Tag: friends

A Comparison of Days

Yesterday morning, I got up at 5am and woke up judiang in the next half hour. She had a 6:55am flight back to Chicago (gah!), so we headed out to the airport. We arrived at United’s desks at 6:27am. And they wouldn’t let her get a boarding pass. They cited the 30 minute rule for not giving up her boarding pass (and did the same to an irate businessman). So Judi was forced to go on standby for the next flight out. Yuck!

(Oh, Judi, MJ says that it’s quite possible that UA had already given up your seat to someone else because they always overbook. Her hubby’s had that happen to him several times – they use the 30 minute excuse because they can. Blech. Dirty rotters!)

I would have stayed or driven Judi back or something, except that I had to get to work. I had promised MJ, the senior class adviser (and HS secretary – one and the same), that I’d be a chaperon for her on the senior field trip to King’s Island (an Amusement Park in Southern Ohio). Yeah, difficult work to get, no?

We left the school a little after 8am and headed for the park. We made good time and arrived before they opened. No matter, MJ got our tickets and we all skuttered into the park. It wasn’t long before the rides opened and a good portion of us rushed over to Drop Zone. I, of course, did the ride. And once I got off, I took my glasses out of the case where I’d stored them for the trip – and the screw promptly fell out of the left side. The lens fell to the ground, but didn’t break. However, the screw was a loss. Thankfully, MJ and the senior girls with us led me around to the next few rides. We did Face Off and the Racer. Oh, and the Vortex. And some others – but I’ve forgotten them!

Once it became lunch time, MJ and I headed to Skyline for lunch (yay 4-way Cincinnati chili!) while the girls headed off to try the bungee jumping ride, which was currently only $5 instead of the usual $20. After lunch, we headed for a store to see if they had any glasses repair kits. No luck there, and the salesman called to another store – they didn’t either. He did let me have some masking tape and I managed to repair the glasses for the rest of the trip.

MJ and I then headed off to the train station to meet the girls again. Once we got there, we discovered they’d been trying to call us – whoops! We never did hear the phones. Turns out they’d just left on the train we saw leaving when we arrived. So we sat in the train station and enjoyed a breezy, shady break from what was becoming a miserably hot day.

We headed to the water park section of King’s Island where we became Table Sitters. Joy joy. Almost all of the 27 seniors were in the park and left their bags, clothes, shoes, etc at a table (and half of another) where MJ and I sat, watching & waiting. Thankfully, a couple of girls arrived an hour later or so with smoothies and told us where we could get ’em. They watched the table while we nipped off to buy smoothies – yay! I got Mango/Pineapple. Note to self – don’t go barefoot when it’s nearly 90F and sunny – hot on the soles!

We stayed at the table for awhile longer, when MJ’s daughter and some of the other girls said we should switch tables – there was another near the wave pool that was shadier. Everyone gathered all the stuff up (except for one boy’s boots – we’d warned him we weren’t taking them with us) and we moved tables. MJ and I did get to wade in the water – which was refreshing.

Eventually, folks were ready to go back to the main park. Our group of girls decided to do some kiddie rides. We did the Wild Thornberry’s water ride – we thought it should be safe. Everyone getting off the ride was barely wet. Nope. I went with 3 of the girls in one log, MJ went in the next with her daughter and another. And we all came out drenched! Damn, if only we’d known this earlier in the day! 🙂

We did some other kiddie rides, then headed towards the Festhaus for supper. Only we got distracted by the Pop Star try-outs they were doing under the Eiffel Tower. The girls decided they’d enter and sing Stacy’s Mom (but substitute it for Amy’s Mom in honor of MJ). They managed to get a number of the other seniors there to watch and finally got to perform. They did pretty well, and I thought they were better than the girl who kept winning the rounds. They lost, despite being the audience favorite. They got tissues and Loser badges, which they wore proudly to dinner. Supper was La Rosa’s pizza (you’d think they’d want to distance their name from the pizza they serve at King’s Island, but there ya go…) And then Graeter’s Ice Cream for dessert. Graeter’s is a local ice cream manufacturer that is wonderful. And the ice cream here was no different. Yum! I liked it so much, I had some before supper AND after supper. Judi would be so proud!

