2001-05-29

Apropos, isn't it, that I'm trying to write the Memorial Day Weekend entry from memory, huh? I'm still catching up and want to write one more entry before we get too far into the weekend and I feel compelled to write yet another entry.

Friday, the start of the long weekend, began with a surprise visit from the Boyfriend, who joined the Roommate and I for Sushi Night, and for the hashing out of the Film Festival schedule. This took a little doing. Like, let's sleep on it and decide tomorrow. So Saturday I woke early ready to go. But there was something good on NPR, and then "Car Talk", and then "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me," and then something good on "This American Life"...suddenly it was two in the afternoon and time for quick film decisions, a fast but desperately-needed shower, and off to the Castro for the tickets.

This might be oversharing, but you wouldn't come here if you didn't expect a least a little, right? I don't remember exactly what meeting I was going to be late for Friday morning, but I ended up fore-going my morning shower and never quite got back to it. Yuck. By Saturday I felt like a grease bomb. While I'm not pathologically so, I just feel like I'm extra oily lately; I'm not sure if it's just the season or something in my diet -- too much water pushing the oils to the surface? No, no, that's just bad science doing the talking.

Anyway, we got the Frameline membership, though it confused the poor man who not only was learning a new computer system this year, but also a new set of membership names and prices. We settled on ten movies (including the opening night gala) -- approximately one a day -- with a few days off during the work week. I think that will be manageable, though the movies that start at 6pm on Monday and Wednesday will be a bit of a race through commuter traffic. Thankfully it's a straight shot on transit to most of the theaters.

I finally got a haircut. Remind me to wait for that haircutter again. I've gotten compliments on it all around, from the Boyfriend to people at work to my friend The High-tech Janitor, with whom regularly I chat about technology, philosophy, and life during his nightly trash rounds. And there's nothing like a good haircut to improve one's outlook on life.

Had a lovely dinner at Ti Couz, a popular French Proven�al Restaurant and Cr�perie, and we really intended to go out for drinks or something afterwards, really we did, only the Boyfriend and I laid down for a bit and he was quickly snoring whilst I read the 2001 Ikea catalogue like it was furniture porn.

I wish we could be that organized. (1.5Mb video).

I managed to spill a large amount of coffee on The Boyfriend's bed. "Well, I did kind of overfill your mug," he said. I felt bad, but his down comforter wasn't even stained. But it did wake me up. So off we went for breakfast and a Sunday paper, and the "what do you want to do today, I don't know what do you want to do today?" conversation. Inspired by my reading, we went to a trendy and overpriced furniture store to laugh at the ugly couches.

And then we went to Ikea in Emeryville.

Walked right into the belly of the beast. In retrospect, Sunday of a holiday weekend was probably not the best time to go to avoid the swarms of people, but I'm under the impression there's never a good time to go and avoid crowds. Amazing, too, to think that people waited in line to get in when it first opened, like it's an amusement park or something.

I've never seen a store with navigation before. You start with a map of the place, and they set you out on the path. ("A path! A path!") There are shortcuts (my first thought: hyperlinks) to different areas, but we walked through every section, doubling back onto the arrow-lined path to make sure we didn't miss anything. It was very ant-like. "The line! I can't find the line!"

I was also having Sims flashbacks at all the little displays of ready-made rooms; imagining everything at a three-quarters perspective; reading the tags and trying to decide if this chair had a "Comfort" of 2, 3, or 4. Coincidentally (or perhaps paradoxically; I can't tell which,) I also remember thinking, "This is what real people do with their weekends, isn't it?" If I stopped to analyze those thoughts together, it would probably say something about me...no, let's not dwell on it, all right?

By the time we got to the checkout lines four hours later, we were exhausted, famished (we hadn't stopped for Swedish Meatballs in the cafe) and spent a whopping total of forty-six dollars. Between the two of us. Obviously we're not doing our part. I saw people in line buying $600 worth of stuff at a time. Recession or not, I guess people still need Semi-Disposable Swedish Furniture.

It was imperative, then, to spend a little time on the other side of the Bay Bridge, since I go there so rarely. We drive through Oakland and Berkeley looking at old haunts and trying to do a little East Bay Blogger spotting. Guess which of us did which? After finding no Deans, Chays, Flips or Mikes, we had some extremely delicious stuffed crust pizza at Zachary's Pizza. A long wait, but orgasmic pizza. That was worth the trip across the bridge alone.

So we've decided to take to heart the motto of the people who make drinking straws and related materials: "Enjoy life. Eat out more often."

Having seen this on a lesbian friend's t-shirt, however, I cannot now look at sugar packets with the innocence I could before.

A nice quiet holiday Monday followed, with more shopping (Trader Joes and Bed Bath and Beyond), a carwash (also urgently needed) and a little chinese takeout with the Roommate. Why the sudden rush of activity? Well, I think I reacted to being scoffed at. Sometimes when my mood is right, I can be highly motivated to mildly spite someone who says, "Yeah, suuuure you'll get your car washed." or "You'll surf all day, won't you?" Well I showed them, didn't I? All in all, I ended up feeling like I had a real and complete weekend -- I felt relaxed, entertained, informed, loved, active AND productive.

And within my first 20 minutes back at work, it was all washed away again.

sigh.

_Casey

2003-03-29 - Moving Notice
2002-06-04 - Accordians and Ambassadors (Diary Fragment)
2002-05-24 - Manias (Diary Fragment)
2002-05-09 - See this little island here?
2002-04-24 - Bored and Drippy.