2004-07-12 - 1:45 a.m.

Wow. What a weekend. Friday night I got home and did normal night stuff like beer drinking and simpsons watching and final fantasy VIII playing until Julianne started shouting up at my window as if my name was Stella. A beer turned out to be several and we hung out deep into the night, and that was a great surprise.

On Friday, I asked the Roommate if there was room in the time budget for me getting a haircut at Lechmere on Saturday, and she said she�d make the appointment for me, which I did find unusual, but in that kind of good unusual way that�s far less likely to provoke further examination than the normal one. I walked with her on Saturday afternoon to Inman, where we parted ways, and I went down Cambridge to have my puffy moist fro shorn.

Oh, wait. I forgot about the Shaak. I got a Shaak. I love my Shaak. I got it on Friday. My family is obsessed with CVS. I think they go there every day. So naturally every Christmas I get tons of CVS gift cards. Of course at my age any gift is gravy, but I get so many of those CVS cards, an I usually save gift cards �till cash flow emergencies, but it�s mid year and I kind of had a surplus, and the Roommate suggested getting a big ticket item. Great idea. So I got a Shaak, which is like a full vacuum cleaner crammed inside a Dust Buster, and it really fucking works. I mean, I could go on and on and on and on about how awesome my Shaak is.

But I stopped. Saturday I was all proud of myself for getting to Lechmere for my 2:30 appointment and getting home at 4:00 having had gotten a haircut, a coffee at Dunkie�s, a horrible fish sandwich at BK �cause I had to eat something, a pair of jeans that actually fit me and a nice t-shirt too, and a 30-pack of Bud because Hallie and her friend were coming down and I wanted to have beer for them.

I was looking forward to doing a little cleaning with the Roommate and then having Hallie and her friend down and then getting some pizza and then splitting for the Lizard to see Ad Frank. That was going to be the highlight of my weekend.

When I got home, I was a little surprised that the Roommate was so intent on cleaning, on getting the place really nice, considering that we were having Hallie down, who lived with us. The Roommate told me the last time she was down Hallie complimented me on how clean the place was, and that made sense at the time, so I helped out.

I got some smokes down the block and two iced coffees too, and the day was stunning, and on my way back I felt every hair on my arms bristle in the gentle breeze, with enough sun to go around even at six in the afternoon.

The Roommate was very concerned about the pizza she had ordered and the bus which might bring Hallie and her friend, and the cleaning was done, and we drank a few of my Buds as we talked and relaxed and at the same time looked out the window, making sure (our buzzer doesn�t work).

The Roommate had taped off from the fridge to the wall, �cause my last birthday gift was in the kitchen, and she wanted me to wait �till Hallie came over so she could see me open it. This all made perfect sense to me, and I did not peek.

When the pizza came, the Roommate ran down to get it, and I looked out the window in case the 88 came. She put it away and we waited.

When Hallie came, she brought some dude with her. I gave her a hug and thought exactly this: well, that�s odd that she brought some guy with her, and he looks familiar, which is weird, and he�s staring at me for some reason while I�m hugging the girl he came with, but whatever, she�s my friend, and it�s weird that Hallie brought over some dude but I guess that makes sense since we�re just eating pizza here before we go out, and that dude really does look familiar, and oh my god that�s Jenn�s friend Michael from her work, so I guess Jenn decided to invite him out to the show too but forgot to tell me.

That�s what I thought, in the span of one second, and then he gave me a bottle of Bombay Sapphire gin, because I just had a birthday, and I�m going to have to look up recipes for drinks with gin in it and make him the best one. That was really sweet of him, and completely unnecessary.

So me and Hallie and her friend Kim and Michael (they were all on the same bus) and the Roommate all hung out for a while, and the Roommate let me in the kitchen to show me my present, which I couldn�t find.

It was in the fridge. There were sixty Pabsts in the fridge. Sixty. Sixty Pabsts, and I was a little confused as to why she had ordered four pizzas for five people, but I was more touched over the sixty PBRs than weirded out over the four pies.

