Two Little Pictures

Treasure Cay



















On our way out to catch big fish. It was like I was in The Perfect Storm. Sans George Clooney. And sans big killer storm that kills us all.

Confessions of a Greeting Card Addict

I love sending cards. Cards of encouragement, cards of thanks, birthday cards, happy [insert any occasion here] cards, etc. I think it's a nice, meaningful way to tell someone you care. And usually when I'm at Target doing a quick little card run, I buy a few extras. I find it's always useful to have some extra birthday/ encouragement/ congratulation cards on hand. In case, you know, by chance you forget something important. Or in case someone's having a really bad day.

Well, on Monday night, things got a little crazy. I was feeling particularly loving towards everyone I know, and as I perused the card aisles I kept coming across cards that would be perfect for specific people on specific occasions. Even if those specific occasions weren't any time near now. But how often do you find perfect cards like that? So I gave in to this little streak of good luck and decided to buy any card that seemed like it could be right for someone someday. After all, soon I will not be able to buy anything.

(That, BTW, is the excuse I've been using for every purchase I've made lately. It's got to stop. And it will. Soon. I promise.)

And so the pile grew and grew.

When I went to check out, the thought occurred to me that this might be sort of expensive....with the cards ranging from $3-5 a pop I realized it was possible, nay likely, that all this would cost more than the $10 I had planned on spending.

And, well, I was right. I walked out of target with a brand new pack of Pina Colado chewing gum, enough greeting cards for every known (and unknown) event in the next several months, and $75 less in my wallet.

BTW WTF

I love acronyms.

Or, ILA.

One Part Odd, Three Parts Perfect

So here's the official update on my trip. It really was fantastic. And full of surprises! Some of those surprises were, shall we say, annoying. But most were good. We ran into the father of a friend of mine. He keeps his boat at our hotel's marina for several months a year. So it was nice having a father-type person around to point us in the right direction about what to do and not do. Also, he was pretty generous and bought us dinner a couple of times and arranged a trip for us to a hard-to-get-to beach using his preferred taxi driver. And then, he surprised us by paying for the trip! Here's a list of observations and experiences. (BTW, lists are something I default to when I am overwhelmed by all the things I want to say. Just a little insight into my twisted little psyche).

Observations:

