Tuesday night I play my third ice hockey game in three days. I play well but the team loses. At the beginning of the third period, just after we have scored to get within a goal, the other team gets a breakaway. And there is nothing for me to do except to trip the guy and take a penalty. The referee calls a penalty shot and our goalie stops it. We dodge a bullet. But we go on to lose anyway.
Wednesday night I spend answering the telephone as a number of people call to wish me happy asian lunar new year - the year of the snake. As opposed to last year's new year when I was at a Buddhist temple until some ludicrous hour, tonight I am staying in. I have taken a couple of kava root extract tablets to help me sleep.
I'm dozing off and the telephone rings again. It is Ta-Wei. Ta-Wei is my business partner...er...friend...er...sponsor. I have not heard from him in a long time. He says there is a party that I HAVE to go to tonight. I hem and haw and finally give in.
I dress all in black and, just to add some accent, put multi-colored neon hair clips in. I arrive at the party to realize that black was the perfect choice (as always). The party is a post release party for The Donnas' new CD. There is music, there are videos, there are strange people, and there are refreshments. But there is no Ta-Wei. I mingle with the crowd and check out a few videos. One of the DJ/VJ's is a guy who calls himself Dr. Funkenstein. One video is an almost entirely word video for the release of a new movie. The synopsis of the movie is "Crazed gunmen take over a strip club where an exotic dancer is having her last day". Oh yes - this ones going to get an Oscar!
The crowd ranges in age from 12 to 43. I am 43.
As I'm watching a video, a teenage girl turns to me and asks if she can feel my arms. I nod to her. And she squeezes my biceps and triceps with her two hands and smiles. I smile at her and we make idle chitchat about the video that is playing and about my arms. Her boyfriend, who is standing on the other side of her, is getting upset and looking at me with a mean expression on his face. The teenage girl finally turns to him and says, "If you worked out you'd have nicer arms".
He gets upset and squeezes past her and stares me down. He's about ready to say something or do something - I can just feel it. But I defuse the situation with "I'm more man than you'll ever be and more woman than you'll ever have". He doesn't know what I mean or what to do and just drops the situation.
Ta-Wei is nowhere to be found and I'm getting very tired at this point (from the three ice hockey games in three days, the late hour, and from the two kava root extract tablets). So I purchase The Donnas new CD on the way out and drive home - The Donnas blasting away.
I decide, after great contemplation, that there is a reason for living after all.
The Donnas' new CD, "Turn 21", is great and I like it! Some of the lyrics
from the last song on the CD called "Nothing To Do" are:
We're sniffing everything under the sink
And all I wanted was another drink.
Oh no I think it's after two
Guess we'll just drink Theraflu
It says drink one so we chug four
Hey what happened to the floor?