Gonzai Gallery

Yesterday was a weird day at work - our California counsel was in town and working in the cube across from me most of the day, so I actually had to do busy work all day. My hands did not like this. Then all the attorneys wanted to go out drinking after work. I didn't. However, I had found out earlier in the week that Mom had once again told Mike & Janine I'd babysit for them without asking me, or even mentioning it until two days beforehand. So I was able to get out of the pub crawling, as I had been, in the words of one attorney, 'nephewed'. We took the little guys to Applebee's, then came home and played Dominion until Clone Wars came on. The boys really like that, apparently.

The boys had us up early this morning, wanting to play more Dominion, then wanting to try 'Killer Bunnies'. But Mike had said they'd come back for the boys 8:30-9, so I didn't want to start another game. They showed up for the kids at 10:30. Then Mike decided to pick a fight with me over next week's crab feast - it's been on Sundays for 10 years, but this year it's on a Saturday and I made the mistake of asking why the change. He went off on me. Now...probably won't bother going. Mike has made it very clear over the past year that he doesn't like me and doesn't want me at his house, so gaming sounds much better to me than a day of abuse.

After they left, we went shopping - I went for shoes & slippers, wound up with several tops of various weights from July to January. Seem to have a lavender thing going. Then grocery shopping, a trip to the gym, catching up on TV (only Haven left) and now watching the Ravens pre-season game. (Just a very nice touchdown scored on 4th down by the Men In Purple. Awesome.) Eureka had another great line - James Callis' character was asked if he was hallucinating, he said yes, I see a tall blonde in a slinky red dress. Nearly put me on the floor LOL.

Tomorrow, back to the usual. I should go to the Keys game, as I haven't gone all year. But I'll probably talk myself out of it again.

Went to Curt Motton's memorial service last night. It was an unusual service compared to those I've been to before; for one thing, there were cops. In uniform. 5 or 6 of them. I can't recall ever seeing a uniformed cop at a funeral before, much less a pack of them. And the widow had a receiving line. Her mother-in-law previewed people, then you talked to the widow, and then her sister followed up. Very organized! Very long line too, I was there 10 minutes after the doors opened and I was the 40th person to sign the guestbook. (There was a line for that, too.) So the mother-in-law asks who I am, and I wasn't sure how to phrase it, but I tried 'you know those two portraits Curt gave Marti a few years back?' 'The ones in the office? Yes.' 'I'm the artist'. She flipped. Apparently, Marti has been trying to find my contact info for a few years. (Curt had it, but neither could find it and I hadn't seen him in 3 years or so.) So they were all pleased as punch that I was there and wanted my business card and gushed about the drawings, etc. Marti wants a portrait of Curt with his grandson, so we'll be getting together on that in a few weeks. And here I was apprehensive about going!

The only other person there that I knew, though, was Joe Durham. Joe was one of the last Negro League players and coached in the Orioles' system for just about forever. He was with Frederick for 10 years while I was going to the games weekly, so he remembered me and we chatted a bit. But I didn't know anyone else, and the receiving line was huge, so I went home. It just felt really awkward not knowing many people there. But not nearly as awkward as I was afraid of!

Particularly in the 'I don't feel like I accomplished much' department.

( Weekend Report )

Because I still haven't even started to write about Shore Leave yet, some stuff that's not SL related.