After everyone was free of all their workday obligations yesterday, we all went to Brad and Betsy's for Manhattans, conversation, dinner, and a movie. The kids watched the movie, and we ate the dinner. Great time. We invariably have a great time with those guys, and last night was no exception. Home by 10:00 or so, where we dumped T into bed and giggled with Q through the brushing of teeth and such. Excellent evening.
We watched "Spirited Away" this morning instead of cartoons. Janneke and the kids had seen it at some point, but I never had, so Brad sent it home with us. It is absolutely stunning, both visually and in terms of the sheer power of the creator's imagination. I'm always amazed by people like that, who seem to simply gush ideas, and create worlds that are completely new. Or seem it, anyway. Nice morning.
Janneke off to do the shopping with T, and Q and I to stay at home and begin to clean the house. We got a lot of cleaning done - places where we ordinarly don't get to on a weekly basis. It's nice to be in a clean house, though we didn't get it top to bottom.
I then went to run some errands - but before I can tell you that story, I have to tell you this story:
Thursday I went to pick up the shirts for Team Trivia Night. We had "Champions 2006, 2007" stitched onto the left shoulder of each shirt. Ronadh only agreed to go along with it if, should we lose, we agree to dedicate the right sleeve to the list of years in which we lose. And it shall be called "Losers", with the appropriate years below. I am psyched about that. But not as psyched as I am about the possibility of the three-peat. So I got to the store where we had them done at 2:50. They close at 3:00. The door was locked, and there was a sign on it: GONE ON VACATION UNTIL APRIL 7.
Team Trivia Night is April 5th.
I stood there on the street in North Adams, fists clenched, slowly turning green, my shirt and my purple pants beginning to bulge at the seams, and screamed the worst swearword I know to the heavens. Repeatedly. Then I screamed it again, and then a few more times. I also spun around, firing wild punches into the air, and jumped up and down and stamped my feet. When none of this changed the situation, I tried it all again, in a different order. Which didn't work either.
Then I drove to my doctor's appointment, screaming more in the car. Pretty much just that word, louder still, somehow. People in cars next to me at stoplights, separated from me by ten feet and two windows, jumped when I did it and stared at me. I stomped in to the medical building and registered with the doctor, and asked to use their phone. (We are the last American adults without cell phones, Janneke and I.) Janneke answered her office phone, and I told her in profanity-laced Spanish what had happened, and asked if she would please call him and leave a message to see if it might be possible for him to open the store up one more time before he leaves for Calcutta. And that if he didn't, I would murder him.
But a few minutes later, as I glowered in the examination room, waiting for Dr. Namkoong to come and look at my thumb, it ocurred to me that the lights had been on at Tunnel City Printing. If he went on vacation and left his lights on, he's an idiot. And he hadn't struck me as an idiot. Perhaps he was still there after all.
I drove back to the store after the doctor saw me, and the door opened right up. I must have uttered a hoarse yelp of happiness, because the proprietor, who had received Janneke's message, smiled at me from around the corner in the back of the store. "I wouldn't do that to ya," he said, and pointed at the counter, where the bowling shirts awaited me in all their turquoise glory. He's a one-man operation, and he'd had to step out to go to the bank.
In the end, then, it all turned out fine. He's a pretty interesting guy, with lots of dirt on local politicians and a native's view of North Adams' steady decline over the last thirty years or so. We stood there and talked (he talked - I hissed and screeched with my shattered vocal cords, but managed to be understood) for probably ten minutes, and I wished him a good vacation.
I'm still hoarse and coughing from my screaming. Which is a just and proper punishment.
So fast forward to this morning again. After Janneke got back from shopping, I ran off to do some errands - a run to the dump, the bank, the post office, the pharmacy, Wild Oats. And to drop off two books Betsy loaned me, as well as their uniforms for the aforementioned Team Trivia Night. Ronadh's coming to brunch tomorrow, so I can giver her theirs without having to leave the house.
Damn...It's late. Here's some AV fun to reward you for reading this far in without switching over to "Tunak Tunak Tun" on Youtube. (Which you really should go see, as soon as you're done here.)
Hobie in his new collar. He's got a gouge that needs to heal, so until it does, this is how he rolls.
T and her bunny ears, made at daycare. By the way, here's some T bilingualisms from recent days:
"Papi, ahora en la escuela estamos learning about mummies."
"Te acordas, Papi, en esa pelicula, los parents de esa nina estaban turned into pigs."
"Mami, eso es enough para postre?"
And she and Q, today, were speaking to each other in a language they're making up. Maybe they're just ditching the whole language thing completely and striking out on their own. God bless 'em, I hope they make it.
And, finally...it's time to see just how T and Q react to seeing the Lawrence Welk show, which you can see on the TV screen in the background. As you watch the video, see if you can see what technological advancement we've recently made.
That's right: 3-D. You are wearing glasses, right?
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