mychai's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A weekend with friends Wow! What a weekend. There is nothing that lifts the spirit like a day off from work and attending a baseball game with a dear group of friends. My weekend actually started on Friday afternoon when I embarked on the two-hour drive to St. Louis. I finally got out of Columbia at around 4:00. I was scheduled to leave at 3:15-3:30, but getting gas and other procrastinations kept getting in the way. As soon as I got into St. Louis, I met up with five other people. We didn't sit around much before deciding that food was a pretty high item on that night's priority list. We decided on Italian and headed towards "The Hill," St. Louis's Italian community. The first place we went to required "appropriate attire," of which we are sure we weren't wearing, considering what other people were wearing while they scoffed at us on their way in. Love the rich assholes, I do. There was a restaurant -- Rigazzi's -- that was down the street about two blocks that served drinks in fish bowls. They required proper clothing, but that included flip-flops and tank tops. We were in the clear. I got a margarita in a fish bowl. Yes, I know it was an Italian restaurant. But I can love me up some margaritas. Especially margaritas made so strong that they burn on the way down. Needless to say, I was feeling pretty "happy" when we left. In case you were wanting to pry into my personal life, I got manicotti. Curiosity killed the cat, ya know. Sheesh. I stumbled back to the car, and we drove back to my friend Carrie's apartment. That took 15 minutes. The ride to the restaurant took closer to an hour. When two people live in a city and are certain they know how to get somewhere, just choose one to listen to. Don't combine their instructions. You just get lost. Anyway, so... back to Carrie's apartment. We open a bottle of wine. I say "We" because I don't want to sound like a lush. I ended up drinking the bottle of wine. It was actually mead, and it made a good dessert drink. But after a bottle of wine and a margarita you could literally swim in, I was quite relaxed. We took a quick trip to some frozen custard place before we all crashed. I slept on the floor. I could have been floating on a cloud for all I cared. The next morning, we all decided to get up and go running. Ya know... to work off some of those drinks I had the night before. And despite those drinks, I was surprisingly well, and I ran further than I thought I could. I walked "briskly" for the rest of the time. It was a beautiful morning, and I walked with my friend Mike and his dog Eudora. We got to catch up a bit on each others' lives. He's a Mississippi boy as well, so we always have a little something to talk about. Running makes me miserable at the time. But looking back, it made the rest of the day that much better. I don't know if it was the exercise or getting up early to spend time with friends. But it was a great morning. We all showered and met at St. Louis Bread Company for lunch. I got my usual -- the Veggie Sandwich that is now the Mediterranean Veggie Sandwich. I think it is low fat and calories. That's what really counts. What you think is in it. Then, it was off to the ballgame! As usual for my group of friends, we got the $9 tickets. They require us to put blinking red lights on our heads at that level so the planes can avoid us. I mean... we are *up* *there*! But some guy gave us a couple of tickets right behind the dug-out. I'm talking about SWEET tickets. I used to say, "Ya know... I like sitting in the nosebleed. You can see everything all at once." But would you rather be standing across the room looking at that deep fried cheesecake? Or would you rather it be on YOUR plate, allowing you to talk to it and cheer it on. Ok. Bad analogy. To put it blandly, that whole "I like the cheap seats better" spill is a big load of horse-hockey. Take a look at my friend Rob and me (in case you are new, I'm the fat guy on the right). The players look farther away in the pic than they did in real life. During the game, I was a good boy and didn't drink any beer or eat any fattening food. I didn't eat any food, actually. A first for the Paulster at a baseball game. The Cards won the game in the 9th inning with 2 strikes and 2 outs. It was a fantastic end to a great game. I think I will pardon baseball from my general dislike of all sports. Days like yesterday are enough to convert me. We all went out to eat after the game. It was some restaurant that had opened their kitchen for the season only the night before. They were a bit slow and disorganized, but it was the only restaurant that would accomodate 18 of us in the group. It was a wonderful evening for an outside dinner, although it was a bit on the chilly side. We all sat at three tables, but conversation found a way of migrating from one table to the next. It was one of those nights where you sit back for a few moments and realize how lucky you are to have a family of friends who will probably always be there. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not." It was a beautiful weekend; it would have been beautiful regardless of the weather. Some of these friends have moved on to a point where I see them only 2-3 times a year. The Cards trip has become a tradition full of traditions. Lassie stories and the Partaking of the Fish Steaks are just a few. Some would have said that the baseball game was the purpose of the weekend. But it was more about the reunion. It was about that brief moment where you could lean back in your chair and think how much you loved those people of miscellaneous backgrounds. 8:28 p.m. - Sun., April 14, 2002 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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