The Odysey: Part Three - Champaign
Visited Roy, Mike, and Kurt. Got to eat at Jimmy John's, Bagelman's, Bamba's, and Dell's. Got to finish Halo at normal difficulty. I love the Warthog, and I am a Warthog gunner fool! Played some PvP, Mike made a comment about it being difficult to kill a player in a Warthog, where I proceeded to kill him at the start of the next game - and several times throughout.
Trying the think back, I have trouble recalling what I did on Thursday and Friday, so I am thinking that was Halo filled.
Saturday was crazy. I had planned on leaving on Saturday, which would give me Sunday to unpack and such. That didn't happen. After lunch, it was already 2, so I figured I'd stay and leave early on Sunday. Well, we went out and I bought Risk and Monopoly. While waiting for Roy to finish showering, I went surfing for Avalon Hill. There was some comment about Avalon Hill previously (don't remember how it came up, or what the comment was), which got me thinking if they were still around. Their highlighted game was Risk 2210, which look kinda intriguing - which got me thinking of getting the board game. Figuring it would take some looking, I got Risk, and since I was there, I got Monopoly.
We got back, and the foolishness began. We started Heroes. During all the installing and updating, Roy made the comment that we should play Monopoly while we wait. As we got into Heroes, after a few hours, I broke out the Monopoly board. So, while waiting for turns, we played a game of Monopoly. Kurt stopped by around 1am, and agreed to play Risk, as Monopoly wasn't his game. We stopped Heroes, and took out Risk. Roy wanted to continue our Monopoly game.
We proceeded to play until 7am. Risk was pretty much a draw, until playing style became more reckless, and Roy won. We concluded that Monopoly was a draw.
Now, here was my dilemma. I did not sleep at all, and I had a 12 hour drive; plus, I need to get back in time to do laundry, unpack, get ready for work, and get to sleep, hopefully, before midnight.
I do not recall much of the trip down. I think I was in a dream state for much of it. At one point, I recall a dream and I came out of it when I said (aloud) "I can't control it!" I would not say I was asleep, as I can recall seeing the road and cars at that time. It was kinda like the second slowed down to allow all of that happening within an instant, but feel like an eternity had passed. There were multiple times where while I was awake and watching the road, my consciousness was not with reality.
Got home to find that there was a power outage earlier in the week. This seemed to have cause the thermostat to not engage it's program, so it was a little cool in the place. Also, the cable box does not turn on after power loss. I didn't get any of the programs slated for recording. The DVR also had a mental breakdown, and it took over an hour to get it straightned out and running normally.
I seem to have had an allergic reaction to something fearce enough to give me a decent cough and slight loss of voice.
Well, this is one sleepy Bobo, and quitting time is here...
The Odyssey: Part Two - Chicago
Well, Illinois showed me what cold really was. Got almost to Springfield before I needed gas. Got out of the car, and was assaulted by 22 degrees and windy. Owwww. I made the mistake of (later) noticing a smear on the windshield and engaging the washer. The liquid promptly froze on the glass, which just made things worse. At that point, I really really really missed Texas weather.
Got to the p's place at midnight, and had my ear talked off by my father.
Monday was spent with Matt. Had some food and pie at Baker's Square and watched The Two Towers. After, we rented K-19, which was really awful. You know a movie is badly made when you refer to the characters as "that one guy", and need to ask, "what are they doing?" "why are they doing that?". You also know a movie is bad when the History channel documentary is much more enjoyable. It gave no background info at all. You have no clue as to what is the significance of the ship (it was the first nuclear ballistic submarine), you are not introduced to the crew, you do not know why they are out at sea. My impression was - see the documentary for how things happened, then see the movie to "experience" radiation poisoning. Ayway, Portillo's saved the evening from becomming a bust.
Too little time to spend with Matt :(
Tuesday and Wednesday was the obligatory family time. It snowed on Tuesday, which gave a white XMas. Not much there, some food was eaten, some presents exchanged. The Two Towers was watched, which made it three instances that week.
I left Thursday.
The Odyssey: Part One - St Louis
Visited Gene on the weekend before XMas. Got there earlier than anticipated. This may be due to mistankingly taking the "wrong" way and bumbling into a path that was shorter and quicker. Doing 75-80 makes going thru Oklahoma rather short.
The weather was a bit cold - in the 30's, but when you consider that I left in the 70's/60's, it was cold.
