Sooo... This past weekend has been a very productive and alcohol laden one. I celebrated my birthday this past Sunday, so by today's standards I am officially over-the-hill... at a whopping 27 years of age! Hell, MF'n yeah! Despite my old-ness, I must say I am stoked and can't wait to reach the 30 years mark. My best friend (whose birthday is three days after mine, making Wednesday her official day) came down from Somerville, Mass to help me bumrush this smallish New England city. We had a blast. Cat is 1 year younger than me so is more immature and weird by default (tee hee... personal dig, 'cause I know she'll read this). Anyway, so Cat came down late Saturday afternoon, and the immediate consumption of several libations began. ... well not immediate... well... lemme explain... We didn't want to seem like raving alcoholics, itching to drink at jump, so we pretended to catch up (yeah right... I saw her like a month prior and we talk on the phone constantly), and I gave her a giftbag... complete with lipgloss, toiletries and a gift certificate (which came inside a nifty compact mirror)- all from Sephora. We pretended to be interested in watching DVDs- Strangers With Candy season 2 and some perverted Japanese film called, "In the Realm of the Senses" <---- perveeeerted city! I loved it! Anyway, at around 8pm or so we headed down to Pastis, a French brasserie in town, to listen to some live jazz and to indulge in drink and grub. Cat ordered some pork dish that was supposedly so tender that it was supposed to melt in your mouth. A pork party on your tongue - Um... no thank you, please. I had some simple thin thread pasta tossed w/ some vegetables and olive oil. We ordered kir and red wine respectively. Whilst we waited for our food, we scanned the room critiquing bad hair and attire. As the band, The Edwin West Project (a twosome which featured a singer (Edwin) and a guitar player) - was setting up, I couldn't help but notice how familiar the singer looked to me. I realized that I recognized him from two local record stores he worked at (first one and then the other, not at the same time). I couldn't wait to hear his gig. All set up and ready to sing, Edwin looked over and said during his intro, "Hey I know you..." which I found amusing. Every so often, we'd pass each other on the street and exchange cordial head nods of recognition, but we never introduced ourselves formally. Needless to say, he was great. He covered a lot of great jazz standards with a smattering of Bossa Nova thrown in... The Girl from Ipanema, for example. After Cat and I devoured our food and drink, I waited for Edwin to break before I went to the bathroom. Upon returning, I found him sitting in my spot chatting with Cat. I squeezed in next to Cat and then Edwin and I formally introduced ourselves to one another. The three of us chatted for the duration of his break about his singing endeavors and such. Afterward, Cat noted this bartender who I'll refer to as 'S' she and I befriended about a month ago, from this place called Agave Grill. I wrote a favorable review of Agave, for a local magazine, after which Cat and I saturated our bloodstream with its high-end tequila and sangrita... Hey, it was all in the name of post-article research. I can't speak what I don't know... Anyway, Cat spied him and would later admit to me that she'd been thinking about him for some time after we familiarized ourselves with him during our tequila induced debauchery. hint-hint. She went over- (I'm sure she sauntered and swayed)- to say hello on her way to the ladies room. Sometime in-between then, we got a free chocolate birthday souffle with a side of lemon sherbert on a thin cookie and a digestive courtesy of the manager of Pastis. Oh yeah, we had coffee too. I would later discover that this digestive would be the culprit for a killer hangover the following Sunday. Anyway, we listened to Edwin sing a couple more songs, then S'... came over to say hello to me. He had another Agave staffer in tow. They enouraged us to meet them at this OTHER place called Peppercorn Gril further downtown, on Main Street. So, Cat and I polished off our digestives and made our way on down to Peppercorn Grill in the rain... pushing our way through a thick cloud of clubbers. Upon arriving, we found S' and the other young woman, (I'll call her 'G'), whose boyfriend is a bartender there. We told them that we'd walked and they practically gasped with shock. I guess walking is some antiquated notion nowadays. While chillin' at Peppercorn Grill, we all passed around some cucumber and melon martini that G's boyfriend had concocted. It was very good I must say. Afterward, we all headed down to this wine and panini bar called, Bin 228 where we had several more drinks. Meanwhile, sitting across from the two of them, I could feel the sexual energy emanating from Cat's and S's attraction to one another... so during one of my drunken, obnoxious semi-tirades, I began teasing the both of them. I mean, it was obvious to me that they were attracted to one another. G and her boyfriend were also in the midst of some weird discussion, trying to determine whether they were a serious item or not. G would later turn to us and tell us that she and her boytoy had been fucking for about 7 weeks so she figures that constitutes "dating." hahahaha (sorry had to laugh at that one). See, G is from Ecuador, so "dating" is a weird term there. I guess they call it something else. In any event, during the course of the evening, I also learned from G. the origins of F.U.P.U.A. - an acronym for Fat Upper Pussy Area. Oookaaay. 'S' gave Cat and I a ride home (I live right down the street from Agave). Next morning, I woke up with a killer hangover, we went to brunch/lunch... at this diner called Mississippi Bar and Grill, I drank black coffee, ate my lunch with a side of Advil and then we walked down to a Tea/Coffee/Martini bar combo for some loose tea in a pot. Later we would head on over to my mother's house for more birthday food. Sooo it was a productive birthday weekend. Cat and I also made time to call my job's voicemail repeatedly during our drunken shenanigans to listen to one of my colleagues' weird cartoon voice. She offered up options on the voicemail's phone tree. Cat kept opined that she sounds like she should be saying, "WELCOME to MOVIE PHONE!!" Plus said co-worker is one of those people who says, "progrum" instead of program. hahahah, funny stuff. I must say, Cat and I always have a blast when we meet up, so it's not like I'm surprised by how much fun we both had. In summation, I learned this past weekend taught me that it is not appealing to have a F.U.P.U.A., I don't ever want to have a hangover again so I have to stock up on Chaser or lay off the granddaddy liquor altogether, and that two people who're attracted to one another just need to be prodded on by a drunken third party. cheers!