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No more weekend road trips for a little while. This weekend it was down to Vancouver, Washington to visit my sister's family. The first half of the drive on Friday was miserable, even though I ducked out of the office at 2:30pm. I expected to miss the worst of the traffic, but the slow down started before I'd gotten ten miles. Once past Fort Lewis it was open sailing, only dropping below fifty once, when I went through Olympia, and staying at about 75mph until I hit Vancouver's urban area.
My nephews were waiting eagerly for my Futurama dvd's. On a tangent here. I've always found the dvd logo to be mildly disturbing, in a dark way. It brings the Al Jolson stereotypical black face to mind. The first time I watched a dvd it took me a moment to realize it wasn't a face, and later the same day then I watched a Vaudeville documentary on Bravo or PBS. They had some archive footage of black actors mixing burnt cork with as base like grease paint to create the blackface, interposed with clips from a contemporary movie with black actors doing the same thing -- I believe it was a movie about that peculiar and stereoptypically moronic portrayal of blacks. It was interesting and burned the non-pc dvd logo association into my mind.
On Saturday we headed to Portland, Oregon for an afternoon of laser tag. It was a lot more fun than I expected. The first game I finished dead last with 3700 points. Next to last place was 5200 points. The second game I scored 11,303 points, one measly point short of first place. Well, at least my team won. I wasn't feeling all that competitive, but the juices kick in. I was laughing when I got tagged, but still kept going after the others. Surprisingly I walloped my sister, brother in law, and nephew at air hockey, though I let the nephew score off a couple good rallies. I'm sure I won't be able to do that much longer.
I had a great time visiting with my family, though I didn't get as much time to catch up with my brother-in-law. The boys like me a lot, especially because I'm big and tough looking, a combat vet, yet like to cook and do art stuff as well as make dirty jokes. Funny I don't think of cooking and art as possibly being non-manly things, though I remember when I did. Some things about being really young suck. As for the dirty jokes and remarks, they are quite toned down. Keeping it at an acceptably crass level for uncledom, though since my sister's sense of humor is about the same they probably think it means we're both crazy.
I walked over to a grocery to get some Gatorade as we were leaving the game facility after laser tag. I noticed that my shaved head and trimmed beard caught people's attention. It is a look I like, though usually reserved for the warmer weather. I realized people were occasionally looking at me and smiling more when greetings were exchanged. Living in Seattle my hair style (or lack thereof) does not raise eyebrows. Now I find myself wondering if anyone in Spokane got the chuckles the previous weekend. I hope so.
I figured out I can probably eat chicken and onions over the weekend, but something got to me. Either too much coffee or bacon. I hope it was the coffee. I'm just starting to feel back to normal now. Kind of pisses me off, that the detox has made my food reactions a bit more acute. I guess it is all for the good. At least that is what I'll keep telling myself. Sunday evening I had a shot of whiskey (George Dickel bourbon) on the rocks, and after letting it melt for 30-45 minutes I started sipping my favorite drink. Yuck. I didn't like the taste at all. It is generally a very good moderately priced bourbon, but maybe it was an off batch. So I tried a milder whiskey (John Powers Irish whiskey) and had the same experience. I don't suppose it would hurt much to lose my taste for whiskey. No fun if I don't like the taste. I'm wondering if once my stomach settles down if I'll regain my taste for whiskey. Oh well, not as irritating as finding out eggs are on my list of things to avoid.
I'd scheduled my first flight lesson for yesterday, but I was feeling pretty yucky all day. I postponed until tomorrow. I should have done it earlier in the day, I called about an hour before my appointment. It was an old Navy habit. Never cancel or postpone a flight for medical reasons unless you absolutely have to, because you'll be grounded until you see the dirty rotten bastard (aka Flight Surgeon) and get him to put you back in a flight status. Not that kind of pressure for a private license, so I put off canceling the day's lesson much longer than needed. I'm feeling fine today, so I expect tomorrow I'll get my chance to go putting around in the ether.
My nephews were waiting eagerly for my Futurama dvd's. On a tangent here. I've always found the dvd logo to be mildly disturbing, in a dark way. It brings the Al Jolson stereotypical black face to mind. The first time I watched a dvd it took me a moment to realize it wasn't a face, and later the same day then I watched a Vaudeville documentary on Bravo or PBS. They had some archive footage of black actors mixing burnt cork with as base like grease paint to create the blackface, interposed with clips from a contemporary movie with black actors doing the same thing -- I believe it was a movie about that peculiar and stereoptypically moronic portrayal of blacks. It was interesting and burned the non-pc dvd logo association into my mind.
On Saturday we headed to Portland, Oregon for an afternoon of laser tag. It was a lot more fun than I expected. The first game I finished dead last with 3700 points. Next to last place was 5200 points. The second game I scored 11,303 points, one measly point short of first place. Well, at least my team won. I wasn't feeling all that competitive, but the juices kick in. I was laughing when I got tagged, but still kept going after the others. Surprisingly I walloped my sister, brother in law, and nephew at air hockey, though I let the nephew score off a couple good rallies. I'm sure I won't be able to do that much longer.
I had a great time visiting with my family, though I didn't get as much time to catch up with my brother-in-law. The boys like me a lot, especially because I'm big and tough looking, a combat vet, yet like to cook and do art stuff as well as make dirty jokes. Funny I don't think of cooking and art as possibly being non-manly things, though I remember when I did. Some things about being really young suck. As for the dirty jokes and remarks, they are quite toned down. Keeping it at an acceptably crass level for uncledom, though since my sister's sense of humor is about the same they probably think it means we're both crazy.
I walked over to a grocery to get some Gatorade as we were leaving the game facility after laser tag. I noticed that my shaved head and trimmed beard caught people's attention. It is a look I like, though usually reserved for the warmer weather. I realized people were occasionally looking at me and smiling more when greetings were exchanged. Living in Seattle my hair style (or lack thereof) does not raise eyebrows. Now I find myself wondering if anyone in Spokane got the chuckles the previous weekend. I hope so.
I figured out I can probably eat chicken and onions over the weekend, but something got to me. Either too much coffee or bacon. I hope it was the coffee. I'm just starting to feel back to normal now. Kind of pisses me off, that the detox has made my food reactions a bit more acute. I guess it is all for the good. At least that is what I'll keep telling myself. Sunday evening I had a shot of whiskey (George Dickel bourbon) on the rocks, and after letting it melt for 30-45 minutes I started sipping my favorite drink. Yuck. I didn't like the taste at all. It is generally a very good moderately priced bourbon, but maybe it was an off batch. So I tried a milder whiskey (John Powers Irish whiskey) and had the same experience. I don't suppose it would hurt much to lose my taste for whiskey. No fun if I don't like the taste. I'm wondering if once my stomach settles down if I'll regain my taste for whiskey. Oh well, not as irritating as finding out eggs are on my list of things to avoid.
I'd scheduled my first flight lesson for yesterday, but I was feeling pretty yucky all day. I postponed until tomorrow. I should have done it earlier in the day, I called about an hour before my appointment. It was an old Navy habit. Never cancel or postpone a flight for medical reasons unless you absolutely have to, because you'll be grounded until you see the dirty rotten bastard (aka Flight Surgeon) and get him to put you back in a flight status. Not that kind of pressure for a private license, so I put off canceling the day's lesson much longer than needed. I'm feeling fine today, so I expect tomorrow I'll get my chance to go putting around in the ether.
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