The trip ended with me mistakenly following the "Magnolia will be the third stop after 44, turn left", and taking a left at the light. This took me into a parking lot, which was definitely NOT a street to Gene's place. After some searching it was straightened out. :)
Saturday night, we joined Brian and Karen at Chez Leon. It was a rather nice French place, where we were greeted by someone taking our coats. My first thought was: would this be one of those places where you tip everybody? And if so, how is that done? My cultured background only covered giving a 15% tip to the wait-person (which I modified to 20%, 15%-below depending on the inattentiveness, above 20% for going above).
I had to show my ignorance by asking the question regarding coat guy at the table.
Dinner was good - don't like Foi Gras, but I do like truffles. During bread time, I used my knife to spread butter, and was taken from me during cleaning. When the main course came out, the busboy gave me a knife - which turned out to be a butter knife. This was enough for me as the chicken wasn't rough; but when the waiter came out and saw what I was using, he proceeded to grab the knife out of my hand saying "you can not use this". So, Im there thinking "What the fuck are you doing? Of course I can use a knife, and I don't need your French ass cutting my meat for me." But after a few tugs, he tells me that I'm using a butter knife and not one for cutting, and I let go.
For whatever reason, the Onion Soup filled me up, and I wasn't able to finish all the food, nevermind think about a desert.
Sunday brought sleeping in, a lunch which consisted of hot chocolate thanks to the devout of Missouri (almost everything is closed on Sunday), The Two Towers, and dinner at Yia Yia's (which was quite good). The chocolate souffle I had tasted exactly like the cake brownies I make.
Much thanks to Gene for his hospitality and a fun weekend.
Oh, I also got some Warcraft III time in. That being I saw the intro and got as far as typing my name in the new player screen.
Well, as much as I wanted to hang around, it was 8pm, and I still needed to get to Chicago.
You know you're getting old when the either the people/groups/music you can't stand or people/groups you've never heard of are the big winners in music awards.
When you have to ask, what's an Ashanti or what's a Nelly, you're old.
Made an attempt to stain/weather protect the fence over the weekend. Really miscalculated how long it would take and only got 2 sides done. At least I fully finished the sides - as opposed to a person the other street over who only finished one side, and made a few brush strokes on another. The Redwood coloring is nice though.
Since I've got free HBO (3 or 4 channels) and Showtime (2) I had the recorder catch Tomb Raider and Josie and the Pussycats. I wanted to see if both movies were as bad as I figured them to be. Tomb Raider was extremely stupid, as I had expected it to be, and the only way I see it at the theaters is if I was being paid to see it - and I think I'd ask for no less then $25/hour at that. Anyway, the only redeeming aspect of the movie was seeing Arnold Judas Rimmer/Gordon Brittas playing the butler. It was very amusing to see Rimmer grab a bullet resistant vest and a shotgun. I am very curious how Christopher Barrie became involved in the movie.
Josie was actually better than I thought it would be - poking fun at itself and the boy/girl band phenomena, and carrying some funny lines.
I also managed to get through the 10 hours of Taken; or should I say "Steven Spielberg Presents: Taken"... geez, gotta make sure I get all the hype in...
I was disappointed to see that Sci Fi is making a series out of Tremors. The ads remind me of the Dukes of Hazard. "He likes his trucks fast, she like her shorts short...." Only Daisy wore shorts that were much shorter than those. At least if they're going to entice me with sex appeal, show some! I saw more at 10 watching Daisy Duke! And the Dream Team looks very bad as well. Looks like Sci Fi wants to capture more of the "I talk to Dead People.." whatever it is show... David Blaine, David Copperfield - whatever his name moron who claims to speak to the dead.
I am getting my free security system activated this week. So, get this. I will only wind up paying for installation for adding fire monitoring to the system. This means for life (of ADT, and as long as I continue with ADT's service), I will get a security system with fire monitoring and a key FOB transmitter. So, if I move into a house that has no system, I get all of the above installed for free. I think this is a very cool deal, especially when I got the whole system by mistake.
That's all I can think of to babble for now..
Ah. Sweet sweet silence has been my friend for the past week. No young child screaming and yelling at 1am. No inconsiderate child banging on the walls at midnight. No inconsiderate adult slamming the doors. No punk assed 20 somethings shaking the building with his subwoofer. No uber punk assed teen shaking the building with his in-car sub woofer. Peace and quite. And dark. There's some lights, but not the spot lights aimed at the sides of the building as in the apartment.
No kids (and inconsiderate adults) using the street as a racetrack. There is a marked difference living in a place where no one cares, to a place where property value is very much a concern. I haven't seen anyone pissing on my or anyone else's house, and no displays of public drunkeness. Watering and mowing a lawn is a fair price in exchange.
Ah, I can feel sanity slowly leak in... urge to implement population control subsiding...
peace, quiet, consideration - i had forgotten that the world could be like that