I spent most of the last few days feeling pretty sick. The birthday was a very low-key event, with just me and Miss Charming Melodee. We ate a meal at Blue Ribbon Sushi in Park Slope, which I'd heard wonderful things about. It was just alright. Then a few drinks at Great Lakes, even though we were both tired and didn't really feel like it. But I was feeling like and old man, and if I'd just gone home all pooped I would've felt even worse.
Gifts I bought myself included the new version of True Romance on DVD, a new watch, and a copy of Entertainment Weekly, bought solely for the pop-culture quiz. I scored a disappointing 65, though it should probably have been around 70. With MCM's help, we scored about a combined 75. Also disappointing was the watch I bought, which looked pretty cool but didn't actually tell the time very well. And for a hundred bucks, I felt like I should be satisfied with my purchase, so I took it back. Not disappointing at all was the True Romance dvd, which I have already watched twiced, largely because when I got home on Thursday my cable teevee was on the fritz and won't be back until this weekend. This was one of my favorite movies back in the day, and I'd forgotten how great it was. Along with seeing Pulp Fiction for the first time in years recently, I'm really going through a Quentin Tarantino renaissance lately.
So on Saturday, MCM and I met up with Geoff and his sometimes ladyfriend Elizabeth, and saw the movie Anger Management. Niether MCM or I really felt like seeing this movie, but movies are enjoyable in general, so what the hey. I'd have to say the best parts were the trailers for the new X-Men movie and the new Matrix movie. After the movie, we took in dinner at Jeollado, the large sushi restaurant on 4th st. While we were eating, a girl screamed really loudly. Everyone stopped and stared, which was very reminiscent of an elementary school cafeteria when someone would drop their tray and the whole room would go "Oooooo!" to chide the clumsy dolt. Then we saw this girl being restrained by one of her friends. Miss CM found out later from a girl in the bathroom that apparently this girl had been pretty loud for a while, and some dude asked her to shut up or simmer down or whatever. Which led to the screaming. Then she punched him. Which led to the restraining, as well as him calling the police. We thought it was some sort of ex-girlfriend/boyfriend melee, but appartently it was just some drunk crazy bitch being loud and punching dudes in the head. It was largely entertaining.
Afterwards, Miss CM and I walked around Soho for a while, killing time. We couldn't find anywhere to sit and wait out the cold, so we sat in the Angelika movie theatre's cafe for a while. Then we hiked back down to the Broome St. Bar, where we were to meet Jen, Jed, Matt, and assorted others for some drinking. They had been unusually adamant about me coming out that night, offering belated birthday drinks and whatnot, so while I was feeling rather piqued, I trudged down to the bar instead of just going home. It turned out the evening was largely based around the playing of a little ruse. I thought it was odd that Matt had his video camera, and found it strange how one of his friends kept filming me in particular, but none of this really clicked. So at one point, Jed's claiming to be all drunk and whatnot, beating me on the chest, and mentions to me how nice he thinks Jen looked. He says if he just turned toward her and started making out with her, she'd be all into that. I agreed, but he wanted to bet me anyway that he would do it. Once Jed gets fist-pounding drunk, I'm pretty certain he'll do whatever he says he's going to do. So I bet him a single dirty dollar, knowing full well he'd do it. Still, when he grabbed her and planted a big sloppy kiss on her, it was extremely shocking. I couldn't even watch. It was kind of like watching my brother and my sister making out. Matt looked stunned, as did everybody else. Though, as it turned out later, Miss CM and I were the only one of the ten people there who weren't in on it. Jed soon revealed that he and Jen had been doing this regularly for a few days now, and were trying to come up with the funniest way to tell me. In the most immediate way, it was a big fucking shock, two friends who've known each other for 8 some years getting together. But in another way, I wasn't surprised at all. I'd kind of been expecting it for some time now. Just seemed somewhat logical, them hanging out all the time, enjoying each other's company and whatnot. Still, it's really weird. And I didn't like watching my reaction on the videotape.
What'll be most interesting is the subtle way this will change the group dynamic. Some cast as before, but different roles and situations. Have I mentioned how weird this is? Even though I might've thought it would happen sooner or later, the actual reality of it is still throwing me. I mean, when we met for drinks, I thought we were just going out. I didn't know it was a double date.Speaking of weird, I keep seeing this guy I went to school with. A taller gentlemen who was a year ahead of me. He was a nice guy. Never talked to him much, but always friendly However, he'll always be somewhat tainted to me because of his thing for Rodzilla. I don't know if he knew I was dating her or not at first, but at one point I'm pretty sure he knew. He didn't really see her while we were dating, since he'd graduated already, but he would send her things. Sort of elaborate things, in nice packaging, that obviously required a lot of time. This never really bothered me, in a jealous boyfriend way, but at the same time it kind of bothered me, in a normal human being way. It just seemed a very odd thing to do. Poor devil. Perhaps he can take some solace in the knowledge that it didn't work out for me either, his most serious competition at the time. I just happened to come across something I wrote about this about four years ago, after she'd spent a not-too-pleasant afternoon with him at the end of her senior year:
This particular friend often sends her gifts in the form of James Taylor cd's, flowers, framed pictures, and mounted concert tickets. Hmmm.... I send Rodzilla flowers from time to time...But I don't think I've ever mounted anything for her. When I pointed that out to her, she replied "Oh, he mounts everything."
Speaking of Rodzilla, she was part of an ensemble cast in my dreams the other night. I called her up to ask for my desk back, which she actually does have, or did have the last time we spoke. There was a rather awkward moment in the dream where she met Miss CM. I've been having a lot of weird dreams again. All I know is, I would really like that desk back. I'd had it since first grade.
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