Weekend of 20MAY11

Friday - 

Work on Friday was just more of the usual same; getting some projects 
done, prepping training, and working on ordering new parts for the 
facilities group.  I did have a slightly cheerier outlook than usual, 
thanks to getting to hang out with Allison the night before, but the 
day still dragged on a bit too long.

When I finally got out, I got a call from Teda, asking if I was up for 
picking her up around 9:00, instead of the planned 11:00.  She had 
invited me out to go dancing (learning how to Rumba) earlier, and we 
had planned on meeting after she got out of work.  It had been a bit 
awkward on my part though, since last I had known my buddy Mike had 
been with her, and it had been going a bit rocky.  Turns out they 
hadn't talked in about three weeks, and he didn't really know where 
they stood... So I discussed with him, and we agreed I'd do a bit of 
fact -finding at dancing, and maybe use her to meet some cool European 
girls :)

Well, the fact finding went pretty well, but the other girls definitely 
did not.  See... I'm a bad dancer when I don't have room to work, and 
the dance floor was extremely packed that night.  So combine that 
with Teda's "natural leader" instinct, and the dancing did not go 
awesomely.  It was still a really fun night though, thanks to some 
amazing bartenders, and the special "$5 apps" rule, where we were able 
to get a plate of Calamari and a huge bowl of steamed Mussels for a 
clean $10.  Definitely worth it.  

We finally headed home around midnight thirty, and I was completely 
crashed by 0200, after doing some basic packing and prepping for 
driving up to Bangor on Saturday.

Saturday - 

I awoke to Justine calling me, asking me some random questions about... 
something.  To be honest, I don't remember a word of what she said, 
since I went right back to sleep afterwards.  I finally mobilized 
myself into action around 1300, and was out and on the road by 1330.  
After a quick stop into Spikes for a most-excellent burger, I jumped 
onto 93 heading for 95, heading for nearly five hours of straight 
driving.

The ride itself was quite excellent, where my iPod and the radio kept 
me good company while I relaxed and the miles wore away.  I only had to 
make one gas stop, and before I knew it I was taking the exit nearly 
200 miles into Maine for Justines little town.  Once I arrived we took 
some time to let me decompress and relax, after which Mark (Justines 
boyfriend) arrived, we ordered up some pizza after much tribulation 
over who wanted what (turns out both Justine and Mark are unable to 
express what they want, they only worry about what the other wants.  
Cute, but quite inefficient since nothing ever gets decided).  We 
settled on an amazing combo of BBQ chicken and bacon, with some cheesy 
bread on the side, to go with the Porter than mark had brought over for 
me.  

We chatted and relaxed in Justines room for a while, then hooked Marks 
laptop up and started into the movies.  See... Marks a bit of a movie 
buff.  And by that, I mean he brought over about two dozen DVD's for us 
to choose from.  After the same problem we had with deciding what pizza 
to order, I finally broke down and picked a movie out; Tropic Thunder.  
The movie itself was pretty good, nothing major to write home about but 
still pretty funny, and Robert Downy Jr was quite amazing in it, I have 
to admit.  The best part was something completely unexpected though; 
After the final scene with the producer dancing like a tool, we found 
out what actor was actually playing the producer.  Tom Cruise.  
Seriously.  Tom mother-fucking Cruise was the dude dancing like a 
white-jewish-ghettopunk with a massive gold money-sign around his 
neck.  

We started into a second movie, but Justine and Mark started crashing 
hard about 30min into it, so I shut down the laptop and headed to sleep 
myself.  I was sleeping on the futon, but on a futon without a matress 
since her roommate was currently using it as his only matress.  WTF.  
But I had been warned, so I pulled out the sleeping pad I brought and 
the pad, combined with the extra blankets Justine had given me, was 
enough to make the futon frame rather comfortable as I dozed off.

But it didn't last, unfortunately.  Just as I was dozing off to dream 
of bikini-clad Irish climbing girls, I hear a rythmic thumping sound. 
 At first I calk it up to Justine and Mark having some fun in their 
room, but then I realize its right next to me.  The cat is batting at 
one of the roommates doors, trying to get in.  After about half an hour
 or an hour of this, slowly driving me insane, her roommate opened the 
door, smacked the cat, and went back to sleep.  It had stopped.  
Finally it had stopped, and I started falling back asleep again.  
To the sound of the cat batting at the unerside of the futon.  It never 
stopped.

Sunday - 

I must have finally gotten to sleep, because the next thing I remember 
was a "WAKE UP!" yell from Justine, and e feeling of claws in my chest. 
 Yep.  The same cat.  This time, propelled at me via a throw from 
Justine.  After chewing her out for launching feline-death at me, I got 
up, and we hit the kitchen to start making PANCAKES.  

The pancake archetype was Blueberry, and the exact classification was 
Delicious.  The pancakes Justine made were rather denser than I'm used 
to though, so I only had four or so before loosing all ability to 
continue eating.  We chilled out for a bit, and then when 1300 rolled 
along headed into town to open up the climbing gym and start into 
setting some new routes for the area.

I had the honor of being the celebrity route-setter for the day, so I 
had full run of the rather-impressively-large gym (impressive for a 
YMCA).  Mark and I walked around comandeering holds, and once I had 
enough I took everything down from a small wall, and started in on 
rebuilding it from the ground up.  By the end I had set two new routes; 
one fairly easy climb (5.6 - 5.7, I'd guess), and one slightly harder 
route (5.9+, give or take).  Both were on the same wall, which we 
called "the whale wall" thanks to its distinctive hump feature.  

Before, during, and after setting the routes Mark Justine and I played 
around on the walls, testing out my routes, playing on the cave routes, 
and generally having an amazingly good time being the kings and queen 
of the gym.  Some little kids did come in to climb, which was a really 
cool chance to help teach some little ones the tricks of the trade.  I 
had a really great time, but it was over almost before I realized I'd 
been there for a while; five o'clock hit, we closed down the gym, and I 
got in the car to head home.

My trip home was uneventful, relaxing, and packed with good music.  
I listened to the full discography of Angels & Airwaves, got an hour or 
so of Rise Against, and even hit some Third Eye Blind, Killswitch, and 
Audioslave in there.  Yeah, I know, my taste in music has no rhyme or 
reason at all, at least on the surface.  Baseline- it was awesome.  I 
stopped into a Chili's in Portland for a quick dinner, and immediately 
got worried after reading the new "calorie-count" information on what I 
ordered; nearly 1000 calories for my nachos, and another 1400 calories 
for my burger.  Damn.  But meh, thats what climbing, sweating, and 
working out is for; so I can eat amazingly well when I do eat out :D

I got home around 10:30 or 11:00, and was asleep by half-of midnight, 
dreaming about Memorial day weekend up in Acadia.