Flawless execution of flawed plans
Rebecca and co. returned to the country yesterday. I'd been keeping an eye on her ETA all day, planning to time things perfectly so that I could pick them up curbside, rather than having to park, etc. At about 7:45, her flight (originally due to land at 7:20) was projected to arrive at 8:20. Allowing time for them to get through customs, my timing was going to be perfect. And then I checked her flight one last time, and it had change dto 8:02. So much for the best-laid plans of mice &c.
I fought through two sepparate traffic jams on 59 (no carpool lane for me this time), and made it to the airport at a solid 8:30, which would have been perfect—had Rebecca's flight not arrived sooner than expected. Still, as it stands, I think I deserve credit for executing my plans flawlessly, even if my plans themselves were flawed.
They were quite tired. We made a quick Taco C. run, came back, and ate. They were ready for bed, and I was ready to party.
I met Holly at the Summer Hymns show back in May. She was there solo, and I recognized her from the bus, so I introduced myself. She threw a party last night at her place, and called to invite me (as well as Stephanie and Jennifer). We had no luck getting Jennifer to go, but Stephanie came with me. I quickly helped myself to a tequila and tonic (mostly tequila; it turned out really well, which surprised me), and continued the evening with an Abita Turbo Dog, an amber beer from Colorado, and two Budweisers (perhaps more? I felt pretty drunk; I hope I'm not losing my touch). The evening's activities included a viewing of Labrynth; Mario Kart and Mario Party N64 style; and part of a Bond film (no, not a bondage film). Stephanie demanded to be walked home at some point, and I refused on moral grounds, so Hunter was nice enough to do so.
Anyway, all in all, it was a good evening. With the exception of the Of Montreal show and some assorted bus encounters, I hadn't gotten the chance to hang out with Holly since we met, and of course I'm always thrilled when somebody decides to throw a party. It doesn't seem to happen nearly enough around here. Perhaps I should try my hand at it one of these days (next weekend for my birthday is one option if I opt not to return to Waco), though I worry that my apartment's too small to really to it up right. That, and I fear for my liquor and beer stashes, though I suppose there are ways to deal with that.
I returned home and slept on the fold-out; I couldn't refuse the girls my bed. I didn't sleep well and am consequently a bit tired today. Rebecca, take note—I sacrificed for you. We hit up Pei Wei for an early lunch and some hot lettuce wrap action, and then I went into lab and the ladies returned to Austin.
Bryan's in town for his and Lisa's birthday, and Lisa was working, so he was kind enough to pick me up from school, and we got to share some quality time. We got some Star Pizza, and watched a couple of episodes of "The Office", thanks to a generous loan of the season 1 DVDs from Dan and Kristin.
I managed to fall into some sort of weird slump afterwards. I managed to put some dishes and clothes away, but other than that, I spent a good deal of time on the couch. An order from Amazon came in today: two Belle & Sebastian singles for the competeist in me, and a copy of Alan Moore's Watchmen. I decided that if I was committed enough to my not-so-well-kept secret comic book hobby to stick to it through some of X-Men's worst days, I should also see what the heights fo the medium offer as well.
Anyway I'm sitting, reading, thinking that Sabrina has stood me up for our phone date tonight. She calls (ye of little faith), and we talk for a few minutes, and then I hear the call waiting beep. It's Bryan; I knew he was cooking dinner for Lisa tonight for their birthdays, so I was surprised to hear from him. I switched over to see what was up.
"Guess who's engaged?"
I'm caught completely off guard. For some time I've known that this would happen, but I didn't expect Bryan to act for another six months to a year. Of course I'm thrilled for the both of them, and almost immediately switch back to Sabrina to tell her. Of course, she wants to know who asked whom.
Back in the days of lunch in Penland Cafeteria, there was a conversation between Bryan, myself, and a few ladies present about the tradition of men asking women to marry them. Since I'm not a huge fan of gender roles (at least consciously), I fully support the idea of a woman choosing to make that definitive step, and I certainly think it shouldn't be thought of as the man's obligation. Surprisingly, the ladies disagreed; the best I could get was that a mutual agreement upon being engaged was all right, but that it was still horribly wrong for a woman to propose. I'll save the rant about gender roles and women's expectations of men for later, but the point here is that Bryan saw this as an endorsement of his lazy stratagem of waiting for Lisa to propose. Of course, Lisa was none to happy about this, and I had to backpedal a bit and explain that I was speaking of relationships in general, and my opinion was certainly not prescriptive for their relationship.
Anyway, the half-joke about Bryan waiting for Lisa to propose has continued over the year or so since its inception, and thus Sabrina's immediate curiousity. I switched back to Bryan, and it turns out they both got what they wanted. They had been having a conversation about their future, as I understand it, and Lisa had jokingly proposed with a ring constructed from a napkin. Bryan masterfully produced a real ring and proposed to Lisa, having planned to do so all along, but having no idea that fate would produce the perfect circumstances under which to do so. By the time I return to Sabrina, we're both sufficiently surprised that we've lost the ability to continue the conversation that we'd been having.
I also should point out that both Bryan and Lisa's original hookup and their engagement have involved three-way call waiting events with Sabrina.
A big "congratulations" to Bryan and Lisa is in order. I will readily admit that I'm a bit jealous. I'd love to be that sure of my future and who I'd be spending it with, but my previous Chance at that was another instance of the flawless execution of flawed plans.
