All week I kept thinking, “I ought to blog about…” Strangely enough, my lack of blogging isn’t due to the fact that I can’t seem to write, but rather because I’ve been too social to do so.
It all started last Tuesday. Rich and I met up for coffee at Caribou, and by “met up” I mean Rich came and picked me up and we went to Caribou. I owed him a coffee for being awesome and looking over my contract for me. We took our coffees back to the Halfway House because we had Dixie duty, and the reason we had Dixie duty was because Mark was joining us for Tuesday Night at the Settlement. ( ‘Twas most exciting.)
While we were there, I got it in my head that I ought to bring dinner; for one thing, I hardly ever contribute to the fun and games, and also it was one of my last Tuesdays at the Settlement. (I wished it was my last one full stop, but we can see how well that turned out.) It was decided that Boston Market would be bought for one and all.
I was pretty excited about it. I was finally able to contribute something fun and it seemed to be five-by-five with all those concerned.
It seemed to go over pretty well. I think I also enjoyed it so much because it reminded me of Firefly Sundays and of times when we used to sit down all together and eat a meal that didn’t involve a drive-thru. We even had dessert — Yoss Mike baked a cake! (He baked on the week before, too, but as I recall, I didn’t post about it.) Every once in a while, it’s nice to fake my way at being grown up.
Another thing that made that particular Tuesday fun and exciting was having Mark there (it would have been spectacular to have both Ordonii there, but unfortunately for us, Chris has grad school those nights). This isn’t to say everyone else who gathers sucks, it’s more that we rarely get to see Mark outside of the weekend, and it’s nice to have him come out and play. (Now if we could just get Chris and Brad out more…)
Our fun and games were a bit separated, some of us played Rock Band (the boys) and some of us played…actually, I can’t remember what we played. I remember Peanuts being played at some point, though, (I’ve started to enjoy Peanuts a bit more) and once Rock Band was finished, we all played us some Oh Hell.
The crowd thinned out at the usual hour and then those of us who remained watched the most recent episode of Middleman (if read aloud, must be said with the MIDDLEMAN! inflection).
We have taken to invading Oak Park on Wednesdays. It started out with just Yoss Mike and me who were consistently invading, but we have been known to wrangle the Ordonii, Rich, Toni, and VoW into it as well. This week, we got half the Ordonii (the Mark half), and everyone else listed. It was fun and exciting, and we had pizza. We seem to default to Oh Hell a lot, but I think that’s ‘cuz it’s a game we can all play and enjoy.
Thursday afternoon, I got a call from Mark asking me if I wanted to come over and have him magic more things on Jon Snow. I was happy to get out of the house and be social so I readily agreed. He was also making the roast beef over gnocchi again, and while he went to the supermarket, I made sure the water boiled and that the house didn’t burn down. I also got to peel carrots. (I’m making slow strides at learning how to cook…)
I wish I could say I helped in the kitchen more, but my personal achievement of playing Medium on drums won out. And when Rich arrived, he and I rocked out together. Heck, when Chris got home, she sang, and between checking the cab-reduction, Mark played too.
The dinner was meant to start at 7, and the attendants were meant to be the people who knew Dee and John Paul since it was in their honor. Well, unfortunately for Mark, the reduction sauce was not reducing at a speed it should have and we ended up eating dinner at 10 PM. It worked out rather well because there was a minor mishap with the dates and Dee and John Paul ended up eating dinner with Dee’s family, but this made a splendid second dinner. I was proud of myself for eating the gnocchi (I refer you to the other time Mark made this dinner and decided it would be helpful if he said the gnocchi looked like fly larva).
Friday the gang ended up at Lou Malnati’s to celebrate Bert’s soon-to-be new job. I don’t know the details of what it is he will do, but he gets a horse out of the deal. (Much like how Grant gets body armor out of his gig — you know, ‘cuz he’s a spy.)
It was back to the Settlement thereafter where alcohol was consumed by those who are inclined to imbibe alcohol, and games were played. The boys played Trivial Pursuit, the girls played Puerto Rico, while Grant played Rock Band and Chris fell asleep on the couch. Once the crowd thinned out again, everyone played Rock Band, and all parted ways thereafter. I was impressed that people stayed out as late as they did, but equally happy they did so.
Saturday was the start of Septemberfest. I haven’t been to it in many years, and this year was no different. I passed it, though, on my way to the Halfway House. Rich was spending the weekend thereabouts so we ended up watching Gossip Girl while Chris and Mark were babysitting Maddie (Dee and John Paul’s almost-three-year-old daughter — possibly three, I can’t actually remember how old she is…). I was mildly annoyed at getting sucked into the show, if anything, because it’s just another show on a long list of shows that I’ve started watching and may not get to watch once I’m in England.
Sunday was much the same as Saturday — I hung out at the Halfway House. We managed to coax Grant and Al to join us, as well as Brad for a short time. We ended up watching Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade ‘cuz Al had never seen it. It’s been a while since more than two of us sat down to watch a movie, so it was a nice change of pace.
So yeah. It’s been a happy and social week for me.
Gossip Girl? Really?