The thing about having a fun weekend is that your Monday morning turns out to be not so much fun. Not just because you have a case of the Mondays or because you have to work late or anything, but because you didnāt do your weekend chores, and hence you have nothing for breakfast, or lunch, and youāre not precisely sure where your black v-neck shirt is. Itās because instead of doing your laundry or going to the store you actually went out and had fun and were social.
So my Friday was not the best Friday ever, in that I was cranky and tired and sort of bedraggeled and unhappy. I went full time with the new J-O-B last week and while thatās very exciting in its own way it has also turned out, somehow, to be a little lonely and frustrating. Iāve gone from working in a very tight-knit office where everyone was always talking about American Idol and Stampinā Up! parties and babies and foiling the bossā office to an office where itās just me alone in this huge room, shivering and reading academic article after academic article. Eventually there will be more people in here and eventually Iāll be seeing patients and so wonāt have as much time on my hands. Thatās what happens when you start up a grant. In three months Iāll be complaining about how much work I have to do, and Iāll look back on this time fondly. But still, Iām a little lonely and I donāt have much to do right now and I am conscious of the irony that I am supposed to be encouraging other people to exercise when Iām not very good at that thing myself.
So I wasnāt in a great mood on Friday. I was in an even less great mood when I discovered that My Friend Manyaās baby hit his head and freaked her out (theyāre both okay,thankfully). Meanwhile, some friends were trying to have a girlās night. I say trying because our various significant others just wouldnāt leave and they were putting somewhat of a damper on our deep desire to drink pink drinks and talk about weddings and babies and things of that nature. Yeah, I really am in my late (very late) twenties because like, thatās what we talked about. No sex, drugs, or rock-n-roll, although we did enjoy listening to the new Nada Surf CD while we were there. Also, there were some very nice pink Rice Krispy treats.
And! And I got a pair of kick-ass shoes to wear on the trip and everywhere else forever more! (Mine are black although I like those a lot too). They make me look like a cartoon character, which is all to the good as far as Iām concerned. AND I got them on sale. Woo!
After such a busy Friday, what with getting shoes and eating Rice Krispy Treats, Saturday morning was all about keeping it on the down low for me. When I finally did roll out of bed it was to go to a bridal shower for my friend and next door neighbor Erika, one of Carlās housemates. It was a high tea, this shower, and it involved much yumminess in the form of cookies and jam and clotted cream (sounds gross, tastes great) and, most fetchingly, many itsy little sandwiches with the crusts cut off. I love those. They make me feel dainty. I ate about sixteen of them. Interestingly, this was the first bridal shower Iāve been to (and, oh, honey, Iāve been to a lot ) wherein the bride-to-be received as gifts not one but two sets of pruning shears and a large complement of rubber gloves. Ostensibly they are for gardening purposes (to be fair, she did get a lot of very nice plants) but Iām not so sure.
On the way to the shower Iād stopped in Ballard at my friendsā house to change into a very cute little skirt I just got, and while I was there I laid in some groundwork for seeing Ianās 10:30 show that eveningā¦the same show that I missed last weekend because, you know, I slept for twelve or fifteen hours. I went back to their house and hung out and had dinner; there was a girl there from France and you know I was all, āOooh, France! Iām going to France! Ah, the France, how I love it! Cāest magnifique!ā like a complete idiot. Fortunately it was soon time to go so we trucked down to the U-District and got in line with a bunch of high schoolers drinking bubble tea. I got a comp ticket.
Itās a pretty small theater. The audience was made up primarily of the aforementioned high schoolers, whom I found deeply, purely, thoroughly annoying in a way that didnāt suggest I was ever an annoying teenager at an improve show, which of course I was at one point. I rolled my eyes so hard at these kids that Iām sure the un-ironic use of the phrase āGet off my lawnā canāt be far behind. There was also a bachelor party there. I rolled my eyes at them too.
This was the first time Iād seen Ian perform more traditional improve stuff, the kind where they get suggestions from the audience and play games and things like that. As always, Ian was the funniest person on stage, but the whole thing was really fun. I gave two suggestions: ārainforestā and ātherapist.ā I felt all cool that I knew someone on stage and I got all the gossip about who the various players were from Ianās wife Katie, who sat next to me. And I was also a little proud of myself for staying up past 10:30. And for not eviscerating any teenagers or bachelor-party attendees.
Sunday I had a brunch-and-shopping date with two fantastic women. We met at a very nice place in Capitol Hill for crepes and then went to do some scandalous shopping. I was early to the crepe placeā¦even after getting lost and having to call Carl for backup directional supportā¦and everyone there was way cooler than me, as is, Iāve noticed, often the case when I go to Capitol Hill. I was intimidated and had to go outside to fret and suck in my stomach and pretend that my band had played really late last night (past 10:30, even) and call Sundry and whinny that she and Peachy needed to get there, like, now. And they did, and we ate crepes, and I drank hot chocolate out of a bowl, which is totally the coolest way to drink it. And then we went shopping, and then we walked up and down Broadway for a while, and then Sundry and I found a syringe on a bathroom floor, which I guess is all too common for that part of town. And then we went to a very nice used bookstore and talked about how Peachy and Sundry were perhaps now too old for this part of town, and how I very likely had always been too old for that part of town. Sundry took some pictures and we laughed and talked and generally enjoyed ourselves.
I went home for a while and almost missed my bellydance class because of being tired, but I hauled myself up and got into my coin belt and drove over to the class and did pilates and danced around. And then it was time to go home and not cook, not do my laundry, and not clean my house. I was pretty tuckered out. I love weekends like that.