the time. Even if they aren't "together", they are certainly still significant others. The bonhomie of inebriation wasn't helping.
Luckily, Anna and I had plans to meet up again, about 6 hours after she dropped me off, so I could help her clear out her sister's old room so she could move into it. I was still slightly drunk (or at least felt that way) when I got there, but I managed to say the right things to unlock the "Eric was weird last night conversation", in which she admitted she doesn't like to see him "acting like he's single". I don't quite know what she meant, other than the drinking. And I'm not convinced it was me.
It was even weirder when I considered that almost a year to the week when I last had this thought process about how I had forgotten that a friend's boyfriend was so much fun to hang out with, and it was a shame their relationship was on the rocks. Which, as dedicated readers will know, led to Silly Choices: Summer '08 Edition. I usually like to imagine putting my predictions about what wacky bullshit I'll get myself into in a sealed envelope. Mostly I do this by telling someone about it, usually Andee. Like when I thought I was choking, I thought it was important to make mention of that, not so someone could save me, but so I could fit that one post-mortem "I knew it" in. Have to say, if I had made a sealed envelope with a "Top Three People I'll Flirt With More Than Is A Good Idea" this summer, Eric would not have made it on there.
Not that I even think anything is going to happen. I am certainly much further from dating Eric than I was from dating Alex, and I care much more about Anna than I did Kamieka.
Anna and I are working on her room again tonight. We were supposed to see Public Enemy, but Eric backed out to see a concert instead.
Fun fact: June 13th was the last weekend I didn't drink.
This week: try to fix bathroom wall Wednesday, play pool; go to an Art Crawl with Rhys on Saturday; ???
After all, the most interesting parts of last week weren’t really on the calendar beforehand. There's little enough summer left that I am trying to consider what I actually want to get done before I go back.
To steal Jess’ words: Here I am, week!