Weekend Update

This weekend, I decided to pretend that I was 24 again, and kicked things off a day early by going out to 80s night at the Common Ground on Thursday night and dancing to the likes of Cyndi Lauper and ABBA. I had a blast, but staying out until 2:30AM on a school night probably isn't the wisest idea.

Friday- Eri's boyfriend Ryan was in town for a wedding, so we went and saw Thank You For Smoking, an entertaining movie starring Aaron Eckhart as Nick Naylor, a tobacco lobbyist. He feels no guilt or shame in his defense of cigarettes, and meets weekly with two friends, an alcohol lobbyist and a gun lobbyist, who refer to themselves as the MOD squad, for Merchants of Death. Despite the moral flexibility required for his profession, Naylor is a loving and caring father for his 12-year old son. Eckhart is perfect as the modern day anti-hero, and most of the other casting is excellent as well, with the exception of Katie Holmes as a reporter/seductress. I'm sorry, but Joey Potter just wouldn't use the F word. The movie is filled with cynicism and funny moments, and avoids a feel-good ending, which surprised me.
After the movie, Ryan and I went on a impromptu Southie pub crawl and eventually met up with a few of his friends and found ourselves drinking beers at Murphy's Law at 2AM.

Saturday- Since I still can't run and I'm bored with the stationary bike and elliptical at the gym, I decided to try a new form of exercise...swimming. I'm not a very strong swimmer (my normal stroke is a breaststoke-dog paddle hybrid), and I've never used the pool before. I was worried that I would inadvertently breach pool etiquette, so I decided to go on a Saturday afternoon when the gym is usually fairly empty. There were only a couple of other people in the pool, so I didn't have to share lanes and it minimized the number of people who saw me in my ridiculous new swim cap, which makes my head look tiny. I swam for about 45 minutes, varying the strokes, and felt satisfied with the workout, even though I can't do the flippy thing to turn around at the end of the lane. Saturday night, I went out to a karaoke bar for my friend Joe's birthday, and we sang I Got You Babe as a duet. What we lacked in talent we made up for in enthusiasm. The dance floor was packed with college kids grinding and making out. I felt too old and too sober for the scence, and only one of those two variables could be altered. A few $1.50 drafts largely increased my tolerance for the environment.

Sunday- I went swimming again, and now I'm in the lab writing this instead of doing actual work.