this weekend has been long and lovely, but I'm a little sad it's about to end after tonight. right now it's absolutely gorgeous outside and I'm looking forward to walking in the park again today.

on Friday, Jen came over since we hadn't seen each other in probably a month or more. we decided to walk down to the park since it was so nice out. after walking around there for a while, I saw one of the amazing things in my life: a baby monkey. well, it was actually a white-cheeked gibbon. anyway, it was swinging on vines, jumping, and swooping like nothing I'd ever seen before. it was like a small, furry child with boundless energy and I was entranced. it was so fast and limber! sometimes, while swinging from onely one arm, it would suck its thumb. and then other times, I would just sit on a perch and piss. but I couldn't stop watching! we must've stood there for 20 minutes, me with my mouth agape, and laughing ever few seconds.

during the zoo visit, I also came to the conclusion that camels are really disgusting. have you ever really taken a look at their humps? ick. they jiggle when they walk. and one of the animals' humps was tall and narrow, and tilted over at the top, like a bent-over party hat. gross. I also did not emjoy the random, ratty hair that collected on their undersides. camels: grosser than I remember.

anyway, that was a pleasant afternoon with Jen. looking at the animals gave us something to talk about besides how hard Jen's classes are, how she hates her resident instructor, etc.

yesterday I went downtown with April for an audition for her class. I had nothing better to do, and it gave me a reason to take a shower. after her audition, we went to Paper Source, a slightly fancy-schmancy paper (yes!) company with three glorious levels. I was really enjoying looking at all the pretty colors and patterns and stroking all the textures until I realized that almost everyone else in the store were engaged couples looking for a novel way to create wedding invitations. this kind of made me feel losery and sad and doomed to never be married, so April and I left shortly after reaching the third floor.

last night, an acquaintence from work, code name: Captain Linger (after the Cartoon Network sketch), had a party. I felt I had to attend, as he invited me in sotto voce and I avoided his last party like the plague. you see, CL really enjoys talking...about himself. he stands about 6' 10", maybe taller. he is a medical student on hiatus. he enjoys cooking, N*Sync, and a cappella groups. he sings bass in an a capella group at school and sent an audition CD to the group Rockapella (of Folger's commercials and Carmen Sandiego fame) when he heard one of their members was quitting. he likes to add his two bits to all sorts of conversations, at all times, and if you try to contradict something he says, he gets highly defensive and makes you feel ridiculous for rightly expressing your opinion or correcting him when he knows he is wrong. he also uncomfortably overstays his welcome in any coversation. one time, he and a female coworker were having a chat, she mispronounced a word, and he brought in an index card with the phoenetic spelling of the word the next day and presented it to her. he also told Amber once he wanted to do some self-actualization therapy with her. me not a big fan. but I'd been curious about his living quarters for a while, so I went, and I dragged April along.

April and I had planned to go to a play that started at 10:45 that evening and to use that for an excuse to leave early. but then we didn't get ready till later and decided to just scrap the play and go next week. now, I knew it was going to be a bad party. that I was prepared for. but it was oh, so much worse than I could've hoped.

Stephen met the two of us at the elevator of CL's apartment and we told him we'd decided to go to the play next week. Stephen looked at us and said, "you still might want to use that as an excuse," much to my chagrin. we walked into Sam's place and saw the following: three people on a couch, two on chairs, and Sam in a corner. Parliament Funkadelic was playing on the stereo, oddly. everyone there, apart from Stephen, was younger than me, was a co-worker of mine, and was one of the people at work I try to avoid lunching with for fear of being strangulated by their piercing overexuberance and lametude (not a word, I know). this all makes me sound like a horrible person, but I invite you to spend a day with these people. you'll agree.

I helped myself to a Bass, got some chips and salsa, and plopped myself down to wait out the hour and a half that was in front of me. the dessert items on the table really made up for the overabundance of lulls in conversation, I'll admit. I never object to being fed brownies and miniature cr�me brul�es. who would? but the party took a horrific turn when someone brought up Sams' a capella group and then when asked if he would want to give a listen to their work, responded in the affirmative. we were then treated to a cappella renditions of such American classics as: Walk the Dinosaur, Shimmer (by Fuel), Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go, Lady in Red, Tearin' Up My Heart, and others too terrible to remember. all done without a single trace of irony. this lasted maybe 30-45 minutes, and included Captain Linger offering running commentary, and momentarily singing along to his own parts to emphasize his contributions. it was an exercise in self-moderation for me.

when 10:45 rolled around, I told April we should get going, and we left. I tried to call Stephen's cell phone to give him an out, but he and Amber didn't answer, so April and I went to a bar to drink off the stink of that shindig. that bar sucked as well, so we went to another bar that was actually pretty cool. but by that point I was a little to tired and too smoke-full to enjoy myself, so we went home, running into Stephen and Amber a block away from our place. they debriefed us on the rest of the evening at CL's place, and we learned that one of his a capella buddies not only came over, but also performed with CL, live. God, I'm glad I got out of there.

it's now 12:30 and time for me to get in the shower. April and I have a whole day of eating mapped out, and I can't miss a thing. ciao, baby.