The Sulking Rebound Binge Weekend (aka Days 3-6)

DAY 3:

Wednesday night I was home sulking with some Ben and Jerry's when my cousin A called and said she was in town for a couple of days and wanted to do something Thursday night. I immediately thought of reggae night at The Drink - fun, upbeat, good crowd, free pool, and two-for-one drinks.

Naturally, I called up S, who lives a few blocks away from the club and is always great company (despite occassional groping), and invited him to join us. I then called D, who is from Santa Barbara but tired of the scene up there and had been wanting to slum it in Ventura for a while. With these two additions we had a great little quartet - the cute, young, former posterchild for Hard Rock Cafe A; good-natured, good-looking, and good-time S (our token male); edgy, no-nonsense, Grey Goose drinking D; and recent dumpee me. We were later joined by C, a guy I hadn't seen in years but who had once joined A and I on a lovely day hike up Mt. Whitney. He bonked at about 11,000 feet due to altitude sickness and I hadn't seen him since. Thankfully, he seemed to have recovered by Thursday night.

The night was actually pretty typical. First A beat all challengers at the billiard table (including S, several times, who continually exclaimed that he couldn't believe he'd been beaten by a girl), then we all danced for hours, and finally headed outside to cool down a bit. By this point drinks were on two-for-one status and S was in fine form - nto even bothering to leave the bar between guzzling two-fors. He finally returned outside, sat down, and began talking about something or other. But as he was talking he kept brushing his hand on C's knee. C is a heterosexual man and looked from S' hand to each of we ladies' faces and back to the hand on the knee. S was oblivious to the whole thing and just kept pawing C's leg. We were all in hysterics laughing about S but S thought we were laughing at his story - a humor5ous tale of him attempting to get someone at a Burger King drive-thru to let him in their car to buy food at 2 am in a bad part of town. S finally got frustrated because we were all laughing so much that he went back to the bar. I guess it was one of those had-to-be-there moments but it was pretty darned funny at the time. With that excitement we all headed home. Thanks to S for providing some entertainment. Don't worry, gay is okay...

Day 4

I had Friday off from work because I was supposed to be going to our running club's annual campout - that started Friday afternoon. I knew when I woke up that morning that the last thing I wanted to do that day was go up and start drinking at a campground so I called S to see how he was faring after taking advantage of so many 2-for-1 specials the previous night. He was conscious and up for seeing a matinee so we headed out to see Cinderella Man. Great movie. Go see it. I know you think I ay that about all the boxing movies, but this one will probably win an Oscar for something. My intention was to go to the movie and be home before dark because I had to lead the morning run at the campout on Saturday - six miles while carrying beer and flour through the hills. But, after the movie S and I decided to head downt he street to Dargan's for a pint. Just one pint, mind you. Then T called and said she was on her way to party in Ventura with S for the night. So I called my cousin A and she said she'd be by in an hour or so. I kept repeating that I had to be home by eight but I didn't listen. Several pints and a trip to the seedily trendy Sans Souci later, I finally found myself in bed at about 12:30. The highlight of this night for me was watching my little cousin A jump from her chair to defend me from a man in a tophat, sunglasses and trenchcoat. I never knew she had so much spunk in her.

Day 5

Ah...Campout with the hashers. My run was supposed to start at 10:00 am but I was in line for a breakfast burrito several miles away at that time. No worries, though, as none of the runners were recovered from the previous night's festivities yet. I was in no shape to run around in the mountains being chased but somehow managed to muster the strength and took off around 11:30. Noticably absent was JP, who I haven't heard from since a short phone call on Monday. I was relieved but hope he didn't not show up on my account. Anyhow, the run was a success - much complaining, a few folks lost, and I didn't get caught. After the run we all headed back to the campground and I decided I ought to set up my new Truck Tent. A few months ago I pulled in to my garage to see a large mass moving around the floor. I realized it was my tent and something was in it. I got out of my car and realized it was my pig. She had somehow gotten the tent off the shelf, out of its bag, and tore her way in all in search of some morsel of a Cheez-It I had left after a previous camping trip. The tent was ripped up so I donated it to the pig. But it left me tentless so I went on eBay and found my truck tent for $16 plus $8 shipping. Turns out it is quite a contraption and makes my truck looks like I'm heading for the Gold Rush. Still, it allows me to throw an air mattress in the back and have quite a comfortable little space.

After everyone ogled the covered wagon it was time for the campout games. There were about 70 of us at the campout. There is nothing quite like watching a bunch of drunken 30-40 somethings place musical chairs with such vigor you'd have thought they were at the Olympics. Next was naked Twister. This is never a pretty sight and Saturday was no exception. Again, it is usually the folks whose ballsack you don't want to see that end up with one hand on red, a foot on blue, and their arse pointed right at you. Still, fun to watch in that disaster-can't-look-away kind of way. Games went on, then dinner, more imbibing, and then a great live band showed up to play for us. After the band and dancing it was time for the shooting star run - where we stumble from campsite to campsite being given various shots of toxic mixtures. I skipped four of the six shots and mostly watched as everyone became more and more drunk. After the shooting star run I headed to my truck and called it a night. Soon after I zipped up the tent I heard the clamor of the naked midnight run heading up the path. This is an event where about 15 of the most intoxicated folks around the campfire get naked and run around the campground blowing whistles. Again, think of 15 bodies that never need to be exposed to the human eye. Now add the running and jostling effect. Yeah, that's why I went ot bed early.

Day 6

Let's see... I woke up in my tent after three straight nights of partying feeling the effects. Stumbled to the communal camping area and assessed the damage. Festivities had apparantly lasted until about 4 am and included a naked couch and some rather sketchy activities that I am glad I didn't witness. After a bite to eat we headed out on the Hangover Hash - a morning after run to purge the body of the evil spirits. Then we reconvened for an awards ceremony - I won Nicest Legs (usually an honor in a running club but this is not your usual club...). I grabbed my prize, broke camp, and escaped home where I promptly fell asleep on the sofa. I woke up and wanted to call JP to tell him about campout but resisted the urge. I figure if I can make it two or three weeks without calling it means I win.

Yeah, that was a long one but so was my weekend...