First off, don't ask me what's wrong with the comment engine. I don't know what's wrong with the comment engine. I will address the problem later, maybe, I don't know. In the meantime, e-mail me any comments should they be so important that they require saying. I apologize for any inconvienience. Actually, I don't.
Melissa and I went to the Minnesota State Fair Friday eveing, along with my friend, Marc, and Mel's friend, Alyssa, who we're trying to hook up so Marc can extricate himself from the nightmarish bitch known as Kelli and enjoy a somewhat normal relationship for a change. But, my, how I did just ramble on.
I was new to the Fair, having never attended the annual gathering. And, all I can say is, holy shit, what a massive celebration that is. I don't know if Friday night was some sort of fluke or what, but the fairgrounds, which take up many, many city blocks, were packed. We stood on a slight hill for a little while, watching an absolute sea of people below us. I haven't seen crowds like that since my days living in Tokyo when I would watch the phenomenon of street-crossing hordes in areas such as Roppongi and Shibuya. It was sort of exhilirating, in a way.
I had purposely avoided food all day in order to gorge myself on fair food, and my first stop was a mini doughnut stand. I followed that up with a bratwurst, and I followed that up with a pronto pup, and I followed that up with even more mini doughnuts, and I followed that up with the most God-awful taco thingee that very nearly rotted out my innards. And to think I actually paid for all of that ($4 for a bratwurst, for crying out loud). Oh, I also had a bite of Melissa's crepe thingee, which had a texture not unlike human flesh, and some cheese curds. I am soooooo going to two hours of hapkido tonight, which will probably only work off the pronto pup and maybe one bag of mini doughnuts.
After the fair, we all went to Ol' Mexico for some drinkee goodness, and then Marc disappointed Mel and I by being a complete and total bonehead by not asking Alyssa for her number, or even angling in for a goodnight kiss, even though it had been their THIRD evening out together, and even though Alyssa practically had a buzzing neon sign on her forehead flashing "Interested!!" Marc's excuse? Well, he really didn't have one. He's totally into Alyssa, and he practically suffered a stress-related coronary getting ready for the date, but it all boils down to a demented shyness on his part, combined with a total inability to read obvious signs. Hell, Alyssa could have stripped naked and whispered "take me now," and Marc would have asked "Sure, where do you want to go?"
Saturday was the most decadent day in recent memory. Melissa and I stirred awake at about 11 a.m. She got up for a little while before sliding back into bed, initiating a fantastic bout of sex. Then we fell asleep until 2 p.m., waking up only for another romp. Then we went back to sleep until 5 p.m., waking up for, well, you know. We didn't officially get out of bed until 6:30 p.m., at which point we took a stroll to the local Rainbow Foods to buy ingredients for the meal I had in mind that would center around a batch of Japanese curry I liberated from my parents' kitchen awhile back. We also stopped at the local MGM liquor store for a complementing bottle of merlot. Back at the apartment, I cooked the main curry sauce, which was probably one of my most successful attempts EVER. I put Melissa in charge of the rice, and she did a fantastic job as well. Following the meal, we watched a little too much Trading Spaces, and then wrapped up the evening by sexing it up on her coffee table. It was the most lazy, perfect day we could have ever hoped for.
Sunday morning there was a knock at the door. We didn't answer, but I shuffled over to the door to retrieve the note slipped underneath. It was from the caretaker telling Mel to call the landlord. Turns out, the woman living below Mel complained bitterly about the noise over the previous two evenings. Noise? Oh. Right. Coffee table sex. Gotcha. Melissa apologized profusely and then hung up. Then, we engaged in, well, you know. Around that time, we heard a cacophony of noise erupting outside: sirens of every type screamed down the street, and I knew something rather substantial must have happened not too far away. In fact, this happened. Oh well, we were safe and sound. Once again, we lazily lounged about the apartment until 4 p.m., at which time we finally decided to get off our arses and go rollerblading. For three hours. I couldn't WAIT to get those things off my feet. Then, it was off to Ol' Mexico for dinner, trivia and drinks. Our night concluded at about 11 p.m. Despite all the sleep over the two previous days, we were strangely pooped. Must have been the rollerblading.
Monday, Labor Day, we slept until noon. Honestly, we slept so much over the three day weekend, I think we almost entered another dimension. We lounged around the apartment for most of the day and, well, you know. At 5 p.m., we drove to Lake Calhoun, where we took a leisurely stroll along the shore and soaked in the waning summer odors and felt the tickle of encroaching fall in the air. It's almost imperceptible, but there's a cool tinge to the air, and the angle of the shadows as the sun descends hints at the planetary tilt of the earth on its axis, rocking us ever so gradually towards winter. Taken together, autumn can be felt in a real, tangible way, and it's a little bit depressing, while at the same time it holds promise for holidays and little enjoyments of the darker, colder seasons.
A little after 7 p.m., I kissed Melissa goodbye and started the hour long journey back to Rochester. It was a strangely surreal drive home as the sun disappeard, with Mars a piercing beacon of red low in the sky in front of me. Summer is over. It really is. Melissa starts school this week, and my weekly visits to her and from her will be drastically curtailed as she works toward her degree and I just, well, work. I'm not complaining, mind you, just reflecting. Once again, it was such a madhouse of a summer, things happened almost too fast to realize that things were happening. I hope that won't be the case always, but I'm pretty sure it will be.
Welcome to September, everyone. Time marches on.
Posted by Ryan at September 2, 2003 10:50 AM
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