Story of the weekend Feb22nd #1: Mike and Cammy

Friday, a great hodgepodge of kids got together. We had Camille, Hannah, and Nora, Becca and Sarah, Mike Schappy and Dave, and myself. We went to lunch, then pool. Aside from "getting snappy on schappy!" nobody said anything funny. Nothing notable happened. Yet somehow the time felt well spent. The kids all entertained themselves, everyone was happy, or at least feeling good. It was Friday, the school week was over. There's a little euphoria that comes over second semester seniors when they're playing pool.

We broke up before dinner, and Camille, Hannah, Mike and Dave were left. Dave liked Camille. Mike liked Camille. Hannah liked Mike. Everybody knew it. Mike "was incredibly not-subtle," Hannah said later. Nobody said anything, but it planted the seeds.

Everything here is just my own analysis. Yell at me if I'm wrong, please. Both Camille and Mike have walls. The only difference, as Mike waited all night to put it, was that his "have little windows in the walls, so I can see out and if need be shoot arrows through." Mike is socially focused. He likes to go on dates. Camille is the opposite. She sees boys as too much trouble. She hasn't met one worth dating yet. They protect her, but they isolate her. Needlessly, in my opinion.

When Mike came to me for advice, I encouraged him to pursue her, to see if he could break down her walls or at least partly get through to her. He's perceptive, he knew she had walls, but I'm not sure he understood how strong they were. I'm not sure I realized how strong they were myself. Anyway, I would just love to see her walls go down. It would make me happy. I told Mike what I was thinking, and he decided to pursue it.

The evening ended without anyone doing anything, or even saying anything. Aparrently, Mike was really obvious. I got the feeling Hannah wanted to inflict bodily harm upon him. Word has it that Camille knew Mike liked her, but refused to do anything because she just didn't like him. Before Mike could do anything drastic, I told Hannah about the way I was encouraging him and she told Cam. That ended things.

She still has her walls. I'm in no position to tell her that they should be down. I'm not judging her. I'm not even recommending they be down. I understand her availability is completely her own responsibility and completely part of her own life. All I'm saying, is that I personally, would LOVE to see them down. Just to see what kind of a person she would be. It frustrates me that she doesn't allow people into her life, if only to prove that they might actually be worthy people in the end. Honestly, it seems a tiny bit prejudicial to me. But she enjoys her life, so there's no reason for her to change it.

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#2: Mary and I
Friday night after pool I went to a show at the metro, the local venue for punk and ska. The music itself wasn't bad, and there were a lot of acquaintances of mine milling about. After the show, I talked to Mary. It was the first real conversation we had. It really lifted a load off her shoulders. She'd been talking to everyone she knows for advice about us. When "us" shouldn't even be, because when I talked to her she was still dating her old girlfriend. I like her, so I told her that. We felt good.


The Culmination:
Saturday night was amazing. It was Mike, Mary and I, a culmination of all the drama happening in my life. I had multiple, multiple deep, intense conversations that I love. I would talk to Mike about his ex-relationship with a girl in California or about Cam, and then switch on a dime to Mary and Nicole. And it worked. They didn't talk to each other much in the beginning, and when they did was just for fun, but they were so great by the end. There was such a sense of purpose. I took them to the Bahai temple and showed them the face of the devil. We were driving in the car when Mike has an idea to retrace his steps on a great pilgrimage he once took. He wanted to find the end of Green Bay road. "I have an idea!" he said, "just turn left and go north!" An hour and a half later, blasting jock jams from the radio for the first time in two years, we passed a sign that said "Welcome to Wisconsin." We had driven to Wisconsin. We talked to Wisconsin, turned around, and talked all the way back home.

I told Mary Friday that she had to be done with Nicole before anything could happen with me. I wouldn't cheat. Sunday she dumped Nicole.