Monday, May 29, 2023
They Say It's Your Birthday...
I had two birthday parties to attend on Saturday. The first was my nephew's. He turns 8 later this week, but as with dead presidents and civil rights leaders, we observe it on the weekend. Actually two weekends, as the party for his friends is next weekend at Charles Entertainment Cheese. But the family was forced to celebrate without ball pits or cardboard-tasting pizza at home. There was taco dip, a cake with that thick frosting that is so sweet you feel vaguely sick afterwards, and of course presents. Many, many presents. We got him a book, which we knew would not be instantly celebrated, and a Mario Brothers themed playset, of which I was rather jealous. Of course, we all had to get something for his sister, too, to avoid an epic meltdown. (This is what happens when you negotiate with terrorists in Biden's America.) But I think all was successful. Full stomachs and minimal crying, which I can't even say of my average work day.
The second party was a private room karaoke party for my adult friend. I hadn't done this is a while, since the pandemic revealed the inherent filthiness of almost everything, but it was fun. There were twelve of us in a room with four microphones and two bars just down the hall -- you have to like those numbers. There were some surprises, like our tribute to Sister Act 2 falling flat while "Part of Your World" brought the house down, but as our nation's former poet laureate Alanis once said, "you live, you learn." I woke up hoarse and dehydrated the next morning, which is a sure sign of an evening well spent. Also of a painful 9 AM mass trip with one's mother, but that's a story for another time.
Saturday, May 20, 2023
Current Events
It is, as always, a truly exciting time to be alive. We followed up on our St. Thomas trip by immediately driving round trip to Indianapolis for a funeral. It was an excellent affair, as funerals go, with tasteful grieving followed by a generous nosh. The traffic did nearly push us into madness, but that can be said of so many things these days.
Then we had the my nephew's First Communion, which had a certain authenticity that more than made up for its lack of production values. Jack performed his role admirably, and even agreed to wear a shirt with buttons, which he normally eschews because, he tells me, before he was born he was on the Planet Jack where there was a tribe of button people that mistreated him. I can neither confirm nor deny that, but it is more plausible than your average Ryan Murphy show. Afterwards we went to Jack's favorite Mexican place (because he has one), where kids get a free dessert that consists of vanilla ice cream and three mini churros suitable for pilfering by adults. Oh, we dined well that day, my friends.
Then it was right back into lots of work, which everyone loves. My office has now mandated that everyone be in the office each Tuesday through Thursday, which is not a particularly large deal for me, but has some of my colleagues walking around acting like Uncle Ben just died and they just realized that with great power comes great responsibility. I'm actually just kind of glad to have access to a virtually unlimited supply of free Diet Coke again.
Sunday, May 07, 2023
Island Time
We took a quick jaunt down to the U.S. Virgin Islands for some sun and relaxation. It turns out I'm not great at either.
They've got a few beaches in St. Thomas. I managed to get sunburned in under two hours despite the liberal application of sunscreen, which is a new record for me.
We also took the ferry over to St. John, which was interesting. I'm not Lutheran, but this church seemed very plausible.
This was the view from our living room, which was adequate. Not as good as my Chicago view of the trash bins in the alley, but oh well.
This bird had built a nest near our bedroom window and wanted to murder us. He had some good points.
I'm a sucker for gift shop items that bear no relationship to the places they are from. Unless St. John is especially well known for Spicy Disasters and I just didn't know it.
These are the 99 steps, which are reputed to be a tourist attraction in St. Thomas, but there was absolutely no one in sight when we finally found them and it appeared the historical marker had been stolen. Also somebody told me there are 103 of them, but oh well.
