Saturday was my parent's 50th anniversary, so I was there all day. The day began with me waking at 10 AM for natures call, then crashing or what I thought would just be dozing for another two hours. Nope, I was out cold- If my ma hadn't called (as had been arranged just in case) I wouldn't have woken at noon- as it was it took six rings for me to realize the damned phone was ringing!

Anyway, I got up and hauled myself out to the Coon Rapids American Legion hall, where the initial gathering took place. This was the first time in over 30 years that I'd been in there! Anyway, it was a quiet success, and at 6 PM about half the gathered people (mostly relatives) headed over to my parents house.

Things continued there til the last of those leaving (my uncle Mike and aunt Trish were staying over, as was my cousin Jake and his girlfriend) bailed around 9:00 PM. I remained and helped in the cleanup, leaving at about 9:30. All in all, I actually had a good time- usually I hate family gatherings. However, they've all quit smoking, amazingly enough, and a lot of the behaviors that drove me away long ago are also gone. So... Maybe I'll start attending more often.

One thing more. For the last 10 years or so my parents have had this crabapple tree in the back yard. It was there as I grew up, but for the aforementioned decade it has been dead. As in, slowly losing all its bark and limbs randomly snapping off from rot, dead. Mom wouldn't let dad take it down, so this woody corpse stood hideous for all those years. As of this last June, it was STILL there. However... When we got to the house for the followup gathering, it was finally gone! And in its place was a fire pit! Now, my parent's yeard is huge- like half a football field huge. I told them, "If you go out of town sometime, I AM having friends over here."

And I'm NOT kidding. They won't care if we don't make a mess. So there will be a party with barbecue and a firepit sometime. :)

edit: I forgot to put down what happened today!

Today I got home from work, and joshuwain was there waiting for me. We went off to get zxizaraxii's new bed, a HORRIBLY delayed Xmas gift, from Ikea. First tho, he took me to the Farmer's Market and we had a bit of breakfast- a caramel roll and orange juice for me, a 'loaded brat' for him. Basically a bratwurst in a bun with fried peppers. We wandered there for a bit as he picked up a few things, then we went off to Ikea. By this point I was utterly fried- I'd been awake since noon Saturday, after all- and was seriously in zombie mode. In any event we got the bed, crammed it into his car (it BARELY fit, and likely the way we got it in wasn't safe or legal), and got it back home. I was nodding off the entire drive home, actually falling asleep a few times. We got the bed (a futon-thing) into the house, and he headed home. Me... I kinda just passed out.

And now I'm awake, and have a kinda scratchy throat. I'm hoping its just allergies. But the groceries are bought and put away and other chores done, so I have a few hours to screw around before work.

I can't say how glad I am that 2008 is OVER. Of all my 43 years I think this was the worst of the bunch. But, its done, so I'm looking forward to 2009 and positive things. There were good things last year, its just the bad kinda outweighed it.

A Few Good Things
Spaz and Lady
Friends who helped when I was hurting
Learning some new recipes
A new(er) car! (despite its problems!)
The house was painted

I won't go into the bad; those who know me know the worst of that. But here's hoping for better times. Tomorrow I'll be getting the party supplies, and more than likely my new La-Z-Boy; I'm kinda hoping that Slumberland turns out to have a New Year's Sale with a 2-for-1 deal. ;)

Friday, again, is the Holiday Party. People can start showing up at 5, although early isn't a big deal. There is a chance I might not be up if its before 3 tho! The food should be ready by 7, I hope- its a LOT of chicken! Several people, firecatmn, mirrdae, joshuwain and foeclan especially are helping out with party components- so it'll be as huge a feast as in previous years.

Be EXCELLENT To One Another, and PARTY ON, DUDES!!

Was pretty good. I got together with joshuwain and feezlekahn over at their place for dinner and a movie. I decided to make meatloaf and mashed potatoes, and the meatloaf turned out pretty damned good for something I'd not made in 15 or so years. It needed more salt and pepper, mostly. Next time. :)

We watched 'The Golden Compass' and my opinion was... Migod, the editor needs to die. Seriously. From what I was told, something like 50+ minutes were summarily lopped out of the film, and the editor fired to bring in another guy who tried to cut it like an action film! The result? A choppy, confusing film that DESPERATELY needed more meat to the story. Grr. I hate stupid people.

I got home around 9, and ended up with a nasty headache. I dozed on the couch a little bit, then dosed with aspirin and crashed for an hour. It subsided mostly, then I was off to work. For those that were wondering, I stayed offline cos I REALLY had to work on the 7th Seas writeup for the last run. I've gotten it about half done, and hopefully I'll finish it before Sunday.

I'm also contemplating overtime this week to start building the cash I'll need for MFF. I have $600, and I fugure I need $800 more so I have the transport costs covered plus enough to have a solid good time on. Anything extra will pay for Xmas. :)

Now I'm home and have just had leftover meatloaf and hash browns. Yay!

I went to a Lughnasadh celebration at a friend's place. Lots of fun was had, and I made chili for the potluck- that went over well, and the homebrew beer the host, Mike M. provided was fantastic. Possibly TOO good- it would have been REAL easy to blast through 6 or more bottles. ;)

As it was, I had two, plus one each of the beers I brought, Haaker Pshorr Oktoberfest and Heineken... Plus about a shot of good scotch, and a half-glass of mead. That plus two bowls of chili, a slice of blueberry pie and the toasted marshmallows was prolly a bit much. I was fine at the gathering, but got kinda queasy when I got home. Serves me right for being a pig. Ah well.

But it was fun, regardless.