Filling time

Well, I've reached that point of the year when work lets up and things sort of go into cruise control...in the past, a time I refer to as the August Duldrums. Typically, this would be a good thing, but right now, having little to do can get depressing. (thus all the blogging to pass the time) So, yesterday, no work was necessary and I've got a whole Saturday to fill. My luck, I've anticipated this and I've filled the day with activities. Sure enough, the doorbell rings at 9:30 AM, waking me up for a UPS delivery of car keys for my brother (he flew back from Boston without his car keys, so his wife overnighted them to me) and we're off.

I had volunteered to take him up to BWI to grab his car, which has been sitting there, since he didn't have a spare. It's around lunch time by the time we get up there, so my brother, having attended college and lived in Baltimore, decides to take me to one of his secret spots for food. We roll through the Inner Harbor area, through Fells Point and into Canton, where we visit a cool little place called Nacho Mama's...where they have all kinds of dips and quesadillas. (Yep, they stole my idea...there's all sorts of varieties of quesadillas...but no PB & J or Rolo, so I still got that going for me)

Ironically, the night before, I had mentioned to Cobie's friend, Jill, who lives in Canton, that I had never been there before. Looks like I remedied that in short order...pretty cool place, though I'm not sure I'd drive the 40 minutes just for quesadillas again.

So, we head over to BWI, I drop him off at his car, and it's on to my next activity. I make a quick stop in at home, take Chloe for a walk, and then it's off to the Carderock pool (yes, the Carderock pool...old school) to hang out and barbeque. As I pull into the Carderock parking lot, it's ironic that I'm listening to my old school hip-hop and rap mix, because as "First of the Month" plays, I start to wonder if this song was a hit when I was last at this pool. Well, I really never went to the pool all that much, most of my time here was spent either playing pickup basketball or sitting in the parking lot doing "shady" stuff.

We hang out for a couple hours, dodging passing rain clouds, quoting SNL skits, and ogling the lifeguard (maybe it was just me), who everyone else insisted was at best 16 years old (I still say she was 19 and thus don't feel like the dirty old man...well, as much). Well, actually the last time I was at this pool, she was likely 3 years old, so I guess that is creepy. Oh well.

I had intended to head to the Nationals game next, but given the threat of rain, I called my brother and decided to cancel that. But I've got a backup plan, as Adam and Kalyn had texted me to say they were heading out. I head home, shower, change into my going out clothes, and it's off to the metro.

This is where I made a tragic error. I should have assumed there would be issues with the metro after the 20 minute delay the previous night, but there I stand, alone, at the Grosvenor metro, for almost 25 minutes before a train arrives. It was so bad, they didn't even bother having a time listed next to the train name on the big board. But we're not done. Apparently, they're planning to stop for 3-5 minutes at every stop...and I'm heading to Dupont...8 stops down!!

I arrive at Dupont some time later, and realizing that I could have gone to Annapolis in the same amount of time, I'm bitter as shit. I roll into Gazuza (another place I haven't been to in like forever) and find Adam and a crew of people chilling around a table, smoking out of three hookas. I've never understood the attraction of the hookas, and really have never been with a group that was smoking them, but I had also never been to Canton before, so let's make this a day of trying new things to go with all these old school places.

Most of these people I don't know, so why not share a straw with them all, right? Hell, I played beer pong in the parking lot at Nissan Pavilion and "cleaned" a ping pong ball that landed in the gravel underneath the bus in a Solo cup full of ice melt from a cooler. Gotta love all these social activities.

I shoot the shit for a while, grab a couple drinks, realize that "flavors" of hooka are just as arbitrary as Gatorade flavors (do cherries really taste like this?) and decide I'm gonna head out. I've done enough old school things, that I feel it only appropriate that I finish my night with the oldest school of them all...Julia's Empanadas. It's actually a bit of a walk, but I make my way down to Julia's, grab myself a Saltenas empanada and it's off to the metro again.

So, on the day, I feel I accomplished a good bit: Visited a new place, swam in the old neighborhood, tried a new bar activity, spent the equivalent of a trip to OC in the metro, and likely gave myself diarrhea.

And that's why it's 11 AM and I'm still in bed. I think I'll just lay around and watch movies today.