Apostrophe S

Hello, long time no see. You remember me, right? Having that moment where you can’t remember that guy’s name? Feeling like an ass, because he remembers yours? Don’t you hate that feeling?

OK, so my weekend was excellent. Last you heard, I was heading into the weekend of the Glorious 4th, and glorious is was, indeed.

Friday night was excellent as I was able to leave work early in order to dine with good friends Talula, Mouse, and J in honor of Mouse’s birthday. We dined at Osaka, a Japanese restaurant in Bradley Beach. It was good stuff. I had some noodles and spicy chicken. It was good. I also sampled some sushi. I’m usually pretty opposed to eating raw fish, but this particular raw fish was tasty. Plus it had wasabi. Calling wasabi spicy is kind of an understatement. It’s not really a spice. It’s more like a fire, especially if you happen to exhale a little through your nose. It’s excrutiatingly good stuff. I highly recommend it. To go with dinner, we bought some Sapporo, a Japanese beer. (Check out their Web site. You can download a neat sushi screensaver. Ha ha.) It’s pretty tasty. I can’t really say what was distinctly Japanese about it. It is interesting out here in Jersey, though, that many restaurants have a BYOB policy. They won’t sell you alcohol, but you’re allowed to bring in into the restaurant. In some ways it’s awesome because you can bring whatever you want, but in other ways it’s frustrating because you have to have it before you get there. (Unless there’s a liqour store 2 stores down, which was the case on Friday.) Anyway, the restaurant was good.

After that, we wanted to try to see this band play at a club called Crossroads in Asbury Park, but we ended up arriving too late, and the band had already played. So we went to the Stone Pony, instead. There was some kind of music festival going on, but it cost to get in so we just stood outside and looked through the fence. After that, we met Roxy at this tiki bar on the side of Convention Hall and had a few drinks. Not great drinks, but a really nice location. Maybe the drinks will improve. Our final destination for the night was Asbury Lanes, a bowling ally/hipster bar. It has apparently been renovated quite a bit since the girls had been there before, and I think it was pretty nice. Good music, nice atmosphere. The scene was a little pretentious for my taste, but I can deal with that. Everyone’s a little pretentious in their own little way. So that was my Friday.

Saturday was a pretty mellow day, which I was grateful for. I slept in late, so that always makes for a good day. Then Roxy and I did some yard work, including cutting the grass. The grass always looks so much better when it’s been cut.

After the chores were done, Roxy and I set out to find some film for an old Polaroid SX-70 she had in the house. We found some in Belmar. We also found some Italian ice and some ingredients for mixed beverages. Then we went to Bradley Beach and found some Foccaccia (Foccaccia is kind of like a pizza, but it’s just bread with cut up and dried vegetables on it. And it’s damn good) and also a beautiful cake with strawberry frosting.

Then the Bad Girl Posse (i.e. Roxy, Mouse, and J. (Talula bailed)) and I went to Red Bank to meet Dope and see some fireworks. That was nice. Afterward we went back to Roxy’s and enjoyed our cake and mixed drinks in honor of Talula’s upcoming birthday. She’s turning 29. It’s weird. Roxy just turned 29 a couple of weeks ago. Funny coincidence, huh? Those crazy girls…

Sunday was, of course, the Glorious 4th. The main thing on the agenda for that day was the block party in Roxy’s neighborhood. But before we could enjoy that, we had to prepare a dish to contribute to the potluck dinner. And in order to do that, Roxy and I had to go get some ingredients. She took me to this place in a nearby town. It was kind of like a farmer’s market, except a little more like a grocery store. All I know is they had great produce. (As a matter of fact, I just ate a peach we bought there. Damn good.) Roxy bought stuff to make mango salsa, which I’d never had before. It was also damn good. We took our groceries home and then added Roxy’s damn good mango salsa to a collection of other damn good foods. All in all, it was a damn good day for food. Also that day Dope had a photo shoot with Roxy and Mouse. He’s a portrait photographer, and the girls wanted to take advantage of him in that way. It was also sad, though, as it was Dope’s last day with us. He flew off in the night back to Arizona. It was good meeting you, Dope.

Monday was like a capstone to a very good weekend. Roxy and I went to a record store in Princeton. Yes, it’s that Princeton. The campus was fun to see. The record store was awesome. I bought 5 CDs. We also had fish and chips at a restaurant called Triumph. Damn good.

Well, you’re probably tired of reading about the adventures that you’re not having, so I’ll wrap this up. You might have noticed, if you scrolled to the bottom of the page, that there is now a banner that reads “November 2.” This is not an ad, really. It’s just a link to this Web site called november2.org. It’s just a voting awareness site, but it’s very cool. I suggest you check it out.

OK, until that day, take care…

ON AIR: Gang of Four - Better Him Than Me