I just finished up the best weekend I've had in ages and ages.

It started Thursday nite with the great dinner with Beau and his friend Dean. And continued into Friday nite, when I got a call from Beau, who was in the French Quarter, "you've got to come out, the moon is beautiful, the crowd is just right, it's a great nite, come out." So, I went out, convincing Jonathan to meet us out. I knew that it would be an interesting nite simply because Jonathan and Beau had each earlier expressed some interest in the other.

So, I take the streetcar to the Quarter, listening to my iPod along the way, the song "Weekend" by Black Eyed Peas and Esthero being my mantra for a fun nite. I meet Beau at Good Friends for a stoli cosmopolitan, which turns rapidly into two. He's in jeans, a tight striped tank top and some cute Jon Fluevog (sp???) shoes and he's bouncing off the walls. We meander to Lafitte's and Jonathan shows up a bit after that.

Quick side note... how did we ever manage to find our friends out in the Quarter before the mass use of cellphones?

So, an odd thing happens. They both sort of shut down around the other. Beau folds his hands under his arms and gets much quieter. Jonathan begins to studiously stare at the designs that the smoke from his cigarettes is making in the air. It was all a bit fun to watch actually. Even the really cute boys get intimidated and don't really know how to deal with liking or not liking someone. And a bit of both of these was going on.

Regardless, it was a fun evening for me. We drink a lot, run from bar to bar, dance a little, go home around 4 am.

Saturday, I wake up late, lay out in the yard and catch some sun. Beau calls from the Country Club, a bar in the Bywater, which has a pool. I think about going to meet him, but decide i'm much too lazy.

Robert, who I haven't seen in quite a while, calls and says he's gonna be in my neighborhood and would like to stop by and say hi. I say sure. In the meantime, Jonathan calls and we decide to head to the Quarter to walk around and shop. Now, Robert and Jonathan, the first nite I introduced them turned into the dancefloor makeout artists, spoke on the phone a couple times and nothing ever came of it. So, this could be interesting if they both stop by at the same time.

They do.

And Robert is all, "I need to apologize to him" right before Jonathan arrives. And I'm all, "yeah, you do, i'm not doing it for you."

So, the flirtation starts again pretty much immediately. And Robert winds up shopping with us. It's a mostly music shopping trip, with clothes and pralines thrown in on the side. I score a used copy of St. Etiennne's Japanese only CD The Continental for only $13.

We decide we're hungry and head to the newly hopping Frenchmen Street in the Marigny and eat at Old Dog, New Trick, a really yummy vegetarian restaurant. Then home again. Then out again.

I get home and want to do nothing but crash, but Jonathan calls and informs me that he's coming to pick me up and I'm going out. So, I go. And Jonathan's insane stepsister comes with us, informing me immediately that the nite is all about her.

Yay. Oh joy. We shall now refer to her as Moodswing Girl.

See Moodswing Girl be happy cuz she's meeting her sisters at a horrible Bourbon St straight bar. See Moodswing Girl turn dark and scary when her sisters (wisely) leave before she arrives. See Moodswing Girl's lights turn back on at the briefest of attention from gay boys. See Moodswing Girl stare down at us alone on the balcony above the dancefloor as we dance. See Moodswing Girl inform us that we're going home.

Between all of this, a lot of fun is had. Lafitte's plays some excellent music along with videos on their big flatscreen TVs. I flirt across the bar with a cute boy of indeterminate ethnic background. I have fun dancing at Oz! We stand on the street and laugh at the freaks and the sunburned Jazzfest people.

Nice nite.

Sunday, I get up late, get more sun and read comic books. Then i decide to go shopping on the Westbank. I wind up in Marerro, because they have a Toys R Us. Jonathan lives in Marerro, so I call him. And wind up visiting him at his family's house. Which was quite nice. Then dinner at Louisiana Pizza Kitchen. Artichoke ravioli. Yum.

A FUCKING great weekend. Friends are good things. And I seem to have a few good ones of late.