2001-06-30 - 3:24

Old man Murray

The Canada Day weekend got off to a fine start today, highlighted by Mandeep's return to the capital.

Greg and I started fairly early this morning, going into the office at 8:30 to wait for the furniture delivery. Yes, the office is finally geared up with some desks. I'd say that I did a good job picking out the furniture and placing the order--everything looks cool, now that it's set up. Since we've all taken an active role in getting the office ready, it feels good to see it all coming together. I'm psyched that we are finally in business.

For lunch, we had a reunion of most of the crew from our old job. Unfortunately, we were running late, so I missed some of my chance to chat it up with everyone. Also, with so many people there, it was too hard to talk with everyone. It would have been cool to talk trash with Bis or hear what LBDM is up to lately. (I didn't even expect to see him there.)

However, it was great to see Mandeep again. He, Greg, and I spent the whole time cracking each other up with new stories and old jokes. We had some very fun times working together before we all moved on to bigger and better things; and it was awesome to get back in the groove of laughing at each other and ourselves.

After lunch, we finished work at the office, with the boss and Mandeep in, as well. Since I had no other plans for the night, I was glad to have Mandeep take me to a house party downtown around 7:00.

The party had an interesting vibe. Since I'm not one for clubbing, I had never gotten together with Mandeep before and seen him drinking. All I can say is, the more he drank, the smarter I became. By the end of the night, the introduction was, "This is my friend Jeremy--this guy is a networking genius! I love this guy!" Heheh. I have no bad stories to spread about my boy--he's quite entertaining and enthusiastic, no matter what his state.

All in all, it was a good group of guys. I think that I'm now an honourary member of the Carling Brown Posse, despite my notable unbrownness. Heh.

If you hang out with people at a party, you get to observe quite a contrast in the human character. One guy surprised me by getting in a very cool philosophical discussion about life. He had a good take on ideas such as not being an asshole in return to people who are assholes to you, because the only real effect on you is a failure to live up to your own ideals of how to act. He included a spin of religious accountability to the concept that doesn't fit me, but other than that, it was an attitude similar to my own.

In contrast to that friendly conversation, one guy was consistently a dink to me throughout the night. I'm straight edge--I'm not interested in taking drugs. That's simply a personal preference. I give nobody grief about making a different decision, though. In the words of Buck 65, "It's your body of water."

I resent people who don't have a similar attitude. Why tell me to have a drink repeatedly when I've already politely and firmly declined? What is the appeal in telling me what I should want to do after I've made it clear that it's not what I want to do? People are sketchy, at best.

As I said, though, almost everyone was cool and I enjoyed myself all night. Actually, that's fairly surprising, since the only person I knew in the whole place was Mandeep.

By the end of the night, the crew decided to hit one of the clubs. I went along for the walk and the company, but my stay inside the club was predictably short. I don't drink, I don't dance, and I'm annoyed by awful music, so it's really not the place for me. And there are too many people trying to be pretty, which just isn't me. (Ani DiFranco: "I am not a pretty girl; that is not what I do." I've loved that line, since I first heard it a few years ago.)

So I just kind of sat off to the side, feeling that my reality has scant overlap with the realities of the rest of the crowd.

Seeing all of the bodies on the floor made me wish that I could be destroying a hard mosh again. I don't completely fit in with that segment of society, either; but I can more than hold my own in the mix and I have fun bee-boppin' and skattin' with that crowd.

So, it was a very cool start to the weekend festivities. One annoying person amidst a positive, friendly crowd wasn't enough to drag down the great time I had hooking up with an old friend.

J.