one of those exercise balls
so i visited my parents over the weekend. my sister had one of those giant squishy exercise balls stored in the room where i sleep. if you were there, you'll recall i tried using a friend's in pittsburgh. because i was quite drunk i met with little success. that memory haunted me throughout the weekend and i made no attempt to remove this ball from its perch.
saturday night was spent visiting the bars of the town where i grew up. i went out with the thought of looking for folks i knew from high school. i also thought i'd have an okay, sort of fun time. that attempt also met with little success. i had a pint at some upstairs bar. not too crowded. spoke with no one. walked through spanky's (a regional chain), but the bar was fairly empty. and then i walked to a place called brent's or bret's or brock's. yes, brock's. it was next to the river and it was packed with lots of loud music emanating from the back deck. i showed my i.d. but was then faced with a five dollar cover charge. i asked 'even if i'm just going to the bar?' 'yes.' i turned around and walked a few blocks to a place called orbit's. when i looked in i saw some hippy looking troubadour strumming a george thorogood song. and everyone was sitting down at tables. i turned around and went to the area where my car was parked, cursing myself for not realizing a seemingly interesting alt. country band had played the same venue the previous night. before unlocking the car door, i stopped in at some bar known for its right wing political leanings. there were about 20 people inside. no one i knew. i didn't order a thing. i drove the car a few blocks and checked out another bar on the river. this one had a live cover band and a five dollar cover charge. having had only one drink the whole night, i decided i was willing to pay the five dollars. but i wasn't ready to hear a bad cover band. so, i did what any logical person would do and walked down the street back to brock's. and i paid my $5 to them. i ordered a beer and milled about. the place was packed with all kinds of young twentysomethings - none of whom i had any interest in speaking with. although it was fun watching them interact with a few of the folks from a local high school's class of '62 reunion.
that about sums up my weekend.