Time to Report
I think I've recovered enough from this past weekend to write the journal entry.
First Off:
Thanks to jwrench for taking the cards off my hands. You'd forgotten just how many there were, hadn't you?
Apologies to paradoxlight and kayoteelsewhere for not paying either of you a visit. There just wasn't enough hours in the day.
I was sad when neither lateniteramen nor aabassplayer showed up, but I understand. Work, life, etc. Happens to me all the time.
----
This past weekend taught me a good lesson, though. I have learned why my dear wife, sgt_sassypants, doesn't like to socialize very often:
As soon as I got to Mattoon on Friday, I was off again, meeting jwrench to exchange Legend of the Five Rings cards (oh... about 100,000 of them) and feast on a buffet of Chinese. As soon as that was done, I was back in the car and getting back to Mattoon - one hour late for the official start of the baby shower festivities.
Immediately after the six hour baby shower open house, we held a small birthday party for one of Gail's younger cousins ... and chased an almost-two-year old around for the better part of the day. After dropping by Wal-Mart to see if we could find anything of baby-related interest there, Gail and I were exhausted, so we crashed pretty hard.
Of course, there was a little league tournament in-town, so despite the nearly constant thunderstorms outside, there was plenty of thunder rolling across the ceiling in our hotel room. In fact, when I called to get them to keep it down, I heard a worried voice in the background say "Is that the manager?" Apparently, all the 'chaperones' were too busy enjoying liquor and ciggies to keep an eye on the kids, who were left free to romp. They were one phone call away, so I learned later, from being asked to leave. They'd better be glad I called them directly instead of going through the front desk.
The next morning, we were all up in time to beat "the old biddies" to the big round table at Mattoon's Cracker Barrel. This is a story unto itself: my father-in-law had been snubbed the week before by the old women saying "I'm sure glad we got the big table!" several times, so he decided he was going to get them back. Apparently, they looked very lost and confused when they came in that Saturday morning only to find he had their table. As an often-willing co-conspirator to my father-in-law's crimes, as some of the old women filed out, I said, "Thanks for getting us the big table, Dad!" loud enough to be clearly heard, to which he also loudly replied, "You're welcome, son. Glad to do it!" Brilliant.
After breakfast, we shopped for a little bit in Cracker Barrel, but the ladies weren't done shopping, so we went to the mall. I can't really complain: we found a lot of great deals on baby clothes, and I even scored me three new loud shirts!
Leaving the mall faced us with the prospect of going to the family reunion Gail's mom's family was hosting in Paris. After all that had happened yesterday alone, I had begun to realize why Gail hates it when I shove too many people and too much activity at her all at once. Thankfully, we were told over lunch that we weren't required to come, so Gail and Jeri went back to the hotel to take naps, and I went to hang out with Gail's sister, Amber, and brother-in-law, Matt. Actually, mostly Matt, since he and I had begun to play Mancala and Cribbage. As a result, I finally won my first game of Cribbage! Go me!
After resting a bit, gretel2381 and darksyde78 came down. That was awesome. We ended up playing a game Gail's sister had called "Dirty Minds," in which players are read dirty-sounding clues about completely innocuous objects. My favorite one was the Coffin, but DAMN some of those were crude.
Speaking of crude, after "Dirty Minds," I taught Amber and Matt how to play Blank White Cards, and we played a baby-themed night. True to form, I came up with the most despicable "I'm going to hell for this" card possible, which, really, ought to make me the winner. But, as it was, I believe Gail won for having the most stuff on her card, and Amber won on the grounds that once she got into the game, she definitely had the most creative ideas. ... Personally, I think people just enjoyed watching me have to skip to the kitchen and back with a Barq's Root Beer, but I could be wrong.
We got a lot of good presents, for which we are going to have to update all our baby registries in fairly short order. Thanks to all who came or thought of us!
[EDIT (7/17/08 8:24pm)]: Due to extenuating circumstances, the August baby shower will most likely be postponed. Stay tuned for further updates as they occur!
