Calling All Skeletons

I will begin this post by declaring that I will be losing ten pounds this week.

Fer real. I'm not eating (just a coffee on lunch) till dinner, an English muffin or cereal, right before I go out. I'll even keep the drinking to a minimum so as not to have to have a nice big meal on my stomach. I know, I know, you've heard this before. We'll just have to wait and see my progress and commitment.

Went back to work today after being off since 2 o'clock on Thursday.Went to Frazier's that night to start the three-day weekend-vacation thing. Got signifigantly intoxicated, on two vodka and diets, despite having gorged myself on an Enlgish muffin with cheese, saline crackers, and Milano Cookies before going out. Nick came up with the idea to try to name favourite albums from each year since you were born (you don't have to have listened to the album that year), we sat with Rob Soma in Frazier's then naming albums and then different bands and genres for each letter of the alphabet. It was fun. Went to Papermoon afterwards for grilled cheese sandwiches. Nick went home afterwards to make a new mix for the drive to Philly and I went to bed. Slept till 10 or 11, which was such a luxury. He came back down and we went to The James Joyce Pub, which really was nothing to write home about. Nick had fish and chips, which wasn't bad, just not outstanding. I made the mistake of getting a salmon Caesar salad (I was thinking fondly of the one at Owl Bar). Salmon was good, but the salad was shit. I only ate the piece of salmon. To redeem the dining experience, since we were so close and all, we walked over to Vaccaro's and after a lot of indecision on my part, I got a cannolli and Nick got a waffle cone with coffee gelato. That was awesome. Next time I go here, I think I'll get gelado, or chocolate Italian Ice. Later on, we got his friend Phoebe and headed down to Ram's Head Live for the Alkaline show. Earlier in the week I had gotten a message from Rob about the Ian Curtis tombstone getting stolen and Alkaline and all. He sent it Monday, but I didn't check MySpace till Thursday. He then mentioned listening to Saves The Day and remembering slow dancing wth me at the show in Philly (coinsedently, that was four years ago this weekend). It made me feel strange, like why did he bring that up? Would Melanie like it if she knew that he said that? I got a little upset, being reminded of that, because I am putting all that behind me, and why does he still think of all that when it wasn't enough to keep going, it just dredges things up, and most of all, it made me feel bad to even comment on it, on account of being so fond of Nick. Anyways, we went to the Alkaline show, it was really fucking good. Ran into Kyle, saw Steve and Rainey, but only for a minute, unfortunately. I would have loved to hang out withe them more. After the show, we went to Papermoon again (there really are no places open 24 hours, and soon there will be one less).

The next day, we went to Punk's Picnic in Wyman Park for a bit before heading off to Philly. It's amazing how it's exactly like all the stuff with John Hicks and everybody was in the beginning of me getting in with everybody. Felt a little out of place, since other than Nick, Phoebe was the only person there I remotely knew. I am amazed by how many dogs there were. It wouldn't be a punk gathering if there weren't a miriad of dogs running around. Got to Philly, stayed at the airport Marriott instead of the one in the city. Had a hell of a time finding parking, ended up with a ticket by the end of our time in Old City (meter expired at 9:53, meters shut off at 10, now that's just spitefulness.) Put our name in at Cuba Libre, had a couple drinks at Tattoo Mom's, then back to Cuba Libre (fucking amazing, as usual), then back to Tattoo Mom's (the upstairs is a lot like Talking Head). Couldn't get drunk on account of having to get back on 95 and take the bridge to get to the hotel, so next time I'm hoping to be able to walk everywhere. It was that fucking Greek Week up there again (although nobody I saw looked Greek), crazy and congested, six or eight cops every block, directing traffic, so many "urbanites", there was tension and around one, they shut off the power and South Street went dark, all the shops and resaurants and street lights, as the cops herded everybody off the street towards Broad. Luckily, we were able to get back to the car, but traffic was nightmare and it took 45 minutes to get from South Street to Broad where I could then get over to the hotel. We couldn't fall asleep till 5 in the morning since we were all heped up on Cuban coffee haha. Shame other ways to pass the time were not an option. Yesterday we went to The Mutter Museum and dinner at a Japanese place called Uzo. Nick finally got his toro (fatty tuna) sushi, which he said was awesome (it should be for $10 for one piece!!) and I had chicken terriaki and asparagus (no rice, which at first I thought wasn't going to be enough food, but it ended up being just enough, very good, didn't feel stuffed.). Learned how to use chop-sticks, finally. Hope I remember how to use them for next time. It's kind of pretentious, but I also like that I know how to do it now. We finally got to go in that old time ice cream parlour right there. Coffee ice cream in a waffle cone for me and Nick got a rootbeer float. God, that was a good time. I do like ice cream every once in a while. Got back on the road to B-more, I picked him up around 11 and we went to Frazier's for a bit. Rob was just leaving, but he stayed then for a couple of drinks. I stuck to Natty Boh (two) since they are only $1.50, and God knows, we really need to get a handle on this spending (especially me). I'm almost a little afraid that I can and sometimes actually enjoy drinking beer now haha. I know it puts weight on you, but it's also a bit of a change and I guess it's good to be able to atleast tolerate it since in some situations that's all there is to drink.

I will be glad to get out of here and hopefully take a nap. If Carm is up I know I will want to sit with her, but I could really use a nap to catch up on sleep before hitting club Charles later.