• Abaco is the largest island in a chain of islands on the outer north-east edge of the Bahamas. It is the sailing capital of the Bahamas because the islands (mostly called Cays) are small and close by. If you go east from the outer-most Abaco Cays, you would hit Africa.
• Because it is a sailing capital, there are marinas everywhere and most restaurants are on the water and have slips where boaters can drive up to and park at for their meal.
• It is such a remote island that there really is not a lot of tourist-y things, like shops. There are a few but they are small and have odd assortments of tacky t-shirts related to drinking too much rum and faded, dated postcards.
• Because the islands are pretty removed and probably rely mostly on other larger islands for their food and produce, there isn't as much fresh fruit and produce as one would expect in a tropical island place. We didn't see any pineapple or mango, for example. And items in grocery stores are expensive.
• Bahamian food, at least in these islands, consist pretty much of fish related things and there are also a lot French fries (fish and chips--related to their British history). A popular breakfast dish, for example, is Tuna and Grits. I didn't order that.
• Conch fish is served everywhere. I was scared to try it though, because a conch is basically a big snail?!? But, I do like the big conch (snail) shells and managed to collect several.
• Conch is pronounced Conk. Some spoiled, rich Fort Lauderdale boys who liked to call me "LA" taught me that lesson by laughing at me when I asked if they were eating Conch.
• Bahamian people are VERY nice and VERY laid back. We actually found that it was sometimes difficult to communicate with them. Not because of a language barrier, but more because it was like they just sometimes didn't understand what we were asking. An example: My question--"Can we get to Green Turtle Cay by taking a ferry from Elbow Cay?" Their answer--"You have to take a ferry. But you can't go to Green Turtle Cay." See? Just a little off...
• The Bahamas are a British commonwealth country so their currency has pictures of the Queen on it. And they drive on the left. But they sometimes use left driven cars. Sometimes though, right driven cars. This makes for an odd experience.
• Despite the Bahamas being tropical, there are not that many bugs. This is because there is not all that much fresh water. And for that matter, not a whole lot of land. For most places we were at you could easily walk between both sides of the island within 20 minutes. Our hotel, for example, was on the east-facing side of Abaco but we ate dinner and walked to the little town which was mainly on the west side of the island daily.
• Bahamians EXCEL at bread products. Their pancakes and bread were perfection. And I had the best apple pie of my life there. Several times, in fact.
• They don't have nearly enough ice cream or frozen treats down there. There's a market for it though...
• Bahamian beer, Kalik, is good stuff. It's a cross between Corona and a European Heifeweizen (sp?). So it's light but wheaty. Good stuff.
• Bahamian sand is the most perfect sand I've ever been in. It's white and soft and powdery. Some of it is pinkish because of the coral reefs all around. And it doesn't ever burn your feet no matter how hot it is. I'm not sure why...
• The water was clear and beautiful. It could have been a few degrees warmer, but it wasn't cold enough to stop us from going in it.
• The islands are surrounded by very shallow water, but not far off from the coast the water drops off quickly. When we went fishing we were in 7000+ deep water only a few miles out. This means, there ARE sharks.
• The Bahamas are a part of the Bermuda Triangle.
• Bahamians don't consider their islands part of the Caribbean. That is because it is entirely surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, and does not touch the Caribbean Sea. This doesn't appear to be considered fact though, at least, to the rest of the world (and travel guide books!).
• The airport at Marsh Harbor is SMALL, outdoors, unorganized. Sometimes your luggage gets there, and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes the staff is helpful and sometimes they are not. But there IS a band greeting you when you step off the plane. When we landed they were playing a song about someone who was "drunk again...every weekend."
• Cuba has it's mojitos, Puerto Rico has the Pina Colada, we're still not sure what the Bahamas has. But it's got a lot of Rum. That is what we know.

Some of the activities we did:

• We rented bikes, but there really weren't that many places to go. It's VERY small.
• We went to Treasure Cay, which National Geographic has listed as one of the top 10 beaches in the world. It was probably the most striking beach I've been on. It is 3 miles long and formed in a half moon. The sand is perfectly white, the water is shallow for a few miles out so it's turquoise color almost glows at certain points of the day, and for some reason the beach is EMPTY. Seriously, there were maybe 25 people scattered across all three miles of it in total. There were about 10 near us off and on.
• Treasure Cay has many perfect little sand dollars. I took some.
• We went to Elbow Cay. Hope Town, it's only town, is the most darling little seaside place I've ever seen. It is tiny, colorful, picturesque and it's bay is guarded by a red and white stripped light house--it was like something Disney would create, if they were trying to create a perfect seaside town.
• Hope Town is one of the places groups of loyalists fled to after the British lost the Revolutionary War. There are still many loyalist descendants living there. We met one, in fact.
• My favorite beach in the world, hands down, is on Elbow Cay by the Harbor View Hotel. The perfect white-pink sand, the water, the emptiness, the palm trees leaning out over the beach from bluffs scattered with long wild grass, butterflies everywhere. I am not sure why NO ONE was there.
• We had dinner at the Jib Room, which is famous for it's Wednesday night cook outs. You have to call in and reserve your seat from your boat radio thing. Fortunately, my friend's Dad did that for us. It was good and fun. After dinner they had a live steel drum band and a limbo contest.
• You already know about the deep sea fishing adventures. See Marlin Darlin' for details.
• We walked A LOT, everywhere. Many times, on sand. My calve muscles got a great workout!
• I managed to get a good even brown tan. Without much effort and without any burns. Of course, now I've aged myself some but I adored every minute of the time I spent in that sunshine.
• I took about 400 pictures. Don't worry...I expect only about 150 will be worth sharing.
• I collected many perfect, white seashells, read a great book lounging under grass-hut umbrellas perched haphazardly across white sand empty beaches, and napped afternoons away between palm trees on a hammock.

