2004-06-01 - 12:15 p.m.

On Friday night, the Roommate and I got to watch the Sox and she made me a salmon burger, which she can feel free to do again whenever she wants to.

The Roommate and I got haircuts together on Saturday (yes, we�re quite domesticated) and then a beer with Hallie and her friend K, who does indeed exist. Everytime we hang out with Hallie, we get at the very least one or two stories about this girl, but we had never met her, and I was beginning to wonder...

The four of us headed from Brookline to Jamaica Plain--I felt bad marching the two very hungry girls through the streets of JP, but the Roommate and I did enjoy the walk. We had a nice dinner at Doyle�s--Sean and his awesome buddy Seigo met up with us there, as well as his old friend Aaron, who I hadn�t seen since college--him and Sean were roommates at a certain apartment by Sullivan which has become, in their absence, the Center for Elitist Bohemian Advancement.

Julianne arrived a little later, to complete the party, and everyone enjoyed their food and beer.

The eight of us headed across the street to the Midway after. It was nice--we were very early and had the place to ourselves. It did get packed after awhile, and the first band was actually a kid in jeans and a skirt and mismatched tennis shoes who sang and played an electric. I thought he was pretty good for what he was trying to do, but more importantly, his performance turned out to be pretty good fodder for future discussion.

The (ex)�s band went on next and they were very fun to watch. I thought the Midway was a great place for them to play--there�s a lot of love and openness and positivity at that place already, and they fit in pretty well.

We left midway through the last band--the Roommate and Julianne and I took a cab and the rest (minus Hallie and her friend) went in Aaron�s car. We beat them home and were able to get Chinese too. I had plenty of beers up for grabs in the fridge, and we had a good time.

The next morning was Bickford�s and stickers from the vending machine, and the Roommate and I talked for hours about how nice Seigo was to pick up the tab to repay the hospitality, beer, and food. Class act--the Roommate and I are great hosts--we�re like a home base for some of our friends, and while we never ever expect or encourage stuff like that from people, it�s really nice to see it and the debate over whether or not we would accept the generosity was quite brief.

We said our goodbyes and I made sure each of them knew they were welcome whenever they needed a place to stay, and then the boys drove off in Aaron�s on-star equipped car. (And on-star has since appeared in all of my dreams--that thing is creepy.)

The Roommate and I putzed around Inman after that and I got a cast-iron singing cowboy bottle opener which we later dubbed Winston Raul Cowboy. I like him.

The rest of our Sunday was pretty much just putzing, and we rented three movies from Davis and watched them all that night. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, T3, and then The Boy Who Could Fly.

On Monday, we got something important in the mail--our new lease. The first words we saw were rent increase, but we were quite relieved to learn it would be $25 per month. I mean, that still sucks--that means we�re paying an extra $300 for something we already have, but it could have been much worse.

We dropped off the lease and then headed to the hatch shell and walked by the Charles and then across it over the Mass Ave bridge, and the walk was over before it started. I thought we would start off slow to kick off the walking season, but I guess we were more ready than we thought. We got some chili and those pineapple shrimp thingies at the Miracle of Science, and then some beers at the Middle East, and then some mojitos at ZuZu, and then some groceries at the Harvest, and then home to putz away our last few hours of freedom.

We�re both very, very broke, but we had a good time. It�s Tuesday which means I only have to work four or maybe five days this week, and it looks right now like I�ll be getting out at 9:00, not 11:00. I had just about had it with that goddamn shift, so getting out at 9:00 all week kinda feels like being on vacation for me.

I suppose I should head down there now.