2001-07-09
feeling kinda
oh, i completely forgot to mention the Beach Shack yesterday. we stopped on the way back from the boat for a quick bite at this place a little outside of town. it's across the street from the beach, and another seafood shack. snagged seats out on the balcony, with beers and raw bar. mmmm... made a happy little pig out of myself with a mess of shrimp. it was lovely there, slurping down shrimp and beer, soaking in the sun, and watching the scene across the street. the Beach Shack is pretty much a beach rat place - you know, just people in cutoffs and tanks, hanging out. across the way, right on the beach, whole different thing. the sheer number of bikes vrooming in and out of the parking lot was entertaining. and as The Boy pointed out, it did sort of seem to be Headquarters Central for fashion disasters.
bit of a contrast with downtown, all the Muffys and Binkys in chinos and loafers, locking up their Volvos. if it weren't for the contrast, tho, i wouldn't have thought twice about it. looked pretty much like all the summer shacks i grew up with. okay, not the bikers, so much. but the rest of the scene made sense.
i really could have sat there for hours, just watching. plenty of good people watching to be had there. there was a yuppie mobile with a sunroof parked below us, and it was hilarious to watch the three little kids clambering in and out of the top of the car, cranking the stereo - or at least until mom admonished them otherwise. :) the beach itself was beautiful. i had forgotten how many shades of blue and teal and azure the water can be.
i have to say, the only thing that bummed me out a little bit was that we didn't go to the beach. it was cloudy and raining off and on Sunday, which pretty much ruled that out. and the only reason i was sad was because i'd made the effort to wax. lemme tell you, there's nothing like the threat of a bathing suit to strike the fear of God in the heart of a girl. i *hate* waxing. hate it. but when threatened with the possibility of looking like jungle undergrowth in front of God and everyone on the beach, you bite the bullet. ah well. at least the bathing suit was put to good use anyway. :)
so we didn't make it to the beach, but we did go to brunch. calm, peaceful place, Sunday paper, good coffee and yummy food (the fresh pineapple was incandescently good, and the passion fruit sorbet scrumptious)... not a bad way to start your day.
this is how much my brain had shut down: i forgot all about my TV boyfriend. The Boy said he wanted to go to a bookstore (always a dangerous proposition with me) and pick up the john stuart book. huh? oh, yeahhhhh. Naked Pictures of Famous People. how could i forget him? just shows you how far relaxed i'd let myself get.
i had thought about picking up a sailing book, but got distracted in the biography section, and ended up getting Autobiography of a Spiritually Incorrect Mystic, by Osho. i had run across some of his writings before; they're the heart of the Zen Tarot that i sometimes use. Osho is an interesting renegade, so the chance to read more about him is appealing.
we hung out for a little, and then The Boy zipped me down to the station so i could head home. fortunately, we made it ahead of the rain; i hope it held off long enough for him to get all his errands done. can't be fun to handle that bike on a wet road. did some writing on the way home, and tried to figure out why i was vaguely distracted. it finally dawned on me that i was nowhere ready for the weekend to be over.
so i decided to do something about it. got home, made a few phone calls, and set up dinner with jay. while i was waiting, i called my parents, who (good parents) were glad to hear that i hadn't fallen in the drink and gotten lost somewhere on the bottom of the harbor. silly parents. ;) then jay showed up on my doorstep, and we headed off to the brewery.
haven't seen jay in a dog's age, for a lot of reasons. we're both fairly busy, and he's been travelling a lot the last few weeks, some pleasure, some business. he had actually called while i was gone to see if i wanted to hit a movie. so it was all nice to have the time to walk over there and catch up over dinner.
nice crowd there, too. the last few times i've been in, there haven't been any regulars, at least ones that i know. but last night wayne was in - always good to see him. he's a big teddy bear of a guy with a wicked sense of humor. heh. if i'd know he was coming, [i could have baked a cake] i could have asked him to bring my kitchen stuff over. the last few times at his house, i've brought something for dinner with the gang, and then left the dishes there because i get too lazy to cart things home. so he has, at last count, all my skewers and a brownie pan. probably something else, too, but i've forgotten by now.
it being a relatively quiet night, scott killed the music and turned up the TV when the Simpsons came on. i had forgotten how silly the show is. the bunch of us got laughing so hard that it made you laugh even more.
and like any self respecting bar, the brewery has games available. jay had made a passing comment about cribbage on the way over, so i suggested that we play after dinner. he's trying to relearn the game, and i thought a friendly game or two would be fun. oh, lordy... it was the blind leading the blind. now, mind you, i do know how to play. i play pretty cutthroat. and i often win. but what happened was that i would peg my points without really thinking about it, and he would ask a question. and then i was lost, because i couldn't remember the exact rule. there aren't that many rules to the game, people. it should have been easy. it was a fun game, tho, and i apologized profusely afterwards for kicking his ass. not a very kind reintroduction to the game, eh? he was a good sport about it, tho.
oh, and then on the way home we walked by the Independent and decided to pop in to check it out. it's a new 'Irish' bar in Union. i quote the reference, because really it's just a yuppy bar with Irish pretentions. it's a pretty place, a bit schizophrenic - on the left, a pub with brick walls and high ceilings, everyone in black, and loud music. on the right, low ceilinged, blond wood, calm dining room. very odd dichotomy. and the menu is Nouveau Americaine all the way. oh, there's the obligatory fish and chips. and bangers are on there somewhere, too, i think. but pretty generic. it'll be interesting to see how the place does. my neighborhood is pretty much every color under the sun, and this is the first non ethnic place to open. well, there's eat. but adam and charlie very neatly have their finger on the pulse of the place, and fit in quite well.
in any event, the night cap was a nice way to stretch the weekend out a little bit longer. i'm so not wanting to go back to work tomorrow. can't i just stay on vacation?
