Weekend Update

I told myself that I would study on Friday night. But I went to dinner with Jake, Katie, and Christie. Christie is from Moscow, PA. She was recently offered a job in Milwaukee as an engineer. She lives in my apartment complex. We had dinner and then Jake and Katie had their own plans. Christie and I went to all of the open art galleries around the downtown as it was Gallery Night in Milwaukee, but we became tired of that decided to go barhopping instead. I took her to the spy-themed speakeasy, which she loved - though she didn't like their special "code beer." We then made our way to the dueling piano bar. She had never been to one but we had a great time. We had run out of cash at this point of the night and there was a $20 minimum to use our card. So what else could we do? We had to keep ordering beer.

On Saturday night, two of my coworkers through a party at their house in the suburbs. They invited quite a few people from work so I asked if I could bring some of my friends. They thought that this would be great, so I brought Jake and Katie, Christie, and Ann. There were only five other guests who showed up at the party. So, I literally was half the party. We carved pumpkins and watched the World Series. In honor of the White Sox, I wore my new mullet wig. It was hot. I don't mean that in the temperature way, even though it did keep the back of my neck warm. I again carved a George W. Bush jack-o-lantern, but it wasn't nearly as good as last year's. They eyes weren't beady enough, but I again captured the sneer and the big ears.

I worried that Jake and Katie didn't have a good time at the party but today Jake told me what a good time he had. I wonder if the big screen TV helped. He mentioned that since moving to Milwaukee he usually hangs out with Katie's family, "which is cool, but it's nice to be with a bunch of people our age again." He then gave some examples that he could make obscure Simpsons references and jokes about animal sex and nutsacs. (We played Balderdash and had to come up with the storyline of a movie titled Pardon my Trunk.)

Church this morning. And a run in the early afternoon. I fell asleep while studying. Ann and Karen invited me to their apartment for a homemade pizza dinner tonight. That was a relaxing time as we sat around the table and made fun of each other all evening.

Ray called tonight and we talked for quite a while. He had his military medical check on Friday and tomorrow he has his physical fitness test. I don't know how I feel about his joining the marines. I suppose if it's what he really wants to do, then he should go for it. But it's also quite scary.

Recently I've been thinking a lot about what's missing from my Milwaukee friends. Jake and Christie keep me talking about our mutual friends from Boston and Moscow and I can't help but be reminded of how good I had it in both of those locations. After this weekend I felt that I now have the materials to build a circle of friends here in Milwaukee. I have talked to both, Jake and Christie, about this and they want to be a part of it too. Part of me is concerned that I didn't put as much time into studying this week that I spent on socializing. But then the rest of me feels that there is an optimal time to build relationships with people or you miss that chance. Now may be one of those times and tests will be given again.

For those of you that know Ray, you may find this hard to believe, but I always feel so much better after talking to him. Somehow he always makes me think about what's actually important in life. I don't know if it's because we find stress in different things, or because some of our values are completely at odds with each other, but I always come away from our talks feeling that the world is going to work out just fine.