Karl Wants More Meat, and So Do I

I went to Jess and Karl's joint birthday party at their apartment in Fort Greene Saturday night and really enjoyed myself, as I always do there. It was almost worth the hour and a half it took me to get home while the train was running local, and late. Side note: Remind me later to tell you why those two are my favorite couple in New York, mostly because their dynamic is one not too unlike how I imagine my parents might have been early in their relationship: she knits and crafts and has a million friends, he bikes unnecessarily long distances for his own entertainment and has a million different friends, and their differences just seem to add to how much they complement each other. It's always nice to be around a couple who genuinely seem to appreciate each other. Now if only his friends would stop wrestling in the living room...

While I was there, Karl confessed that he reads these here Misadventures every once in awhile, but bemoaned the lack of "meat" in my stories lately. "What do you consider the meat?" I queried him, curious as to what he could possibly find entertaining in this nonsense.
"You know, the going out, the dating, that stuff," he explained. "The rest I just skim."

Fair enough, Karl, fair enough. The rest I just skim too. You know why there's no meat to my stories lately? 'Cause there's no "meat" in my life! Bad joke intended. Ba da bing. What do you think this whole low carb diet nonsense is (which actually means I'm eating more meat than usual, but whatever) except my annual campaign to get a grip on the weight and be social (one comes before the other in my world), also known as Mission It's-Been-Too-Long-And-I-Might-Shrivel-Up-And-Die. 6 pounds down with limited exercise, so don't let anybody tell you that Atkins doesn't work. Who cares if you feel lightheaded for a little while and might stop going to the bathroom for a couple of days??

I kid, I kid. This was just preemptive weight loss in anticipation of the gluttony that will be the next week in...

IRELAND!!!

WOOHOOO! I'm so psyched. My (borrowed) backpack is packed and my passport is at the ready. Now if the exchange rate would considerately drop below 2 U.S. dollars for every 1 British pound, we'll be good to go. That's just when we're in Belfast and Northern Ireland; it gets SO MUCH BETTER when we're in the Republic and it's just 1.6 U.S. dollars for every 1 Euro. Awesome economy, dudes.
We're totally doing this tour on Saturday. My roommate's been to Ireland twice, but never to the Giant's Causeway on the Northern Coast, so that's destination #1. And for some reason her dream is to visit Bushmill's Distillery, the oldest distillery IN THE WORLD. Talk about a claim to fame.

After that, we're off to Galway, on the west coast, and then to Dublin for a few nights. And maybe if we figure it out, a quick ferry trip to Scotland for a couple of nights in Edinburgh. We'll see.

I'll keep you posted, my friends. But (Mom), don't call me. It costs 1.29 per minute, even to leave a voicemail! However, texts are a bargain at .25 - I checked with AT&T today. Nobody die while I'm gone, please. It would be really inconvenient.

Many, many pictures to follow. Cheers!