Friday: Pricks and needles

An inauspicious start to the weekend. Doubt and insecurity fills in the holes of a blank conversation, one that noodles around to nowhere in particular. The irritating thing about doubt and insecurity? They never really go away for good. They will hide under rocks and in the cracks of your mind, and seep out again and again. You know what I'm finding works well on them? Ignore the fuckers. Find other things to do, other things to talk about. Repetitive activity is a good way to lose them (laundry) as is more creative activity (painting). And if you can drive your friends to a party in Providence to wish someone a happy birthday (who looks resplendent in their black dress) well, that's one of the best ways to send those dark thoughts slinking back into the cracks.
The house was awash in red: red lights, red food, an all red Twister board. Oh, and red drinks, of course. Many unfamiliar faces, but a few familiar ones. Lots of sitting and just taking things in, relaxing, and sharing a few coy glances. General sleepiness was overtaking me though, and a quick Red Bull later we drove back to Boston, which long talks about patience, the importance of trust, and hopes for the future.

Saturday: Rush, rush, fret, bemuse, arouse, cringe, inspire

Much of the day consisted of traveling around the area shopping for Thanksgiving goodness. Lots of supplies and provisions were picked up, including a 21 lb turkey. I also got to spend time with a friend who lives nearby, but I know mostly online or at parties. I sold him on the new Front Line Assembly album, which we got to hear in it's entirety as we drove from Waltham to Arlington to Fresh Pond to Porter Sq. Our good procured, we grabbed dinner at Christopher's and warmed ourselves by the fire. It was also the first meal I'd eaten all day. Which made it taste all the better.

Saturday night reminded me how silly people can look while engaged in the "pursuit of happiness". There nothing like watching pretty goth kids walking around with balloons and garbage bags bigger than they are full of nitrous. The atmosphere of the house was very nice though: food and drinks downstairs, music and massages and the tank on the next floor, and the Plur room upstairs. I spent a fair bit of time in the music room, just relaxing and chatting with people prior to watching the stars fall.
The drive to NH was exquisite. All road trips should be like that one.
What awaited in NH was as painful as the drive up was wonderful. My friend dug up a relic from the 80's called Hell Hole, about a doctor who drugged patients at an all girl sanitarium ... for reasons that were never clear to us. It was an awful movie in the way that few films can aspire to; its cheese and gratuitous nudity and lack of plot transcended badness into goodness, and slid right back into badness. It was She bad.
If you've seen She, you know what I mean. You poor, poor bastards.

And in the end, the heavens made everything all right. We intrepid few staggered out into the cold NH night, frozen grass crackling under our feet, zombie jokes ringing out in the air. Most of us stood and watched. I threw my bean bag chair down, plopped down in my down jacket, hat, and gloves, and threw a blanket over me. I was warm. Flat out comfortable, as the meteors began to fall in earnest. Two, three, once five at a time. Each rock that burned up in the atmosphere and left a glittering trail silenced the jokes and bawdy comments for a time. We moved to a few different locations, and traded all sorts of comments back and forth, until the others needed to retreat to the warmth. It was good to hear everyone talk, I threw out a comment here on there, but for the most part my attention was on the beauty in the heavens.
Until at last, between five and six, sleep came.

Sunday: reflect, revel, ridiculous!

Waking up slowly and naturally is a wonderful feeling. Waking up to a cacophony of snoring is not. But only a few hours of sleep were to be had after a night of meteoric excitement, and as soon as enough of us staggered awake we got breakfast. On the cheap, and pretty tasty. Lots of talk about game was had, some good, mostly bad. For my part, I'm having a great time in game, but I will conceded that a lot of the good may be coming from the player level. But even so, this is a very good year for the VHS.
The drive back was quiet and reflectful. Shower and a quick nap, then out to another delicious dinner at Hana's, then off to Hsieh's swinging bachelor pad for a viewing of Invincible. My god, it was like a modern day version of Hell Hole, but with a few major plusses. Some pretty choreography HK action style (wires and leaps and crazy effects), Billy Zane delivering some truly awful, yet funny dialogue... and that was about it. Wretched movie, but a great time was had by all. And in the end, I finished off the last bit of varnishing in the attic, and my friends was completed. Finished. Kaput. Done.
A wonderful capstone to end my weekend on ... before the drudgery of today took place.

I know I said that life outside college doesn't have to be boring and mundane. But sometimes, it is. Deal with it. :)