Pretty standard weekend, I guess. Bit of geeking, bit of hanging out, bit of sitting on my ass.

Geeking is gaming. I don't discuss that here because I consider it to be exceedingly insignficant, regardless of how much or how little time it occupies in my life.

The hanging out was neither better nor worse, just different...mainly because the geeking generally includes a considerable amount of hanging out itself. Saturday I trekked out with Erik & Thea to CSUSB to see a production of Streetcar Named Desire that her sister had a bit part in. I've meant to make it to the other plays she's been involved in, but something always got in the way. I forgot, they forgot, I was broke; whatever. In fact, I had totally forgotten about this thing until I was reminded on Friday, else I'd have hung with Jean and Nick like I'd originally intended. Anyway, I finally made it and I can't say I had a bad time. Took a while to get out there, of course, what with traffic, stopping for gas, lunch at Claim Jumper and a quick cruise 'round the Puente Hills mall to acquire the soundtrack to musical of The Full Monty (yawn). Somehow, though, we made it there alive. The play was decent enough so that I might want to check out the movie version. Erik hated it. Apparently, he's a fan of this particular play and couldn't stand to see it butchered He jumped ship at intermission. I saw his points, but I'm far too much of a Philistine to be affected in the same manner. The only thing he liked was the character of Mitch; thought the actor did a decent job and told him so afterward. We went out with some of the cast & crew a bit later; first to a lame excuse for sports bar called "Fanatics" for cheap beers, then to some rickety-ass, shack-looking joint that I don't remember the name of. If there had previously been any doubt that I was deep in the recesses of the 909 area code, there were fuckin' gone by the time we pulled into the dirt parking lot. The place was fairly crowded, what with much of the room being taken up by the two pool tables and roughly a score of neanderthals. Kid Rock was a favourite on the jukebox, pitchers of beer the standard order. Still, the locals were passive enough not to break anything or even yell, really, and our hosts were completely human. Or rather, they were as human as theatre people get. :) I chatted up one of the off-stage people, a nice girl from Barstow for whom I bought a beer over at Fanatics. Of course, two days later I don't recall a goddamned thing we talked about, but she was cool. Also caught up a bit with Misty, who'll be on her way back to Australia by the end of the month. Always fun to talk to her and watch her and Thea interact, especially since they're both raging alcoholics. Or, at least, that's what we keep telling them, despite (or even because of) their claims otherwise.

A good time had all 'round, to be sure, though the drive back was pretty heinous. In my experience, the drive home is usually the shortest part of a trip, but this was the opposite. Can't say why.

So, Sunday was breakfast at The Crest with Jean, as usual. I don't know how the fuck she wakes up so goddamned early on the weekends, but in her defense, neither does she. All I know is that I got off the phone with her at 10:48am and enjoyed the ever-livin' shit out of the following 20 minutes of sleep I snagged before she arrived. When we got there, I decided on a radical departure from the standard Mexican breakfast I usually score and decided I wanted a Belgian waffle; Jean, of course, digs on her regulation Crab-cakes Benedict & coffee. We exchanged the run-downs of our Saturdays and I think mine went a fair bit better, since Nick ended up at her place without me (I forgot to tell him I was going to the play) and Jean was a bit preoccupied putting in her friend Christie's extensions. Also went over her various relationship issues, which I won't go into 'cause they're freakin' complicated. Post-breakfast was a quick jaunt down the street to Pull My Daisy, a brief look into the antique joint next door, as well as me pricing jeans over at the Surplus store. $40 being too goddamned expensive for Levi's and Jean deciding that she wasn't really in the mood to hit Melrose, I directed us to the Glendale Galleria, where unstylish types like me buy their clothes in the department stores. A few minutes in Mervyn's doesn't provide a whole lot, but JC Penny scores with a sale and more variety. The last of my Federal Income Tax return blown on a pair of blue Arizona's and two pairs of blue and black Levi's. It was a heartbreaking experience, though. My waist size has gone up since the last time I bought jeans and it's distressing. I won't say what it is, but I will say that if I ever get to the point where I gotta wear pants with a 40 inch waist, I'm gonna fuckin' commit suicide and I'm serious. I need to exercise...

Sun's up again. Time for a shower 'fore I crash..