Okay...So I haven't done this in awhile.

Mainly because I've been dating someone for almost two years now, or maybe I'm feeling ALL of thirty one years old lately...Nonetheless, things aren't quite as wyyyyld and wooly as they used to be.

Btw...I hope I'm not growing older with too much celerity. Can anyone with more "seasoning" fill me in on why the whole tugging down beers with the fellas and whootin' an' hollerin' till five in the A.M. has lost some if it's so called luster? I'mm sure I could go into greater detail about what "used to be", but this is a famileeee board afterall.

That was just an aside, btw...Didn't mean to circumvent whatever flow I had going there.

So, back to the whole reason I decided to bore y'all with this....

Allison (the woman that allows me to call her my Girlfriend) thought it was a good idea to go and see the movie "Thumbsucker" tonight. We went to the 5:30 show so's we'd have enough time to throw back some suds afterward, seein' as though we both work early on the morrow (she's a hairstylist, but you wouldn't know it seein as though I have one of those haidrdos that anyone that owns an electric doohicky could create). It was one of those excellent movies that just make you wanna talk about it for hours on end afterward. So we decided to go to this big ol' English pub called the Rose and Thistle (and no...it's not one of those glorified meat markets, but with an expensive wood bar) because it's close to my domacile. Me, being the gregarious, "when in Rome" type, decided to try something other than my customary Miller High Life(ves), went with something called Strongbow Draft Cider. Let me just say....Yow!

That stuff went down like the sweetest candy imagineable. That, coupled with the Yankees/Angels on one television, and the Blue Jackets/Canucks game on the other made me feel the need to have a few too many.

Let's get one thing straight. Allison is every bit the lady. She won't drink beer, only cocktails, she cusses alot, but only at a tone audible to me, and she's always composed. Thing is. Tonight. She matched me drink for drink, and she drinks whiskey drinks (seven and sevens, Jack and Gingers, etc.)...
So we commenced to making friends with the bartenders, and exchanged banter with the regulars, and publicly made fun of some girl that asked "Did the Sox win tonight?" whilst thrusting her bosom in a "somewhat" provocative manner towards yours truly. I mean, we really gave that girl the business. Allsion even said something like "Which Sox? Ya moron!". Was it mean? Yeah, but it was really cute.

So, as things went on, I noticed a customer of mine sitting alone at the end of the bar, and I went on about how he always comes into the shop, eats alone, and has a sorta sad quietness about him that just makes my heart go out to him. I said something like "Ya, know, we're all one step away from that...Being lonesome. It makes me sad to think that he's got no one to talk to other than service industry types like myself, and it's really sad..Blubber blubber..."

Her response?

"Well...He could also be a serial killer."

I know it sounds callous, but that's not the point she was trying to make.

She went on to point out that he had two cell phones and a pager, and a wedding band which I had somehow failed to recognize, even though I had seen him numerous times before.

Anyway, my point is that I somehow feel, kinda, errrrr....Grounded. She knows when to let me ramble on about whatever I'm thinking about, as long as I don't cross whatever line that I may or may not even know exists.

In other words, she's got my back.

That's such a strange feeling.

Not only is she pretty and practical, she's the best drinking buddy I've ever had.

Not such a bad deal, huh?

So nothing really overly crazy happens to me all that much anymore. Doesn't mean I'm not happy. Heck, just last weekend I put on a two night Rock N Roll festival, but I also found the time to take her to a Cozy Cat Cottage wine tasting and silent auction to benefit homeless cats.

I can't believe that I just typed that last sentence.

Am I ashamed of that?

Heck no. That was for my Girl, and I've now got room in my life for more than just myself.

Funny what growing up will do for a guy.