Jazz Hands!

This past weekend was probably one of the funnest I've had in a really long time. I don't think I've ever laughed as much or as hard.
Initially it was going to be a girls night on Saturday at the movie theater with the movie Atonement. But because of scheduling difficulties and bad timing for the movie, we decided to make it into an all out dance fest!
Saturday night started in my closet where I discovered that I had a lack of "boob shirts", needless to say I made due got beautified and picked up Michelle H. We met at Tony's where a group of us (Michelle H., Landon, Ian, Tony, and I) were to supposedly take a cab downtown...you'd think Charleston cab companies would be more willing to help, but alas they were not. By 8:30 we were starved and decided that waiting and drinking on empty stomachs was not an option but, Landon was a trouper and offered to drive the group of us downtown.
Once parked our troupe meandered to Tommy Condon's (AKA: Tommy's Condom) to get a pint and some grub and to meet up with Michelle and Patrick Mc. The discovery of a 45 minute wait at 9:00 was out of the question so we decided to pop next door to Bocis where we met up with Jackie; good drinks, food, and conversation were had.
After the checks were paid a discussion ensued as to where this dance-fest would take place. And it was decided, on Landon's suggestion, we would go to Mad River. As we walked our way there the Michelles (there were 3 of us) created a "Secret Michelle Handshake", JAZZ HANDS and decided it would be our "save me" code. We also decided that anybody who walked though our dance circle would be bombarded by a Night at the Roxbury rendition.
When we entered said club I immediately liked it for the fact the DJ was playing Billy Idol! Some of the other group members weren't convinced. At any rate, we stayed through the Phil Collins and some other interesting music choices and at 11:30 on the button, the dance music ensued and we worked our way to the dance floor.
Locating the perfect spot we (the 4 girls and later 3 of the 4 boys, ahem Landon sat out) shimmied and gyrated. Throughout the night several men decided they would break up our circle and were promptly surrounded and "disposed of". The one that still makes me laugh was a short, 30 something, Hispanic guy who panicked when he was inundated by 4 girls. He was so unnerved that he stayed on the wall for several minutes. Haha our evil plan worked!
At 2:00 in the morning, being the only one mostly sober I was elected to drive. Once on the 26 a motion was made for stopping at Waffle House and passed. (BTW the Waffle House is only good after a rough night/morning.) One of our group spent most of the time hovering in the bathroom (we've ALL been there).
When breakfast was done we ended up back where we started, at Tony's. We each went our separate ways to sleep off whatever ailed us.
Sunday morning was an extremely painful morning for me for a couple reasons. The first being that my body was rebelling the fact that I danced for 2 1/2 hours straight. The second was that I didn't get to bed until 4:30 that morning and my stupid internal clock decided 8:55 was wakey, wakey time. After texting Brandon and the 2 Michelles I decided I'd might as well get up...one of the worst decisions I made was looking in the mirror. Saying I looked like roadkill is being kind.
Around 10:30 Michelle Mc. picked me up with coffee, (God bless her!) so we could walk Nelson (her fur baby) around downtown Charleston (about 3 miles total). It was a beautiful day and to waste it inside would have been criminal. After the trek, we went to Dog and Duck and inhaled our lunches.
A few hours at home allowed me to work on some writing (see Work in Progress) and rest. At 7:00 I joined Amanda, Michelle and Patrick Mc. at the bowling alley for trivia. We sucked big time, but I chalk it up to a long night on Saturday. After trivia Michelle H. invited me to stop by and play some cards with Tony, Ian, Jackie and her. The group of us laughed and chair danced into the wee hours of the morning (sans Jackie b/c she went to bed early, boo) playing "hand and foot", Ian, my partner and I were rock stars that night and beat Michelle and Tony. Boo-yeah!
Making this weekend a recurring event would be sweet and I hope we can make it work, because I had a great time and those typically only happen when awesome people are together with the same mind set. So to my wonderful group of friends from this weekend, I send you: JAZZ HANDS!

Answer Me with Silence

Sometimes the best thing to say is nothing at all.

Though I try to act in that respect I find myself sometimes talking rather than speaking. Sometimes I hear what I say to friends and family and am either
a) amazed that I can be so astute, thoughtful, or funny or
b) ashamed and inwardly telling myself to shut-the-hell-up in mid sentence.

I tell people that I have chronic foot in mouth syndrome, some nod knowingly; they feel where I'm coming from, others look at me like I have a disease obviously thinking I told them I have hoof and mouth disease (btw, they're two separate things). No, I talk without fully thinking through what I will say; I speak from the hip as some people say. While what I say can be funny and witty I have on occasion hurled an insult without expecting to, and inevitably, later feel the guilt thread through me.

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent on the Christian calendar. Lent represents the 40 days and nights that Christ walked the desert and Satan tried to tempt him. Lent for me represents the time when I can try to be a better person. So, for Lent I will give up talking rather than speaking. I will make a concerted effort to say only relevant things and actually listen to my family and friends when they speak and to know when to answer by speaking and answering with silence.