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Memories of Johnny
J: Last
Wednesday at midnight, right after I uploaded our news, I received an
email from my father, telling our family that our very good family
friend Johnny Cameron had died of a heart attack. I went to bed stunned
and shocked (the kind of shock that actually feels electric) and woke
up the next morning with the choked up realization that it wasn't all a
dream. Johnny was my first surrogate brother. I guess I met him when he
was four years old and I was nine or so. He lived right across the
street from us and hardly a day went by that I didn't see him, right up
until I went to college and our family moved to a nearby town. After
that he visited frequently, and later when he moved to the west coast
he kept in touch via phone and occasional email with me and many family
members. As with many of my friends and family, I rarely called him,
but I often missed him and relished the times he called. I miss him
horribly, now. I'm crying at the strangest times. I put together some
of my family's recent
emails about Johnny. The funeral is this Saturday. His mother asked
me to be a pall bearer, which is quite an honor; I've never beared a
pall before. I hope I'm up to it, I worry that my emotions might weaken
me, physically, at just the wrong moment. Johnny would laugh at that.
On Thursday morning I stayed home from work to drive Gina to and from
her endoscopy appointment. After the doctor stuck a camera down her
throat and took pictures of her stomach, I drove her home and she slept
in the hammock until two in the afternoon or so.
[People unfamiliar with the game High Society might want to skip this
paragraph.] At the Looneys' that night I played a few games with Kory,
Jake, and Dave. Kory discovered, and argued successfully, that the
"fix" I made for High Society (with blind bids) didn't actually fix the
game's problems. We tried another fix by Jake, but in the end decided
that the best solution was to declare a retroactive misdeal if the last
red card, signaling the end of the game, came up as the last card in
the pile. We also playtested one of Kory's new designs; it went well.
On Friday night we picked up Chris (he came into DC's Chinatown on the
little-known but cheaper Dragon
Bus) and we all went to DNA's to help set up for this year's Aries
Fest. Izolda and Rich were making signs. Chris and I helped hang lamps
and tapestries in the Den of Iniquity. I drank some coffee, thinking we
might have to stay up late setting up, but shortly afterward, everyone
started leaving or dozing off. Chris, Gina, and I returned home — they
both went directly to bed but I couldn't sleep so I called Kory up and
we played backgammon and Odin's Ravens (a nice two player race game)
until 5:00AM.
The next day, in between running back and forth from DNA's place for
more Aries activities, I took a short walk into the woods with Joey and
his friend Mary. Joey taught us how to build a debris hut, which is a
small, quickly built, sturdy survival shelter that allows the occupant
to get a night's sleep without dying from hypothermia. Fun and
educational!
After that I returned for more party setup. I devised an ingenious way
to hide a spotlight in the ceiling of the Den of Iniquity, to shine on
the disco mirror ball. I also strung electrical cord and hidden
switches. Chris, Paul, Dorian, and I carried the beer kegs in and set
them in buckets on ice.
We went home to change before the party, and met up with Jenny, who
gave us a little fashion show so we could help her decide what to wear.
She settled on the "elegant and edgy" look, whereas I went into a
comfort mode, wearing light pants, a t-shirt, slippers, and a light
Japanese robe for warmth. Gina wore a cute and sexy black flowery short
dress, with lots of makeup. Chris stuck with his traditional Naked Dude costume —
barely anything save a cummerbund, bow tie, and feather boa. He was, as
usual, a hit of the
party.
Aries Fest was of course a
blast. We partied all night till 5:40 in the morning.
Sunday found us bleary and debentured. Chris had left that morning to
help Luisa with her garden. Gina and I eventually wandered over to the
New Deal Cafe for lunch, and ran into old high school friends of mine,
John Nader and Bill Hardy. John ended up coming over to our house and
chatting for a few hours. That was nice.
After that, Gina and I went to Luisa's. She was busy packing for a
month-long trip to Bolivia. Chris was ready for dinner, so Chris,
Alfredo, Gina, and I went to a nearby Thai restaurant, Chef's Secret,
and ate well, even splitting desserts of mango with sticky rice. Far
out. We also grabbed some dinner to go for Luisa and her roommate.
I'm still running every other day or so, and I'm not so sore anymore.
Last night I went running to the lake, stretched out a bit, then met up
with Dorian and Rich to run around the lake. I actually made it, but
the pollen really got to me. Then we walked over to the New Deal and
watched Banjer Dan play for about two minutes. Then we walked over to
Dorian's place and had leftover Aries beer, and popcorn. Then Rich and
I wrapped ourselves in some wool blankets that I needed to take home
anyway, and walked to Rich's house. By then it was fairly chilly out,
and my sweaty clothes didn't help. Rich gave me a ride home, and I had
a bite to eat and lay on the couch while an allergy ate my face, until
Gina came home from work around 10:00PM.
She drove us to the Looneys' to say bye to Marley, their white cat, who
has a stomach tumor and is in rapid decline. Sure have
been a lot of unexpected deaths lately...
Here's
an entertaining email we got recently, no doubt due to our Apatheism page:
Thanks, Marjorie!
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