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J: We've switched to a Tuesday web update.
That way I can stay up late on alternate nights -- at least that's the
plan: on Mondays and Wednesdays I'll get to sleep early. This'll give me
enough extra sleep to make it through late nights on Tuesdays (web
night) and Thursdays (game night). Of course, the weekend can remain
totally chaotic, sleep-wise.
To illustrate the chaotic nature of weekends, we'll start with last
Friday. Gina and I went with Dave Chalker to the AFI Silver for a big screen showing of the documentary
film Gigantic. Gigantic is,
in fact (this is not an opinion) a great movie, humorous and nostalgic.
After the film the producer and director showed up for questions and
answers. The manager of the theater asked most of the questions, but
that was OK; I didn't have any at the time. If I were handed the
microphone now, maybe I'd ask how to get the film playing in our town's
theater.
After the film I played games all night with Dave and Kory. We played Edel, Stein & Reich and Coloretto, both fine card games. I
got squashed by the Reich and
then won by one point in Coloretto.
We also played Klunker. I
didn't get to bed until after four in the morning. Dave stayed over
rather than driving home while sleeping.
On Saturday I woke up pretty early and read more from Gene Wolfe's Latro in the Mist, a reprint of two
novels called A Soldier in the Mist
and A Soldier of Arete, put
together in one volume. I read A
Soldier in the Mist many years ago and really enjoyed it. It's a
fictional diary of a Roman soldier named Latro and his adventures in
Greece during 400-something BC. Latro's been hit in the head during a
battle and has amnesia such that he can't remember anything from
yesterday, so he writes as much as he can and reads his scroll whenever
he gets a chance. Oh, he also has many conversations with gods and
goddesses, whom he can see all around him. Wolfe writes beautifully, and
for this book the narrator has a very believable, poetic style. I've
been reading nights and some mornings, keeping time with Latro's days
and nights.
On this particular morning after I read a while, Dave woke up and we
had breakfast and good conversation before he left for home. That night
Gina and I went to the annual Margarita Party at Day Job Rehabilitation Center.
Day Job is a perfect party house, and the occupants have a talent for
throwing parties. Their kitchen had several blenders going all night
making real fruit margaritas. In another room lots of people jammed on
guitars, drums, and an old piano. I ran into an old friend from college
named Greg Palardy and we had a good time remembering those good old
days and catching up on the good new ones.
One of the Day Jobbers, an interesting guy named John (who incidentally
walked the entire Appalachian Trail last year) made a few bowls of
chutney. I'm not normally a chutney eater, but this stuff was addictive
for sure. I think I ate half a bowl myself before I asked John for the
recipe. Despite drinking many margaritas, he immediately said alright,
and quickly wrote this down on a scrap of paper:
1
bundle cilantro
1 bundle parsley
1 onion
1 bulb garlic
2 lemons
2 - 4 chilies
1 tomato
1 green pepper
1/2 water (cup)
1/2 vineger
(cumin, salt, chili
pep.)
The very next day Gina bought the ingredients, and made a half-recipe
in her food processor. It was delicious! Very garlicky too, but I'm sure
(for the vampires in the audience) it would taste good without the
garlic.
On Sunday Gina made me do yard work, yuck. Because of the almost
constant rains last month our grass grew over two feet high in some
places. We have a push mower, and the grass was so long and wet that the
mower mostly just pushed it over. Lots of long grass wrapped around the
mower's axle until it stopped working, then I'd have to stop and pull
the grass out. Gina brought out our weed whacker and using the
combination we brought the lawn down. Good thing too, because the lawn
inspector, one of the terrors of living in a housing cooperative, showed up the next day. We
got a clean rating, which shows how relaxed Greenbelt's regulations are,
because our yard's a mess by "normal" grass mowing, bush trimming,
strange American culture standards.
On Monday Gina made a loverly fire pit in the back of the yard where
she had pulled up a bunch of ivy. Our friend Gary Bumbalough heard of
our fire plans and gave us planks, cinder blocks, and the bowl-type
grill, so we can avoid run-ins with the fire warden. The campfire area
looks great, but I'm a bit worried about the wood chips that Gina spread
around it. I mean, they're made of wood...
After work Kory, Gina, Booda, and I walked to the lake to pick up a
chicken mushroom that Terri Aquino spotted in the morning. She wasn't
sure it was a chicken and wanted us to check it out. Yes, it turned out
to be a very large fresh chicken mushrump. Someone had battered it apart
with a stick, but there were still some very large pieces. We gathered
them, took them home, cooked up some and made some big chicken
shroomitches. Had some more tonight. Gina is marinating some more for
tomorrow. Chickens are very tender this time of year.
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