So, when I got out of work Thursday, I was so totally ready to leave.  It had been a very long short week and the weeks preceding had been rough.  Friday, we had three events we had been invited too along with a planned firework viewing at Dredlock Girl’s house.  We decided to go to each for a couple of hours apiece and then go to the viewing.  Of course, it did not work out that way at all.

First stop was the Compound.  They were starting at lunch time so we went and got our feed on.  We also brought along Party Girl, her boyfriend and her best friend who I will now term Okie Girl. 

Now, to be fair to Okie Girl, especially since she’s relatively new to the greater narrative, I only have chosen that name because she is natively from Oklahoma, not as an insult to her since some might consider “Okie” to be a pejorative term.  She is no “Okie”.  She’s witty, charming, urbane, working on her Master’s in Children’s Education (or something like that), a rabid football fan and, without question, the only person in our circles who likes Heroes as much as I do.  So don’t go thinking calling her an Okie is an insult.

So anyway, a bunch of women and a guy came with me to the Compound.  We ate and we drank.  We watched found footage which is often fun and talked about stuff and things.  More importantly, the baby got passed around.  And chicks love babies.  In the meantime, while the baby was being passed around, some of us guys were playing with this:

You see, one of the guys is really into making things: doll sculpting, CD compilation, computer building, whatever strikes his fancy.  Well, right now he’s between jobs but not in dire straits so he has both money and time on his hands so he built that.  The barrels are made of galvanized pipe and the center section is mostly hollow until he finishes the motor.  For now, barrel spinning action (yes, it does the minigun thing, ya'll) is provided by a drill he has mounted in the back attached and wired to the grip.  The thing actually has a little heft to it.  Once the motor gets finished, it’ll probably weigh about 15 pounds.  I’m already wondering if he’s thinking about being Blain for Halloween.  What a bitchin’ little toy. :)

Anyway, a couple hours rolls around and it’s time to go but we’re full of food and playing with Babies and guns (Ben was showing around his new Bosnian AK knockoff, too) so Welsh Girl and I make the executive to ditch the next event.  A couple more hours roll by and now I have to make a choice.  I could ditch the next event, but it’s also doubling as my friend Gordo’s birthday party.  Welsh Girl didn’t particularly want to leave (being baby crazy and all) so we compromised.  I went to the thing and she would go with the others and I’d meet her at Dredlock Girl’s place in time for the fireworks.

So I drive out to Wells Branch.  For those of you who don’t know, it’s one of those suburban neighborhoods between Austin and Round Rock that used to be the place for the monied folks but has become more egalitarian.  In 10 or 15 more years, I think it will probably be kinda slummy.  It’s too close to industrial stuff that has cropped up out there.  That and suburbs are becoming the new ghettos anyway.  My friend Russell was throwing his BBQ with lots of guests and Gordo and Poney (Gordo’s wife) were there and it was alright.  Except for one nagging feeling…  You see, I am an uber-geek.  I have done so much geeky shit that even if I gave up my geek ways tomorrow, I would still be an uber-geek emeritus.  I realize now that I am not as much of a geek as I used to be.  When I walked into that house, it was like setting foot on the Island of Misfit Toys.  These were people who either cannot fake being “normal” or will not fake being “normal”.  Ten or fifteen years ago, these would have been the only people I knew or hung out with.  Now, I found myself a little put off by them.  These were once my people.  Now, not so much.  And I’m sure my short contact with them did nothing to help that.  Oh, well, people change and you can’t go home again.  But it was still a good time. 

So I left and found myself in a dilemma.  I had about 30 minutes to get from there (way, WAY north Austin) to Downtown.  The main road into the area had been closed off by police because their fireworks would be in a park right next to it.  So I had to find an alternate route out of the area without getting too slowed down by the people crowding to get to the soon to occur display or the people setting off their own fireworks in the street.  But manage I did.  I blew down IH35 and made it downtown to Dredlock Girl’s place.  She lives within walking distance of downtown and about 1.5 miles from the fireworks site.  We all (Welsh Girl, Party Girl and all of our entourage along with some people we dragged down with us) climbed up on the roof and waited for the first shocks of brilliant color to explode.  And they did.  Too bad there was a Hilton between us and the view. :( Fucking Hilton.  But it was a long display so we all went down the street a couple of blocks to where the old railroad tracks ran and the Hilton was no longer a problem.  Happy Birthday America!  After that, we all hung around some more and drank.  But this time, there was no food so we hit a place for breakfast before the bar crowds would and, after food, went our separate ways for the night.

The rest of the weekend is kind of a blur.  We did some stuff Saturday.  I ran some errands looking for some stuff and made I made my first batch of flock.  We did some stuff Sunday and hung out at Party Girl’s house.  Dredlock Girl decided to get playfully violent (as she is sometimes wont to do) so I gave back, ultimately resulting in her biting me (bad enough to bruise but not bad enough to draw blood) and me showing her that I am more than capable of restraining her without resulting to holds or tricks (she’s half my size wet, you know).  I got no rest Sunday night and I came back to the grind Monday morning.  Joy.

Oh, yeah, for those of you who might like possible drama, I got a call from JonBoy on Sunday.  He invited me to a D&D 4th Ed game being run by a mutual friend.  Well, I hesitate to call him a friend since, well, I kinda messed around with his fiancee.  I knew that he and she broke up not too long after that, but apparently they got back together and got married.  Good for them.  But I already felt weird being around him.  Either he did the things she had been telling me, which means he’s not the kind of person I want to be around, or he didn’t which means I believed he was the kind of person who could do those things, meaning I’m not the kind of person he should be around.  I don’t think I could hang around with both of them.  It’s not like any of us doesn’t know what happened.  He called me, too, though the message I hear that he left hasn’t shown up yet (thank for the great service, RunFAST!).  At least now I know why he called.  I don’t really have time to play in this campaign and I seriously doubt I want to play 4th Ed but I’m pretty sure I don’t want to play this game with him.  Of course, that doesn’t mean I may not do it, either…

And that, as they say in the old country, is all.