Weekend With Dad

[unforth]

Well, I had a pretty good weekend over all. Dad arrived a bit later than I anticipated - apparently, not only does he drive slowly (it's funny, I never thought he did when I was younger - being a kid can skew ones perceptions, I guess), and, moreover, the car that he had rented for this trip (his normal car is a big ass pick up truck that is too expensive to really drive any distance - it's meant to pull his trailer) did not have a functioning speedometer. It had less than a 1000 miles on it at trip start, and still didn't work right. :)

Anyway...
Friday went fairly well over all. I took Jonie to the vet, and she was given a clean bill of health and some heartworm and flea preventative. :) She also got her rabies shot. Yay! I have another appointment on June 16th, to give her various boosters for a bunch of stuff, and then I shouldn't have another appointment for at least a month, which is good. :)

Then, met up with saracariad and did some more house hunting. We've now seen a few places that we like, though we currently each have a different favorite, which makes me think we should probably go for a third place altogether. I imagine we'll be meeting up later today to figure out just that, though time will tell. :)

After a bunch o' that, buzzermccain and saracariad had plans to go on a "date" to see 12th Night, but I was going to be seeing it the following night with my father, so instead got some yummy dinner at Shanti - which was spicier than anticipated, but I managed, I'm really starting to get used to spicy food, how strange! - and then hung out with dyrecorn, khaos_kitty, and miraeko and played Millenium Edition Trivial Pursuit, which I sucked at considerably less than I suck at regular Trivial Pursuit, but still got wrong some really obvious ones (apparently)...stupid pop culture. ;)


Spent the morning on Saturday lazing about waiting for Dad to arrive. This mostly involved sitting outside while the dog chewed on her leash. We need more pup chewing toys, I think. :) When dad got here, we spent a little time comparing notes before deciding what to do, which ended up being wandering around downtown, which we then did. I got to go into a bunch of places I've passed a zillion times without going into, like Athena (where I'll definitely shop in the future...) and some of the bookstores and such. It was fun. We got a meal at Essan Thai and generally had some fun. It's funny to me to go shopping these days, though - time was I would have found a whole mess of things that I really wanted at Athena and would have wanted to spend lots of money and certainly would have left with at least a thing or two. These days, though, instead I look around, spot some things I like, and figure that I'll go back some other time if I still want them and get something then - the worst that happens is that the specific thing that I want is gone.

We also went into a couple of the music stores, which was nice. My dad got to show off his mad Banjo skillz to the general amazement of the store proprieters, who seemed impressed - I don't imagine they get many banjo players in, if the number of them they have is any indication. We got to talking about music a bit, and something spiffy came of it - I've always wanted to learn to play the violin (well, really I've wanted to play the fiddle...) and it turns out that dad has a fiddle and bow that are fairly nice that he has no particular need of at the moment (he tried to learn in the past, but it was a skill that eluded him apparently) and so he's going to send them to me! So I can putz around with it, see if I have an aptitude at all - I'm looking forward to it, even though I'm sure I'll totally suck. :)

That evening, we went to see 12th Night, which was fun. I thought it worked out really well, the Marx Bros stuff, and generally enjoyed myself. About 2/3 of the way through, though, Jonie started freaking out and bit and scratched up my arms really bad, and so I took her away. Apparently she did the same the night before - I hadn't realized just how much she had wigged out, or I'd not have brought her again - I think that something about the sound system must have been really bothering her, because once we got a little distance, she calmed down again. Thank god! I couldn't make out everything from my new vantage point, but as it was I'd seen the final scenes during one of the rehearsals, and as it turned out I left at pretty much the same point that I had arrived then, so all in all I missed little.

Those who haven't gone yet should go, it was spiffy! :)


On Sunday, we met up again early (by my standards) in the morning and headed over to the Scholar's Inn to get breakfast (and a yummy loaf of Sourdough bread, mmmmm). We mulled over what to do over the course of the day, and after a few ideas I finally had a good one - go to Nashville! My dad, I knew, loves little towns like that and the sorts of shopping there, and I'd been wanting to go to Nashville for a while anyway, so it worked out nicely.

It was really busy there! Apparently, there was some motorcycle drive going on, so there were a whole mess of guys and their bikes around, and dad kept drooling over the Harley's (the coolest, though, was a Honda with a full side car in this sort of electric blue that shone purple, it was spiffy).

Over all, I thought it was fairly nice - a lot of the stores were filled with what I basically call "generic Americana," an array of cute figurines, Yankee Candle Factory candles, and schlock that you can find anywhere in the country. However, there were some places that were more unique and interesting, including a nice music store where they had hammer dulcimers (another instrument I've always loved and wanted to play), a couple of stores where the craftsmen sat and worked - a potter, a glassworker - and a store of Brown County Crafts, which I thought was a VERY nice selection of local craft work. We saw a lot of junk, but it was worth it for the few nice stores - I intend to return closer to the holidays and get some rather unique gifts for folk. ;)

Finished up right around when we needed to to get to Asuka. None of you slobs showed up, but that was okay, it was yummy and we got to talk more, which was fine - I don't talk to dad all that much, really. Then it was time for him to head out - he had to be back in Jersey by today in order to keep a gig he had - and so we parted ways and I headed over to Aberrant. Despite being sleepy and not at all in a game mindset, I managed to get some stuff done, which is good.


Well, it's finally time to get back to work! Today I have a bunch to do, including job work, general maintenance stuff, and housing stuff. Tomorrow, I meet my internship advisor to discuss the parameters of the internship, and I need to at some point actually sign up and pay for my class. Then there is Contra dancing on Wednesday...Those are my only commitments so far, at least until the Interlude on Friday night, but we'll see. :)

Well, that turned out really long. It's funny how my mood and such can have an effect on how much detail I see the need to go into. :) I've gotta get to work!

Comments

[kniedzw.livejournal.com]

Finished up right around when we needed to to get to Asuka. None of you slobs showed up

Wish I could have, but I was in the midst of hunting down international terrorists while you were having dinner.

OK. I was listening to how international terrorists were making Stillwin's life more complex, but you get the idea. :)

[unforth.livejournal.com]

Poor Stillwin. Somehow I can't escape the feeling that it's only a matter of time before she becomes the fall guy for something and ends up getting completely blacklisted...:)

[gollumgollum.livejournal.com]

I intend to return closer to the holidays and get some rather unique gifts for folk. ;)

Go in September. Seriously. Once the leaves change Nashville becomes thick with people (because that's one of the big Brown County draws) and it stays that way pretty much through Christmas, depending on the weather and the leaf-changing-season.

I've gotta say, though, i don't like to admit it much...but i lessthanthree Nashville. Glad you enjoyed it!1

[unforth.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the advice - I rather liked it there, though it felt very touristy (in a small town sort of way...). :)

[nekomata.livejournal.com]

But fighting off the crazy tourists is part of the charm!

[unforth.livejournal.com]

Like all those nut-so motorcyclists. :)