Segue-O-Rama!

Ate a tasty lunch/breakfast/whatever at the Welcome Diner 'round the crack of noon, today, having drunk the previous night away*.

*Am listening to Modest Mouse yet again and can't help but sample some of their lyrics as I go.

We'd drunk ourselves into (stupidity? honesty? oblivion?) at the all too familiar Bikini Lounge** - myself, Matt Danley, Big Ax, and of course, the inimitable M. The boys had begun drinking around 10:30 am (so they said) and M and I did our best to quickly acclimate.

It was First Friday and I slipped out for a moment to catch a whimsical street dance performance (think "Flash Dance" meets "Mad TV") just outside the bar.

When I returned M had wrapped Matt's Kenneth Cole belt around her head, (looking like a cross between a 20's flapper girl and a Punk with a leather fetish) and with 7 or 8 inches of the belt stuck straight up in the air, proceeded to start whacking people with an ostrich-like, pecking motion.

**The three previously posted photos are all taken from a recent Bikini outing.

The evening had started innocently enough when I'd met up with Longhair for a beer, at, of all places, at the Mall of America.

I'd told M I was going to the "Mall of America" but that's in Minnesota. This place, the Arizona Mills Mall, is actually in Tempe at the intersection of Baseline and I-10, but once you've seen one mall...

And I say "of all places" because I'm not too big on Malls:

When I first moved to Phoenix, some 15 years ago, I got a job at a Mall Jewelry Store and ended up hating it so much I'd eat my lunch outside, in a 115 degrees, in a suit, just for a brief respite.

Something about those places - forced air, weird acoustics, overstimulation, whatever, that just sucks the life out of me. Bleah.

All of that notwithstanding, I met Longhair, and, as it turns out, some of our old compatriots down at the Mall:

Gene the dancing machine was there, with his little baby boy, and Longhair's bro, a 20 year police vet (seeking solace from his very pregnant, somewhat hormonally imbalanced girlfriend) not to mention Big J the SilverBack, Crouch, and M. Polo (recently retired from a 2 year stint as an AVP coach. Weird but cool. Anyway...)

We all hung out, caught up, tipped a few and then, everyone went to play video games. I paid my tab, went downstairs, and couldn't find anyone.

(Pause)

I stepped outside to check my messages.

(Pause)

Once outside the Mall one foot kept falling in front of the other and pretty soon I was shooting down the freeway with the warm air rushing past.

The rest is history.

Longhair, my bad for leaving without saying good bye.