No, Really, I Am an American

It was Tuesday night, which meant that it was time to gather.

I persuaded Rich to come up from Lombard for hijinx, or rather, I bribed him with the offer of coffee. It’s only really been ten days since I’d seen him last, but when you’ve grown accustomed to seeing people more than that, it’s a bit odd when they’re not around.

As posted, I’ve also been keeping an eye on Lucy. Me Da was going to be running late or some such, so he asked me if I could stop by the house again to let her out and feed her. I was glad that Rich was willing to make a little detour.

After the Price house, we went to Dominick’s. We’d discussed dinner possibilities and for whatever reason, frozen pizza sounded incredibly appealing. It was true that I had already eaten with my family, since they eat at like 5:30 in the afternoon, but I knew I would be hungry later so I figured it would be best to come prepared.

Food purchases in hand, our next stop was Caribou Coffee. I was glad that Rich opted for that, too ‘cuz while Starbuck’s isn’t that bad, I more often than not prefer Caribou. Remember how heartbroken I was when the Mint Mochas went out of season in Japan? I never have to worry about that with Caribou because the Mint Condition is a staple at that establishment. Yeah for mint!

Again, I can’t help but laugh at the fact that when Rich and I are in the car, we end up talking about grammar and usage. This time around, I asked him his thoughts on “No sooner had so-and-so come home”…then what? Would he use “than”? For whatever reason I had been stuck on using “than”, but every time I had typed it out it just didn’t seem right. “No sooner had so-and-so come home than my friends had to leave.”

We decided that it was right that way, despite being a bit awkward. Rich also re-arranged to sentence to be “No sooner than so-and-so had come home that my friends had to leave.”

…

See? Now that I write these sentences again, I second guess myself. Anyway, that’s what we talked about on the way to the Settlement ‘cuz we’re big nerds.

Yoss Mike acquired more songs for Rock Band, so he and Bert were playing that while Toni played Warcraft III (is that the one?). They invited Rich to join in and I found that to be the perfect excuse to bust out Miho and play some more Link to the Past. (I’ve been pretty addicted to that ever since I stole it from me Da.)

VoW arrived after I’d died about two times; I took that as a sign to put Miho away. It was her birthday on Monday, so she showed me what her sisters had gotten her. I like the little voodoo mummy, but I couldn’t help but think the pocket watch from her elder “pig” Molly was really shiny! So fancy it was!

Grant and Al arrived and for the most part all games ceased while we gathered around the table to be social. I mean, we’re always social, but this was the kind of conversation social. Yoss Mike also gave VoW his birthday present to her: a set of twelve rainbow throwing knives. So pretty! Almost as good as a sword!

After some merriment, it was decided that we should probably start watching American Gladiators. While I still cringe every time there’s talking, I find that I enjoy it a bit more and more. Like everyone else, I’ve come to think Crush and Titan are awesome, with Wolf being just as keen.

We only watched one episode initially. There was another show that Mike recorded, thinking that perhaps we would enjoy it as much as AG. It was something called Wipeout. Personally, the show made me uncomfortable in the same way the talking on AG makes me uncomfortable; but other than that, folk seemed to enjoy the hilarity and dare I say, the absurdity of it all.

Amazingly, we got through all of AG, although during two of the episodes, a game of Oh Hell was being played. Heck, GrAl left around 11 PM, which hasn’t happened in quite a while. You know, now that me Da is all kinds of respectable and secret agent like. Bert was up to bed not long after GrAl’s departure, but Toni stayed with us for a spell.

Rich, Mike, Toni, and I ended up talking ’round the table. We talked about Hugh Laurie and his awesomeness. (He did not win a BAFTA, but he did win a Golden Globe — I totally thought he won more awards but I guess I was wrong.) We talked about how parents can psychologically mess with their kids and about the evils of Disney cartoons, although, I freely admit to liking most of ‘em.

We talked about lots of stuffs. And after Toni went up to bed, Rich, Mike, and I continued conversing. The two points of interest that stick out are the debate about honorifics such as referring to a PhD person as “Doctor” but not calling a person with a Master’s “Master” (and same for Bachelor’s); and smoking and drinking alcohol.

Rich and I didn’t leave the Settlement until about 4 AM. I haven’t stayed out till 4 AM in quite a long time, in fact, I think last night was the first time since returning home.

‘Twas quite a good night!