Playing Hookey is Fun

Once again, I find myself a few days behind on this thing. Oops. Strap yourself in folks... this is gonna be a long one.

Unbeknownst to me at the time, my weekend actually started on Thursday night. I headed down to Hamilton to meet up with Pete and the Skyes and a couple of old friends who were in for the weekend for the Phoenix Cup. Sigh. Just going down to the diamonds was incredibly nostalgic and made me realize how much I miss ball. I would have cried, but Aimee would have mocked me endlessly for years, so I had to choke it back.

After heading back to Pete's to make him not so sweaty, we took off to Boston Pizza for a post-game pitcher (for you Mac alumni, Boston Pizza is now in the old Swiss Chalet that was a block west of NASA). Aimee ended up stealing a full plate of pizza (yes, plate and all) by passing it over the patio wall, thus providing sustanance for later in the evening. Back to the Skye's we go to play Asshole and imbibe a bit more.

See, this is the point where I should have realized there was going to be no way in hell that I would make it into the lab in the morning. I have never been at the Skye's and gone to bed before 4.

After several hours of Asshole, where I didn't grace the Asshole chair even once (thank you, thank you), Aimee disappeared for awhile. Jerry, whose concern was astounding, eventually found her in the bathroom. You can probably guess why. I always wonder: do people laugh at me that much when I'm in such pain? I hope not. But I know I'm only kidding myself. Jerry, being a good husband, left her to fend on her own and joined Pete and I on the patio, only to disclose the reason that he was kicked out of junior hockey (hint: see Pete's Blog title). We finally booked it at about 5:00 am, pretty much insuring that there would be no way I would be in the lab the next morning.

So instead, woke up at 11:00 and spent Friday a) trying the figure out the Skye's stupid coffee-maker, b) on the patio with Pete enjoying said coffee and conversation, c) collecting parking tickets (yes, plural) off of my car, and d) at the batting cages. While I had a good helping of Catholic guilt, I can't think of a better way to spend a day of hookey. It was so worth it. And, I got to swing a bat. Even though my swing is now largely dictated by my upper body. My muscles right now are reminding me of that. After bidding a fond farewell, I headed back into Toronto and met up with LMD for a little bit of shopping for a certain someone's birthday. All in all, one great day.

Saturday also shaped into a fantastic time. Met up with the birthday girl and LMD to head to the Ex in the morning. We had a glorious day of games, perusing vendors, ferris wheels, and livestock. Michelle even capitolized on her birthday to get one of the Carnies to give us 3 of the best hats ever (well, we had to pay 10 dollars and *pretend* that we knew how to throw darts...). We wore the hats for the rest of the day, soliciting many compliments from middle-aged women. Although Michelle did not get on the trampoline, thereby missing a tremendous opportunity to show off her fabulous rack in a bungee suit, I think that we pretty much saw and did everything there was to do at the Canadian National Exhibition. Happy days.

Off home for a well-deserved nap, then off to the birthday girl's for her birthday party. Hats and all. Unfortunely, however, LMD FORGOT her hat (and will now have to make up for it through sexual favours), and Michelle was trying to look respectable for her guests, so I alone was left wearing said hat for the first couple of hours. It did, however, prove to be excellent coverage from the rain. Kevin, Carrie and Stacey also showed up relatively early, and we got to plan a) Stacey's birthday, and b) the bus that Kevin is going to rent for a good ol' fashioned roadtrip to Oktoberfest. Weekends are now pretty much booked through November. Whew. Finally, Michelle became not sober enough to don her hat:



LMD was on call, and unfortunately had to leave early. Boo. Although it turned out that a lack of sleep, lack of food, and nonlack of beer put me home relatively early as well... I was actually home by 1:15. Which, in retrospect, was probably a good thing, as I don't remember getting home too well.

And so that left today to work, clean, grocery shop and cook. It's actually been a pretty productive day... Christine's Code (hereby known as CC) is nearly done, my apartment smells fresh as the summer rain, and my fridge is fully stocked. And so I'll end off the night cooking stirfry, outlining the discussion for the manuscript I promised Hugh for Friday, and anxiously awaiting word as to whether or not anyone actually won the Phoenix Cup.

Float On...