A Good Weekend in Venice

2006-09-05 1:15 a.m.
Just an absolutely incredible weekend including lots of beautiful women, great eats, good booze, new friends, solidifying old friendships, four disconnected visits to the airport and even a nice little classic for my original real-life quotable list.

Where to begin, where to begin� I guess we can go to Friday morning...

As a perfect introduction, went to pick up one my new lil� favorites from the airport. Judging by her cynical and somewhat deadpan demeanor you wouldn�t immediately guess that keeping her giggling through an entire afternoon would be both easy and truly entertaining. I didn�t even have to feed her booze to keep her smiling, though I did offer.

Unfortunately, her brother had to come steal her from me, just in time for me to go pick LK up from the airport. I flew her out for the weekend as a belated birthday present, just to get to spend time with her (haven�t seen her in a year) and get her away from NY for a relaxing weekend.

We fell right back into place as we generally do. Good conversation ranging from the very deep and personal to the plain and superficial sans need for transition, an allusion to being close for a bit over a decade. I�d missed her like hell and it was great to see her.

A quick stop at my place to drop off her suitcase and we were off to see the turtle races (yes, really). Actually, it wasn�t planned that way. She was hungry, I had an urge for oddly good quality bar food and it happened to be turtle racing night. I�d been hoping to catch turtle racing night since I got here a little over a year ago and was pleasantly surprised.

Her cousin and cousin�s husband, DY and BY, came to meet up with us. LK hadn�t seen her cousin in quite some time. It turns out the turtle races are rather silly and frat-boyish and the announcer rather offensive. I was immediately amused, but it seems my seemingly high-brow well traveled company was less so. Somewhat entertained but a bit unnerved � it seemed.

So, we went back to her cousins for a couple beers so LK and DY could catch up, after a couple hours, back to my place for a couple more drinks and then to bed, just talking and talking until we both passed out. Next morning � a poor attempt at eggs Benedict (my first failure with guests involved � tasted right, but the sauce wasn�t thick enough) and off to the beach. But not just a miscellaneous visit� a good drive, past Malibu, to watch the sunset on a miscellaneous quiet beach over a bottle of wine.

Now� I hadn�t Planned on bringing up shit during this trip. It�s generally known by anyone who would know such things (besides her) that I�ve been into her since we were kids. Over the past year of being away I�d somewhat decided it might be time to let it be known and let things do what they do. But not necessarily now. This trip was about catching up.

But yeah� sunset� watching seals beat out the birds for fish� amazing view� bottle of wine� perfect timing for one of my classics�

�You know� I like you.�

� I like you too�

�Well� I mean� I like you a lot. I think about you quite a bit�

���

�I mean� I don�t know shit about shit, but I want to be close for good�

�Well yeah, I know no matter what happens, we�ll be tight through anything� And what do you mean that you don�t know shit about shit?�

�Well, I just mean that I don�t know where you are on this and I don�t know when we�ll even live in the same state, less the same city��

... 375 hours go by in 7 seconds�

�If I kissed you right now, would you punch me in the face?�

�Well, I wouldn�t hit you, but I just don�t��

And so on and so forth. It was a valid answer and it was simple and easy and easy to take down and I adore her for it for the same reasons I adore her in general.

�Alright. Ok.�

I got the answer to the 12 year old question. And for the next hour I wondered whether it mattered that it was a 12 year old question and whether I should bring up that matter and the fact that it might. So� maybe I got a little quiet. Luckily I could blame it on sitting in the sun all day and getting tired, which I�m sure is understood as it should be. By the time we hit the bar to see her cousin, I was back on track � cracking jokes and in a decent mood.

But it�s sat with me for a bit. It hurt like hurt is supposed to hurt. I figured this outcome into things prior, but that shit never matters. You�re lost on this person and have been for 12 years. The rejection feels like slamming a warm face into cold concrete. There�s no drug or antiseptic or pillow to soften the blow.

Please accept my discommunicated attempts at happiness as a solid effort. And more importantly, don�t make it worse. I�m liable to say what I feel and that�s never pretty. Even if it does involve absolute unending adoration.

So� yeah� that was hard and things were awkward and needed to be fixed. The next morning, while dealing with a hangover from solo drinking the night before (after she and NE (roommate) passed out), I decided to clear things up.

