Well, life is awesome.

Monday my buddy eric came into the city and we had fantastic burgers and then went to JP Licks, a great ice cream place.  it was fun catching up with him and planning out how bad school is going to romp our asses next year.  well, that part wasn't fun.  but it was good to see him.

then tuesday.  o man tuesday.  i got a text at 5.30 that said "go to central, we're going to the pond".  i thought for about a minute and said ok.  so i book it out of work a little early and make it to central where i'm picked up by 3 of my close kickball friends.  we were going to walden pond (you know the one from the thorou poem (spelling doesn't count) )  anyways, so we drive around boston taking random turns whenever the traffic gets bad (which it was everywhere as it was rush hour).  also, the driver do0esn't know where she is.  so all the 3 have smart phones and are trying to gps and its just hilarious to watch.  eventually we get out of the city, are about 5 minutes from the pond when our other friend calls and said she can't find the entrance.  at this point, we learn there are 2 walden ponds.  we went to the wrong one.  so we set course for the new pond and head out there.  we get there at 7.45, park closes at 8.  we park illegally, run down to the waterfront.  everyone else got the invite on facebook, but i don't have a phone to check it during work, so i didn't have time to go get a bathing suit.  so after a moment of thinking, i strip to boxers in the public beach area and hop in.  boxers and swimsuit have different properties, one of which is their ability to stay on.... so i made some adjustments and was good to go.  we swim for maybe 6 minutes and then run back to the car.  its here where someone pulls out a bag of malibu.  of course we down it.  and then we take off for margaritas.  its maybe 8.15 and i'm feeling it.  we moon our other group of friends on the highway (cause "it [was] time for the moon to come out") and go for drinks.  drinks / dinner was awesome and hilarious.  so much fun.  it was a crazy spontaneous adventure that was legen-------dary.

Wednesday was an even more epic adventure.  nolan gave me 4 tickets to the red sox game.  but, there was thunder/lightning predicted.  by about 4.30, it was raining so hard i was afraid (as a californian, what you guys have over here is something other than rain, its more violent in nature).  everyone says theres no way theres a game happening.  but i say, well, if its canceled, we'll just go to a bar.  we walk to the T in light rain and low spirits - the radar map made boston look bright red all over.  on the t we keep checking the fenway weather twitter feed (first time i've ever really checked twitter.  turns out its really boring.  all the same comments replay until a new one comes out.  but its like watching a tree grow.).  game is still on.  so we change to the green line and see TONs of sox fans, so at this point i'm sure the game is on.  a guy tells us we should go to a bar until the game actually starts, cause there is no reentry.  this is a great idea, so we stop for a couple drinks.  we pick up excellent sausages on the way in (if you don't know, i'm a sausage addict [damn the en tendres])  we get to our seats and they're as good a bleacher seat as you're going to find.  somebody brought shamwow's to dry their seats and they lend it to us.  very clutch.  so we start watching the game.  at this point i learn A) James doesn't really know the rules to baseball B) matt didn't know the white sox were a team and C) kylie only likes baseball a little bit.   hahaha.  o well, i appreciated that we were at FENWAY.  i've now been to the following stadiums: candlestick (giants), Pacbell (new giants), new yankee stadium, the angels stadium, oakland collesium, wrigley, camden yard (orioles), ballpark at arlington (rangers), and now fenway.  a nice little list.  But going to classic parks is just special.  anyways, we were having a great time, i snuck in a matthew vassar flask (SO worth the $10) and we were getting pretty tipsy.  kylie asks me how my dating life is going (she and matt are the ones who housed me and were my first boston friends, so we go way (2 months) back).  so i start talking about not being good at talking to girls and james and matt are laughing at me.  only now do i realize i was spilling guts in straight up public, where everyone heard - i did win the "i can talk louder than you" award back in middle school.  [and i could and still can btw].  anyways, a couple of innings later, people are trying to get the wave going in our section.  i'm not really interested, since between the drinking and the gut spilling, i feel like i'm missing the game.  (this goes to nolan's point about how baseball really only has one thing going for it.  its such a slow pace its perfect for socializing and watching the game only secondarily)  so i'm watching, not waving.  all of a sudden, some girl comes down and talks to the four of us and says "my friends up there are trying to start the wave.  it would be really awesome if you'd help out"  and then after we kinda go *aha, ya, sure* head nod, she adds, "oh and one of you said having a wingman wasn't the problem, you were the problem.  i think you just need to be more confident".   I go beet red, matt and james are holding in laughter and i can't remember what kylie said, but it was something in agreement.  the girl just walks away at this point.  finally coming to understand how public my discussions had become, the guys behind me say, "you should have gotten her number!"   Oh how obvious!  so, in the blink of an eye, i'm up, i walk up the section to where the 3 or 4 girls are sitting and i say, "if i'm being confident, the first thing i should do is get your number."  i go to pull out my phone and she pulls out a pen even faster, and old school rights her number on my hand.  I say, can i have your name and then she writes that.  stunned, i say cool, and start to walk away.  after two steps, i realize and turn around, stick out my hand and say, "nice to meet you jasmine, i'm darren".  i walk back down to our seats, report my success and we all have a laugh.  i wait an inning and text her about the wave, and then we send a couple of slightly flirtatious texts.  the game ends (the sox destroyed them.  the game was awesome by the way, but of course all you guys wanna hear about is the story i'm telling).  I figure i'll never see her again, so i say something like, "hey it was nice meeting u.  maybe i'll see you at another sox game in the future"  i figure thats the end.  but she sends, "i'm in boston two more weeks".   one of those intentionally vague, not closing the door, but not leaving it open, type comments.  i don't reply.  james has recommended i give it a day or two before doing anything.  Regardless, i consider it a rousing success.  i got an opening to talk to a girl, i didn't chicken out and i got a number.