Trip to the Abaco Island Chain, The Bahamas: A lot of money
A week of perfect relaxation in one of the most beautiful places on earth: Priceless

Priceless

In following with my past post-trip posts, I am going to summarize for you SOME of my experiences in the Bahamas in a non traditional list.

Using a Bahamian ATM that sometimes gives you cash, and sometimes doesn't: $200
Understanding the sensitivity of foreign ATMs: Priceless

Getting your luggage back after it goes missing: $60
Learning to ask "perhaps my luggage arrived before me?" when your bags appear to be missing: Priceless

Eating during Easter on a remote island: $25 (for a chicken wrap!)
Realizing that Easter Monday is also a holiday: Priceless

Calling home to figure out another way to get cash (see ATM issue above): $88
Discovering that calls from "International Credit Card Phones" are maybe NOT the best way to contact the US: Priceless

Treating a sudden and mysterious heat-induced rash-allergy-thing by buying single doses of expired Benedry: $30
Remembering to pack non-expired packages of Benedryl when traveling to the tropics: Priceless

Drinking a few Kalik beers at the pool bar one evening before dinner: $12
Meeting nice, rich fishermen at the bar who want to show off their prowess by taking you on their multimillion dollar boat for the day: Priceless

Ordering a large cup of coffee from the only coffee-shop on Abaco: $4
Discovering that there's a reason the Bahamas are not known for their coffee: Priceless

Buying Wheat Thins at the local supermarket: $4.50
Understanding just what it means (cost-wise) to grocery shop on a very remote island: Priceless

Eating a good fish meal of grouper or conch: $20
Appreciating that that's pretty much all you'll be eating for dinner every night: Priceless

Souvenir Shopping: $100
Learning how difficult it is to buy souvenirs in places that don't really have touristy-shops: Priceless

Buying an 80's inspired post card of a woman with big frizzy hair wrapping her arms back over her head and around a Palm Tree: $0.50
Laughing for several minutes at the tacky, faded postcards on display: Priceless

Despite some of the "priceless" lessons I learned, I had a fabulous time!

Tomorrow I'll write more about the actual content of the trip.

Marlin, Darlin'

Here's a little teaser related to my trip last week.

There was a big fishing tournament going on at our resort. The island we were at was very removed and very small. So the resort and the whole area really was overrun by rich, outdoors-y, yuppy deep-sea fisherman and their big, multimillion dollar fishing boats. There really were no women around. So even though we weren't necessarily into meeting these guys, they were kind of into meeting us.

Some of them actually took us out fishing one day.

And this is what I have to say about that group of people: It is a fascinating sub-culture that I feel is subconsciously focused on making men feel more manly. It's all about BIG powerful boats, with HUGE fishing rods propped up all over the back of the boat, "hunting" BIG powerful Marlin with BIG long bills that they cut off and keep later as a trophy.

'Cause you know, having a long marlin bill that you attained while sitting in your fishing chair that has big fishing rods sticking up from the middle-front (read: crotch area) of the seat can make a guy's pee-pee just a little bit bigger.

But I digress. The people we went out with (whom we lovingly nicknamed "The Boat People") were very nice and providing. I had fun with them!

More on the BPs and our other adventures to follow.

The Frog on Another Blog

I'm back but really busy. I'll write more about the trip and everything later. But for now, here's a little something interesting.

I submitted a conversation to the Overheard in the Office and it got posted! Of course, it was posted while I was gone (on April 19th) so it's on the fourth page of posts now...but you can access it here: 10 am budgets due

And, just because I know I can trust you all...I have a small confession to make. The rules about the Overheard page is that it has to be a conversation you overheard. And actually, this was a conversation I was involved in. In this little scenario, I played the role of "employee". I know, I'm a bad, bad person.