I needed to know that we were cool. And after we�d talked, we were. All good. Still slightly awkward. I think it�s just still settling in for her. Everything�s the same as it�s always been for me. Assured her that it�s always been this way. Assured her that I would never put my thing before being a good friend. Assured her jealousy would not be an issue exactly as it never has been.

Off to lunch with her cousins - another touch of pretension as they seem unhappy with the guy playing for us on the boardwalk�

�Well I don�t think he�s that bad�

�It just sounds like something you hear on a bad radio station�

�He works for like $7 a day on the Boardwalk circuit � what are you really expecting?�

I leave her with them so I could prepare for my barbecue and ended up just sleeping off my hangover for about 6 hours. Woke up, drank with my roommate, told him about my lil� classic line which gave him the hearty giggle for at least an hour. He deems it as one of my finer classics amazed how I so foolishly summarized 12 years in 1 sentence and tried to figure out how and when he could ever use it � meaningfully � without losing composure.

Suited up in effort to regain a bit of ego. Nothing crazy, just a button-up and shoes (instead of the usual tshirt and sneakers). Met up with IH and her brother for dinner at the farmer�s market. More fun being the fool that I am, keeping them laughing for her last night in town. Tried to convince her to stay for the barbecue, got a picture, tried to convince her brother to make it out for drinks that night and to the barbecue the next day. Failed on both counts.

LK called, too tired to join for another drink. Picked NE up and hit one of the local bars to watch the silly little Venice hipsters make asses of themselves. My ego was fully rejuvenated. The crisp, button-up look is generally frowned upon in Venice. The locals are generally dressed like rich bums. They look like they woke up on some stranger�s couch, but they�re wearing $250 jeans and $100 torn and tattered tshirts. The eyes of a few of the pretty ones followed me around a bit. I was pleased to ignore them (well, ignore the idea of responding, anyways). Drunk enough to be comfortable and entertained, sober enough to drive home, we talked to the bouncer for a bit about getting jobs at the door and broke out.

The next morning was the mad rush to get the barbecue going. Ideally, I would have awoken at 7am and went out to get the essentials. Yes yes� food and booze. But we still needed a grill and lawn furniture. Well, so much for ideals. I woke up at 10am, still drunk. NE was already up� He helped gather food and booze from Costco, we made 4 stops for a grill til Sears finally blessed us. I left him to assemble the grill and get thins started as I went to find lawn furniture.

Pure fucking nightmare. Home Depot gets the sweaty ball hair in their teeth for the lawn chair hunt. I asked one guy where the folding chairs were. He told me they were out and directed me to some other place. I called information for an address.

�Uh, sir, they�ve been out of business for a few years now�

Nice, Fuckhead. I went to find him to talk some shit, but realized it was the booze in me and I just had no time. Grabbed a few plastic chairs, died a little in line, struggled to fit them in the car, went back in to buy bungee cables, died a little more in line, finally � back to my place. 3 more store stops for a few extras. SS was already there and helping NE the grillmaster get things in order, chatting with a friend of hers who gives personal in-home concerts. Grilled him about the odd and strangely cool occupation and went on to prepare.

The actual event was a resounding success. I felt at home once again. For the first time since I�ve been in this damned place I felt at home. I could Never describe the feeling I get from a house full of happy people. I don�t have to be intertwined as a part of it. I don�t even have to be in the room. I�ll make my visits and pop into conversations at my leisure, but generally, I�m sitting on the outskirts, making sure everyone is nothing less than euphorically comfortable and delighted, enjoying the warm feeling of bringing strangers together as if they�d known each other for years.

It went incredibly well. Most everyone there had never met most everyone else there before Sunday. By the end of the night there were obviously some friendships formed. People drunkenly and happily stumbled their ways out, collecting hugs and handshakes.

I�d quickly learned just how un-pretentious LK�s cousins were. They were great!! Now, I�d already had a good deal of fun with them by then, just had some hints of pretension. All gone. I�m a big fan of the lovely couple. Amazing what the grease of a little booze and smoke will do to show a person�s true colors.

There was one fine little reminder that we were in LA. It was perfect, really, in its simplicity. LK commented that she hadn�t really seen the LA she�s heard so much about. None of the simplistic artificial people she�d met from LA while in other places. Of course, we tend to avoid such things, so there�s not much of a chance for her to bare witness.

