GinohnNews

G: Ooops! Forgot to update last week. Well, you know, it was kind of the usual - going out to parties, hanging out with friends, spending some time in the studio, blah blah blah.

Saturday the 17th we went to (John's brother) Bill and Dee's for Emily's birthday party. It was a lovely day for hanging out on their deck, eating and drinking and chatting with the relatives.

The next day, on Sunday, I went back to Artomatic, with Chris. John stayed home and ended up hanging out with Rich, I believe. I saw two more floors and we watched Joe Harris's film shorts (I'd seen them all except one before), but then Chris wanted to get to Alexandria to go stand up at an open mic. A very long subway ride later we got there just in time for Chris to get in the lineup. He went 3rd and then we left (the first 2 comedians and the MC weren't that great and the small crowd was too noisy and there was a loud lady interrupting a lot and they STILL smoke in bars in VA) hoping to find some food. It was 10pm on a Sunday so it looked like everything was closing up but we found a sushi place that was open until midnight. So we ate there. And had a long ride (mostly lots of waiting for the train) home.

Gary Bumbalough has moved back to Greenbelt after a year in Oregon. He's moved into the group house with TVTom and so I made some cookies and we went over there to welcome him home on Monday night. We ended up staying for a couple of hours chatting.

Thursday the 22 there was an Art Walk in Greenbelt and I was at my studio to be part of it. I don't really have anything else to say about it. People came by and looked at things and nobody bought anything.

Friday night John went out to a poker game and I spent the whole evening surfing the web. He won the tournament and then lost some money in the cash game.

Saturday afternoon Alison came over with Molly again to take a long walk in the woods and see if Molly would be good off leash. It worked, which is good because Molly is going to stay with us while the Looney's are at Origins, and it will be much easier to walk two dogs if they aren't on leashes.

Saturday night I gathered together all the ingredients for mojitos and went to Izolda's to meet up with Renée, Cora, and Petra, and watch some episodes of Sex and the City, since the movie is coming out soon. John went with Rich to meet Alex and they did some eating, duck pin bowling, played pool, and ate again. I made some great mojitos and we ate lots of goodies like chocolate and cookies. Izolda made "mantinis", mango juice, champagne, seltzer, and vodka. We watched many episodes late into the night.

Sunday was a lazy do little day.

Monday we met up with Rich and Izolda for tennis, then went back to their place to grill veggies and have a big meal. Afterwards we were kind of sleepy and John and I napped on the couch with my lying on top of him. After we woke up we all took a little walk in the woods, then John and Rich played around on his computer and Izolda and I watched a few more episodes of Sex and the City. Around 9:30pm I realized that we had forgotten about Katy! We'd left her all afternoon and evening alone with out her walk or dinner! Rich took John home to walk and feed Katy, then they stayed there to play poker on their computers while Iz and I continued watching the TV.

I've found a new drink. A few days ago the bartender at one of my favorite restaurants, Siri's Chef's Secret - a Thai place) walked by the table and asked if anyone wanted a drink. Usually I just get water, but this time I looked at the drink menu and noticed a whole list of martinis.

I've tried martinis before and never really liked them. I like lots of different kinds of liquor, even many hard liquors, but I hate vermouth, and, despite the comical motto of my youth—"fast cars, faster women, and gin for breakfast"—I've never liked gin, even for breakfast. So that pretty much takes care of martinis. I do like olives, though.

Then I read about Siri's Martini. Gin mixed with scotch whiskey, and a lemon rind instead of an olive. That looked weird, and I had to try one. It arrived in the typical large martini glass. It was a cold, strong, yellow drink, sans ice, and it tasted glorious. With every sip, the incredibly tasty complex combination of gin and scotch went down cold and then warmed me up and put a copasetic smile on my face.

Two nights later, I went back and had another. Still great. I call it the Serious Martini. Time to stash bottles of gin and scotch in the freezer. Thanks, Siri!