Tomorrow is a night of free pizza and free beer at Valhalla; with any luck I'll have some good antics to report on this weekend. I'm still holding out high hopes for some cuties in the incoming class, as well, and perhaps I'll find out tomorrow. For now, I'm going to put on some music and retire to the couch before I retire to the bed.
I fought through two sepparate traffic jams on 59 (no carpool lane for me this time), and made it to the airport at a solid 8:30, which would have been perfect—had Rebecca's flight not arrived sooner than expected. Still, as it stands, I think I deserve credit for executing my plans flawlessly, even if my plans themselves were flawed.
They were quite tired. We made a quick Taco C. run, came back, and ate. They were ready for bed, and I was ready to party.
I met Holly at the Summer Hymns show back in May. She was there solo, and I recognized her from the bus, so I introduced myself. She threw a party last night at her place, and called to invite me (as well as Stephanie and Jennifer). We had no luck getting Jennifer to go, but Stephanie came with me. I quickly helped myself to a tequila and tonic (mostly tequila; it turned out really well, which surprised me), and continued the evening with an Abita Turbo Dog, an amber beer from Colorado, and two Budweisers (perhaps more? I felt pretty drunk; I hope I'm not losing my touch). The evening's activities included a viewing of Labrynth; Mario Kart and Mario Party N64 style; and part of a Bond film (no, not a bondage film). Stephanie demanded to be walked home at some point, and I refused on moral grounds, so Hunter was nice enough to do so.
Anyway, all in all, it was a good evening. With the exception of the Of Montreal show and some assorted bus encounters, I hadn't gotten the chance to hang out with Holly since we met, and of course I'm always thrilled when somebody decides to throw a party. It doesn't seem to happen nearly enough around here. Perhaps I should try my hand at it one of these days (next weekend for my birthday is one option if I opt not to return to Waco), though I worry that my apartment's too small to really to it up right. That, and I fear for my liquor and beer stashes, though I suppose there are ways to deal with that.
I returned home and slept on the fold-out; I couldn't refuse the girls my bed. I didn't sleep well and am consequently a bit tired today. Rebecca, take note—I sacrificed for you. We hit up Pei Wei for an early lunch and some hot lettuce wrap action, and then I went into lab and the ladies returned to Austin.
Bryan's in town for his and Lisa's birthday, and Lisa was working, so he was kind enough to pick me up from school, and we got to share some quality time. We got some Star Pizza, and watched a couple of episodes of "The Office", thanks to a generous loan of the season 1 DVDs from Dan and Kristin.
I managed to fall into some sort of weird slump afterwards. I managed to put some dishes and clothes away, but other than that, I spent a good deal of time on the couch. An order from Amazon came in today: two Belle & Sebastian singles for the competeist in me, and a copy of Alan Moore's Watchmen. I decided that if I was committed enough to my not-so-well-kept secret comic book hobby to stick to it through some of X-Men's worst days, I should also see what the heights fo the medium offer as well.
Anyway I'm sitting, reading, thinking that Sabrina has stood me up for our phone date tonight. She calls (ye of little faith), and we talk for a few minutes, and then I hear the call waiting beep. It's Bryan; I knew he was cooking dinner for Lisa tonight for their birthdays, so I was surprised to hear from him. I switched over to see what was up.
"Guess who's engaged?"
I'm caught completely off guard. For some time I've known that this would happen, but I didn't expect Bryan to act for another six months to a year. Of course I'm thrilled for the both of them, and almost immediately switch back to Sabrina to tell her. Of course, she wants to know who asked whom.
Back in the days of lunch in Penland Cafeteria, there was a conversation between Bryan, myself, and a few ladies present about the tradition of men asking women to marry them. Since I'm not a huge fan of gender roles (at least consciously), I fully support the idea of a woman choosing to make that definitive step, and I certainly think it shouldn't be thought of as the man's obligation. Surprisingly, the ladies disagreed; the best I could get was that a mutual agreement upon being engaged was all right, but that it was still horribly wrong for a woman to propose. I'll save the rant about gender roles and women's expectations of men for later, but the point here is that Bryan saw this as an endorsement of his lazy stratagem of waiting for Lisa to propose. Of course, Lisa was none to happy about this, and I had to backpedal a bit and explain that I was speaking of relationships in general, and my opinion was certainly not prescriptive for their relationship.
Anyway, the half-joke about Bryan waiting for Lisa to propose has continued over the year or so since its inception, and thus Sabrina's immediate curiousity. I switched back to Bryan, and it turns out they both got what they wanted. They had been having a conversation about their future, as I understand it, and Lisa had jokingly proposed with a ring constructed from a napkin. Bryan masterfully produced a real ring and proposed to Lisa, having planned to do so all along, but having no idea that fate would produce the perfect circumstances under which to do so. By the time I return to Sabrina, we're both sufficiently surprised that we've lost the ability to continue the conversation that we'd been having.
I also should point out that both Bryan and Lisa's original hookup and their engagement have involved three-way call waiting events with Sabrina.
A big "congratulations" to Bryan and Lisa is in order. I will readily admit that I'm a bit jealous. I'd love to be that sure of my future and who I'd be spending it with, but my previous Chance at that was another instance of the flawless execution of flawed plans.
Tomorrow is a night of free pizza and free beer at Valhalla; with any luck I'll have some good antics to report on this weekend. I'm still holding out high hopes for some cuties in the incoming class, as well, and perhaps I'll find out tomorrow. For now, I'm going to put on some music and retire to the couch before I retire to the bed.
posted by L. Maxwell Ward at 11:05 PM
