Wow, what a long weekend. Tuesday night I left work early so I could get to bed in time to go apartment hunting on Wednesday. I managed to wake up a little after one so we had time to look around. I was cranky, sore, and tired so I’m sure I wasn’t the best companion that afternoon. After we stopped looking we went to this cool bar called the Freaking Frog. They were playing the Mummy when we walked in. What an awful film. Every shot looked like it was lifted from an Indiana Jones film. Their beer selection is quite nice. About 100 varieties of beer plus wine, mead and some snacks. One of my companions had a portobello mushroom melt while the other had a veggie wrap (sort-of a salad wrapped in a tortilla.) After the Mummy ended, they put on Léon. Much better. The woman in our group became somewhat agitated when I said how beautiful Natalie Portman is in that film. My companion said something about being too motherly to see anything but a child in Natalie’s 12 year old face. I was just joking anyway, I don’t think I’d tag a 12 year old. As I was up at the bar ordering a Stella Artois, I overheard two men talking about Tourette’s. Of course I dated a woman that had this odd condition so it sparked a conversation. I told them the story of the bizarre love triangle that I became involved with back in Bakersfield. They were quite amazed and impressed. I noticed a chess board that resembled mine off to the side of the bar. One of the two guys asked if I play. It turns out that he’s rated 1900 or so. Very good. We played a few 10 minute games but I had to stop because my companions were getting restless. We made the walk home to get ready for the club that night. We managed to find a ride to the club which saved us some time and shoe leather. I wore some military surplus so I was very green. As I was dancing, this woman in peach pants with large plastic earrings started dancing near me, kind of like she wanted to dance with me. My friends were dying of laughter. Of all the people in this club that she might get play from I’m rather low on the list. Later, she sat down next to me and started chatting. She asked me if I had studied sword fighting with two swords. I suppose she meant Kendo. Onlookers were trying not to cry from laughing so hard. I left there and went to the Double Down. I wasn’t there too long. I got home at about 3 and called a coworker that mentioned that she’d like to hang out. So she came over and we drank until 8 or so. I woke up at about 16:30 Thursday and remembered that I was going to see R.E.M. I threw on some clothes, ate some ramen, and we hit the road. I didn’t feel like getting the expensive tickets so we plunked down for the $20 seats. It was a good thing we were there so early, we got great seats. Kind of far back, but dead center. Wilco opened up. I tried to give them a chance but they were just boring. We went outside. Some guy had a small crystal ball and was talking crazy to us. He asked me if I wanted a reading. At first I thought he was selling Tarot readings like the fucking hippies do. Instead, he produced a worn paperback quotation dictionary and handed it to me. He wanted me to pick a random page and start reading. What a freak. Michael came out in a military uniform and went into World Leader Pretend and Finest Worksong. I was hoping for a more politically charged show but this was fine. The oldest song they did was Cuyahoga. I’d hoped for So. Central Rain or something else. I requested Pale Blue Eyes on their web site, but I got no love there. Oh well. Nightswimming was a bitch to get through. We cried like little babies. We went to the Double Down after and drank ourselves silly.