Now seems like a fine time to recount last weekend, just in time for another.. It was actionpacked, and great fun.
Bowling on Friday with (most of) the usual bowling suspects. I used my dad's vintage bowling ball. The ball itself is super; it's a Brunswick Fireball, and it hasn't been used in something like 50 years. But, it seems I'm not grown-up enough to bowl effectively with it. It weighs 16 pounds, and drilled for my dad's left-handedness. Sinister (as opposed to dextrous), if you will. Actually, bowling right-handed with it, and with the funny grip that required, seemed the least my problems. I simply didn't feel strong enough to heave it around properly. My scores started going up when I switched to a lighter (and right-handed) ball.
England-Portugal and a car-wash on Saturday. Not sure what to say about the futbol game, except that by now Portugal is gearing up for the 3rd place game. I then washed the car (for the first time since early May) at Ian's place. Great spot to wash a car; he might be opening up a shop, so keep your eyes peeled. I'll do the whole treatment this weekend, including stripping off the old wax and doing the clay bar thing, just like last July 4. Look...everyone needs a hobby.
Sat night was another trip to Bluefin in Middleton, for sushi and (Red) sox, with all 2.5 of the Lynches. We made fun of Brett Myers (in ways that I am not going to repeat on the Internet), and (later) the highschool kids who drive minivans to Richardson's to eat ice cream, hit golf balls, and pickup girls.
Sunday was the laziest day of the whole week (and weekend). I drank iced coffee, read the NYer, napped, and basked in the air conditioning and treated myself to dinner at West Side Lounge. It's good to be the king.
Monday I vacuumed the car, and after some other shopping (turbinado sugar, beer...), I headed to a dog-friendly bbq, to meet up with humans Simone and Katie and others, and dogs Rocket J. and Emmett (the latter of whom is moving back to...Kansas? Missouri?). It was a super time, with lots of dog silliness, but was cut short by...
...Having a little send-off for Albert at the Publick House. Such beer! Rogue Imperial Stout on tap. A Belgian (beer) that some guy recommended. Mojo Ale. Racer 5. It was all paradise. A little more crowded than last time, but we started (and ended) later. The (un?)fortunately unused pickup line of the night was "Can you drive stick?"
Tuesday, the Fourth, was time for more bbq, this time at Casa Lynch, along with the Lofgrens, Murphys, and 1 (one) each of a Smith, O'Toole and Mosher. During a brief rain shower, the menfolk stood around on the deck, drinking beer and discussing weighty issues of the day; somewhat in the vein of a scene from King of the Hill, but funnier. THAT was cut short by...
...Jessica's 30th bday/housewarming/4th of July party, at her new manse in Cambridge. The usual bowling/pool-shooting/wine-on-self-spilling/Champagne-swilling suspects were there (along with Misy, the latest cool Dog Owned By Someone Else I've Had The Pleasure Of Meeting), and eventually we (all) sat on the porch watching Prospect Street hum with pre-fireworks excitement, smoking, and telling jokes. As the fireworks rolled around, we lay about in the park along Broadway (between Prospect and Norfolk, if you must know) and saw maybe a half or 2/3 of the fireworks being lit off from down on the river. The rest were hidden behind a building, which was a problem that was starting to afflict that neighborhood when I ived over there a few years ago. Not a bad display, and certainly worth not trekking down to the Mass Ave bridge, and it seemed a fitting symbolic end to the joys of a 4 (!) day weekend. Sure, my Chucks ended up getting quadruple-knotted, which made for some drama when I got home, but...quite a night.
And now, RL Burnside, a mint julep, and the impending sweet, sweet toil of a day of car detailing are lulling me to sleep. The next stage of random rants will have to wait.
Comments (5)
20 of them! I got the joke about after 45 seconds of thinking, "Now, what could that mean?"
I feel like bowling should be my next team sport, now that I've conquered minigolf.
Also, that's a great pickup line. Actually, I find myself using that on girls. Not that I can drive stick. But it impresses me.
Posted by Kate | July 8, 2006 3:59 AM
Posted on July 8, 2006 03:59
It is sad that knowing how to drive a stick shift is being a dying art/skill. I guess that goes along with the overall bad quality of driving that is found in the US in general.
Posted by Daniel R. | July 8, 2006 8:50 AM
Posted on July 8, 2006 08:50
Daniel, don't forget "baffling" and "irritating." (The latter applies more to the general decline of driving skill.) But yeah, I agree. And at some point, even those who know how to do it will find it tough to keep the skills sharp: clutchless manual transmissions (like that Ferrari paddle shifter, and particularly Audi's slick Direct Shift Gearbox) are taking over. All we'll have to know is when to pull the correct paddle on the back of the steering wheel. Sigh.
Kate, you should totally try bowling. I'd never (ever!) done it before about 6 months ago, but it's really fun, and it's replete with Americana and beer and companionship.
As far as pickup lines go, "can you drive stick?" was inspired (very slightly) less by wanting to start a conversation with girls than actually looking for a way not to leave my car at the bar. But I've often thought we might have the same taste in girls (which means it's a bit of a relief you have a boyfriend), and driving stick might be as good a litmus test as any.
"Now, what could that mean!" Awesome. I can see the gears turning now.
Posted by rotorglow | July 10, 2006 1:40 AM
Posted on July 10, 2006 01:40
Oh, I BOWL! (Said in a tone of indignation.) What else do you do in southern NJ besides rock-n-bowl?!
But yes, I should try bowling in league format.
And yes, I think girls who drive stick are awesome. And girls who drive stick with tattoos...! Don't get me started. (And maybe a nose or upper ear piercing too?)
Posted by Kate | July 11, 2006 2:00 AM
Posted on July 11, 2006 02:00
What else do you do in southern NJ besides rock-n-bowl?!
Hang out on South Street, with the rest of the kids from the suburbs?
Regardless, on my side of the Delaware, I'd never gone bowling. Several people, upon hearing this, questioned my citizenship.
I should say, just to be clear, I don't know *anything* about league-bowling. I just go with a bunch of people, usually on the same night of the week, every couple of months. I did do a rock-n-bowl in Reading, which was fantastic in a black-light-and-neon-and-high-school-dance-DJ kind of a way. Just ask Clampants about it sometime.
I've already talked about tattoos, but upper ear-piercings....*fans self*. So, I was right about that.
Posted by rotorglow | July 11, 2006 11:47 PM
Posted on July 11, 2006 23:47