Beers, Balls & Phone Numbers

As this busy day at work comes to a close... well... the busy part of the day anyways... the anticipation grows for the ball game tonight. Crikey... the nerves are starting to go already and I'm sure once I get to the batting cages for practice this afternoon, it'll calm down a little more.

This morning, I forgot to grab my laptop when I ran out the door, so I don't have it or any pictures I may have taken over the weekend. Oops. I was a little busy grabbing my backpack with my ball clothes in it as Jen was ushering me out the back door so she knew I took out the garbage. Yeesh.

I'm looking back at my post on Friday afternoon to remember what I did on Friday night. Man, it was kind of a blur... the evenings of the weekend seemed to disappear or blend into one another. Makes for a very short weekend.

As I wrote in the previous post, I wanted to get home and do some laundry before anything else. I managed to do that just fine... except someone, more than likely Jen, had been using my Tide Cold Water detergent AND fabric softener, so between loads in the wash, I had to run over to Safeway and pick up some new stuff. I also ran over to Blockbuster on the trip and picked up a few DVDs for the week; 'The Libertine,' 'Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang' and 'I Love Your Work.'

The laundry was finished and it was a little later before Chris and I went over to the Yardhouse for our usual evening. Friday night there was certainly a bit of a blur. If I do remember correctly, that was the night of the Eskimos and Lions game, so both Chris and I watched that... GO LIONS! I should really double-check that to make sure that was the case. Yup... that's the one. The Eskimos missing that cruicial field-goal kick that could have won the game... yeah, that was a gooder.

Now by judging by the post I did at 2:45am on Saturday morning, I would guess that Chris and I were at the bar for quite a while, but I'm pretty sure I didn't take out anymore money, rather just spent the $40 that I had from during the week. I'm pretty sure that was the case. I must not have eaten a great deal for that take such a huge effect on me. But thanks to the football game, I remember a little bit more and can associate the events that night a little better than not.

Also by the judgement of that last post, I would have to say that Ashley was hangin' around quite a bit. I think she had turned up the flirting a little bit more that night and my resistance fell as the drinks went down. I'm pretty sure I didn't do anything over the top that night.

Saturday, I had the plan to go out to Langdon and look underneath the car with Dad. Jen had her stepsister's wedding to help decorate and attend that day, so when she was finished doing that she was going to annex the shower for 11am. I didn't get out of bed until 10am... and decided against showering in the morning to avoid the wrath of the demanding roommate.

Oh yeah, on Friday night, Chris and I were joking that we should prank Jen because of the shower. When she'd arrive and climb in, I would get a text from Chris to get the camera ready as she'd go for the shower. We can hear Chris run the water downstairs, so when he'd start it up, Jen would freak and I would get a movie clip of that. It would have been pretty funny... but I was too lazy and I didn't have the phone around me when Chris sent the text. D'oh!

Jen and Chris Stainsby were goin' to the wedding together and Stainsby was hangin' out with me watching the Martina Hingis semi-final match and the Red Sox/Yankees game until they were ready to go. I was waiting for Dad to give me a call back as he was in the office for a little while and wasn't going to be home... as was Mom, actually. Jen and Stainsby took off around noon and I left the house after 1pm to pick up a bite to eat.

In Langdon, Dad and I hung out for a while inside the house before looking at the car. We were chatting about his Hooch that he makes for himself, which he gave me a 40oz. of to take home. It's not bad stuff... he can get like 9L out of $20 worth of ingredients. That's pretty fuckin' cheap, eh?? He had made some of his own Southern Comfort and we has mixing that with Lime Juice for a wicked drink that we were having all afternoon.

When we looked at the car, we figured that if I got some cheap parts around the oil pan from a wreckers and a few gaskets from a dealership, we'd be able to make the change ourselves and then do a desperately needed oil change to the car. We also sorted out the transmission fluid and windshield wiper fluid... so the car is working a bit better than before.

The Shavers popped by during the work on the car and hung out for the chat in the driveway for a little while. Everyone pulled up a lawn chair when the car was off the blocks and we all sat down and chatted for a while. Harold, the next door neighbour, joined us to enjoy the warm day outside and the chat. It was so nice out... but the bugs started to come out later in the afternoon. Dad BBQ'd a large pan of lasagna, so I had dinner with the folks before taking off for the evening.

On the way out of Langdon, I gave Chris a call and he was just coming back from a family BBQ himself and was not going to be far behind me in getting home and was well up for going out for a couple. I got home and showered and then called Chris up for a glass of Hooch before goin' out.

