Happy Ending

Several times in Vegas I heard people, either commentators on TV or random people, say the words "Happy Ending," and like the juvenile that I am, I sniggered every time. I had my massage after I turned in my comment yesterday, and it was amazing, but also unusual for me. See, in Richmond, out of fear of "Happy Endings" there is an ordinance that forbids males from giving a massage to females or females from giving massages to males. Of course, genius--way to combat the prevalent problem of massage parlors fronting as whore houses, Richmond....GOLD STAR! Anyway, since that is the law, I have never had a massage from a male...or at least a professional massage.

Until yesterday! No antiquated notions of massage parlors here in DC! So, as I sat in the Serenity Room, relaxing for my massage, I was a little apprehensive. When you get a massage, you undress to the level you are comfortable with, and normally for me, that means I leave at least something on, but yesterday, I realized that I was comfortable in nothing, so I did that. Basically doing that means, "Please massage my glutei" which I wanted because I have been really tense lately. So my apprehension mainly was coming from the fact that this was going to be the first male massage I have ever received, and it was going to be commando. Well, Julian, my masseur, came to get me from the "Serenity Room" and took me to the massage room, and he decided to break the ice...

Turns out my masseur's name was Julian Marrin (2 r's!). And he found that quite the coincidence. So he says to me, in a really heavy accent..."So, your name is Marrin too, how come?"

For some reason this question struck me as extremely odd. "How come?" I mean, how come anybody has the name they have....I responded, "Because that is my Dad's name." To which he smiled as if talking to a hyperactive, but mentally slow child. "No, no (insert patronizing smile here) I meant, it is a Latin name, are you Latin?"

Which is another question that struck me extremely odd as I am extremely pale, blue eyed, and have red hair (albeit fake red hair, but still). I gave a little patronizing smile of my own at this question and responded "Well I guess it is an Irish name too, because I have not a drop of Latin blood in me." He responds with a look "That is weird, I have never heard of that before." Well, deal with it Julian! Not all Marrins, or Marins, are Latin! Some are Irish, derived from Old French, meaning "Of the Sea!" So take that!

Anyway, the massage was great. The tension from first semester Evidence with Rice, from writing my comment, from sitting on an airplane, from drinking too much, from not having a job, from outrageous medical bills, from losing all my money in Vegas, from basically everything melted off. Julian got over his shock that I was of Irish descent and really worked the tension out of my neck and shoulders. It was the perfect way to celebrate turning in my Comment.

*still waiting on pictures to do a proper Vegas post....my camera is broken, so I have to rely on other's pictures, so it may take some time