[Go with the grace of G.O.D.]
First Off:
Thanks to jwrench for taking the cards off my hands. You'd forgotten just how many there were, hadn't you?
Apologies to paradoxlight and kayoteelsewhere for not paying either of you a visit. There just wasn't enough hours in the day.
I was sad when neither lateniteramen nor aabassplayer showed up, but I understand. Work, life, etc. Happens to me all the time.
----
This past weekend taught me a good lesson, though. I have learned why my dear wife, sgt_sassypants, doesn't like to socialize very often:
As soon as I got to Mattoon on Friday, I was off again, meeting jwrench to exchange Legend of the Five Rings cards (oh... about 100,000 of them) and feast on a buffet of Chinese. As soon as that was done, I was back in the car and getting back to Mattoon - one hour late for the official start of the baby shower festivities.
Immediately after the six hour baby shower open house, we held a small birthday party for one of Gail's younger cousins ... and chased an almost-two-year old around for the better part of the day. After dropping by Wal-Mart to see if we could find anything of baby-related interest there, Gail and I were exhausted, so we crashed pretty hard.
Of course, there was a little league tournament in-town, so despite the nearly constant thunderstorms outside, there was plenty of thunder rolling across the ceiling in our hotel room. In fact, when I called to get them to keep it down, I heard a worried voice in the background say "Is that the manager?" Apparently, all the 'chaperones' were too busy enjoying liquor and ciggies to keep an eye on the kids, who were left free to romp. They were one phone call away, so I learned later, from being asked to leave. They'd better be glad I called them directly instead of going through the front desk.
The next morning, we were all up in time to beat "the old biddies" to the big round table at Mattoon's Cracker Barrel. This is a story unto itself: my father-in-law had been snubbed the week before by the old women saying "I'm sure glad we got the big table!" several times, so he decided he was going to get them back. Apparently, they looked very lost and confused when they came in that Saturday morning only to find he had their table. As an often-willing co-conspirator to my father-in-law's crimes, as some of the old women filed out, I said, "Thanks for getting us the big table, Dad!" loud enough to be clearly heard, to which he also loudly replied, "You're welcome, son. Glad to do it!" Brilliant.
After breakfast, we shopped for a little bit in Cracker Barrel, but the ladies weren't done shopping, so we went to the mall. I can't really complain: we found a lot of great deals on baby clothes, and I even scored me three new loud shirts!
Leaving the mall faced us with the prospect of going to the family reunion Gail's mom's family was hosting in Paris. After all that had happened yesterday alone, I had begun to realize why Gail hates it when I shove too many people and too much activity at her all at once. Thankfully, we were told over lunch that we weren't required to come, so Gail and Jeri went back to the hotel to take naps, and I went to hang out with Gail's sister, Amber, and brother-in-law, Matt. Actually, mostly Matt, since he and I had begun to play Mancala and Cribbage. As a result, I finally won my first game of Cribbage! Go me!
After resting a bit, gretel2381 and darksyde78 came down. That was awesome. We ended up playing a game Gail's sister had called "Dirty Minds," in which players are read dirty-sounding clues about completely innocuous objects. My favorite one was the Coffin, but DAMN some of those were crude.
Speaking of crude, after "Dirty Minds," I taught Amber and Matt how to play Blank White Cards, and we played a baby-themed night. True to form, I came up with the most despicable "I'm going to hell for this" card possible, which, really, ought to make me the winner. But, as it was, I believe Gail won for having the most stuff on her card, and Amber won on the grounds that once she got into the game, she definitely had the most creative ideas. ... Personally, I think people just enjoyed watching me have to skip to the kitchen and back with a Barq's Root Beer, but I could be wrong.
We got a lot of good presents, for which we are going to have to update all our baby registries in fairly short order. Thanks to all who came or thought of us!
[EDIT (7/17/08 8:24pm)]: Due to extenuating circumstances, the August baby shower will most likely be postponed. Stay tuned for further updates as they occur!
[Go with the grace of G.O.D.]