No, Really, I Am an American

Last week, I had dinner with Al, Grant, and Chris Weise (Kris). It was decided that since Kris didn’t have to work on Monday or Tuesday that we should make an effort to hang out more, if possible. This week, Kris invited us over to his house in Park Ridge.

Now the last time I went over to Kris’s place, he lived in a townhouse with some theatre folk from ISU. To be honest, I can’t remember who actually lived at that townhouse ‘cuz various people were always coming and going; of the people I remember seeing at that townhouse I can name Cori Kabat (she did actually live there), Jon Legat, Matt Russell, Adam who has a complicated last name and Vicki Martini, Jason McConnell, and Tom Pleviak. The same folk seem to frequent the house now, only the people who actually live there are Kris, Tom, Cori, and Jason.

Grant was the one to drive me to Park Ridge. I remember some time last week when I was driving with him and Al and how they were talking about how much fun they thought Tom Pleviak was, and at first I didn’t think anything of it ‘cuz I knew Tom and I always thought he was a fun guy; but then I remembered that Grant and Al didn’t go to ISU with us. When we were still at school, and Kris lived about down the street from me, he would have gatherings at his place from time to time and he would invite the Schaumburg set as well as the ISU folk. Sometimes, friends just can’t merge. I don’t think it helped that Kris spent more time talking with the ISU folk than with the Schaumburgians (I think that’s how VoW puts it). Generally, not a huge problem or anything, but it just seemed like there was a clear division of folk. Now it seems that they, or Grant and Al at least, have managed to merge. A mite fuzzling for my mind, but amusing and fun all the same.

Grant, Al, Kris, and I went to dinner by a brick-oven pizza place by his house. It was actually pretty good and something new for us to try. We also loaded up on Easter candy ‘cuz it was like five-hundred percent off! Woo candy!!

After dinner, we went back to the house. Kris’s place is kinda trippy. It’s so…I dunno what to say really…retro? It’s from the 70’s and has some of the latest gadgets like a house intercom that doesn’t work. I think one of my favorite parts is the light switch that’s inside the cabinet in the kitchen. Although, the pink bathroom is pretty swank. As Cori put it, “A bottle of Pepto-Bismol isn’t as pink as our bathroom!” (It was pretty pink. Not like “pretty” as in describing the pink, more like the adverb.)

We went to Kris’s room to play Super Smash Bros. Yeah. I think I suck as a person ‘cuz I still can’t seem to get into video games, and I own a DS Lite. It wasn’t too bad to watch, though. Matt Russell came by the house some time around our fourth round of playing. There was general exclamation of “How the hell are you?!” and yes, hugging was involved. See? I can hug. I just don’t do it a lot if I can avoid it. And come on, it’s been two years since I’ve seen Matt, so it’s like okay then.

For the most part, the reason we were playing Smash Bros. was because we were waiting for Jason to finish up playing his game so we could play Scene It on the XBox 360. (Seriously. What is it with this game system?) Also during this time, Adam and Vicki arrived. (And now that I think about it, I know three Vickis, too. All of whom seem to have red or reddish hair. What’s up with that?)

There was more “How the hell are you?!”’s and hugging, and I tried some Japanese with Adam, since he was the one who got me interested in Thomas-sensei’s class in the first place. In talking with them, it also came back to me that THEY were the inadvertent reasons for me going to Japan through Nova! Back when we were still at school together, they introduced me to one of Adam’s friends Dan Stone, and Dan was the one to tell me not to try JET and to go with Nova, which was the company he had just gotten a job with. Funny how I remember that now.

Matt Russell is trying to develop a board game, so once the XBox was free, all the aforementioned people went to try and play that game while the four of us seized control of the XBox.

Okay. So when I first played Scene It, I thought it was a pretty neat game. I could hold my own at it. Playing it on XBox is AWESOME! You get these controllers (not the standard XBox ones) and you get to buzz in and stuff all on your own. It’s a little different than the standard board game, and there’s this really annoying announcer guy, but it was quite fun! Al said that for someone who’s been out of the loop on most American movies for the past two years, I did pretty well.

Al had to part company with us thereafter since she had to work, but Grant and I got to stick around. The others had also finished up playing Matt’s game, so it seemed to work out well. Sadly, most of them had to go home, too; but by that time Cori and Tom had come home. I think everyone’s presence made Tom’s day, as we would find out later.

So Grant, Jason, Cori, Kris, Tom, and I sat at the living room table. Tom told us about his horrific night at his job. We reminisced about our university days and fondly recalled gatherings at the old apartment on Hester. I also got filled in on other folk I knew who are in the teaching business now. I got to throw one or two incoherent fits, and both Jason and Cori said they’d missed hearing those rants. Funny thing, I can’t remember really hanging out with them much when we were at school together; not like I did with other folk. Grant said it’s ‘cuz I make an impression when those happen. You know, ‘cuz they’re hardly coherent, but clearly impassioned. Seriously. Coursers and destriers are different horses, I’m just sayin’. AND Medieval Times, even though we’re going there for Al’s thing, is gonna make me angry ‘cuz of it. Broad swords. Feh.

It was so cool hanging out with everyone. Grant and I stayed till about 3 AM, which is the latest I’ve stayed out since I’ve been home. I’m glad that Grant and Al seem to enjoy those folks ‘cuz i hope we get the chance to hang out more often. I also think it’s super keen that they’re all doing what they’re doing. Both Vicki and Cori are in tech and Kris will go into tech in a few weeks and I miss talking theatre.

Definitely good times.