Journal Entry

Another weekend come and gone.

Friday evening, we'd talked about going to see Iron Man, all as a group, but it didn't seem to be in the cards. We were going to see it at the new Warren Theatre, but we'd have needed a babysitter and T-- already had her lined up to cover the crop on Saturday, so getting her for Friday, too, seemed highly unlikely.

We ended up grabbing some dinner with K-- and N-- after I finished at the gym, and then K-- and I took the baby back to his place while the girls did some shopping. We tried to work on my game some, but he spent most of the time trying to figure out process issues with his computer, and I spent most of my time trying to keep AB from falling down the stairs.

D-- showed up, and the girls a few minutes behind him, and we sat and talked for a while. Then T-- took the baby home, and N-- said she was heading to bed, so K-- and D-- and I ended up going to see Iron Man after all.

Fantastic movie, by the way. Much like Transformers in the structure and feel of it, but better in every respect (except hot-chickness). I highly recommend it. If you know comic books, it's worth staying after the credits for a 4-second final scene. If you don't know comic books, it's probably a long wait for a big reveal you'll barely get.

Saturday morning, T-- and N-- went to the art festival in Edmond. I stayed home. When T-- got back we had some sandwiches for lunch, did a little shopping (and got her a new phone), and then I went up to the gym to meet K--. After that, D-- and I dropped by B--'s place for a minute's chat, and then met K-- again for dinner (some delicious barbecue), and a lot of awful movies. We watched Blade II and Blade Trinity, which last we'd heard was good, but K-- and I could never make it through the awfulness of Blade II, so neither of us had seen it.

The plan was to watch Blade II while working on something else -- allowing distraction to shield us from the worst of the movie's effects -- but K-- "just doesn't watch movies that way," so he took the full brunt of it. I worked on my game, and got my quests stubbed in. In the end, Blade Trinity wasn't awesome, but it beat the pants off of the second one.

When I got home, around 11:30, I found that T-- had invited her friend Rebecca over after the crop, to introduce her to the joys of couponning, and I figured that leaving them alone would make a good opportunity for me to actually get to bed at a somewhat reasonable hour. Just as I was coming to that conclusion, though, T-- said she was wanting to show Rebecca one of her favorite stand-up comics, and asked if I would put it on. We ended up watching the Sklar Brothers (the one she'd initially asked about), as well as Demetri Martin and Brian Regan (which last was my recommendation, and the one that got the most laughs).

So, yeah, I can't resist the call of stand-up comedy that I've already seen dozens of times, so I didn't end up going to bed until 2:30, or something ridiculous like that.

Then Sunday morning I had to wake up early to be ready in time for Toby to pick me up. He needed help moving and a last-minute cancellation by his brother gave me the opportunity to spend some time hanging out with him. It also meant a 14-hour day spent moving him from Tulsa to Norman.

He picked me up a little after 8. We grabbed some breakfast, then headed to Tulsa. I found out he was moving back from Tulsa several weeks ago, and we'd exchanged emails and a couple phone calls since then, but this was the first time I'd really gotten to talk to him much. Norman isn't right next door (it's about twice the already-annoying distance away that K-- and N--'s place is), but it's a lot better than Tulsa. It also gives them some family who can take care of the kids sometimes, so I'm hoping we'll be able to do a lot more with them.

Anyway, the drive up was fun. We talked a lot, mostly about my game. Then we got in, picked up the UHaul, and then (since his Tulsa friends weren't showing up to help pack until after church), we took his lawnmower over to my place so I could put the yard back in showing condition.

Unfortunately, the yard was more than I'd bargained for. The back yard is a jungle. I managed to get the front yard chopped down to a reasonable level, and Toby recommended a good lawn service that I'll probably hire to keep it in order, until we get the place sold.

So, once we gave up on that, we grabbed a quick lunch and then met his movers. They're leaving the house mostly furnished to improve its sellability, so we didn't have a lot to do. We got enough furniture for them to get by with for a couple months -- two beds, a rocking chair, a dresser and an entertainment center -- and then a lot of boxes. Oh, and the washer and dryer. That's pretty much it. Loading took a few hours, though, between arranging stuff in the truck and dismantling both of the beds to fit them through doorways. We cleaned up afterward, too, to make sure everything looked nice for show, and then headed home around four.

In Norman, we had a crowd ready to help unpack. K-- and N-- and B-- and E-- with their baby (whom the Nances had never met), and T-- brought AB down, and among us we basically got the truck unpacked in half an hour. That's less time than it took most of them to drive there. But we had pizza after and there was a lot of reconnecting to do, and I think everyone had a good time. It was a fun little party.

By 8:30, everyone but T-- and I had melted away, and T-- was ready to follow after so she could get AB to bed. We were on our way out the door when someone pointed out that Toby would need somebody to drive him home from dropping off the UHaul. I'd thought of that earlier in the evening, but it had slipped my mind before I said it out loud. Anyway, I volunteered, and when we found that the nearest UHaul place was seven miles away, in the wrong direction, T-- went ahead and took the baby home.

It took us a while, but Toby and I finally found the UHaul place his GPS device was recommending, and it turned out to be an old abandoned lot. He made a call, got some directions, and we headed a couple miles away to the nearest actual UHaul place, and then he took me home. I got in a little after 10, so it must have been almost 11 before he got home.

So, yeah, it was a long day. It was mostly fun, though. I was glad of the opportunity. Still, I was exhausted when I got in. So I spent a few minutes getting some stuff ready for work this morning, and then I headed right to bed.

Other than that, it's just things and stuff.