After ice cream, it was time for the park to close. So we all met up front and took several pictures of the seniors in front of the fountains and Eiffel tower. They even got me in a couple – yuk! Anyhoo, we all headed off to the bus for an uneventful ride home. It was a truly good day.

And while I was having all this fun (hot & shitty fun, but still fun), where was Judi? Still at the airport! Gah!

While I was chaperoning, I kept texting Judi to find out her status. And it just never got much better. When the 10am flight came around, they were too full, so no go for Judi. Then she was shooting for the noon flight. And the 3pm flight. And eventually the 6pm flight! Already at the airport for 12 frickin’ hours and they couldn’t get her on a flight?

We sent several text messages (I think I got 14 from her throughout the day) with a couple of actual calls during the day. I felt so bad for her having to deal with all that shit & boredom while I was having fun watching senior bags and shoes. Once they finally DID get Judi onto a flight, it was delayed! Good grief! There were storms in Chicago, apparently.

In the end, she did get home – yay! And she got home around the same time that I did! Eeep! Poor Judi!

Apart from Judi’s horrible trip home, I think she had a nice weekend with me and elsaf. I know that I loved having them here again! And it’ll be great seeing them in Chicago for the 4th of July! And grief, I hope I don’t have to wait a day at Dayton International to get there!

Lazing @ the Lake

This has been a fun (albeit warm) weekend @ my folks cottage. We’ve been having a great time and eating lots of great food. So, ditto what Elsa and Judi said. (Heh heh.)

WRT (with respect to) the things we’ve been viewing: my easy-to-please nature & ability to turn off my brain while watching stuff means that I really enjoyed last night’s Doctor Who and the X-Men movie. 🙂

Also, I post for your culinary enjoyment, a photo of last night’s German Meal. (Supper by elsaf, photo by dad. Oh, and dad supplied the photos for my Lake icon and judiang‘s new Lake icon.)

German Meal - yum!

I couldn’t top that meal, but I did grill some mean steaks & veggies tonight. And Elsa bought us a sugar cream pie for dessert. Yum!

Memorial Day Weekend at the Lake – 2006

Ah, it’s good to be in the 3-season room at mom & dad’s cottage at Lake Loramie again. It means (a) summer’s nearly here, (b) the girls are visiting, and (c) I can nap whenever I want!

Yesterday, I picked judiang up at the airport, took her to KFC for lunch, brought her back to my place, and then finished up at work. After work, the high school teachers were treated to an ice cream sundae bar in appreciation for the great OGT (Ohio Graduation Test) scores that the sophomores got this year. 82% or higher passed each of the tests (Reading, Writing, Math, Social Studies, and Science) and 76% passed all 5 tests. Yay sophomores! Yay teachers!

When I got home from work, Judi was sleeping (no! such a surprise!) so I geeked a bit, transferred some David Tennant vids from her laptop to my PC (for burning onto a DVD for watching this weekend – providing the DVD player here can play ’em) and played with Leo a bit. Once Judi was rested up, we zipped off to BW’s for booze (amaretto sours, of course) and wings, chatted with my coworkers there (many of whom Judi met on our trip to Italy last summer), and then bugged out. We then headed to Pizza Hut to get pizza for the Shorts. I ordered 2 large pizzas, going halvsies on each. Pineapple/cheese, sausage/pepperoni. I figured there’d be something for everybody – and there was.

