Weekend Recap

It was a good one. To recap:

FRIDAY: Andrew tired. Andrew watch "Weeds."

SATURDAY: It occurred to me that I had not been to Coney Island. I should have gone last weekend, when the Mermaid Parade took place. But I didn't get to it. So I went down to visit this weekend. Just took a walking tour, read a little by the beach. Thought, "I really need to come back here with other people." Went home, told roommates I had been there; they replied that we should have all gone together and made a day of it. I said, "Yes, now I realize that." I just missed the rain, too -- got on the train home just as the dark clouds erupted in what we all knew was coming, and it was all over by the time I got home. This good fortune when it comes to the weather would not last.

At night I went party-hopping with my roommates and friends. It was interesting. We visited this housewarming near Atlantic Center in Brooklyn. The air there was a bit...frosty. But there were free drinks, which we shotgunned on the roof of the apartment building. I had not shotgunned a beer in years. Much of it got on my shirt. After chowing down on some nice but over-sweet corn quesadillas, we hopped a cab to Manhattan, got Sparks and Blue Moon, and went to a Manhattan rooftop party. Sparks, mind you, is just disgusting. Man, that was bad. Beautiful location, but I didn't really know anybody and wasn't in the mood to meet more people, so I spent much time on the balcony watching traffic and calling old friends.

SUNDAY:

Slept in a little later than I wanted, but that was kind of nice after a whirlwind Saturday. Today's big event was the party in the pool -- there's this old New Deal-era pool in the Williamsburg area of Brooklyn, and they had a huge summer festival headlined by a free performance by the Hold Steady. I, however, got there really early, much earlier than was really necessary. The wait to get in was just awful, for the following reasons:

1. I was right by the ice cream truck. If you've ever spent any time near an ice cream truck, you probably remember the awful muzak songs they play. Well, this one parked right next to my place in line, and played its 40-second theme song over and over and over....
2. There were two kids behind me, not bad guys in general, but I think one was from the Columbia newspaper or something, because he kept reminding the other kid that he could get in anytime he wanted -- he knew a guy and he could get backstage anytime he wanted. He never did, of course, and his fucking friend kept crushing the empty plastic water bottle in his hand. Between that awful sound and the ice cream truck, frankly I think it's a miracle I did not snap.

3. It poured. They predicted isolated storms all weekend, and they were right. It was nice in the morning, then as I stood in line it darkened, and darkened, and then poured. I was soaked, totally so. Finally it moved on and they let us inside. The sun came out, I watched the opening act and people in the corner playing dodgeball way too seriously . Then it darkened, and darkened, and you know what happened next. It was only a shame because I had dried off in the meantime. Anyway, things improved after that. My roommate and her friend Katie showed, and we ran off to a bar to drink and dry off. That went well; and we returned just as the Hold Steady was taking the stage. Later we went to a place called the Alligator where you get free pizza with your beer, which is pretty spectacular. Now I'm home, prepping for a crazy kind of week we're going to have. I'll let you know how it's going.