ericboy's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eily Hayes So, yesterday was Eily's birthday and we did our best to make it fun, yet unnoticable. Does that make sense? So, Eily is Monica's roommate from Duke University. I met her in May of 2000 when I visited for a week and we became fast friends. Eily is one of those people that doesn't like birthdays because they remind her that she's getting old. She's 25. She's two days older than me. Of course, then again, I AM old. Whatever! Anyway, that's not the point; the point is: Jesus, what is the fucking point? Oh, the point is, we went out yesterday and just did fun things. There was no "Happy Birthday" every five minutes. There was no cake or ice cream. There was no telling the waiter at whatever random location that we ended up at that it was her birthday and therefore time to hose her down with whipped cream and lick it off of her. But... Anyway, we met up at 2-something in the afternoon after they had gone to a farmer's market, which they were floating in a euphoric daze from. Apparently, these things really kick ass. I've never been to one, but I sat inside a restaurant in Oceanside once and watched one through the window. I was eating an omelet with Turkey, cheese, and tomatoes (By the way, turkey does NOT go well with eggs; the taste is too similar; it was a good idea, though) and watching this older woman lead a man about my age around the various tables of the impromptu street market. He would go from table to table and smell the corn and the tomatoes and the bananas and try on incredulously bent hats and do a little dance for his chaperone. My heart just fluttered out to these two people, having the time of their lives on a Thursday afternoon while shopping for fresh veggies. You see, the young man was mentally retarded. He was dressed somewhat in fashion with long shorts and some band shirt. I don't recall the actual band but I remember that I condoned them and wondered what he got out of their music. Watching the two of them shop that afternoon, each with genuine smiles on their faces, made me feel so good that I forgot that I was working as a door-to-door advertising representative for an office supply company and could hardly afford the omelet I was eating at the time. But that's another tangent. So we meet up at 2-something and go to Rock Bottom, a brewery and restaurant, and have a couple of pitchers of beer and some appetizers and small lunch dishes. The crew is Eily, Monica, Stephanie, Monica's father (Who is also in town for a visit, mother in tow) and myself. The waitress was horrible, the conversation good, and the beer red. We left there and ditched the pops and went to the campus where we patronized a rock-climbing gym. I haven't rock-climbed in over ten years and I can't believe that I can actually say that Ohmygod, I am old. Anyway, I did surprisingly well and everyone was thoroughly impressed. Eily, who had NEVER climbed before, but is an avid marathon-sport contender, also took to it surprisingly well and was showered with accolades and praise, and not just because it was her birthday. From there, we went back to the 'Rents (that's Parents, for those of you who don't hang out with Jeff often enough) hotel room to pick them up and bring them out to the Bronx Pizza and show them off to the rest of our crew, only to find them not there. Monica was livid. We sent Stephanie and Eily off in the car to peruse the nearby establishments and look for them while Monica and I waited by their door for their return. When they finally did surface, an HOUR later, we exchanged a few bitter words, hopped in our car, and VROOM! Off to the pizza parlor that was closing in fifteen minutes. We called ahead to Martha, who was already there, and had her order us a large pizza. We got there with a little time to spare and sat ourselves down at a table. Once situated, we could hang out past close, as we had made it in before. I went to the counter to get sodas for us to have with our pizza and the guy behind the counter gave me shit. "Four sodas, please." "That's it?" "Yeah." "Just four sodas?" "Uh-huh." "You know there's a liquor store next door, right?" I breathed hard. "Our friend ordered our pizza already and we'd like some sodas to wash it down." "Right." No apology; no stunning realization that this fucking asshole had just stuffed his own foot halfway down his useless fucking body. Not to mention that fact, FUCK YOU, YOU FUCKING FUCK!!!! You should be sucking my dick that I want to buy my sodas from you, you moronic shit! I can't fucking stand people who can't navigate themselves through customer service positions. If you can't muster up an iota of pleasantry, get a job lifting heavy objects with your stupid, asocial ass! GRRRRRRRRRRR! So, sodas in hand, I sat at the table where Monica, Stephanie, Eily, Martha, Lindsey, Greg, and DJ had made a comfortable social circle and we talked and joked and laughed for a good while. We finally left and parted ways, and the original four of us went to the Australian Pub and had two more pitchers of beer, blonde this time, and talked smack about life in general. We had only one altercation with a drunken jackass as we were leaving, but it was handled in house as his friend reached over and punched him in the back of the head. We enjoyed watching these two men (I use the term loosely) trade licks at the bar. We left there and came here, to Stephanie's place and laid down to go to sleep. After a helluva lot of manipulation, I finally passed out of consciousness, only to be woken by Eily next to me scream out "What the fuck was that!" after I had shifted position. She immediately burst into laughter and apologized; she had momentarily forgotten where she was or that she was not alone on the futon. I, shaken and amused, fell back asleep after a while and woke up this morning after Eily and Monica left for a meeting and wrote this. Tonight is work and tomorrow is my birthday, which is still hazy as far as details go. I suppose we'll find out. 10:34 a.m. - 2003-08-18 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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