Please note: this post marks the advent of proper link usage here on the frog. Hooray! Feel free to celebrate as necessary.

One, Two, Three....Jump!

Earlier this week I decided that my official position on "my space" is as a non-participant. While I could definitely see myself getting into it, I decided that it would not, nay, SHOULD not be my thing. Yep, there would be no bandwagon jumping on my part. Between emailing and this blog, I just don't have time to monitor and maintain another life-in-review online forum.

The thing is, I actually do have a space. But I have done nothing with it. And I only joined it so I could hear some song someone had on their space (you had to be a member to hear it, supposedly). So I never uploaded or formatted or personalized anything. But you see??? This is precisely how they rope you in to their microcosm (read: cult). Since I unofficially became a member, two friends have found me and invited me to be their "friend." I ignored them because, well, we already are friends. For reals. Like, in true life.

And, let us not forget that I AM 28...28 year olds don't play at games where you "invite" others into an inner circle.

But then...it happened. I was invited to join a group of my elementary/junior high school alumni. I haven't seen a lot of these people since I was 13. And hearing how they're doing is actually appealing to me. I wouldn't want these other group members to see a big "no photo uploaded" message whenever they check out who the other members are. Argghh...now I actually have to set up "the" space!!!

Because of these new circumstances, my official stance has done a 180.

Pop culture is forcing me to bandwagon hop. I'm a victim here.

Overheard in the Laundromat

The Setting: Wednesday night, 11pm, neighborhood Laundromat

The Characters:

Scruffy Manager: 50 something, graying hair, full gray-ish beard. Disgruntled and annoyed with the crap he has to deal with on a daily basis. Interested in getting the job done. Not overly friendly if he can help it. But open to chatting should the subject matter be to his liking.

Chatty Customer: 50 something, less disgruntled. No facial hair. Really into talking about anything to anyone who will listen. Possibly gay, as he refers to his "partner" often.

Cell Phone Boy: 30 something, slightly over-weight, sloppy clothing. Always on his cell phone and very interested in baseball. He dons a baseball cap and a head-band. it's less about personal style so much as it is about him not knowing what personal style is.

ML: upper mid 20 something, stylish yet casual in her loungewear, glasses and reef thongs. Observes the room, keeps to herself, periodically reading the too-large paperback, Shantaram and intermittently staring off into space.

(begin scene)

(scruffy manager is walking around the Laundromat, cleaning up and removing quarters from the machines. Chatty customer is desperately looking for someone to talk with and begins chatting casually with the scruffy manager. Cell Phone Boy has recently ended a cell conversation about baseball and is now flipping through a newspaper. ML is busy carefully folding and sorting some newly fluffed laundry in the corner.)

Chatty Customer: My partner is in an opera later this week. Do you ever go to the opera?
Scruffy Manager: Yeah, I love the opera. My wife and I used to have season tickets. Last year we saw La Boheme and Carmen.

(ML tries not to openly drop her jaw in surprise at the fact that these two men are discussing opera.)

Chatty Customer: Well my partner is going to be in Aida.
Scruffy Manger: Aida, really? How'd he manage to do that?
Chatty Customer: It has something to do with his wife.

(ML perks up a bit at this point as now it is clear that the Chatty Customer's partner is not a lover.)
Scruffy Manager: Opera is the best. You never see as many beautiful women in one place as when you're at the opera.
Chatty Customer: Yeah, my ex wife used to agree. And now my maybe-girlfriend is worried about what to wear when I take her next week. But maybe I won't take her...she may be my ex girlfriend. We're still trying to figure that out.

Scruffy Manager: (silence...he doesn't want to go down that path)

(ML nods to self, as now she is certain Chatty Customer is not gay.)

Scruffy Manager: Where is Aida playing? Dorothy Chandler?
Chatty Customer: No, somewhere in Orange County.

