Caterwauling

Chandelier at Brewer’s Art, Baltimore

Originally uploaded by dcwriterdawn

I’m leaving one of my favorite cities today. Had two job offers here in Baltimore earlier this year, and pondered moving here a thousand times. But I’m lucky that I’ll just get to come up here when the mood strikes.

Last night, I had the wonderful opportunity to see someone who was very, very special to me 15 years ago. Well, special to me even today, but I think I was 21 years old when we last saw each other.

I was nuts at 21, I think. (Yes, less so than at 35, in case you’re wondering — this IS the functional version of me!)

I am kind of proud that I’ve turned out so well, and admittedly I am often sort of surprised that my dumbass behavior back then hasn’t turned (too many) people against me.

We were to meet at 8 p.m., which turned in to 9. I never admitted that I actually arrived at said destination around 7:30 (pictured). I was excited and nervous all at the same time — like, OK, what do you have to talk about after 15 years has gone by?

It was more like only 15 MINUTES had only gone by. There are friends you need to lose, friends you should never lose, and friends that you should thank your lucky stars that the world brings you together again.

We just laughed and laughed, you know? Talked about old times somewhat — about the things we remembered about each other. And none of it was us doing dumb stuff (although we did enough of that!). It was, oddly enough, things like going to church together back in the day. Spending Christmas together. Listening to music together because we were too broke to do anything else.

Age has been kind to us, we think. Life has been kind, and it’s kicked our asses. And we’re better versions of the people we were circa 1995.

We made a promise that it won’t be another 15 years that we run into each other. I mean, this event almost didn’t happen, as the door was open to reconnect and I wasn’t sure I should open it. I guess I thought I’d be the only one who was stupid-excited about this reunion. Silly girl.

Well, I guess I’ve got to take my grown-up ass to work before I head south for the weekend. I just wanted to marvel that I woke up with a smile today. I do that from time to time, but today, I have a good reason!

Bon Jovi, 4/18/10, BankAtlantic Center, Ft. Lauderdale (Sunrise)

Originally uploaded by dcwriterdawn

Saw mah man Jon Bon Jovi on Sunday night. It rained like hell the whole day, and the arena is out in the middle of fucking nowhere.

And yay, some asshole rear-ended me as I drove around Sawgrass Mills to kill time. Pushed me straight into traffic. Motherfucker. There’s a fire just waiting for him to die in. My back aches and my car has some unnecessary paint on it, but everyone’s otherwise intact.

But alas, I’ve had these tickets for six months, and I wasn’t about to let some dickhead ruin my day.

I was going to sell these tickets about a thousand different times. I thought I was going to move to Austin, Texas. Then I thought I was going to end up in Chicago. Then a return to D.C. looked extremely likely. Then an offer came up in Baltimore. And just as I decided to stay in Florida, another Baltimore offer cropped up.

Obviously, I’ve stayed in Florida and can/will travel. In fact, I’m heading out of town tomorrow for the next five-ish days (for my paying job as well as my not-paying-quite-yet side job). I need to get my head in the game with the gig paying the bills, and I’ll feel a hell of a lot better when the multiple income streams are flowing in.

I love my life right now. I haven’t been taking care of my health all that much, but I’ll get back on track. Eventually. I’m going to run into some old friends this weekend — one I haven’t seen since 1996! Funny how the people we loved most who fell off the radar are just a Facebook friend request away.

Speaking of Facebook friends, I recorded Bon Jovi performing ‘Hallelujah,’ but since I’m FB friends with Bon Jovi, that’s probably not a good idea to post there. Oh well. I’ll always have it for my own enjoyment, along with the fake backstage passes they sent me as a special gift for spending my life savings on the best seats I’ve ever had at one of their events!

But alas, photos are fair game, and I’m going to be adding photos intermittently to my Bon Jovi photoset. When I have time to edit them. Whenever the hell that will be!

*Sham-Wow is the only towel with effective enough absorbency to clean up the quivering puddle of goo that I became at the concert

My Kitchen

Originally uploaded by dcwriterdawn

So, I’ve moved. Again. Fourth time (in a year) is a charm. More or less. These days, I sit straight on top of the Intracoastal Waterway.

Giving up the penthouse was hard, but I have more space and a corner unit, where two of my bedroom walls are solely floor-to-ceiling sliding-glass doors.

Landlady is a “see you next Tuesday” and I realized, after I took this place, that I could have had a 3BR house in an upscale part of town for $200 more.

I opted to stay in Florida for another year and I’ll start my commuting to another state next week. I’m pretty happy. A little stressed because I’m already SO BEHIND in my work. But I LOVE being an executive in my field. I am in my element right now.

However, I’m a little stressed because I did NOT want to change jobs and apartments simultaneously, like I did a year ago. But I’m in the right job AND in the right apartment — a dramatic change from 2009.