Once we got to town, I dropped Judi off at Becky’s with the pizza, then popped round to Robbins’ gas station for some chips (ranch Doritos and Munch ’ems) and pop for the Judester and myself. Back to Becky’s for pizza (Becky, Deanna, mom, dad, and my little cousin Taylor were also in attendance) and conversation. And then it was time to play cards. Dad and Taylor bugged out at that time to their respective homes. And in honor of Granny, we started the game off by all saying “Shit!” in unison. We miss you, Granny!

So we played our usual game of Shanghai Rum and, as usual, complained the whole time about it. “Why are we playing this game?” “I hate this game!” “Crap, another bad hand.” You’d think we were a group of masochists, but honestly, it’s FUN to play and bitch about!

As for who won, well, it’s not that important. But I suppose if you really want to know, judiang will probably have the blow-by-blow on her journal. 🙂

After the game, mom went home cuz she had to work the next day (blech) and Judi and I returned to my place. I gave Leo a day’s worth of food, which he proceeded to eat. Then I packed and we headed off to the Lake. We chatted on AIM with hergrace and elsaf for awhile as we got caught up on LJ and chatted on IRC. Then around 2am, we finally headed for bed. And I proceeded to wake up at 5:30am. I think my cat finally has me conditioned. I didn’t get up until 8am, however. So there, Leo!

After half an hour of playing CoH on Judi’s laptop, I started vacuuming the floor (cleaning up after the plumbers who had to install a new water softener yesterday). And I’ve got stuff soaking in the sink (cuz mom & dad couldn’t wash because of the plumbers) which I’ll get to after this.

Elsa should be arriving around noon and dad will get here soon, so we’ll have hot dogs on the fire and whatever else we pick up at Wagner’s before they arrive. Yay! It’s so good to be at the Lake! Yay for memorial day weekend!

The things you find…

So mom & dad have been doing a lot of rearranging around in their house. (The living room is now the dining room, so the parlor room is now the living room, etc.) During this process, they’re locating things that are mine & Amy’s that had been hiding in various crevasses in the house. Several of my boardgames & puzzles are now in my own house – yay! But perhaps the biggest surprise was my AT-AT! For those of you who aren’t Star Wars fans (and to think, I call you friends! Heh), an AT-AT is a big-ass vehicle used in The Empire Strikes Back. I was under the impression that I had sold my AT-AT to some of the neighborhood boys years ago. But now that I think about it, I think it was my Death Star that I sold them. (No loss – that wasn’t nearly as cool as an AT-AT.)

Leo didn’t know what to make of this plastic thing that was even bigger than him. I haven’t added batteries to it to see if the electronics still work. And if they do, Leo will be even more confused about it. Heh. Poor Kitty.

In other news, shortly before heading off to visit with judiang, elsaf, and hergrace, I had bid upon & won a 60GB iPod video. I was pleased that I’d found it for under $380 (the winning bid was $335). I have over 30GB of MP3s on my computer (most, but not all, of my CD collection. And I still have some albums that I want to convert to MP3). So a 30GB drive wasn’t going to work. The iPod arrived while I was in Chicago, but my parents are lovely people and they picked it up at the post office. I’ve already copied all of my songs onto it (and NOT by using iTunes – woot! MediaMonkey, I LOVE you!) I still have to create good playlists, but I’ll do it as I update my MP3s to have proper album art & information. Some playlists I’ll make in QCD, the others in MediaMonkey.

Oh, and in the Keeping Up with the Short’s, it turns out that a certain recent birthday girl just HAD to go off to her local Apple Store & get herself a 60GB iPod video. The rotter! 😉 Oh yeah, and she paid LESS. Bah! Ah well, all’s fair in love & commerce.

Friend Gushing

Well, after over 10 hours in a car today, I’m back home. elsaf and I left around 11:30am Chicago time and I stepped into my house just after 9:30pm Ohio time. It’s now past my bedtime, but I thought I’d post to say I’d made it OK. And to thank my wonderful friends. Thank you, Elsa, for being my road trip partner & for all the fabulous cooking. Thank you, hergrace for coming to our birthday celebration. Thank you, judiang for being such a gracious host despite recently having one of the shittiest weeks ever. You three are great friends to hang out with and it’ll be great when we can all get together again!