(Silence. Each goes about their own business for a few minutes.)

Chatty Customer: So I think Aida takes place in Egypt. Or maybe it was Turkey. I am pretty sure it's Turkey. And it was a long time ago! (chuckes to self, he thinks Ancient Turkey is funny)
Cell Phone Boy: (moving from the washers to the dryer area and using said movement as a way to insert himself in the conversation). Actually, I think it was Turkey.
Chatty Customer: Yeah, ancient Turkey. (chuckle, chuckle)

(ML, grimaces as she tries to keep it to herself that Aida does in fact take place in Egypt, and not Turkey. She is determined however to not join the conversation. As listening to these random three men discuss opera in a laundry room late at night is far too interesting to mettle with by participating. ML finishes folding laundry and leaves the men to chat more).

Chatty Customer: The other day I was doing laundry and I took a shirt out of the washer and all these diamonds fell out.
Scruffy Manager: Yeah, I find a lot of diamonds in the washers here. I am not sure if they're real but I take them home to my wife 'cause she always says I don't giver her stuff.

(exit ML, grinning to self)

(end scene)

Ah....you just never know what you're going to encounter in the social plexus that is the Laundromat.

Dumbus Boyitis Virus

By the way, aside from my neck knot, my lymph nodes on the back of my neck are swollen and sore. This means there's some sort of infection my body is fighting. It's pretty common and unlikely it will lead to anything other than sore lymph nodes, but it at least explains why I am tired.

And if I were to guess what it is that my little lymph nodes are infected with, I would say it's a case of "Dumb Boy." It's a very common ailment that many women suffer and recover from daily, the world over. Fortunately, it is easily treatable by common over-the-counter medicines such as shopping, good movies, and possibly ice cream. I hope to implement a consistent regime of such things starting today to generate a speedy recovery from this pesky virus.

Run virus, run.

A Pain in the Neck

Last night I rearranged my room.

When you're feeling a little out of control in your life, it's good (from a psychological standpoint) to do something that makes you feel back in control. Rearranging stuff or redecorating a room is a healthy way to do that.

I'm not sure how I like it though. There are certain good things about it, and I think it will be better when I finish (I can't finish until I have a stronger person with power tools around to help). But at least it's different and that's nice. I did, however, manage to give myself a large knot in my neck during the process. I'm not sure if the neck knot is related to the heavy lifting and pushing, or if it's more about general stress. Either way, I'm sure a good dose of beach vacation will fix that right up.

So last week someone I know found out I was studying the nervous system in class. He thought it would be fun to quiz me on it and asked, "so...if I had a problem with my nervous system, where would it hurt?" Smugly, I responded that usually problems with the nervous system involve nerves being blocked/severed/damaged in some way. And since it is our nerves that let us feel, if one is blocked, what will happen is a lack of feeling (as opposed to pain). So someone saying, "Oh god, the dorsal route ganglion off of T2 hurts!" is not something you hear too often.

Of course, on the test there was a question about what would happen if the glossopharyngeal nerve (cranial nerve IX) were severed and like an IDIOT I put it would lead to jaw pain. That's what I get for feeling smug.

Good Things from Other People

New Favorite Quote:

"Nothing happens until something moves."
-Einstein

I believe him and I try to live this.

New Favorite Insult:

"I think you have a problem with your brain being missing."
-from an episode of Firefly

This one is great when applied with sarcasm towards the actions of friends and family. They'll love you for it.

Nemisi Update: 2 out 3 have responded and we are discussing plans to meet up soon.

KC update (friend from SD): After a total of eight years of friendship spiked with 3 years of distance, I finally know her. I understand the problems and why they existed. I also realized that what I thought was effective detachment was really just me holding my breath. I am relieved and happy and sad that I wasn't able to understand before and help more. I cried the whole way home.

Catharsis...good for the soul.

Thank God It's....the 90's?

I don't think there is anything more "90's" than TGI Fridays restaurants.

