Uh-oh, it's a longie...

It's Tuesday and I'm back at work. I decided to take Monday off. The weekend went very well, considering things. I started writing this post on Friday and had to stop to actually work. So I am posting it today. I will post more about the weekend later...

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It's never fun to have to sit through dinner with someone who insists on stroking their own ego throughout the entire. Dinner. Conversation. You know...it goes kinda like this...

Egocentric: "BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH ME ME ME ME BLAH BLAH BLAH."

Me: "That's nice, I'm happy for you. I'm glad things are going so well for you. How wonderful."

Egocentric: "BLAH BLAH BLAH ME ME ME ME ME ME BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH ME ME ME ME ME BLAH BLAH."

Me: "OH, how lovely... So, uh..."

Egocentric: "BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME"

Me: "Really? That's great. So what are..."

Egocentric: "MEMEMEMEME BLAHBLAHBLAHBLAHMEMEMEME"

Me: "I... But I've...Uh... Oh... poop...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz"

Devin came back from visiting his family in Indiana yesterday. His ex-boyfriend Rich, who lives down by the beach and closer to the airport than Melanie and I, picked him up and they hung out at Richs' pad for the day. A little backround refresher for you... Rich and Devin were together for 5 years. They lived with Melanie's ex-boyfriend, Dave. That's how we met, and were almost instantly drawn to, Devin. He is eccentric, he is charismatic, he is sincere, he actually LISTENS and RESPONDS during a conversation. As we got to know Devin, we came to find that he is also very spontaneous and unpredictable. This has sort of become his trademark. So Devin is much younger than Rich and has not yet found himself. He loves adventure and travel, hence his decision to break up with Rich and move to Beijing, China two years ago.

Melanie and I were the last to know of his decision to move. We found out only two weeks before he was to leave. Rich recieved the news only days before we did. To say we were shocked is an understatement. We were just starting to really get to know this guy and become friends. It took Rich a long time to get over the hurt, naturally. He was terribly bitter and it's understandable. I don't think he's completely over it quite yet. It doesn't seem like he has let go the tiny glimmer of hope that Devin will get his head out of the clouds, stop travelling the world and come back to him. But that's neither here nor there...

Okay, so Rich and Melanie have still been hanging out on and off since Devin left. Sometimes I'll join them for dinner and a drink or two or seven. And when Devin has visited in the past, Rich has also been invited. In this time, I have gotten to know Rich more and more. I have come to realize that although he is basically a nice guy with a good sense of humor, his personality can become grating. It's all about him and his accomplishments. I can see why someone like Devin couldn't handle being with someone like Rich. Rich was Devin's first serious relationship and, like many many many other first serious relationships, it went on for some time. Until it crashed and burned.

Let's move on to last night, shall we? I was hoping beyond all hope that we wouldn't have to drive all the way down to the damn dirty fucking shithole beach city AGAIN. Unfortunately, I did not hope enough. It wasn't in the stars. Once again, we had to drive down there and have dinner at an overpriced restaurant. We spent the majority of dinner listening to Rich talk about his job. You ever try to tactfully change the subject, only to have it turned RIGHT back around? Both Devin and I tried a few times, unsucessfully. I was only going to have one drink, but as time went on I realized that this was going to be at LEAST a two drink event. I wasted so much money on margaritas...but they were my savior. They helped me get through one of the most boring evenings of my life.

When it seemed as though time were standing still, I decided to play possum. Yes, I feigned sickness so that we could get the fuck OUT of there. I'ma bad girl. It helps that I have a nervous stomach so I know just how to act. I pretended that I had eaten too fast and had gotten terrible gas pains. This has happened to me several times before, usually when I wait too long to eat and then eat too much. So the situation was perfect. However, it took at least another 30-40 minutes from the onset of my "sickness" until we were finally able to leave. Our waitress decided to take our check out on a date. Shit, I was a waitress for only a few years, but tell me, doesn't it make sense to be sure that all of your tables are taken care of and have their checks BEFORE you sit down for your dinner break?!

Oh yes, and I almost forgot to mention the clincher. On the way to meet Rich and Devin Melanie tells me that Rich had told her Devin will be leaving THIS Sunday, the 16th as opposed to next weekend on the 21st or 22nd. Devin, being his unpredictable self, did not tell us of this little detail and we weren't sure if we should even believe it. We had both arranged to have a couple of extra days off of work next week so that we could go camping from Sunday through Tuesday. Devin was supposed to have extended his plane ticket. At dinner Devin confirmed that he would indeed be leaving for China on Sunday. He went on to explain that he did not have enough money to extend his ticket due to the fact that he had run into some unexpected expenses during this trip. Very understandable, but something that would have been nice to know BEFORE the fucking weekend was to start! At least this was Thursday, so I was able to tell my boss today that I will probably only take Monday off and save my other days. I only have a few vacation days left for this year and I need to use them wisely.

That was my evening. Kind of disappointing. So WHO KNOWS what's up for this weekend. This playing things by ear is getting a little old. I'd like to have solid plans for a change.