2004-09-07 - 1:31 a.m.

If you want to follow my advice, which is always good, and it�s always good, believe me, then continue.

As you have continued, I follow. If you want to have the perfect Labor Day weekend next year, and do exactly as I did, then stop reading, for nothing following pertains to you.

Okay. But if you ever want your wisdom teeth yanked out of your head, do it at 27 years of age, make sure to have a Roommate on hand, and do it on Labor Day weekend.

This was my first four day weekend in a long time. And the perfect time. That last hot summer swoon behind us, still checking temperatures on boston.com (although when is the season not to?), four days of movies, diazepam, blueberry ice cream, prescription ibuprofen, and 30 minutes of wiggling.

Wisdom teeth. I was so scared going into this--the Roommate�s fault mostly (I�m a trooper and I believe that a healthy dose of ignorance=trust is good for you going into such matters as long as you can keep that equation separate from ones reached from good research and at best okay decision-making...it�s all good.)

But it was okay. I was awake the whole operation (I�m still awaiting billing, but I know the recommended gas wasn�t covered), and it was a bizarre experience. I got knocked out once for a hernia operation when I was a teen, but I wasn�t awake for this.

Let�sput it thsis whay. I hlove youu. Shhh. I ddn�t shay that. Nut maybe there�s an intolerance to drugs but maybe ut�s the gas odunno. It aawas nice and I wanted to hold hands, it was comepellingbut after. That doctor wiggled my tooth aout and it was gone and it was like exopelling a tooph out my pie and that�s just the fir st one, the relief even though I didn�t feel any paun before/ Hyou can take it out I don�t care. But that nurse. I wanted here. I told her all about my girlfriend and how she was helipping me with amaking food and she touched my knee and said I hip she can cook but I already thought that while I was waiting for the gas and she siad there�s no knock out it�s going to happen and I was aware of that because I cn hand;e anything bu tthe first one made me gag and I felt my fi ngers and my ties so I knew I cound mive but then I really cound�t but I raised my arm a little and spun my finger like a top and that made her pause until I was done pausing her because I didn�t realy need to interrupt and I didn�t and she got the other one out but it wasn�t he fireworks the bang the sagging bag sighing like the first and then no more gas an d there�s teh roommaate and sje�s smiling but I gogt a pat from the doctor and I knew I did good with er that I was a good patient and I did a good job playing my role and I did a good job there and the nirse better stayw ith me fo waiile because she knows me she�s been with me though this btu there�s the rookmmmmate and she shoud listen t o the nurse because she�s going to tell her what I need and thank you.

Ahem. Just in case anyone was wondering, I couldn�t smoke and I couldn�t drink. I planned it pretty well and put up a good fight, and ended up cheating a little with the smoking, but I was very smart about it. I didn�t have any problems not drinking. I wasn�t surprised.

And movies. The Roommate and I spent a Friday and parts of a Saturday watching movies we picked out. And they were good. I�d say the best one was a Roman Polanski film starring Harrison Ford (of all people), and despite the pivotal scene reeking bad (well, inappropriate) music all over the place, that movie was sooooo good and is still holding court in a corner of my mind.

David Mam-ay also scored some points for us. Not Mamet. Mam-ay.

And quiet and downtime and we didn�t know what to do with it. I guess rest is the same thing as unrest to us.

We went to the Good Time Emporium and watched the Sox win, then the Roommate kicked my ass at pool. I had drank too much beer, but she had too, and she showed me her air hockey again.

Man, can that girl play.

We never get into arguments. We never get into fights.

But if we had an air hockey table in our apartment, we�d have more sex (on the table) and more black eyes (from the table) than, oh, and I implored you to stop reading awhile ago, so it�s your own fault, but to finish the sentence, a bunch of teens that never had DARE and who had an air hockey table. Cause DARE works.

Seriously.

I�m probably forgetting something. Today the Roommate and I, and I�m all better now, walked from our place to union (WORST Dunkie�s EVER, yet we still go every now and then) to Inman, to Harvard, to Central, to Kendall (Garment District for the Roommate), back to Central (back through Inman), and back to Harvard.

The students are back, but we stayed away from that as best we could. We didn�t let it ruin our plans, although it could have. We did see two freshmen, who will someday be my bosses somewhere, struggling to carry a couple of yard sale end tables a block.

Thwart thwart thwart went our good intentions, but we didn�t let that bother us.

We always have a backup, and even if the backup gets thwarted, we always know what we�re doing.

We always go to sleep happy, unlike Harrison Ford in that Roman Polanski movie.

And even though this hasn�t been the Summer of Walks, we�ve had some good times and we did make it through four days of couple isolation, last days of summer mercifully dwindling, losing power, four lasting months of construction outside, and still, anyone could have seen us coming.