Maybe it's time for them to update things a bit. Surely they can find a new 21st century friendly decorating scheme to replace the red and white stripes and tacky pin-clad uniforms...there's gotta be something better that.

I remember in high school I used to think TGI Fridays was the coolest place to hang-out.

Now, not so much.

I wonder what today's 16 year olds think.

Goodbye Nemesi*

This weekend I am going to see my old friend KC. We met about eight years ago and become close friends. It stayed that way through the end of college. But after that, she got into drugs and during those times, we practically lost contact all together. But now she's clean and pregnant and I'm going to see her this weekend for the first time since 2002!

Maybe because of this, or maybe because of something else, I've been oddly nostaligic. And this has inspired me to systematically go through old emails and contact people I haven't talked to in years. The funny thing is that this isn't limited to people I like. I am actually contacting people I had a falling out with too. I would say that I have had about 2-3 "nemeses" in my life, and I am slowly working my way through emailing all of them too. Today I emailed JF from my time in England. I literally said this:

"Hi JF. So this is probably a bit unexpected, but I wanted to email you and say hello. I know things ended strangely with us, and I apologize for my portion of all that. In light of X, I've thought back a lot on our times at X and I miss you. And since I won't be able to go to X, I thought I would try emailing. I would love to hear how you're doing. So, if you feel like it, write back."

(BTW, "X" stands for a detail that cannot be shared due to The Frog's confidentiality policy)

After that I contacted my friend VM to get the email for another nemisis from the past, JC. I am going to email her next. I'm not sure what to do about the last nemisis, KS. We'll see on that one...

Maybe this is about clearing the air over things that time has turned trivial. Or maybe this is about me facing big changes and "spring cleaning" to make way for new chapters. Or perhaps this is all about me preparing for the improved and wisened 28 year old version of ML, launching in August 2006.

*I know nemesi isn't a real word, but it feels like it could be an alternative to the actual plural version of nemisis. And, it happens to rhyme with good-bye. So I took the liberty of using it.

Pick Me. Choose Me. Love Me.

I want to live in a world that Joss Whedon creates. I want to talk like his characters and interact with other people who talk like that too. Seriously, he is a genius and I love anything he creates.

I am re-watching the Firefly series lately and I forgot how funny the dialogue is, how brilliant the stories are, and how rich the character development is. It's probably one of my top five favorite TV shows of all time.

And following that, I thought I would list my top five TV shows of all time. But it's more challenging to do than I thought. The first three were no-brainers (please note, 66% of the top 3 hail from the great mind of Joss Whedon):

1) Buffy the Vampire Slayer
2) Sex and the City
3) Firefly

The rest are hard to place. Some shows I LOVE because they're on now and I look forward to them a lot. Some shows are not on now, but they're really fantastic. It's hard to weigh something I used to love with something I love now. How do they compare? Only time will tell if current favorites will become all-time favorites. So instead of trying to figure that out and estimate which ones will become classics in my world, here's a list of all those that COULD be added to the list one day. Depending on future episodes and on the competition.

Runner-Ups and Potential List-Makers

• Rome: A la typical HBO style, fantastic themes, perfect placement of plot tension, and multi-dimensional characters.
• The Office: GOD it is funny! but an all time favorite?? Not sure
• America's Next Top Model: I'm not sure a reality show can be included here. But if the amount of enjoyment I get from watching the show is the most important criteria, then this show deserves placement. But it's lacking in all the other things I like in a TV show...like depth.
• Gray's Anatomy: I enjoy it A LOT. It's funny and it's got attractive people fumbling through life in a hospital backed by a great soundtrack. I love the characters too. But not sure if it can be an all-time favorite yet...Of course, the fact that it's a contender makes me think of my favorite line from Ms Meredith Gray (and by favorite I mean most annoying--It's never too early for sarcasm): "Pick me. Choose me. Love me." Well maybe, Meredith, I will. As long as you stop talking in a constant whine.
• Invasion: I'm into Sci Fi. Sorry. And this show is cool. Plus, not many sci-fi favorites stay on the air for long. One can't forget Threshold or Point Pleasant...(sigh).
  
