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I'll consider this my Going Away Weekend. 

First there was the Wes Anderson Costume Party Dance at the Townhouse on Friday night. I remember stressing out about my costume for hours. I played a terrible game of chess against Brady. I eventually found a costume from the Goodwill racks. Then I stressed myself out worrying about having to go to Rubicon by myself to hold a table for six but Ricardo showed up and we walked over there together. It was busy, so I think we got lucky with the table. Tessa and Shane showed up. Then Iven. We ordered food and drinks and everyone was in costume: Iven and I as characters from Fantastic Mr. Fox, Ricardo as one of the brothers from Darjeeling Limited, Tessa with blue streaks in her hair from The Life Aquatic, Shane in a boyscout uniform from the upcoming Moonrise Kingdom. Afterward, we break for a few minutes with plans to meet at the Dance Party and we hurry back to the house through torrential downpour to smoke a quick bowl in my room and call a taxi because the rain sucks. The Dance Party is a blast. Great music. Great costumes. Great dancing. We got drinks and met up with Tessa and Shane and acclimated to the mood, then spent most of the time on the dance floor in the fog and lasers. I only spilled one drink, but by that time I was good and buzzed, so I didn't want it all that much anyway. We danced until the lights turned back on.

The next day started with recovery breakfast at Lucky's. Feeling human again, Iven and I went over to Brendan's to hang out with him and Kelly on the porch and play backgammon and I signed Brendan's purple cast with "Wish I Was Periwinkle" and we enjoyed the sun after yesterday's storm. We watch a movie in the basement and play foosball and listen to Joshua play the harmonica. Afterward, I look up things to do with a Saturday night and I see that El Ten Eleven is playing at Blue Lamp, so I rally a few others and we make it a plan. First it's a pre-party session back at my house with Iven and we recruit Ricardo for the show, despite the $12 cover, and Kelly says she'll drive. I start a Skype call with Jenny and she gets to meet Ricardo for the first time and say hello to everyone. Once our group is assembled, we start with grub at Hamburger Patties before swinging by a few ATMs on the way to Blue Lamp. The opening band, Races, is fantastic. El Ten Eleven, an instrumental band that had come up on Pandora enough in the past to become a quick favorite, was a band I hadn't thought about in a while, and it was really awesome that they put on such a good show. They sounded a thousand times better live, and though I didn't get as crazy on the dance floor here as I did the night before, I really wanted to. The place was busy and cramped. I was pretty much mentally MIA after that, but we four wound up back at the house in my room watching YouTube videos until I kicked everyone out because I could hardly stay away. 

Today began with a quick cleaning of my bedroom and me finally washing all my dishes piled up in the sink because the landlord was having someone show my room again later. Paul comes over for a joint and we leave with beer from Grocery Outlet to pick up his buddy, Kenny, who wears his old fashioned Niners sweatshirt with pride. We drive to Stockton to Paul's brother's house and it's already five minutes into the Raven-Patriots game by the time we get there, but that's not the game we're truly looking forward to, so no big deal. Turns out, the Ravens-Patriots game is a nail-biter to the last second and the Ravens unfortunately lose it in the end with a botched field goal. Meanwhile, it's a couple guys lounging in a hazy living room, eating lasagna, shit talking, arguing with the referees and (for some reason) idolizing CBS. Long story short, the following Niners-Giants game doesn't go as planned, although it is still a really great game. Had a great time watching the Playoffs with these guys, blazed and relaxed all afternoon, but by the time we leave for home I'm a zoned-out zombie looking for a pillow to sleep on. When I get home I make sure to pack up some clothes for tomorrow's trip, set my alarm and lie down with a Netflix movie. 

Tomorrow I'm catching the early train on a journey to visit family in Redwood City. I think I'll be back by Tuesday night but there's really no huge rush. The only thing I have to take care of this week is figuring out how to move all the rest of my stuff. I also need to say goodbye to people and it's been weird seeing friends and not knowing if this is the last time I'll see them for seven months.

I'm pretty freakin' excited.