Rich’s 30th birthday was this past Wednesday, but we didn’t get a chance to celebrate together until this past Saturday. The Ordonii were kind enough to host the soiree, so folk planned to head over to the Halfway House at 7 PM.
Yoss Mike called me earlier in the afternoon inviting me out for ribs; unfortunately for me, I’d just eaten with my family. I guess he managed to get Rich to go with him ‘cuz about two hours later or so, I got a call from Rich seeing if I wanted to join them in some galavanting. I passed at the first part since Woodfield freaks me out on weekends, but joined in on Barnes and Noble.
I was all proud of myself for holding back on books. Ever since I got home, I just haven’t been able to buy anything at the bookstore. I find that mildly amusing since one of the things I looked forward to the most was being able to go to a bookstore that was all wall-to-wall English…but these things happen. We were all three able to kill some time, but as the hour approached 6 PM we started to want a change of scenery.
I texted Chris O to find out if it was okay to come over early; the reply said to give ‘em ten minutes. Rich and I had wandered over to the Starbucks side of the store by this point (Yoss Mike was still reading his gun magazines in the front part of the store), and it struck us to kill the time with some caffeine. I managed to talk Rich out of this amazing looking chocolate muffin, since we were to dinner not long after, but to be honest, I really wanted to split it with him. But we were both good and held off.
I griped to him about forgetting the past perfect progressive. I can’t believe I forgot that it was called the past perfect progressive! Actually, I was more annoyed at myself with the fact that I forgot the “-ing” when not a gerund is usually called a progressive. Unbelievable! And I want to teach English? It’s just downright unacceptable. I totally need to brush up on my grammar and usage and style.
Eventually, Mike wandered over to where we were. I didn’t think to invite him over ‘cuz I knew he didn’t drink coffee and I figured he was all right reading about guns. He told us that he couldn’t take it anymore. He’s a gun enthusiast, but he’s not crazy like some of the people who write articles in those magazines! I likened him to being on the conservative side of the gun-toting crazies, and I meant (and mean) that with all due respect and affection. You know, much like how I affectionately call him a jack ass, too. 
We got to talking about various things and lost track of the time. In fact, we were only supposed to kill ten minutes and ended up sticking around for like half an hour. We took our leave thereafter.
When we arrived at the Halfway House, the attendants included Chris and Mark (obviously), Brad, and Scott. Others were to arrive later, in fact, VoW arrived not too long after we did. Rich was promptly dressed in judicial robes and wig. The original plan had been for all of us to speak with British accents and to play character from his favorite British TV shows…but time ran out, and to be honest, I don’t know that everyone would have been able to pull it off. If they had been characters from say, Buffy, then it woulda all been more or less five-by-five. But I for one don’t know very much about British television except Torchwood, and even that I don’t know well!
Chris cooked up some bangers and mash, cottage pie, fish and chips, a trifle, rice pudding, and had assortments of British snacks as well. (Although, there were no Jaffa Cakes, and the HobNobs weren’t quite what I remember…)
It was after eating all this awesome food that I realized I was gonna totally gain weight ‘cuz of Chris. If only she made crappy food…then I wouldn’t want to eat so much! Stupid food being all kinds of delicious!
I was surprised to see Jamie and Jimmy arrive. I didn’t even know they were back in town! But I was happy all the same. It’s been so very long since we all hung out together. Folk kinda split off then; Rich, Brad, Yoss, VoW and Scott were around the dinner table mostly while Chris, Mark, and I were talking with Jamie and Jimmy…well, actually, Jamie and Jimmy were doing most of the talking since they were telling us about their honeymoon.
Naturally, folk went to play Rock Band. Rich seemed pretty happy with that; he’d been drinking so he sang a bit more. I stayed upstairs mostly and hung about with the non-Rock Band players. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the game. I just felt like hanging about and talking with folk more.
Grant and Al joined us later on in the evening. During one of the Rock Band breaks, Rich blew out the candles on his birthday cake. Dude, I’d never had Portillo’s chocolate cake before — I can’t believe what I’ve been missing out on! I knew there was a reason I missed Portillo’s. That was damn fine cake!
Michelle even managed to come out and join us. We eventually broke down and played Fluxx, but for the most part we all just talked.
When various folk started to take their leave, I resorted to playing bass. I had to use the Guitar Hero guitar that Joe had brought over last week. I’ve decided that I prefer the Rock Band guitar ‘cuz I had trouble acrivating star power a few times.
I got a ride home with Grant and Al since Rich was more or less staying the night at the Halfway House. He seemed pretty happy with everything, so I think it’d be fair to say he enjoyed his birthday party.