Excess! Er, Success!

Tonight’s fabulous five-course meal by elsaf was amazing! Well, we’ve only gotten 4 courses done and we’re taking a break before we have dessert. But it was very good food! Elsa is a marvel. judiang, hergrace and I are grateful to our culinary friend. And all four of us are stuffed to the gills. We’re sitting around Judi’s faux fireplace and listening to her ’60s directory of MP3s.

Alas, tomorrow morning, Elsa & I are driving back to Michigan and then I drive back to Ohio. But first, Steph has promised to make us buttermilk pancakes. Yay!

With the leftovers that are currently chilling in Judi’s fridge, I think she’ll be able to go a week without having to visit restaurants or (her nemesis) grocery stores.

ETA: changed “Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch” to “Can’t Help Myself” on Judi’s recommendation in Music.

Day Before Judi’s B-Day!

Today was a nice leisure day for all of us. (Well, until Elsa cooked supper – then she worked her butt off). After faffing about in the morning (because the garage was off-limits from 8am til noon), we headed off to Jewell to buy all the ingredients that elsaf and I didn’t bring in the car. Of course, after all that food buying, we, um, went out to eat for lunch. Heh.

Elsa drove judiang and I to Chinatown for lunch. We ate at Penang (a Malaysian restaurant & sushi bar) and filled up on sushi. I ordered ebi sushi plus the Maki Combo plate. More sushi than I could eat, but there ya go. 🙂

Afterwards, we shopped in Chinatown. We picked up some key pastries from a bakery and then visited several shops that sold lots of tat. One of the first ones we visited had a Lucky Cat who waves. YAY! I have wanted one since I saw the one our local Japanese place has. It was only $9.99, so I had to get it.

I priced several Mah Jongg tile sets in several of the shops, but nobody had one cheap enough for my cheap self. So I’m still without my Mah Jongg tile set.

After shopping, we stopped once again at Jewell to pick up the things we’d forgotten to get. And even managed to forget one of those! Whoops!

We rested up from our shopping before Elsa began her tutorial on Lamb Curry. Judi and I watched while she cooked & explained stuff. She was almost as good as Justin Wilson! (Without the thick Louisiana accent, that is.)

During the 1 hour simmering time, we just listening to music, chatted, and geeked. Elsa’s just added the cream to the curry, so we’re just about ready for supper. Yay! Smells wonderful!

Bangers & Mash

elsaf and I left Detroit this morning at 8:41am and drove to Chi town. Like we’ve been doing, she drove the city bits (start & end of trip) and I drove the straight bit in the middle. A stop at Taco Hell for lunch and a couple of restroom breaks weren’t enough to slow us down too much. We wound up at judiang‘s ahead of schedule (arrived 1:15pm local time). Yay us! We didn’t take any wrong turns or missed turns – we rock!

After decompressing for a bit, we walked with Judi to Howie’s, a nearby coffee shop. She had lunch while Elsa & I had muffins (mmmm, chocolate & cheesecake muffin!) Back to the Grant Hotel (heh) where we played around a bit while Judi napped. (Poor dear – she actually worked today!)

When suppertime arrived, we headed off to the South Loop Local, aka Grace O’Malley’s. I bought drinks (amaretto sours for me & Judi, diet Coke for our designated walker, Elsa). We all had Guinness & Irish Cheddar soup for starters & then moved onto pub grub. Elsa had shepherd’s pie (peppered with actual shepherd on top). Judi and I had bangers & mash (mine without the sauteed ‘shrooms, thankyouverymuch). It was yummy!

Now we’re back at the ranch, Elsa watching tonight’s Smallville (taped on Judi’s DVR), me typing this, Judi doing – well, not sure. Anyhoo, it was a fun day and we’ve got a fun weekend planned. I love hanging out with my friends!