New Order was playing as I walked through the Shaw’s by my house, looking for the beer section. There wasn’t one. wtf? a large grocery store and no alcohol at all? Ahhh, Boston. I walked out with water, chocolate, and my new favorite tea. But no beer to help send me off to sleep.
Speaking of sleep, I really need some. I’ve felt kinda washed out all day, mostly because I slept only a couple of hours before getting up this morning to wish Meriko and Russell a safe flight back to SF. Hell night was a blast last night, full of the usual male posturing (”give me something *really* hot”) followed not long after by the entire place chanting “wimp! wimp! wimp!” as the guy dressed as Satan brings the poor soul a popsicle. The only downside: the food I had wasn’t nearly as spicy as I remember it being last year. I was probably being a wimp because I was so exhausted, though, the stuff I ordered was only 3 and 4 bombs. As usual there was some really spicy action going on - when I arrived Meriko was pretty much going nuts because of a pepper she’d consumed some short while before I got there.
Speaking of water, I’ve had tons of it today, due in large part to the activities of this past weekend and yesterday especially.
Yesterday Nat and I went on a long bike ride looping through 36 miles of Cambridge, Somerville, and the surrounding countryside. We stopped at Walden Pond, which was gorgeous with the water reflecting the sun in a golden band right into our eyes, and went for a walk through the sculpture park at DeCordova. It was a ride full of superlatives. It was the longest ride I’ve ever been on, both in time (3.5 hours) and distance. It contained throughout it the longest stretches of continuous pedaling I’ve ever done, with no breaks for traffic lights or stop signs. The sculpture park was full of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. Everything I consumed, from the energy gel things Nat produced from his seat pouch to the bananas we bought at the roadside fruit market to the powerbar and luna bar we consumed in the parking lot of a store once we made it back to civilization, was the best thing I’d ever tasted.
Speaking of chocolate, Meriko and Russell and I met up for what Tiffany calls “an orgasm in a cup” on Sunday at L.A. Burdick’s in Harvard Square. I had the hot chocolate, and it really was just like a cup full of melted truffle. Toward the end I found myself wishing I had a glass of water. It was overpowering and wonderful. We talked about how cool it would be to have someone drink one, freeze them solid, then chip away the exterior to reveal the chocolate cast of their digestive system. I still think that would be more beautiful than all the plastinated cadavers touring the country. I brought home a box of four of their chocolate mice. I forced myself to wait until this morning to eat them all. See? I have self control.
Speaking of Meriko and Russell, they arrived in Boston Friday night while I was at Koreana with some friends. These friends and I were feeling rather playful and goofy (and drunk), and had fun putting dollar bills and gourds into the pockets of coats on the coat rack (or in one case, in the pocket of a coat draped over the back of a chair while its owner happily ate his meal.) We were loud and brash and obnoxious and we repeatedly embarrassed the cute girls who were bringing us our food. In other words, a typical night out. Once I got the call from M&R, I left the band of artists and freaks and trudged across Cambridge in the middle of a gusty downpour with nothing but a Monet painting covering my head. My head was pretty much the only thing dry when I reached the hotel. I squeaked across the floor through the lobby and rode the elevator up to their room, where I was given a leopard print bathrobe to wear as my clothes dried. Russell donned one in a show of solidarity, and off to the hotel bar we went for Manhattans.
Hm, there’s more but I need to sleep now.
