ID4 - A weekend recap

Well, I didn't do much for July 4 last year. This year it was decently busy. I resolved an "issue of the mind" with a neighbor early on Friday, cleaned up the place in the afternoon and met up with David and Kate in the back bay later in the evening. We then biked over to Jason's place in Roxbury for a few hours of celebration. It was pretty dark on Jason's roofdeck. But the food was really good. Once I pointed a finger at a girl,

"That girl looks good, dude."
"Gopi, please, don't ever point a finger like that. It offends people."

Now David's advice on dating and women has always helped me out in the past. So I had no hesitation in jogging that piece of advice down in my memory. But I really couldn't catch anyone else's eye and everyone seemed to just stick to their known group of friends. Blech!

Anyway, David and I decided to leave around 11.30. Kate, who was in earnest conversation with a Tobey Maguire type, decided to hang out longer. We stopped at Buks for a brief drink on the way back. I had to watch it since I am not as used to alcohol and I still had to ride a bike home. We ran across this attractive blonde Bridie (or was it Birdie?) there, whom we had seen before on Friday nights at Buks. She was a bit drunk -- tell me about it -- and switched between me and David in her stupor. Then, as the night wore on, I noticed David had a hand over her thigh and then later on her belly. She didn't seem to mind. At one point, I could see most of her black lace bra. All of that is not unusual in a night like that. Still after a while, I started feeling bad (more so at myself than her) and so gestured to her to prop her gown up properly, which she did and giggled,

"That doesn't happen all the time!"

Yeah, I am quite sure it doesn't :) Anyway, I decided to pull out...I mean, leave. It was real late anyway and I had to meet up with Alexa for coffee in the morning.

Later Saturday morning, after mulling over a piece of advice -- my second for the weekend -- from Alexa and having profusely apologized to her for what I had thought was a helpful comment from me, I seriously pondered whether I should go to Revere beach despite the gloomy weather and then decided against it. And a girl I had met online was a no-show in Harvard square in the afternoon. I was a few minutes late in getting to a coffee shop there. Who knows. Maybe some other guy "snatch"ed her up and went up a tree. The occasional tree does grow in Boston, y'know. But the other good thing about a city like Boston is that since there is always something to see and someplace to walk into, you can change your plans on the fly. So at the end of the day, you can go home feeling like you have done a lot, when in effect you have never really accomplished anything. And so I returned home later in the afternoon and made myself a shepherd's pie.

After a power nap, I received a text from Kate. She didn't want to go clothes shopping like we had planned. After the previous night and a long Saturday at the bike shop, she was dead on her feet. I was wondering what to do -- remember I don't do too well if I am home Saturday nights -- when David called in. He wanted to watch the UFC. I was elated. So he came over and after about an hour of pizza, wings and cigars in my roofdeck, we went down to my apartment just in time to order the event. Barring one listless fight, the rest of the fights were pretty exciting. Both of us agreed that Rampage Jackson should have won his close fight with Forrest Griffin. But I guess the UFC may have seen Griffin as more marketable. Griffin definitely tried a variety of fighting techniques while Jackson seemed content to remain on his feet and box.

I went to bed immediately after David left since I had to be up only a few hours later to catch the Asia Cup 2008 final between India and Sri Lanka. The match started around 4.30 AM EST on Sunday. After the innings break (around 8.30 AM), I propped up the volume. It didn't matter. India got thrashed! What the f*ck was Dhoni thinking sending in Yuvraj against a clearly in-form Mendis? And what the bloody hell was Raina, who had impressed me very much with his performance in the recently concluded Indian Premier League, thinking going crossbat against a straight one from Mendis who had just claimed the wickets of Sehwag and Yuvraj? I almost had a fever come on watching these guys underperform! Anyway, the match ended early in the afternoon and I decided to go see my folks. I hadn't been to the gym for about six days. So I was practically twitching just thinking of the weights in their basement...and ended up lounging on their couch in front of the TV for the rest of the day.

All in all, a decent weekend, wouldn't you say? But next time, even if it were a gloomy summer weekend, I am gonna go to the beach anyway. It can't be an unhealthy experience and it might just be good for my soul to get a little bit wet behind the ears now and then.