Once upon a time, the life of Jason was a solitary affair; I spent most of my non-working time at the dojo, or running, or writing from a coffee shop, or building my business — all of which are worthy activities, to be sure, but ones that involve only peripheral engagement with others.

Lately, my social life has gotten much more interesting.  This weekend is really no different.  The festivities actually started on Thursday evening; I went to Kava House, chatted with Jen, and got some personal writing done.  On Friday, after getting my annual eye exam, I had lunch at Logans with a gaggle from the hospital, then Andrew and I went to Saugatuck for dinner at The Boathouse before touring the shops in the village.  The trip was my first to that city, and I did score a victory of sorts; I acquired a scrumptious bottle of port from a local winery’s retail shop.  We ate ice cream while looking at the boats (and both of us spilled copious amounts of sweet, creamy goodness on our clothing) then we went swimming in Lake Michigan for a while.  That evening, I drove us to Kalamazoo to pick up a friend of his — a young model with an impressive portfolio and travel history — before leaving them to their own devices at a bar in downtown Grand Rapids.

Saturday technically started at midnight on my social calendar as well as my watch; that’s about when I left Andrew and Brian and strolled a few blocks away to another bar to meet Dave, Mary, and Matt for more socializing.  We closed the bar, then went to Tribal Headquarters for more drinking (I didn’t imbibe too much, though) and a late-night Vito’s Pizza run.  I drove Dave back to his apartment, where we stayed until Matt, Mary, and Tyson picked us up around noon to go to Montague for a day at the beach.  We did a fair amount of swimming in Lake Michigan and got some rays — at least, as much as we could through the clouds.  Then, Matt drove us back to HQ, from where Dave drove us back to his place, from where we prepped for our evening excursion to Lansing (I’d do another “from where” but I fear the vicious regress).  Tony hosted a “wine tasting” that featured no wine but plenty of rum and an overwhelming assortment of snacks, desserts, fondue and whatnot.  Partygoers besides Dave and I included Tony and his lady friend Jen, Emilie and Jon, and Tracy and Teri.  We had a blast; everyone liked Dave, and Dave really enjoyed himself.  We spent the night at a Holiday Inn (conveniently arranged by Tracy) for some much-needed sleep, then … Sunday.

We got up around 10, met the gang at Clara’s in Lansing for breakfast buffet around 11:30, then I drove a weary Dave back to his place around 1:30.  Poor guy had to go straight to work. 🙁  I went to Kava House for e-mail, did a few errands, and ended up (presently) at Bitter End, blogging.

In all, a great weekend.  Busy.  But golly if I didn’t have a blast.  I guess I kinda like having an active social life, after all.