I didn�t figure out that she had thrown a surprise party for me �till Rita (my dear friend R.) and Cat (C. from work) arrived. Honestly. I mean, the Roommate threw a surprise party for me and I really was surprised. It was the first time I was actually surprised at a surprise party thrown for me, as well as the first time I had a surprise party thrown for me.

I�m one for one.

Not fully knowing whether or not we were still going to see Ad Frank, I hung out with the guests, and then the Roommate�s brother Jimmie arrived with two more 30-packs of PBR, which brought the grand total of beers in the apartment, and this does not include what anybody else brought for themselves, nor what I had already before I came home with my own 30-pack (included), and not considering what of the total was consumed in the interim, the grand total for beers that had been in 30-packs that had been brought to my apartment during the span of that one night was one hundred and fifty cans of beer.

Another one of the Roommate�s friends came down and that was it for the evening. It was then, and no earlier, that I put away all notions of going to see Ad Frank.

It was a little odd. I�ve never been the target of a surprise party, and I get really weirded out when I�m the forced center of attention. I think I did a good job playing the role, and I had tons of fun as well, and I really was surprised. The only drawback was that my expectation of a night of $3.00 beer prompted me to get started early, so I already had more than a few under my belt by the time the guests arrived, but it was okay and things leveled out after an hour anyway.

Saturday night in early summer, so of course Hallie and Kim and Cat and Rita left early (but not before cake), and of course it was too bad that they couldn�t have stayed longer, but also of course the power of the awesomeness of them coming was stronger than the power of the shucks-edness of them leaving.

I don�t reveal wishes, be it 11:11 am or 11:11 pm or over birthday cake candles. Ever.

I was so glad that everyone in that room, and to an almost equal extent, everyone in the universe, as the Roommate busted out the Cookie Monster cake (the frosting of which turned everyone�s tongue blue), was okay, and I thought all of these people are wonderful for a billion and two reasons and I know what each one of them are for this one second, and I love them. I really hope that in their lives they feel happiness and joy when it�s good and right for them to feel it, and that they live lives that are meaningful, that they make the right choices, and that they never feel pain that is unnecessary to whatever they should be, or choose to be.

How did I get on that? Anyway, as I was saying, I got my Cookie Monster cake and I made my wish (I never, ever reveal wishes.)

So everyone got some cake, and folks started drifting out after that, leaving Jimmie and the Roommate and me, and we drank lots of beers and went to bed.

Today, Jimmy and the Roommate and I struggled through our hangovers. I woke up thinking I had to go to work, and was very much relieved to realize that I had nothing on the agenda. Jimmy and I made it to Dunkie�s and returned with coffee for all, and after some wasted time (I saw my first episode of Dharma and Greg), we got some sushi in that quick place at the Porter Exchange. The Roommate had promised me sush as my final present, and I figured what better way to spend a Sunday than to eat nothing but sushi--two meals of it.

And then to Harvard, �cause I�ve been coveting a pair of chucks for a while. I guess I�ve recently been spoiled by Saucony, the prettiest and at the same time most comfortable sneakers in the known universe, �cause chucks are wicked long yet pinchy in the toes--like they were tailored to fit Krusty the Clown, but I put up with �em in high school when I didn�t know any better, so I guess I can put up with �em now, now that I do. So I have black chucks now.

After that was Charlie�s for a beer for us and a lobstermelt for Jimmie, who eats with a voracity usually reserved for dudes cramming down Oprah picks in order to impress book club chicks.

Somerville to Harvard at that point, then home to Somerville, where we said goodbye to Jimmy and then headed to Harvard to change to Allston, and the Roommate's pick for my last birthday surprise.

I owe her big time. We had a good chef (are they chefs in sushi restaurants? If they aren�t, I wish I knew the word. I�ll trade you barista for it.)

And then pool at Big City, and the Roommate beat me two games to one, but her two victories were both cheap and undeserved, and I also let her win, and she also asked me to let her win and I said but that�s not right but she made me do it anyway.

And then to Harvard again to Davis where we rented Curb Your Enthusiasm just in time for the bus and right now is just in time for me to watch one episode.

Also, I wrote a newsletter for an arts organization I�m associated with, and also, and you probably know anyway, because you�re future me, but I�m playing at O�Brien�s on Tuesday at 9:00 sharp.