Sumsumsumma Time and Blogging

Are we already upon the eve of Memorial Day weekend?

How did that happen?

Was it not just threatening to snow?

I think I lost a month or two in there due to complete and total crappiness of weather. I mean, really. April showers, ya, ok, no worries, but SERIOUSLY. I wondered if the latitude of Baltimore had shifted slightly to that of...Seattle.

Hand me a mojito and set me up on my rooftop deck with a book, I am READY.

So, in talking with Lee and various other peoples whose opinions I both respect and often desperately want to hear (because they are hilarious and on-point), it has been decided that I have become entirely too lackadaisical about blogging. Gone are the days of juicy gossip and dating stories, behind me are the endless nights of partying and living the young, high life of Baltimore.

OR ARE THEY?

Mostly I stopped writing about that stuff for three primary reasons:
1. I got a real job. Aside from issues of professionalism, I simply don't have time to be trawling about on the Interwebs all day.
2. I re-assessed the content of the blog and decided I was tired of being responsible for representation of my friends, family, and self. It's a lot to bear. If you get it right, you're golden. If you get it wrong, it's a lot of undoing and apologizing and backtracking. In the end, it just wasn't worth it to me to be constantly assessing what is and is not appropriate content for the Internet. It became too much of a hassle, too much of a burden on my sensitive soul.
3. Refer to #1- I started pursuing other things. Running, working, etc. Blogging kind of fell off of my plate when I decided to write only for myself.

But at Snap's wedding, a lot of stories about the blogging days of yore got tossed around. Those were some crazy years. A lot of them fun, most of them frazzled with that crazy electric energy of being young and directionless and la vie boheme and all of that crap.

My life, I'm sorry to say, is far less exciting now. Thank God. I don't think my sensibilities- or my liver- could handle that level of manic craziness anymore.

Not that I am entirely mellow in my old age of almost-29.

Not that my life still isn't crazy.

Just...different crazy.

So, once again, I'm tasked with finding a balance of writing outlet, drawing in you as an audience, and maintaining professionalism in my work life and enough privacy in my personal life. It's a juggling act, constantly, but maybe one I should pick up again.

I'm thinking that certain statutes of limitations may be up on certain stories, and it might be time to flesh out things from the past that are long gone and dead and buried, but still have immense comedic literary value were I to resurrect them.

Such as...the most awkward date I've ever been on.

I think I might start with that.

Snap's Murried

So, Snap is all married to Sweet-T. No one objected, no one fainted, and everyone showed up on time. Win.

Truly, though, it was a LOT of fun, as you'd expect any wedding with Snap to be. We were fortunate enough to rent a beautiful house with a bunch of like-minded party people ("In the time we've been standing here chatting, you could have had two beers," was one of the first introductions to the weekend). This is crucial for Wedding Fun- locating and sticking with the partiers. Now, in instances past, I myself have been said Designated Party Girl. But given that I was a bridesmaid, I felt the need to be on somewhat good behavior. This doesn't mean alienation from the partiers, however; it means alignment, stealth, and multitasking. Bridesmaidly duties come first, but if you do it right (and I've had some practice), partying can quite easily come in tandem.

Every bride is beautiful, let's face it, but I'm not exaggerating when I say that Snap was breathtaking. I don't know how it's possible to look sexy in a wedding dress (aren't brides usually described as demure? Blushing? Beautiful?) but damn if Snap didn't WEAR that DRESS, if you know what I mean. Pippa Middleton had nothing on this.

At one point over the weekend, someone asked me if I'd ever thought Snap would get married first. I responded that I had never really thought about who might get married first; only that from very early on in Snap and Sweet-T's relationship, I knew they were going to get married. Sometimes you just know. And with them, I just knew. I think everyone did.

I think the only part of the whole weekend that actually saddened me was the knowledge that it would fly by, and Snap and Sweet-T would be back on a plane to San Francisco. And then maybe I'll can catch them at Christmas next year. The one part of the whole deal that chokes me up is that Snap had to move 3,000 miles away.

I guess I need to plan a trip to San Fran.

