Thursday, April 03, 2008

Three Date Weekend (Will You Accept This Rose)

With gas prices being so high you really have to maximize your time when going away for the weekend. You don’t want to have traveled a long distance for no return on your full-tank investment. To really pack it all in though, you need to not only plan ahead, but you also need to be flexible in case something throws a wrench in your plans, or maybe you just want to add an additional attraction to the itinerary.

I recently visited Atlanta with a group of my college friends. We dined, we danced and more importantly we went to a party where there were lots of eligible bachelors. This made me happy being the only bachelorette in the crowd. I left Tyler Perry’s fair city that Sunday, not knowing that my entire routine to Thriller at said house party would leave an indelible impression on the young minds of a few.

Fast forward to the next week. One of the party goers finds my email and begins what could be known as an e-friendship. Lots of bantering back and forth for the next week, culminating (finally) to the question of my return. Of course I replied that I’d be returning upon invitation. To which an invitation was extended. Invitation accepted. Two days after invitation was accepted, a college friend, and ATL resident explains that she has a friend she’d like to set me up with. This guy will be known as the Human Cocktail – simply because his name is so ridiculous that is sounds like something you’d order at a bar. Also, he was a lethal combination of the worst house liquors (another post on the Human Cocktail later). Not knowing the Human Cocktail at all, I graciously accepted her offer to set me up and explained that I would actually be in ATL in the next couple of weeks. So yes, I’m feeling pretty suave right about now. Set-up a Friday night date and a Saturday night date.

We’re now one week out from the 3 Date weekend. You’re thinking, but you only have 2 dates? I know, but we’re getting there. I have talked to both Bachelor #1 (Human Cocktail) and Bachelor #3 (Cheese – this name given lovingly for 2 reasons – none of which have to do with him being cheesy – numbering is confusing but for purposes of the below schedule you’ll see why) on the phone and conversation went smoothly with one and sort of awkwardly with the other. It really is just best not to have a long drawn out conversations before any date in the event that the date is a total bust and you have nothing to talk about. Everything is solidified, well, the date with Bachelor #2 is kind of like jello after it’s been sitting in the fridge for about 15 minutes – no need to go into the details, all that matters is that the date happened. So Friday before I set sail to Atlanta I get an email from another guy (Bachelor #2 – Federal Agent) that I had met at the party mentioned in paragraph 2. He was emailing a shameless plug for a TV show in which he was appearing. I mentioned that I was going to be in his hometown this weekend and that we should get together. After some scheduling conflicts on both of our ends, we finally settled on afternoon drinks. So at 3:00pm Friday my itinerary consists of the following:

Friday 8:30pm Bachelor #1 Dinner and Drinks

Saturday 12:00pm Tyson (friend and default bachelor) Brunch

Saturday 4:30pm Bachelor #2 Drinks

Saturday 8:00pm Bachelor #3 Dinner

This script called for lots of set and costume changes, but I was willing to give it my best. Without going into detail for each date, here are the potential problems that could and did arise with such an itinerary. First, always book brunch the next day with a friend who is willing to potentially get the boot. You never know how the Friday night is going to go. If it’s a bust then you’ll be glad you had the back-up, if it goes well, you need the flexibility to plug in your Friday night to Saturday afternoon. In my case, I was wise and needed the back-up. Second potential problem, you go to brunch with your friend and have such a good time that you wind up drinking most of the afternoon. This did in fact happen. It wasn’t totally detrimental to my itinerary; however, considering I was going to have drinks w/ Bachelor #2 and THEN a date with Bachelor #3, I needed to do a better job of pacing myself. And while I made it back in time for hair and make-up for Bachelor #2, I could have used a few more minutes for a quick snooze and sober. This brings me to my third potential problem, you are having such a good time w/ either bachelor that you lose track of time and are late for the next performance. This also happened leading up to my scene with Bachelor #3. I was enjoying conversation with the Federal Agent, but I felt bad for abruptly cutting it short because I did in fact need to change clothes and get ready for Cheese. This also caused me to have to call Cheese to see if he could pick me up later making it seem like I was a high maintenance girl who wasn’t quite ready…not true. Fourth potential problem, not remembering conversations you had with any bachelor leading you to constantly ask – “did I tell you that already?” or “gosh I think I’m having déjà vu.” Of course there are many other potential problems if you don’t in fact have a home base. Cancel your vacation if that’s the case. My final piece of advice – leave Sunday wide open. This way you can invite your favorite bachelor to join you for brunch. I did this but was unfortunately rejected due to the bachelor having prior plans. Who knows, maybe he is also a fan of making the most out of the weekend.

In summary, my own private staging of the Bachelorette: Atlanta edition was a pretty good success. Roses were extended to Bachelors # 2 and #3. We’ll see if they decide to come home and meet my parents...and then ultimately who gets to come to the Fantasy Suite.

1 comment:

Armanixqmh said...

Dubois, Pierre Max. Quatuor pour Trombone. Unlike most other brass instruments in an orchestral setting, the trombone is not usually a transposing instrument. Prior to the invention of valve systems, most brass instruments were limited to playing one overtone series at a time; altering the pitch of the instrument required manually replacing a section of tubing (called a "crook") or picking up an instrument of different length. Their parts were transposed according to which crook or length-of-instrument they used at any given time, so that a particular note on the staff always corresponded to a particular partial on the instrument. Trombones, on the other hand, have used slides since their inception. As such, they have always been fully chromatic, so no such tradition took hold, and trombone parts have always been notated at concert pitch (with one exception, discussed below). Also, it was quite common for trombones to double choir parts; reading in concert pitch meant there was no need for dedicated trombone parts. 1827-Vienna, Austria: Beethoven's trombone quartet,Drei Equali , is performed at his own funeral procession (a trombone quartet alternates with a vocal version retroactively set with aMiserere text). A contemporary watercolor by Franz Stber depicting Beethoven's funeral shows 4 trombonists leading the enormous procession. jazz tonguing The Mischief of Youth