I know I was supposed to do a cast of characters today, but I really don't feel like it, so we'll save that for another day when I'm at a dead end in my life and can think of nothing to write about. Actually, that would be today, but I just don't feel like breaking it down.

The weekend, was excellent. I'd forgotten how great it is to go to the shore. I'd also forgotten how many people I know down there.

Erin and Frank (My All Time Favorite Couple, literally that's what I call them) have been shacking up down there, with Frank commuting to Phillie each day and Erin off for two weeks from her teaching job in North Jersey. I really have to stress how cool they are as a couple. They are always game to go out or have people over for late-night and they never make any of us feel like we're infringing on their place or their time together. I was friends with Frank before Erin, but at this point, if they broke up, I think I'd still hang out with Erin.

Anyway, it looks like Erin and Frank will be getting engaged soon, so Erin is trying to relocate and find a teaching job in the area. We all went out on Friday night, to Erin and Frank's new favorite bar, which as it turns out, I had visited a couple of years back with a random taxi driver that I rode around with for several hours. He and I picked up a six pack at said bar for my ride home and I was having so much fun, I decided to stay in the taxi while he picked up other drunk people and drove them home. BTW, bizarre taxi clientele in Atlantic City...

Moving forward, as it turned out, I knew the waitress at this bar. She and I used to waitress together when we were about 17 and we hung out for a couple of years after that. She's finishing her Masters in Education, so she offered to help Erin out with meeting people/getting a job. In fact, I invited her out with Erin and Frank next weekend.

Anyway, we leave that dive and head to Maloney's. Major bust at the bar next to Maloney's. Heads down, we picked up our pace until we got inside. John and Timmy, the bartenders (and occasionally our ride home when we spend the whole kitty on booze and can't scrape together enough money for cab fare home) were very happy to see us, although I don't think they appreciated us sneeking in our beers from the previous bar...

Headed over to the zoo (that would be the happening side of Maloney's), we found some major real estate at the bar. Talking to Erin and Frank when some freak show comes up from behind and grabs me. At first I thought it was Skinny McGinny or one of the other surf rats I recognized when I walked it, but it turned out to be some random freak asking me to dance. WHY, why, why am I targeted by these random maniacs?? Basically, this freak is already dancing by himself at the bar, so I really have no choice but to walk away and pretend I didn't hear him. My brother, meanwhile, is finding the whole exchange amusing, and Erin is telling me to talk to this guy who is clearly just DONE. However, I think Erin was also done at this point because she lost her sense of judgement. She starts talking to this guy and is trying to pull me back in, but I managed to get away and left her and Frank with him. Apparently, shortly after, Mr. Dancing With Himself started to hit on Erin and the trouble began. Luckily, all 6'5" of Frank was in a good mood that night, and luckily this guy apparently offended someone else's GF shortly after, because while I was hiding out in the corner, the bouncers came in and removed the freakshow from the bar. And they removed some other preppy hammer, who truly should have been removed for his pseudo-preppy-rave outfit alone.

It would be around this time that the red wine, white russians and numerous beers kicked in for Erin and I, because we needed to leave. So we all headed to Erin and Frank's for late-night. Thought I went home around 2:30ish, found out the next day it was 5AM. How does that happen all the time?

Saturday involved a lot of sleep. It also involved some shopping. Did a stop by at R-man's who was down from Vermont with a friend, and they were fixing up his house. The place is a disaster. I supervised the lawnwork for about an hour, and then we headed up to the "dorm" where it tends to get ugly. I was able to break away while it was still daylight, which is a good thing. That doesn't usually happen. The dorm is a scary place. It's in need of major repair, but more so this weekend, because R. had no heat or plumbing. This became a problem when we returned Saturday night to hang out. How can I describe the dorm? Well, it's a one-room garage apartment, attached to the main house, that you can either enter separately from the back, or enter through the house. The walls are covered in faux wood, which is genius in my book. There is a large tapestry, in new condition, on the wall behind the stereo - next to the windows. The stereo, on a folding table, is the center display against this wall, and lining the wall are boxes and boxes of vinyls and tapes. Hundreds, thousands, of bootleg Dead tapes. And you can take any of these tapes at random, and pop it in, and R-man can name the show (date, location and random anecdote). This skill has provided hours of entertainment for me on many occasions. Anyway, you are facing the stereo and music collection from the sitting area in the back of the room. This area consists of several pieces of furniture, including one retro 1971 wooden couch fitted with mis-matching cushions, ripped open, stuffing coming out. This is where R. sits, always. I've never seen anyone else sit there since I've been going to the dorm for about 6 years (?), maybe longer. To the left of R. is a retro-50's style couch, cushions covered in burnt orange double knit polyester. It's in the best condition of everything in the room, and that's where my brother sits. I've also seen F., TK. and M. sit there. Further to the front of the room, is a single bed. There is a worn and dated bottom sheet covering two corners of the mattress, and as long as I've been going to the dorm, I have never seen anyone so much as brush against this object. There is an identicle bed diagnally across the room, on the left wall.

To the left of R., is a retro-50's Phillip Starke-ish chair, covered in white vinyl. This is where I always sit. No fabric, so I am thinking there's little chance of mites, etc. on this chair, or so I'd like to think. Next to my chair is a wooden outdoor patio chair, with cushions. TK used to sit here, but now he's out of the group. Next to that chair, moving to the center of the room, is a large, round, bamboo-framed beanbag chair. This is usually where visitors or amateurs sit. A varsity player would never sit here because it's too hard to get out of at the end of the night and you're too far from the circle and the coffee table (in the center of the furniture circle) to reach anything, so you have to keep getting up and down or position yourself in some bizarre contorted way so that you can reach and pass whatever you might need. And forget about smoking a cigarette on this chair, unless you've thought ahead and planted an ashtray. I've never sat in this chair, but I've seen amateurs do it. It's not pretty.

To R.'s left, behind his couch, is a fantastic typical-beach house painting. So cheesy, it looks like a paint by number and it's soooo dramatic. At some point in what we recall was the summer of '94 or '95, I motivated to title this dark water scene. The title is written in pencil on yellow legal pad paper and still sits propped up behind the painting, now rolled with age and falling over the corner of the artwork. I think the title was something like "Thrashing Water Scene: The Rape and Pilage of a Rock."

I should mention that at the foot of the bed on the left side of the room is a bathroom, which is similar to the bathroom that Ewen MacGregor uses in his toilet-swimming sequence in Trainspotting. Not quite as bad, but it's damn close. I try to avoid this bathroom, if possible. It scares me a little.

That's the dorm. The house is an entirely different story. A very long story, but in short, you will all get to see it because it was used as the base for a film starring Matthew Broderick that was shot about 2 years ago. They chose it because it had never been redecorated since it was built, sometime in the 1950's. Truly, it's a time warp. The film has been shelved, but it'll come out eventually and when it does, we are all going to pee our pants seeing R.'s time-warp house in this film.

That covers the weekend and then some. AND* I covered a couple cast members, so I've kept my promise. Good Stuff.

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