reach the beach (a throwback)

apparently nineteen years ago today i was fresh back from a semi-beach trip…

…as i recall kramer didn’t actually hit the beach, i did just because we were in corpus (i took a port a day trip) and it was pretty cold, but not last week “feels like negative” kinda cold.

to add some perspective (but keep names out) at the time i was dating a girl who was separated but not divorced and on the way down got a call letting me know that her husband had talked her into giving it another go (at the time i didn’t know it would be “another go” number one of about forty-three, all of which ultimately failed) and so i was now freshly single and driving to the beach to hang out alone for the most part as kramer was working all day both weekend days. and now we join our story, already in progress…


02/25/2002: “corpus, part I (re-edited version)”

okay, so hit corpus with kramer this weekend, and had a fairly good time….spent most of the time stewing in my own juices, and thinking about things, which was good and bad in it’s own little ways. friday, worked all day, drove down, on the way got a good excuse to drink, and upon arrival DID, then promptly passed out. as for saturday…..

shopped. more sunday than saturday, but a lot of money was spent. the wallet is lighter, the wardrobe is heavier, and i believe kramer calls it, “retail therapy”…..fair enough. a few brief notes:

thing that would have seemed odd had i NOT been in corpus christi, tx: seeing a man compare shop expiration dates when buying a can of SKOAL. like he doesn’t already have THE most disgusting tobacco habit on the planet, and now you’re getting PICKY? whatever….

time i felt like less of a man: i bought khaki cargo shorts. no big deal, right? khaki looks good on me, and i’ve DEFINITELY got the calves to look good in cargo shorts. but they ARE from abercrombie & fitch, which made me feel whiter than ever, and a bit dirty as a result.

redeemer on the above: the shorts are DAMN comfortable, although i’m not sure if it’s $39.50 worth of comfort. my fault for going down to a beach community on a gorgeous weekend and only taking JEANS.

missed photo op of the day: sign on the way from padre island to port aransas, to denote name of body of water you were passing over: “fisher’s bluff”…with a sign right below it that said, “no fishing from bridge”…such a killjoy our state can be, huh?

fun dinner moment: water street oyster bar, where i almost made kramer launch a mollusk out of his nose when i referred to his appetizer (which he and the waitress called, “raw oysters”) as “spunk on the half shell”. also made me flash back to joking voicemail from earlier where i was warned, “not to sleep on my stomach” since i was sharing a condo with kramer. all of a sudden the advice almost seemed sound. eeeewwwww……….more on the ensuing tobacco quest and night out in the corpus “bonus part iii”

moment of zen on saturday: ate at a restaurant who’s address is, “mile marker number nine…on the beach” sat and listened to the surf, and the eagles, “hotel california” while i ate. ordered the fish basket, got the fish sandwich. an acceptable margin of error. now if i had ordered the rib eye, and gotten chicken strips, THEN we would have had a problem. got to the car to see missed calls and voicemail. tried to return to know avail. fired up the malibu and the song that comes across the cd player? sting, from his latest cd (THIS was the moment of zen):

“if you need somebody, call my name….if you want someone, you can do the same…
…if you love somebody, if you love someone….set them free….”

easy to say. easy to sing with. HARD to do….but seems to be my mantra, for at least a little while…
*raises bottle of ozarka to screen as if to make a toast*
here’s to hoping this one finds her way back…:) the sooner the better..
.

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