The weather has been glorious since we got back from California. Sometimes it seems as if you could look out the window and see clear over the horizon, not just to it. And at least I’ve not been sleeping through it…which would be my normal tendency whilst on vacation. Instead I’ve been sort of a semi-tour guide, as after about 2 and a half years of being practically related, I finally got Amras to come out and see me on the island! So much of the week has been spent just generally hanging out with my best friend, who had never been to Victoria before outside of a lot of three or four hour ship-calls…and that’s just not the same thing.
This lead to a few things: I got to introduce him properly to Rogers Chocolates (and drag him on two ghost tours in the process, hey! Girl’s gotta work!) and in turn, he looked up a local open mic jam, and I got to hear him actually play. His own material that is, instead of the Pablum-laced arrangements that are fed to audiences of the Party Band (note: I am referring to the arrangements themselves, not the genre of music played, I *love* most of the stuff the shipboard band plays!). There is something about a guitar that can actually realign the pattern of my heartbeat, that is just…immensely cool.
Yup, I have cool friends. I do indeed. I was (and am) immensely proud of my big brother…takes guts to get up in front of a crowd in a brand new town…
And need I mention how much I wish my bar was still open? *Definitely* wish my bar was still open. That said, we did manage to swing by the Dirty C after work one night, which is not remotely the same thing but the closest we have now that the old haunt has closed its doors…but it meant I got to introduce Amras at least briefly to Dee, who remains the best bartender ever, even though the bouncer barely wanted to let me in (my ID is expired, this actually is not a legal problem as it’s still my photo and information and is still government issue and works in ever bar I’ve ever been to around the world but the bouncers at the Dirty C are a bit…strict).
I spent more than I intended and stayed out later than I should, but hey how often do you get to hang out with your best friend for a week with no commitments? Especially when we never see each other outside of ships…
But every so often, girl needs a break from being social. So I’m guilty of kind of taking off…well not completely, I mean I told people where I was going…I left a note!! I just…didn’t take my purse, or my phone…or any other method of communication…
What???
I have a thing with trees. When I was a teenager, and when I was in university, I spent a great deal of time in a tree on the beach across the street from my house. To this day I still take no one there. Not even my big brother, although my parents know where it is. But it was too glorious a day to not be above everything, so I went to my other tree instead, which resides in park that is practically in my back yard.
Which is where Amras found me just over an hour later, perched in a tree, fully engrossed in The Aviator Wife with the June sun filtering through the leaves and one shoe precariously close to slipping into the undergrowth about 6 feet below me…
Hey, tree fairy!
Sometimes I really don’t think I’m meant to grow up…
And friends? Are absolutely the family you choose…