Tuesday, October 16

Weeee

I gotta say, I've had a great few days. Which isn't to say that I don't miss Tobias & Steph, who are gone for the week, leaving me in pseudo-bachelor mode again for the second time this month! All of this will be less common in the years to come, though, because Toby will soon need his own seat on airplanes! So I'm diggin the brief bursts of absolute freedom while I can. Break it down -

Thursday: fast-breaking dinner with Brigid at Eden Alley (not my fast, hers!) followed by chess, which Brigid doesn't play much. I was fortunate to win this once before she inevitably becomes incredibly good, as she does at all games of the brains.

Friday: I hosted a stupid party. As in: all activities must be stupid. I set the house up like some sort of demented Escher print - chairs all over the place. Cat scratching post blocking the door. Spoons in the coat hooks. Metronome clacking away. Egg timer set to go off every two minutes or so. Shoes on the coat rack. Hats on the fan. Forks sticking up out of the couch in pointy fashion. Served the wine in bowls alongside a bottle of Vitamin C. Wore my pants and shirt backwards and a Lucha Libre mask (I am the White Tiger). Laurianne provided a fantastic New Jack Swing soundtrack and she and Belle sort of taught me to dance. Sort of. :) Krantz bedeviled us with some redneck bellybutton action and joined me in a LOG attack. Mark & Jason arrived to pump up the volume. Then we played Wise & Otherwise, making for a second day of games. As is expected, Brigid won.

Saturday: Went to see Russell sit in with a cool lounge act at the Mango Room. Discussed the virtues of various saxophones (saxophi?). Met a cool girl there who had lived in a zillion states, including Montana. Can't remember her name, though. I'm getting better at explaining my job in a few words. Then walked all over town with said Russell and contemplated renting the Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie, but that unfortunately didn't happen.

Sunday: Joined Brigid on a quest for the ingredients to her mother's renowned split-pea soup, which includes Smoked Ham Hocks. Bought the wrong Ham Hocks (uncooked) and narrowly avoided poisoning ourselves to death with said uncooked Ham. Acquired an amazing multi-fruit tart from Whole Foods (to wash down the pork), 75% of which is still at our mercy in Brigid's fridge. Washed dishes. Watched Kinsey, which I found fascinating. Were then joined by Brigid's friends and neighbors for their weekly Sunday dinner. I am a vegetarian and have been for more than a decade, but in the spirit of the week I decided to bend the rules a bit to partake of the soup. It was surprisingly and seriously difficult to push myself to eat it, but I did and it was delicious and well worth it. Had two things for the first time at once: red bull and jagermeister. Then had wonderful home-made (by Brigid!) bread pudding after an 11th hour run to the Walgreens with Daniel, who drives very... assertively. Played Monopoly (game playing day 3). Was winning when the night ended, but had the game been played to completion, it is my belief that Brigid would have won. :)

Monday (tonight): Procured incredibly amazing Boss's day gifts with Jason Ward after eating dinner at the Leawood Blue Koi, which is just as good as the midtown one, but slightly more expensive. Got home, restrung and intonated my stratocaster for E-flat using secret ninja string set ordered from the interweb. Then, went to the Recordbar for the near-religious experience of seeing Adam Franklin and band belt out 45 minutes of psychedelic space pop bliss, most of which was from his new album, Bolts of Melody. The last time I had seen Adam play was with Swervedriver ten years ago in Cleveland, Ohio. Felt compelled to tell him that I think he's making more amazing music than ever before (which he is!), so I did. Also enjoyed Kirstan Paludan, the opening act, muchly. She is a great singer. Now feel compelled to practice obsessively and steal Adam's delightfully robotic stage moves.

Which brings us to now, 1:43AM on a Monday night. Time to go to bed! What will Tuesday bring? Hopefully round two with the tart.

Jesse Kates * www.sexyaccident.com