Also "murried off" last weekend was Catalano. It was heartbreaking that I couldn't go to her wedding, but, well, Snap got the request out prior. How it's possible that I had two such good friends from different circles get married on the same day in 2011 is beyond me. Oh, well. At least I got to go to Vegas for Catalano's bachelorette.

Wedding fun is over for now, work is back in full swing, and it's running, running, running in anticipation for the Survivor 7-miler in June.

Oh, and Lee is turning THIRTY next week. Let us not forget this crucial and important fact. OLD. In a couple of weeks, I will be a mere babe at 29, but Lee will be THIRTY. OLD.

Summer's on it's way....

Weddings, Brew Fests, Cool Runnings, Et Al

Oh, man.

So, been super busy (as always...not really anything new there) but also working in preparations for Snap's wedding this coming weekend. I've got the dress, the shoes, the awesome date, and am fine-tuning the toast. I don't want to give too much away, but suffice it to say that I tried to incorporate a spectrum of emotion that includes Supreme Humiliation. Ok, maybe not humiliation, per say. A touch of humor, maybe. At Snap's expense. Har.

So I went on a long run on Saturday (working towards the Survivor 7 on June 12), and was running peacefully along in some sort of Zenned-out state when I realized that there were throngs of people lining the sidewalks. So I shifted over and ran in the street. Curiously, no cars. Excellent running conditions, however, and the street was even conveniently mapped out with lines of orange cones. Then I realized people were cheering. Just as I was congratulating myself on such good form, I glanced over my shoulder to see Fifi gliding along behind me. Apparently, I had found my running trail along AVAM's annual Kinetic Sculpture race route.

Slightly embarrassing, especially because there wasn't any place for me to turn off, so I just went with it for probably another quarter mile.

So if any of you witnessed the early part of the route and saw some ass running while everyone else was biking, it was me. Oops.

Also worthy of note here was that City Paper's Annual Brew Fest was a couple of weekends ago. As always, it fell on the most gorgeous spring day. I don't know how they do it every year, but it always seems that the weather is in gross extremes leading up to this event. 90 degrees with 100% humidity one day, 45 degrees and raining the next. And then CPABF comes along, and it's 75 degrees, sunny, no humidity. Just perfect.

I'm digging beer right now. Among my favorites:
Boulder's Kind Blue, blueberry wheat
Allagash White Ale
Hitachino Nest, white ale (harder to find, given present export situation)
Dogfish Head Midas Touch, ancient Turkish fermentation recipe (ridiculously hard to find, and ringing in at a whopping $14 per 4-pack in some cases)

So, spring is in full effect. Which means running outside, beer consumption, weddings, and soon- KAYAKING!

Hooray, spring!

Oh, and somewhere in there I'm gonna turn 29. Awesome.

Hate Returns Hate

"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that." --Martin Luther King, Jr.

SLAPPIN DA BASS

I'm no relationship expert. But it seems to me that if you harbor blatant distaste for the person you are dating, perhaps there is something fundamentally amiss. Furthermore, if you harbor blatant distaste for the person you are dating, AND are quite communicative with your friends about it, you open yourself up to critique of your significant other by these friends. And by friends, I mean close, trusting advocates for your happiness. Or, you know, perfect strangers and passersby that you engage in conversations about how much you hate your sig-o.

If you are in the process of sorting through this distaste, it's not wise to give your friends details that might be used against their soon-to-be-ex in a court of social interaction. Such as: revealing that this person might have an interesting hobby. Say, playing in a steel drum band on the side.

Your friends cannot be held accountable for the frequent and not-so-subtle commentary that might follow this confession. Especially if they are well aware that your relationship is not long for this world.

"Does he insert the term 'irie' into normal conversation?"

"Does he have a knitted cap with the fake dreads sewn into it?"

"Does he argue intensely that 'dub' is a sub-genre of reggae?"

"Does he refuse to drink anything but Blue Mountain coffee?"

"Cool Runnings, mon."

"Does he talk about SLAPPIN DA BASS?"

"SLAPPIN' DE BASS!"

"SLAPPAH DAH BASS!"

Honestly, we really only want for your happiness. We're not just being asses for the sake of being asses, here.