  Honorable Mentions
• I thought about adding Lost to the runner up list but sometimes it's just annoying. It doesn't give me enough each week. It is a big TV tease.
• I thought about adding 90210 because it was a long-time favorite when I was younger. But then so was Saved by the Bell and Party of Five. So I don't think any of them can make the cut.
• I thought about adding Desperate Housewives, because I love how the themes discussed in Mary-Ellis' commentary play out in some capacity for most of the characters each week. But picking this show somehow would feel cliché. And it's good, but it's not like I can't wait to see it each week.
• I would pick Friends, but again, it feels cliché. I do, however, frequently watch re-run episodes when there is nothing else on. So it rates somewhere.

Here a Secret, There a Secret

Almost everyone I know is struggling with something these days. I myself have had a hard couple of days (that is in case no one picked up on yesterday's subtle post). But I find that as I grow more calloused, I also become more resilient. 28 years of groping around with this life will do that to a person. And now I feel pretty good about things again. Which is nice.

But in light of how I felt and in light of everyone else's daily challenges, I came across something that I think is beautiful and hopeful, in an unexpected way. It's a blog (and book) that publishes anonymous secrets.

By reading these stranger's secrets, you are letting this unknown person share something of her/himself to you. And what they confess is probably something that touches upon an emotion or an experience that each of us have felt in some capacity at some point. So this unknown person is opening up and sharing a piece of their life by touching a piece of yours. It's a beautiful way to connect and to be reminded of our humanity.

I also find all this secret-divulging hopeful. We all struggle with our own "stuff." We all have secrets. They might all be different but we all share in the experience of it all. And it's nice to be reminded in such a pure way how the space you occupy is tucked in amongst all the space everyone else occupies.

My favorite one is this:

"All my presentable writing has always been about a blind boy who will never be able to read my words."

Check out the blog at: http://postsecret.blogspot.com/

And mail in your secrets, if you so choose! I am. And I think there will be some redemption in the confessing.

A thought...

Sometimes, life can be really, really hard.

Because I’m 28

So last night, very unexpectedly, I ended up going out with TCN and his trusty side-kick PW. I hadn’t eaten much food that day (including no dinner) and so I got a bit drunk a bit fast, and sure enough, the conversation between TCN and I turned towards our favorite topic, us. I don’t really remember how the conversation started, and I do remember repeatedly saying things that started with a “Well, I’m 28 and…[insert drunken pearl of wisdom here].” Which is funny for two reasons 1) I’m not 28, and 2) By pulling “I’m older then you are” logic, I actually acted more like a five year old.

Our conversation went on for a long time…so much so that PW ended up hanging out with others at the bar, and the random people we met throughout the night asked if we were married. A lot of other things were exchanged…he doesn’t think we’re friends, he thinks I just use him, he reminded me that he doesn’t like casual relationships, and he said my photography was too obvious. Some good things were exchanged too…he likes my new hair cut, he wants to go to this one photography exhibit we’ve talked about before, and he admitted, unsolicited, that sometimes he isn’t all the nice to me and feels guilty about that.

Of course, things turned romantic later in the night, and today things are back to the way they have been (a friendship). But I did enjoy this little exchange:

TCN: “I was so drunk last night…I think I still am.”
ML: “Well let me recap it for you: We’re no longer friends and my photos are obvious.”

LOL.

He responded to this with a sheepish smile, and commented that he vaguely remembered all those conversations. He retracted his friend comment, but not his photography one. So we’re still “friends,” I guess, but I’m never letting him live the photography one down. Which is going to bring me great pleasure when he asks me again about looking at my Hawaii photos.

The funny thing about the whole night is that it made me realize that I really am over him. And he was right, I think I do use him. But that’s okay, because 28 year olds can do that sort of thing.