Okay, while my veggie burger is cooking, I'm going to tell the story of the three day weekend I had for my birthday. I'm off Wednesday and Thursday, and my birthday fell on Wednesday this year so I got lucky. Dan was working late that day, but Ian and Dani were off and Kat came over in the early evening to hang out. We were supposed to go get falafel, (I had told them last week that getting falafel was all I wanted to do for my birthday. I almost canceled it since I'd run out of money by that day, but they were going to treat me. I don't like to expect anything and being in restaurants makes me nervous enough when I have money) but my three friends (roommate, his girlfriend, and Kat) said they needed to go to a pet store first; Kat needed fish and Dani needed cat food. Ian may have needed crickets for his evil poison frogs. I was invited. I went with them to see the pretty rodents, since I'd been missing the rats and guinea pigs I'd had when I was younger. The store is so bourgeois; there are these vapid, vacant people walking around with dogs larger than I am; dogs that cost more than I do. Walking around like the dogs own the world; walking around like somehow these inbred monsters make them better people. Of course that's knee jerk on my part; there was a Great Dane, a Chihuahua, and full sized Poodle there that were all just love. Wonderful animals, I just chafe from the environment. We wandered though the fish so Kat could pick the ones she wanted. I was out of place, but I saw some Koi that made me feel homesick for Porter (there is a wonderful Koi pond on campus.) A part of me wanted to go ALF [Animal Liberation Front] and "liberate" the poor Koi. As we were looking at the rodents, my three friends told me that my birthday gift was a pair of guinea pigs and the equipment to take care of them. We got two female pigs, a large metal cage, and the rest of the things needed to care for the girls. Ian thought that since he’d gotten me a DVD and a book for Christmas, he should do something different for this holiday. Y’know, I’m always happy with a Criterion DVD; they’re very low maintenance. It’s difficult to care for another living being when I can barely take care of myself, but the damage has been done. Perhaps it will provide some more structure to my life, cleaning the cage and petting them. Eris, Ian’s cat, is amused at least. After setting up the cage and letting the girls acclimate for a few, Dan and Kat came by to pick us up. We went to Paymon’s Mediterranean Café, but they had already switched to the late night menu. It wasn’t even 10! I guess since they opened one in the suburbs, our little slice of ghetto/college district doesn’t matter any more. We went across Flamingo to Al Basha. They don’t have booze but they have generous portions and the service is wonderful. I got the falafel that I’d been craving forever. Of course I wound up learning a valuable lesson from this: never eat falafel and expect to get drunk after. It just won’t work. I had like two dozen drinks that night and barely caught a buzz. So we left there and made our way to Sanctuary, our weekly Goth club hidden away in the mess of gay bars commonly referred to as the “Fruit Loop”. I managed to get a mess of free drinks, of course. Everyone wants to see you so drunk you can’t remember your name on your birthday. Plus, since I know the bartender and tend to tip her well, she kept pouring me shots on the house. As that wound down, my friends had to return home. I didn’t feel like it yet and still had some cash so I went with some other friends next. Of course I know the bartenders there quite well so again I got some free beers. I managed to catch a ride home at about 4 and went to sleep shortly after.
On Thursday, we had planned to go to Rhyolite, an abandoned mining town about two hours through the desert north of Las Vegas. On the way out there, we pass of the military test ranges. I spotted one of the new drone planes; it looks something like a U2 with a split end fin (sorry, don’t know the right word for that one, rear stabilizer? Oh well.). The town was inhabited for about 10 years in the early 1900’s. It was like being in a past vision of a near future apocalypse, more like Planet of the Apes or the Time Machine than Blade Runner. There are tin cans laying everywhere, the old ones with the tear off top rather than the newer pop tops. We saw ancient bits of discarded metal everywhere. Inside what was left of the buildings, people had scratched their names and whatever date they had been there, trying to achieve immortality as a part of the walls. I can imagine a time before the park service had an outpost there, during the various depressions and times of national wanderlust the number of squatters and overnight visitors this place has seen. The day was perfect for our visit, a slight cool breeze and clear March sky. Ian and Dani split off from us early, but the three of us still had enough to say about our surroundings. I think we walked more than two miles around what’s left of the city before circling back to where we parked. Our separated companions joined us shortly after. It was easy to tell them apart from the other tourists, two black dots in a sea of lighter colored clothing.
We packed it in and departed that Golgotha for a nearby casino for food and booze. As we left, I became somewhat maudlin. We stopped at a candy store once we got to Beatty. Maudlin gave way to something of a panic. I was sweaty and anxious for little or no reason. Perhaps being so far away from home, I felt like I was about to become homeless and lose everything I own. Oh, did I mention that my mother called me on Wednesday? She called me from a hotel. She said that she spends most nights squatting in an abandoned train station. I have this tapestry that I took from her when I moved out. She didn’t protest much but my sister whined about it. Me taking it is the only reason it’s still around. I had to leave the candy store while my friends shopped, I couldn’t handle it. I wasn’t sure if I should run or fall down. After they had gotten whatever baubles they’d come for, we left for the casino. I was feeling somewhat better when we got there. A beer certainly helped. This casino (I’ve forgotten the name, but I don’t think there are too many out in Beatty) is something out of Gummo! Fucking ugly people. The man who brought us our drinks could barely lift them. I had to grab my Heineken before he dropped it. Ian tried to get a Meister Brau but they were out. He had to setting for Miller High Life, “the Champaign of Beers”. I managed to amuse myself by insulting everyone in the room.
On the ride home, we could see a glow of bombs from the test range behind the mountains. I thought of the dumb drone plane I’d seen earlier and how it is only used for reconnaissance. What horrid creatures are they unleashing back there? What Frankensteins will be leaving for our children? Finally home, I set myself in front of my computer and had a few beers.
Friday. I’m supposed to meet two other friends and maybe a possible date. One of the DJs for Sanctuary is doing double duty with an 80s night on Fridays. I met two of my friends and someone I’d just met a few weeks earlier. We hung out and danced for a few hours and my new friend came home with me for a bit.
The rest, as they say, is history.