We didn't get to the Yardhouse until almost 10pm. Jen and Stainsby were gonna show up around 10:30pm, that's when they'd figured they'd be out of the wedding and there for a drink. So, we found a table before they arrived and sat down. Again, it was in Ashley's section and so she was always around, giving it her best flirt as well. By my second drink though... at the Yardhouse, I was already 5 or 6 in before we got there... I was starting to feel the effects. It was only then that I started to feel it... so I was impressed about that.

Jen & Stainsby showed up... Jen was showing us all sorts of pictures that she got with Chris's camera. Some were pretty funny, including pics of her Dad dancing. They were actually quite funny. Then Stainsby's friend, Amy, showed up... then a few more of the Starbuck's crew came by. Chris took off, 'cuz he wasn't feeling the good vibes and would have rathered been home playing poker... so he did. Gerald and Christina were at the bar... so Jen went over and chatted with them. All of a sudden, I'm sitting there with a bunch of people I didn't really know. I did have a good chat with that Amy about all sorts of music and such... but that wasn't really enough to keep me at the table. So, I jetted off to chat with Gerald as well, which is always a good laugh. Then slowly everyone at the table, including Jen, took off and I was left at the bar chatting with the kitchen staff. Ashley was always about and the bar slowly emptied. I was convinced by the end of the night that Ashley was holding my bill hostage so I wouldn't leave... and I didn't get out of there until well after 2am.

Somewhere in the Friday or Saturday, Ashley and I were chatting... I got a little braver and started to see what days she was working and what kind of time she had off. Well, she had told me that she only got Tuesday off this week, so brave as I was, said that we should do something. Well, Saturday, I had to ki-bosh that since I had a ball game scheduled in Langdon. There wasn't any way I was goin' to invite her all the way out there. That would seem to me to be a counter-productive idea. So, Saturday night I had to disappointingly tell her that.

Sunday... I had to be up nice & early... around 10-10:30am for the Hooligans ballgame. I saw Rob & Michelle in Langdon on Saturday and they reminded me of the game. I agreed to make it out. After the $80 night at the Yardhouse, I only woke up with a tiny little headache that went away with a large glass of OJ and a Tylenol. So, I was pretty good to go in like 15 minutes.

I just got there in time to only be the third or fourth one there anyways. The team did eventually fill out to have a full squad and a couple extras, which saw me take to the bench for the first few innings to keep score. I eventually made it in, played a little third base and went 0-for-2 at bat, two line-outs to short. Anyways, the Hooligans won in the end, 16-13, which was a pretty good game.

Afterwards, I grabbed a bite to eat and went to go pick up Alan. Picked Alan up at his place and we went to the batting cages for practice. It was a pretty good practice overall... we had 11 guys for batting and 8 for field practice, some had to leave right away. Everyone was pretty jacked up about the game tonight. The excitement level was pretty high.

At practice, I found out that the games this week would be Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (if necessary), so that got me to thinking that I wasn't going out to Langdon for the Cruisers game, rather the second game of the Finals. Hmmmm... eureka!

The practice had ended and I dropped Alan back off at his place and Jesse down at the Prince's Island Park bridge on Memorial Drive. I got back in the house and had myself a shower again. Neither Chris or Jen were about, so I didn't want to hang around the house... so I went over to the Yardhouse. This would be great for my eureka moment... as now I can actually invite Ashley out on Tuesday night and see where that went.

I got there and it was pretty dead. I only took $20 in with me, so that would limit what I could have. I wanted to only go for a couple, do the invite and get home to make dinner and have an early night.

For the most part I did. Shawn actually got me to stay for a third... which was still in my $20 range, which was alright. I got Ashley's phone number and I'll give her a call tomorrow to see if she'll come out. And I went home and made dinner. I also watched that Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang... which was a damn funny movie... really enjoyable. Robert Downey, Jr. is a funny guy when he's on his game... which he definitely was in that flick. An early night to bed and a pretty good night overall.

I'm now finishing this post closer to the end of the day. Fuck... it's been busy. One of the two problem clients was a pain in the ass... the other not so much. I got pretty much everything except for that one problem done today and I'll get to go at 4pm so I can go get Jen and head to the batting cages for 5pm. That's the plan for now... hopefully will get some good shots from the game.

Anyways... wish us luck. I'll have the recap of the game posted first thing in the morning.