Dynamo

July 9, 2004

It was Brian's birthday yesterday. On my way over to meet him for lunch, I realized it was my friend Signe's birthday as well. The thing is, I ran into Signe last night. She was sitting outside, dining at a restaurant with two of her girlfriends. I saw them and stopped to say hello. I didn't linger, just a quick hello.  But then today, on my way to meet Brian, I realized I'd forgotten about her birthday, so I gave her a call:

"Hey Sig, it's Jamie. I think yesterday may have been your birthday. I might be wrong about that; it could be today. But either way, I regret not wishing you a happy birthday in person. It was nice running into you last night. That seems to happen a lot. Anyway, you were looking good, all tan and everything. Let's hang out soon."

I hung up and continued on my way to meet Brian. As I passed by the big window of a small sandwich shop along the way, who did I see sitting, eating a sandwich? Right. Signe. I stopped again.

"Signe! what's the deal? I keep running into you. Happy Birthday, right? Wasn't yesterday your birthday?"

"No.Today!"

We chatted a little, made tentative plans to go for a drink next week, and then I scurried along to meet Brian.

"Dude," he told me, as we sat at the San Loco. "There's been a change of plans. I"m not moving to the barn upstate after all."

Brian was supposed to live in a friend's barn for the summer. He was going to set up a painting studio, and hang out rent-free until the fall, after which he planned to head to his family's house in Ireland.

"What's the new plan?"

He took a deep breath and cracked his knuckles. "I don't want to paint. Art is such bullshit. I just don't want to do it anymore. Not now anyway. Not for a while."

"I get it. But what are you gonna do instead?"

"I'm gonna stay at my friend Andy's place in Connecticut. I'm going to help him renovate his house for two months."

He went on to explain how excited he was to get his hands dirty with the physical labor.

"It can feel great to do a job like that," I said.

"Yeah, man. I'm psyched. And I'm going to bring my bicycle and get myself in excellent shape."

He's already in good shape. He's been on a purification kick for a while. No coffee, even. Although when the waitress brought out our big cheesy plates of chicken enchiladas, I wasn't quite sure how they fit into the purification thing, but hey, you know, I mean, a guy's gotta eat.

He continued to lay out his plan: "I'm gonna exercise and get myself in awesome physical shape before I head to India," he said, striking a bodybuilder pose.

I laughed, but it sounded like a plan.

"Dude," he said. "By the time I get back, I'm gonna be a fucking dynamo. A physical, mental, and spiritual dynamo."

We finished lunch and continued to be international dudes of leisure by walking over to a nearby coffee shop to sit, have some Iced Tea, and look at all the beautiful girls as they passed by in their sexy, light, summer ensembles. Brian can be a hard guy to talk to when we sit outside like that. Every story either of us tries to tell gets interrupted by him saying, "Oh, dude, check that one out..." I go for a more subtle approach, myself, but either way, it was true. The girls were out in droves, and they were looking good. We paid our check and stood on the corner for a minute.

"What are you doing now?" he asked

"Going to the studio for a bit, I guess. How about you?"

"I gotta go buy some new boxer shorts," he said. "I've got a date tonight!”