All's Right With The World

All's Right With The World - Jem and the Holograms

Refrain:
All's right with the world
(All's right with the world)
Everything is in sync
Everything is all right
Friends are friends again
(Friends are friends again)
Everyone is in the pink
Everything is all right

Verse 1:
I feel great again
Feel first rate again
I'm with the people I love
Moonbeams are dancin' above

Repeat Refrain

Verse 2:
Things are hummin' now
Things are drummin' now
Harmony is restored
We're singin', wingin', come on board
Woah...

Repeat Refrain (Ad nauseum)

I can't believe I'm quoting a Jem and the Holograms song. Who am I kidding? I was a closet Jem and the Holograms fan in the 80s. I remember hiding in my room to watch the show. I knew it was a girly girl show but I couldn't help but be caught up in the show. The songs (cheesy as they are) were off the hook.

I loved the girls from Jem and the Holograms but I have to admit favoring their nemesis group The Misfits. Something about their personalities won me over and I loved Pizzazz whenever she would screech like a harpy.

The plots were, to quote their theme song, 'truely, truely, truely outrageous'. Who couldn't tell that Jem and Jerrica weren't the same person? They were never in the same room. And there were many a scene where Jerrica would be walking out the room and then moments later in comes Jem. Though it was hilarious when there was that one episode where someone (I believe the evil Eric Raymond) questioned that and Jem/Jerrica had a separate hologram of Jerrica enter the room. Someone tried to throw her a script and when trying to catch it, it went through her (cause she was a hologram). And please, everyone knew that Rio was gay. Cute show though. I hear it's on DVD now (though it's a bit pricey).

Hemingway I thought the theme was appropriate considering my recent visit with Eugene. Unbeknownest to most of the blogging world, I had a bowling feud with Eugene for the last couple months. Unfortunately over the summer I bowled my absolute worst games (I'm talking 80s and low 100s yall...*LOL*) when playing against him. Eugene hadn't bowled a lick in years and managed to beat me on two separate bowling occasions for five games.

I think it was part psychological (I hated the alley in Boston we bowled at and didn't care for the folks that were bowling next to us) , part bad equipment (house stuff when I was in Boston), and part bad lane reading. Eugene to his credit, while not having the best form, was pretty consistent in his bowling shots.

Of course being the more experienced bowler, it was a coup d'etat for him to win against me. I didn't hear the end of it for months. When I explained the circumstances of why I wasn't bowling my best, he saw it as excuses (some of it was, of course). Also when I told him he was able to luck out on my weaknesses, he would say 'for five games'. Yeah he beat me five games, yall.

I remember after the beatings feeling pissed and humiliated. Of course Eugene's gloating over the wins didn't help matters. I got over it eventually but whenever he bought it up, I would get defensive again.

I knew what I had to do this weekend when I came to Boston. Losing was not an option. I even decided to bring one of my bowling bowls and shoes with me. As Eugene pointed out, it didn't help me last time (when we played in my home turf), but I knew it would be better than house equipment.

So we went to a different alley that was near where he lived (he's actually residing on the outskirts of Lowell, MA). And the rest as you say was bowling history. I kicked booty. 181 - 150 - 160.

As for the weekend visit itself, Eugene and I didn't do too much. He needed to get ready for his upcoming week long Hawaii (he should be there by now) trip. We went to a restaurant called 99 that his new male friend (he's straight and married) recommended the night I arrived.

Later after heading back to his place, I met Eugene's pet spider that he kept in a water bottle. I contacted FordRock and we chatted for about ten minutes. I realized during the course of our conversation that I forgot my cell phone charger so FordRock told me to conserve my phone energy and to just call him tomorrow.

Friday morning Eugene and I got a bit of a late start. I wanted to go work out and since I knew Eugene's plan for the gym includes Fridays, I insisted we go. Plus I wanted to check out his gym and all the hot men there. His new male friend works out there and since he didn't tell this friend about me, we decided to go in separately.

As I was working out and seeing all the hot men, I thought about FordRock. He mentioned that he had his own home gym. I was imagining myself one day working out there. So I texted him a brief message.

We chatted about thirty minutes later just on general stuff while Eugene went off on a hair appointment. He was happy I was having a good time and told me to call later.

Eugene and I later went and had an uneventful dinner at Olive Garden. Then after a pit stop back at Eugene central, we went to a Brunswick in Lowell where I proceeded to kick Eugene's ass.

I called FordRock while we were driving back from the alley and he was happy about the victory since I informed him of my bowling history. He endeared me a bit when he said he would've said 'you'll get him next time' had I actually lost. He said that he missed me (at least missed being able to talk longer) and was glad that I was having a good time.

Saturday morning Eugene had an appointment to visit a senior professor to help with some coding and for a quick lunch. Eugene's at the point in his career where he needs to make inroads (kiss butt...*LOL*) in order to make tenure one day.

He also decided to rent a car one-way to the airport and found a rate for $24.99. So before going for his appointment, we drove to Budget where we eventually got a Malibu. He went to his appointment, I went to Bally's to oogle men. I mean, work out...*LOL*.

I overdid it too because my thighs were aching pretty bad during a Saturday afternoon of mundane errand hopping with Eugene. He wanted to get some t-shirts, clean underwear, shampoo, lotion, and a water gun (so he could play a practical joke on his old college friend that's also going to Hawaii). It was mundane but it was cool seeing Eugene flustered for once. It was ironic seeing him shopping at Sears considering he thought a lot of my clothes were bought from the clearance racks of Sears.

Afterwards we went to this really great Indian restaurant in Lowell that Eugene's ranted and raved about. The food was excellent. They had the freshest samosas I've tasted in a while.

We got into this discussion about how the city of Lowell is good at preserving its historical value and how small restaurant businesses (unlike the Olive Gardens, Mickey D's, etc.) have to keep their food fresh in order to keep customers since they don't have the big budgets of the bigger corporate chains to promote their restaurants. I later on chatted for a few minutes with FordRock while Eugene was chatting with his college buddies about the weekend Purdue games and odds of certain teams going to different bowls. Football is so much fun...yeah.

The next morning I drove us to the airport, dropped Eugene off at his terminal, and then I returned the rental. All in all it was a really nice weekend.