Unfinished Business

I suppose I should finish last weekend's wrap-up before this weekend rolls around.

So that was Friday night. Korean food, beer, and comedy tv. Pretty enjoyable.

Saturday we woke up, and lounged around the apartment a bit. We enjoyed a gourmet breakfast, surfed the net a bit, and watched some TV. Then we headed out to do some errands. Girlfriend had some new pants she wanted shortened, so we stopped in at the dry cleaner where she has happily had other pants shortened before. Then we made our way down to Hallmark to buy some Mothers' Day cards. Stopped in to Krispy Kreme for some coffee, but no donuts! We were trying to be good, so we simply watched the donut machine do its thing, resisting the glaze waterfall all the while, drank our coffee, and left. We're talking some serious resolve here folks.

After that we went to the Gap because I had a coupon. There was nothing I wanted there, though I did toy with the idea of a new belt, but they all looked funny on me. Girlfriend got some stuff though, so the visit was productive.

Girlfriend had been talking about getting a haircut, and we were near a place where I sometimes get mine cut as a walk-in. Their walk-in price is decent for shampoo and cut, at $20. So Girlfriend decided to give it a try. I sat like an old Jewish husband and read a magazine while she had her hair done. When she went to settle up, the price was three times what we expected. Apparently once the blow-drier makes an appearance, the prices go way up. Girlfriend was upset, feeling she had been swindled. So I had some words with the manager.

Me: I thought walk-ins were twenty bucks. Why did she get charged $58?
Manager: That's for shampoo and cut. She had styling too.
Me: No one told her it would cost so much.
Manager: Well, he asked her if she wanted it blown out.
Me: So she was supposed to know that meant $38 more??
Manager: It could have been $70 if she had longer hair.
Me: Wait, you're really saying it cost $38 to blow dry her hair?
Manager: Look, she's been to a salon before. She knows how much this costs.
Me: Well, this is ridiculous. And a rip-off.
Manager: {winks} See you next time.
Me: No, never again.

OK. So we didn't exactly have words. But he got the point that I was upset. Then we walked out. Girlfriend acknowledged that she should have asked how much extra for styling when the haircutter busted out the drier, and that her hair did come out well, but she still felt ripped off. So never go to Amour De Hair. They suck.

We shrugged off the bad experience there, and decided to head home. We were both hungry by now, so we stopped off at the gourmet Italian deli for some salads. They have that pick your ingredients salad bar with unlimited toppings for $5.95, which is a good deal and healthy. So salads in hand, we headed on home.

After manging and resting a bit, we headed down to our friend's apartment. A bunch of us had tickets to Super Diamond that night at Irving Plaza. This friend lives near Irving Plaza, and had a bunch of beer left over from a previous get together. So we met up there to polish off those beers and listen to some Neil before the show.

As it so happened, one of Girlfriend's friends from college was also going to the show with some of her roommates/friends. So we met up with them at 119 Bar before the show. Almost immediately the friend whose place we had been hanging out at moved in on these girls. He was talking to them all, while I was talking to Girlfriend, her friend from high school, and the other people we started out with. At first I thought he was doing pretty well with them. Right when I was about to pull him aside and tell him how well it looked like he was doing, he came over to us and said "Holy shit these girls hate me." But he was having fun, so it was worth it. Suffice it to say that group left the bar quickly, without us. Oh well.... Their loss. Especially when it comes to this particular friend, but I'll save the friend ass-kissing for other posts.

We got to the show right as the opening band, The Lounge-O-Leers, was finishing up. They take pop songs and play them in a lounge-y fashion. Cute at first, but it could get annoying quickly. We bumped into the other girls, said hi to Girlfriend's friend, and then they bolted again. I won't touch that one. Anyway, Super Diamond came on about 11:00. Good times. They did all the hits, and then some. And I had forgotten that Heartlight was a Neil Diamond tune. That was the highlight of the night for me. The show let out some time around 1am. Given that Mother's Day plans were up in the air for the next day, we decided to call it a night and head home. (If my mother was into getting up in time she was going to take a train into the city early so she could see Girlfriend before Girlfriend headed back to Boston to see her mom. If not, my brother and I were going to head out to her after Girlfriend left.)

We woke up on Sunday a little hung-over, and a little relieved that Mom never called in the morning to say she was coming in. Everyone got to sleep a bit. So we got ready, and headed down to Penn Station. Girlfriend hopped on her train, then I met up with Brother and we hopped onto ours. Little surprise for the day, Dad would be there too. Mom and Dad aren't doing so well together lately, so this was unexpected, and a little uncomfortable. Their lives, though, we're just along for the ride.

Mom picked us up at the train station, and then we headed to the house. Dad showed up a few minutes later, and we were ready to head out. We went for Middle Eastern/Mediterranean food. It was really quite good. Conversation focused on politics, war, and local gossip. It was surprisingly civil and tolerable, all things considered. And my moussaka was awesome. (It's basically Greek lasagna with beef, lamb, feta, etc...)

After lunch we walked around town a bit, passing by the town dock which is always nice and peaceful, and stopping in at the ice cream store where Brother worked in high school. The owner was so happy to see Brother, and we all had a really nice time talking to him. One thing the four of us will always agree on is that we swell with pride when someone outside our inner nucleus has something nice to say about one of us. So Mom, Dad and I ate it up while the guy re-lived fun times with brother and praised him. Couldn't stop in there without buying anything, just wouldn't be right, so we each had some ice cream. Good call.

We went back to the house, helped Mom get rid of some stuff of ours that we didn't want any more, played with the cat a bit, then headed back home. Home. Guess I've been out of their house so long now that it's not where I would call "Home" any more. Now it's "the house" and my little apartment is "Home". And not for much longer. But I digress....

Full weekend. Nice weather. Friends and family. Dysfunctional or not, it was nice. And time with Brother always makes me happy and helps keep me sane.