So, while I can’t find my cosmetic case for my suitcase for next week’s travels (two trips in one week. I’d say weep for me but I’m celebrating it!), at least I know where my suitcase is. AND I’m visiting a familiar city.

AND I’m up to something else — and that’s all I’ll say for now.

Did I mention that life was good?

However, I had a little disappointment this weekend on the normal, single, heterosexual males front. I try not to Google the shit out of someone I meet because, well, I LIKE the discovery process of conversation. And while everything I found made me even-more giddy (he’s in a BAND! he works in FINANCE! he drives a CONVERTIBLE!), yeah, he’s also got kids and a wife.

Whoops.

Not saying I haven’t wandered down THAT road before. But I’m doing a u-turn this time.

Nothing has happened yet. Not even close. And there’s not even a hint of anything resembling scandal. But … well. Hmm.

There’s just something about this guy that makes me stop and wonder why we crossed paths in the first place. And why I find myself fighting butterflies at every turn.

I didn’t have my hopes up, though. But I can’t say I wasn’t enjoying the intrigue of developing a new friendship with someone who is quite easy to look at.

But life goes on. I’m flying out to see someone next week whose leg I would hump if given half a chance. And then I’m going to hop on a second plane and find myself in yet another city full of possibilities. One in particular, if the mutual friend we’re meeting has any say about it.

And then, I will return to my kitchen with the bare refrigerator located square on the Intracoastal, and I will think of my boys in other cities and hopefully forget about the one directly on the other side of the water because one of these other guys was smart enough to be single when they met me.

Lollipops

Originally uploaded by dcwriterdawn

There’s actually so much going on right now that I don’t have anything to say because I don’t know where to start.

So, I shall talk about lollipops. Cupcake Couture in Delray Beach just opened. Which was the highlight of my day. Other than buying three necklaces that I really didn’t need but were too cute to leave behind.

I meant to take photos of the Delray Affair for a friend’s Web site. But the weather was overcast in Delray today and I didn’t see anything interesting to shoot. (With a camera, anyway. Infer the rest of that thought if you dare!)

There was some guy creating fireballs or some shit like that at Atlantic at First. I was rooting for him to either light himself on fire or, preferably, to burn down the block. No such luck on either account. (Damn!)

OK, so if you ever do wander up/down to this area of the world, whether or not the Affair is in full swing, screw the entertainment and go to Cupcake Couture and order the Guinness cupcakes. As many of them as your belleh can hold. And then get a box to go. Because they put the rest of the supposed cupcake gods to absolute shame.

These lollipops caught my eye as being the only thing photo-worthy from my day. (Too busy snarfing in cupcakes to photograph them. I got two mini Guinness cupcakes and a mini Christian Louboutin-illa, which featured chocolate icing on white cake. Nom.)

The lollipops come in a million flavors, ranging from marshmallow to who the hell knows what.

Forgive me — I’m talking about nothing to keep me from talking about everything. All I can say right now is that perhaps I might end up being the girl who leaves her fiance at the altar because I’m in love with someone else. Or maybe I’ll figure out a way to have my (Guinness cup)cake and eat it, too.

I am not even going to say that life’s about to get interesting. It already is. And becoming even more so, with each passing day. …

Lake Worth Pier

Originally uploaded by dcwriterdawn

This week would look better on fire.

Things are fine, really. I’m sort of meetinged out, so there’s nothing really to say after 6 p.m. anymore.

For those of you who have been in, let’s say, an abusive relationship of any kind … I’m sure you’ve been contacted by the nutbag ex you left. But what do you do if, say, the literal devil’s advocate tries to contact you?

For me, the breakup happens with everyone. I simply cannot trust that their sister, cousin or other disciple has only honest intentions. I wouldn’t doubt that they were offered some sort of cash prize for any information on your whereabouts.

And, sure, there’s a part of you who liked their sibling or friend. Maybe a big part of you. But where does their loyalty really lie? Even if you left without any fear, you don’t want them to decide to turn up on your doorstep anytime soon.

The fact that you didn’t file a lawsuit (or haven’t yet) doesn’t mean you’re not bitter about losing X amount of time out of your life. Moreover, it doesn’t mean that anything resembling a door is anything resembling being ajar.

There is a level of curiosity, of course. Not with the ex. But with the sibling or friend. Like, do they have the first inkling why you left, or are you just the bad girl who supposedly broke his heart?

Friends always have stories, after you’ve left someone. The “I never liked him anyway” stuff — the “oh, here’s a story I never wanted to tell you before.”

Uh … why didn’t you tell me? OK, maybe I wouldn’t have listened. But when I was agonizing over whether I was the one who was losing my mind, this would have been, oh, helpful information.

Oh well. Water under the bridge. Tracks under the crazy train. Lies, damned lies, and a whole bunch of fucking lies, lies, lies.

And I’m not about to get positioned to get run over again.