W(h)ine

This weekend was varied. Nakul came to visit Friday night, which was very nice of him. Mostly we just hung out, but let's not forget the hour and a half we spent at my roommate's friend's apartment with an awkward mix of people. The apartment itself was really nice. I mean really nice. I mean the people who live there must have help from mommy and daddy. As for the people, there were some people who I knew who it was good to see. But there were lots of people who I didn't know who it was not particularly good to see (meet). The first girl I was talking to was also from Newton and, despite explaining it twice, did not grasp how Nakul and I knew each other since we did not go to college together. Then she asked me where I was from again and I had to remind her that it was her hometown too. At this point I was pretty much done talking to this girl, gave curt responses, and angled my body away from her. But she somehow took this as a signal to keep talking to me. Thankfully she wandered away. Soon more people I didn't know arrived. I would like to make it clear I do not have a problem with foreigners. But have you ever noticed how all men from foreign countries dress exactly the same? They all wear two hundred dollar jeans, a button down shirt with the top 4 buttons undone, and no undershirt. They do this weather or not they have a forrest of chest hair or their chest looks like a seven year old's. I do not understand why buttoning your shirt and/or wearing an undershirt never happens. Is it against the culture of the rest of the world? I'm growing to think it might be. Well all of the people at the apartment eventually, around midnight, decided they wanted to go out. This inevitably meant someplace with music too loud to talk over where drinks would cost more than $4, so I decided not to go. Instead I gave Nakul stir fry and went to sleep.

Saturday morning I went to softball with the law school's softball club. It was an enjoyable pick-up game with a wide array of skill levels, from people who struggled to make contact with the ball to people who played division 1 baseball in college. My hitting certainly is not the best anymore, but in my defense I haven't really practiced since I was thirteen. My defensive instincts, however, are still sharp. It's no big deal, but I made a couple of good plays in the field. Softball is every weekend, so I hope to return and hone my skills.

I ate a pasta bread bowl from Domino's. It was delicious, but it almost killed me. I was so fat and lethargic after it, I barely made it home. I'm pretty sure if you eat more than one a month you'll die. So be warned.

Today I went with Rebecca to Monticello. If you don't remember elementary school, that's Thomas Jefferson's estate. If you don't remember anything you've ever learned, that's the third President of the United States. (The first two were George Washington Carver and Sam Adams if I'm not mistaken.) Monticello is beautiful. It's also in the middle of nowhere, so it was a hefty drive to the middle of Virginia that occurred today. Apparently Jefferson was a botanist just for funsies, and there are tons of flowers and over 300 types of crops growing in the garden. I was actually pretty uncomfortable for a while there because it was so nice mostly because of slaves. I had and am still having a hard time seeing the man who wrote "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." as a slave holder. It is incomprehensible to me that someone so smart and so progressive could be so hypocritical. Sad really. But it was really nice to get out of the city and to remember that there are...I don't know, trees and hills, and that not everyone in the world comes with a blackberry glued to their ear.

Apparently Virginia is wine country. There are a bunch of vineyards in central Virginia. Who knew? We went to a vineyard and did a little wine tasting. I think we tried 11 wines - 1 rose, 3 white, 6 red, and 2 dessert. I would say that 6 of them were awful, 3 were ok, and 2 were good. I am not a wine snob. I don't know much about wine. I basically know what I like and what I don't like. Here's something I don't like: a Cabernet that tastes like wine-water. In fact I don't think anyone likes that. But that didn't discourage this vineyard from making it. Apparently there is some market for it in Virginia. So people like bad things, what else is new? This was my first wine tasting ever, and I did end up buying a bottle to commemorate it. But wine tastings make you act like an elitist jerk apparently. I had the urge to comment on the "bouquet" and the "mouthfeel" of the wine. I'm pretty sure I have never felt the need to discuss either of these things before. In fact I usually just drink the wine and don't make pretentious comments Then again, I'm not sure anyone is checking out the bouquet of Franzia.

On the drive home I saw a restaurant advertisement that said, in big red letters, "WE HAVE CRABS."