And about 2/3 of the way into the evening a small group of locals came by. It was JC and TB, colleagues and local friends of mine. I tend to give JC a lot of shit for being incredibly feminine. TB is just a normal cool cat. They showed about 6 deep, kinda elbowed their way into my kitchen as if they were hot shit, started filling up and were about ready to break out. All in about 5 - 10 minutes.

As if I�d never been crashed before. As if I�d never crashed before. This early twentysomething actually thought he was that fucking cool. Mothafucker everyone here is damned near thirty and I�ve crashed plenty of parties with most of them (separately) at some point or another. Do you think anyone here doesn�t know what the deal is? Did you notice everyone cleared to the yard as you were sullying a perfect vibe in the living room? You�re not that important, homie. You might get away as the popular kid in other circles here, but my place is an exception to all rules � regardless of the city. �Cool� is long gone in a house full of cool mothafuckers.

NE, who hadn�t heard me talking shit to him in my kitchen ended up talking shit to them as they were leaving for �stopping by just to leave.� Perfect. As long as they�re properly and thoroughly called the fuck out. I think someone else told one of the kids not to slit his wrists on the way home (a couple were rather emo), which I thought funny but unnecessary. I�ll handle the shithead crashers� you just eat and be merry.

Now this whole time I hadn�t been drinking much. Well� for the past 2 hours I hadn�t been drinking, as I was to pick up SM from the airport at 1130. Went and got her, cracked the Jack and prepared to finally get my drink on. By this point most everyone left drunk and happy. Twas the ghetto kids and poor lil SS left.

Now, SS is cool and handles hers. She�s rather brash and people tend not to like her for being a loud and obnoxious chick. Hard to describe, but I�m a big fan of how much she puts people off. But she�d done well tonight. Everyone got along very well. But now she was sitting amongst the inner circle. She tried so hard to relate, but it was just inaccessible to her. I was rooting for her. I really was. But she couldn�t touch this crowd and they weren�t giving her much leeway. I stayed humble for this one. I�ll usually interject to lend hand in such situations, but some things need to be what they are.

NE and S were talking shit to each other as they tend to do, SM was laid back with me on the couch showing me old school pictures� Just happy� smoking, drinking, singing along to Jodeci, then Shai, then on to Luther. All damned near tears with Luther goin. Old friends. Chicago runs the room. Poor SS had to excuse herself and hit my room to crash. We weren�t specifically leaving her out� we just weren�t adjusting for her to fit in.

A game of spades so NE and I could to remind SM and S who runs shit (they came with the shit talking as usual and we were sure to humble them). Luther blaring. Everyone just vibin, looking at their hands, singing along, reminiscing a bit. NE gets the spirit and makes sure it�s known�

�Makes me just want to cover the table in hot sauce!!�

�What the fuck?!?!�

�I don�t know, just seemed right�

�Yeah.. like � �makes me want to just throw a banana at the wall!!� �feels so good I just want to take my shoes off!!�

I guess it doesn�t come out as well in print. One of those �dog, you just had to be there� moments.

A few more drinks and b�s in the air and everyone was knocked out� Well, everyone but me, of course. I finished a couple more Jack/rocks and got to cleaning.

If anything makes me feel at home it�s drunkenly cleaning up after a perfect night. Nothing makes a night more legendary than waking up, not to the idea of labor, but to a clean place, that has faint and subtle reminders of a crazy night that exist mostly as a beautiful memory. A hazy recollection of unbridled fun, strange conversation and blooming friendships. And cleaning while trashed isn�t so bad as you generally forget that part by morning.

By 8am, I was sweeping the cigarette butts out of the grass. SS got up to head home. I went on a 10 minute drunken rant about JC�s little crash. She�d recommended I sober up before going to talk to him. �Of course. I know when I�m too drunk or too angry or worse, both, to handle certain things.�

Kissed and hugged her goodbye, helped SM into my room as her back was killing her from the 4 hour flight, got S a blanket, finished cleaning, had another whisky rocks and passed out.

Two hours later, excitedly awake and somehow completely sober � though not quite right, took SM and S back to Melrose. Dragged her enormous suitcase to her room, kissed and hugged her farewell, headed back to Venice, picked LK up, summarized the part of the night she missed, whisked her off to the airport, kiss, hug, wishes of a safe flight, call me when you get home, get in the car, head home, one more whisky rocks and sleep for another 6 hours.

Perfect weekend. Think I might do the barbecue thing monthly.