And songs are never quite the answer

First, happy two years of whatever the hell we're doing to Seth (grin)! He gave me a belated birthday present last week: a Nathanael West paperback, purchased in February, that I'd refused to accept until he added an inscription. This apparently took five months. In his long-awaited message, he cited our two-year-old "sinusoidal but ultimately wicked-cool relationship," which just about sums it up. I do care about him tremendously, and what we've done to each other has been at times dysfunctional but probably worthwhile. In other news, I haven't been in the mood to post lately, but I have maintained a list of things I've been doing. I'll now edit/condense judiciously: After I got home on April 30, I spent a week sulking (my customary response to lifestyle changes), and granted access only to my immediate family and Seth.


On Friday, May 8, I had my momentous first encounter with other friends, to see Mean Girls and sleep over at Tara's. GPaul, Michael, Joe, Sarah, Liliya, Tara, and I met at Potbelly's for a pre-Regal meal, authentically reliving High School in Rockville. Mean Girls was awfully good; I liked it better than Kill Bill, as I confessed with appropriate shame afterwards. We exited through a subterranean passage that culminates mysteriously across the street, in a small unmarked building facing the theater. Then we went back to Tara's to play Trivial Pursuit, which was interminable, and to concoct Unknown Beverages, which was sort of entertaining/awful. I kept trying (weakly) to quip my way out of the game: "I am a conscientious objector to Trivial Pursuit," "Does anyone else want to secede from this activity?," etc. Finally, exasperated, I said, "Let's play something exciting! Strip alcohol!"


Incidentally, I think I played something close to that last weekend. We did drink, and we played strip Spin the Bottle (where removing an article of clothing was an alternative to kissing, to accommodate monogamy). I'd never played Spin the Bottle before, and I'm vaguely regretful that I had my first experience with that iconic childhood activity under such shady circumstances. On Wednesday, May 12, I spent time with Anne, Liliya, Natalie G., Tara, and Nick S. in Bethesda. We wandered purposelessly for a while, and were escorted out of the park near Bethesda Library by a police officer. Apparently it closes after sunset, which is unfortunate because night is really the only appropriate time for playgrounds, if you're 19 or 20. When the police officer arrived, Tara had just finished teaching us how to make our own bus passes from discarded transfers/expired passes. Also, I had begun the sentence, "Speaking of small illegalities, Nick, you shouldn't..." [I was going to say shoplift from Wawa.]


After most people left to attend to their sane sleeping habits, Tara, Nick, and I purchased emergency Diet Red Bulls and watched The Exorcist on his laptop. The movie made me sort of want to attend Georgetown, which was probably not the intended effect. On Tuesday, May 18, I finally met up with my RM '03 crew: M/alex/Mike (as host), Jen, Ranwa, Sarah, Andrew, & more. We ate homemade pizza and watched Jurassic Park without nearly enough irony. In high school, we were Good Kids - but we expressed an abstract intent to get drunk together. It probably won't happen, for lack of safe drinking circumstances, but I think we should commit to finding a forest or a quarry or something (maybe a gorge? I'm picturing a natural depression littered with beer bottles from those who came before. On a related note, why is it that we don't have a local Makeout Point?). [Part 2 is on its way!]