February 1, 2007

So Begins the Month of February

I may be one of the few who believe that this is a lovely month. Yes, it is a cold one. Growing up it was usually filled with snow and ice, not to mention the fact that it was and is 28, or if we’re lucky 29, days of a grey drab existence (the grass – it's brown; the sky – it's gray; the sun – it's hiding!). All of these facts were trumped by the fact that it also happens to be my birthday month.

Anyone who knows me well, and there aren't really too many of those, knows that I like to celebrate in little pieces for a long, long time. Why expend all of the excitement all at once when you can spread it out (some may refer to this as dragging it on and on and on – obviously they have never applied this to their own birthdays)?

I tell you this not because I want well-wishes and birthday greetings. I do so because I am going to celebrate this month in part by writing about whatever I so choose, time sensitive or not (read: mostly not).


Thanksgiving dinners?

Check.

Christmas ornaments?

Check.

The look of my dog’s poo this morning?

We’ll skip that one.

You're welcome.

I know, I know. I am the composer of this blog and therefore I am actually allowed to write whatever I want to whenever I want to. So what is with the grand declaration? Jeepers, Internet, you haven't read around much, have you? Some audiences (not mine, as of yet) tend to let you know when they believe your fodder to be irrelevant; they are quite adept at it. I forewarn so that those not inclined to read about topics better served at a different time of year can simply ignore my spewing until next month.


Now on to the irrelevance!

For my first trick, I will begin with the most-irrelevant (and I mean that in the best possible way) BU!

[Insert big top, smoke, circling lights, circus music, two cats and a yellow man pouring out of a tiny carpeted tee-pee cat-house] TA-DA!

While home in November, I was lucky enough to travel up to BU! land to visit for a couple of days and also to participate in one of many holiday dinners. November is his Month of Holiday Dinners; he schedules nothing else for that month because of this. I arrived on the evening of the dinner, greeted one of the many we-look-very-much-alike sisters who was assisting in the cooking. It is a good thing she was there since BU! took advantage of the first opportune moment to throw half an onion (that he wanted to use for our soup) in the trashcan. Genius at work, people. How does he do it?

Speaking of the soup, I should provide you with the menu. For starters we had the biggest scallops I've ever seen in my life wrapped with bacon. The main course consisted of ham-upside-down-bake, potatoes, stuffing, rolls, broccoli-salad-from-WoW-player-5-because-BU!-hates-veggies, and cheese* soup. For dessert we had chocolate cake.

*New BU! approved Slogan: CHEESE – Because It’s Yellow (-ish and sometimes orange, creamy white, or green, but they call it blue, and that is all that matters)!


The players for the evening were:
  • WoW Player 1 ~aforementioned member of the we-look-very-much-alike-sisters
  • WoW Player 2 ~a pregnant member of the we-look-very-much-alike-sisters
  • WoW Player 3 ~pregnant sister's husband who was very sleepy
  • WoW Player 4 ~allergic to cats trumpet player turned software engineer
  • WoW Player 5 ~wife to 4 AKA I'll whip those kiddos into shape teacher lady
  • WoW Player 6 ~BU! (no description needed)
  • Me

Some things I learned:
  • Everyone on earth plays World of Warcraft except for me.
  • It sounds really cool and I think I would like it, but I've still never played.
  • Ham-upside-down-bake does not deter WoW Player 2 in the least.
  • WoW Player 2 reads the Harry Potter series a lot. A.WHOLE.LOT.
  • WoW Player 3's brother is a tad forgetful.
  • WoW Players 4 and 5 are people I should have attempted to know better at university.

Dinner was excellent, the company even better, and I am fairly certain we all had fun. I stayed at BU!s place for a couple of days, and we spent our time wisely. We watched a few new-to-me show pilots on DVD – just enough to get me interested. We also traveled around the greater BU! area in search of the ever-elusive Nintendo Wii. I discovered that he truly has every single store or restaurant he could ever need within fifteen minutes of his home, probably closer to ten. I was introduced to Ruby Tuesday's chicken tenders and fries, which really are excellent. Finally, I was informed as to the purring order in the BU! household:

A guest is treated kindly until it is discovered by the furry ones that said guest does not feed them. Then, the cats increase the kitty kindness to include playing with strings and fake mice, trying to get in your room in the morning, and my favorite – jumping up on whichever piece of furniture you are sitting in and placing themselves just behind and to the side of your head so that the purring? It is like a freight train. Coolness indeed.

Booty is the ring-leader, as she has all the smarts. I mean, come on. Look at that regal profile:



Amber is supposedly attempting a take-over, as noted here. I would have to agree given the "Me? I'm just hanging out. You didn't catch me in the middle of anything" look:



All in all I had a fabulous time. Thanks to BU! for having me. Also? Now the roles are reversed and he must come visit me.

No comments: