Check Engine, one year left...

So it seems only fitting that on the day of my 29th birthday, my check engine light would come on, and stay on. Is this indeed a message from God? A way of my car telling me that we're both getting old? Or did a raindrop from the previous onslaught of thunderstorms make it's way past Battlestar Tealactica's metallic, perimeter defenses and manage to seep into it's main computer? Either way, it will require some attention at some point I'm sure. In saying that, I wonder if I require some attention, some maintenance.

My birthday started early this year. Eight in the AM to be exact. I decided to work since rent was right around the corner and I knew that I needed to make some more dough before the end of the month. It was like any other Sunday morning. Woke up, dazed from the previous night of Asian Karaoke, alcohol still coursing through my body. I didn't talk to anyone between the hours of 9am and 10am at work. The only audible sound they received sounded something like Peter Boyle playing the monster in "Young Frankenstein." "Puttin' on the RITTTZZZZZZZ!!!!"

My mother rang at 10:54 am, which is the exact moment, 29 years ago, when I went down that non-memorable, slip-and-slide called the vaginal canal and entered this crazy world. She has been very sweet and I love her more than life itself. If there is one thought that rummages around in my head on the day of my birth, it is how I would not even be around at 29 if the strong woman I call 'mom' had not reared me and made me the lovely man I am today. Thanks mom!

I went home after work and slept for an hour or so and then woke up to news that Travis had planned on taking me out to Vespaio for my birthday. AWESOME!!! Vespaio is a very lovely and unpretentious Italian food restaurant on South Congress that has most delicious food and wine. In fact, it was there that my long-term love affair with a bottle of wine called Ripassa began. I LOVE it and recommend it to anyone who considers themselves attracted to red wine. The wait was long, but worth it, especially since we got the wine flowing the moment we walked through the door. Travis Seewald, you're a great man and a most loyal and honorable friend. Thank you!



So there I was sitting, enjoying dinner with the four people I would consider my closest friends. I had the duck, as did Travis and Mr. Reeb. Mike went out on a limb and ordered ravioli stuffed with veal and then when it came to the table, he proceeded to complain about the portions he received. I just couldn't get over the fact that he was eating veal. Ugh! (On so many levels) I think we even started talking about all the horrible things that happens to veal while he was eating it in a hope to make him feel guilty. It didn't work and he just kept making comments about how his draft Moretti tasted like Lone Star. Oh Michael, what are we going to do with you and your sexy, tight white jeans? The answer to that is, don't take him to the Speakeasy Terrace overlooking the warehouse district. There was an average DJ spinning on the roof while Austin burnouts, Vallejo were playing downstairs. I guess since it was Memorial Day the next day, everyone was out for a night on the town. Between Mike, Scott, Travis and myself, we dropped 50 bucks just to get in the door and have A shiner (which I think taste like shit). Lame. So we proceeded to the Elephant Room for some low-key jazz and less extortionate prices. (By the way, heard that word for the first time the other day, I love it. ["Extortionate"])

We got to the Elephant Room and various peeps started showing up as we proceeded to get hammered. I believe the pitcher count was at 7 or 8 by the end of the night. Then it was back to my new pad for some after-hours drinking. That's when the circus came to town. I took my socks off and got comfy.



Travis was curiously quiet the whole evening. I think his mind may be elsewhere. He and Scott spent the evenings prior to my birthday at a party or two, where the rules were nonExistant and the gloves had come off. Plus he posed a very interesting question to me at the dinner table earlier that evening. He said, "You know, I just don't get it, Scott and I were talking the other day about the 30s dating scene and I just don't get it, I don't know how you do that." I thought about it for a second and then I thought about the fact that Travis (who really never has had any problems whatsoever with the "Dating" scene) and I broke it down in my mind. I think his question had a wider scope to it though. I don't think he was just asking about dating per se, I think he was wanting to know how to do the other half, how to close the deal and find those runway lights to what some (mainly me) might call a "relationship landing." For this, I had no real answer; I didn't even have a funny fake one to fill in the silence that came after his question. I realized at that moment, that finding someone, finding the "right" one would be an uphill battle and that all the people who had started to settle with a significant other (Mike and Matt, for instance) could officially count themselves lucky. Or could they? I mean after all, we bachelors live such a different lifestyle than the people who have been in committed relationships for years. Maybe we're just ready for something new. Is it a biological desire to become monogamous with another or is it just a product of the commercial/traditional lives/culture we've been raised into? Maybe it's a little of both. Like many things, I'm still not sure.

The last time I tried to ask a girl out to dinner, (a proper date) the conversation quickly turned how she thought it would be better if we didn't. This had come after a week of mostly successful and non-presumptuous meetings and dates. I was like, "not go to dinner?" And she replied, "No, like continue dating." And there it was, again, that fear that comes along with putting yourself out there, making yourself vulnerable. I sensed it in her voice then and in the week prior to that moment, as well as in myself. The attraction for each other was still present, I knew that because we continued dating after the dark pause we had, and we both continued to talk via phone, email and (the best) in person. More on all this later though. This was only one thought swirling around in my head that night as my birthday was coming to a close.

Back at the house Travis seemed to be in better spirits while I was almost completely pissed.



We had a giant sleep over because several people were just too intoxicato to drive home. The night ended sweetly with wet torrential rains coming down. This is the best soundtrack to fall into sleep to. And that's what I did, ...sort of. But what happens at Casa de SheaSeewaldHenderson, stays at Casa de SheaSeewaldHenderson.

One thing is certain, at some point in the near future, I'm going to have to do something about that check engine light that just came on. I'm sure it will have a price associated with it as most choices in life do. All we can do is hope for the best.