Pie

Yesterday I threw my second pie shindig. Twas a lot of fun, although I ended up getting started later than I thought due to work issues. I am too loyal to this place, dammit!

I made four pies: blueberry, strawberry, apple, and peach. They all turned out well, even though it was my first time making apple or peach pie (andI did forget to put in the cinnamon in the apple).

Attendees included:

1. Laurie (rowansilverwing) & Rachel (Black Orchid) who showed up before the first two pies were out of the oven and hung out exclaiming how interesting it was to watch a guy actually cook while I was making up the second two.
2. Rebecca (girlNeko), who I must apologize to if I misspelled your name. I forgot to ask. I never met her before this, but she lives a couple of blocks away with metalmensch. She wore a fabulous burgundy colored skirt. She was the quiet one of the bunch last night, but she smiles a lot and ate four pieces of pie before she had to deal with the blood sugar.
3. Amanda and Leeanne, who are not board or Live Journal people.
4. Jason, who called and offered to bring something but I didn't realize at the time I had no ice cream.
5. Maria (Mariposa), who called about 5 times to see if the pie was ready and who would be there and who was already there before she actually showed up and had a good time.
6. Shirley, looking spectacular in a tube top kind of thing.
7. Tari (catsclaw), again, sorry for any misspelling of your name. Yet another person I hadn't met but who lived in the neighborhood. She showed up with lovely purple hair (one of my favorite colors).
8. Jessica and Chris. Chris is apparently working his way out of the doghouse (he failed to show on a date with her last week). We flipped him quite a bit of crap for that, and he took it with grace. As he should.

Sum total (oxymoron!), 4 pies made, 2 completely eaten, and about enough to make 3/4 of a pie left. 11 attendees. Not a bad outing overall.

Ode to Jason Sloane

On July 11th, I will turn 32. On July 15th, Jason will turn 32. I will forever be 4 days older than he is.

I've known Jason since I was around 4 or 5 years old. That makes it around 27 years that I've known him. I can't remember when I met him it's been so long. We grew up together. We watched TV together. We scrounged for Playboys together. We recreated together. Saw movies together. We enver went on any dates together, although Jason once tried to set me up on a date when I came over to visit him in Bremerton (I lived in Idaho at the time). It woulda sorta been a double date kind of thing. He andhis wife. Me and the girl they invited over. Only he never told me, and I got a late start from Idaho and more or less missed my date. Ah well, such is life.

Jason's been taking electrician classes lately, but his class is done until this fall, and he and I went to "Goth Coffee" this Wedneday since he no longer had class. (A lot of people without class hang out with me.) We mostly sat with staxxy because everyone seemed to know her and stop by to chat with her, so it seemed an ideal spot for Jason to meet the Goth coffee crowd. At once point, I went up to get in line to get some coffee (fancy that, in a coffee shop???). I came back and Stax' comment to me was "Jason really likes you." Jason kind of relayed some stories of growing up with me to Stax while I was away.

But he does. And I like him. We each have our faults, and we have had times when we did not get along as well, or when we didn't keep in contact as much. But when the shit hits the fan, Jason has "been there" for me. I hate using the term "been there" because it usually is used in this fluffy context to indicate that a person said nice things about you and bashed you ex when you didn't like em and blah blah blah. So I wanted to list off a few things that Jason has done for me over the years and some of the qualities that I like in him.

Christmas morning, my brother Matt died in a one car rollover accident on the way to Christmas dinner with the family. Jason came to the funeral, and let me cry on his shoulder at the gravesite. On the Thursday following, he drug me out of my apartment and off to Deja Vu in Lake City to cheer me up. In his words, "What else makes a man as happy as naked breasts?" Matt would've wanted it that way, he told me. He is probably right. It was pretty pathetic there, but we laughed at how pathetic it was and it got me out of my funk somewhat.

I am a smart guy. But I am not really a particularly motivated guy and I definitely lack a lot in social braveness. Although I think Jason is as inherently shy as I am, he manages to do a lot better job of burying that aspect of himself than I do. More than once, Jason has been the instigator behind my coming out of my shell. Everything from prompting me to hold my pie shindig yesterday, to trying to hook me up with the married but promiscuous friend of his girlfriend, to organizing road trips, to retrieving me from the Mercury because a girl I am interested in is at the Vogue.

In any case, I could go on and on. I'm not going to at the moment though. If I ever get stuck for a topic for an entry, perhaps I shall whip out a Jason story from our youth. At least I will unless he pays me to keep quiet about them.

Last Saturday, Jason and I went out. We spent the bulk of our time at the Mercury. He got a little drunk, and bought a lotof drinks for women. Mostof the money came from my pocket. Jason would offer to get me a soda, take a $20, and come back with the soda and drinks for several girls on the way. Went through maybe 60 or 80 bucks that way. And some people wondered why I do that, why I "let" him spend my money that way. Because of our friendship, I don't think of it as "my money." It's not really like its "our money" either. It's just that because we've been a part of each other's lives for so long that we are family. And in the best way possible. So there is no counting.

Starting over

I am reading Straight Man by Richard Russo. I've just started, but the first chapter starts out with this observation about a character in the story:

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It occurs to me as I study him that Teddy would have a hard time starting over—that is, learning how unfamiliar things work, competing, finding a mate. The business of young men.

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So that got me thinking. Would I do well if I had to start over? In a way, I feel like I am just starting to do the things that young men do. Or at least just starting to do them well. So I think I would do pretty well if I had to start over in this fashion.

Lines from literature

I don't know how I will like the story in the end, but I really like how Richard Russo describes states of thought.

Already in the first couple of pages, I have chanced upon the following lines, which just make me want to re-read them over and again. They seem to say so much, and I have already re-read the paragraphs containing them several times, in thehopes that I can uncover the secret as to why they fit so well.

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In an atmosphere of distrust and suspicion and retribution, two people working together represent a power base, and no one has understoof this sad academic truth better than Teddy and June. It's hard to imagine either of them risking it. On the other hand, it must be hard to be married to a man like Teddy, who's always leaning forward in anticipation, footpoised above the gas pedal, but too cautious to stomp.

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The only emotion I recall is ... a certain sense of disappointment about such drama resulting in so little consequence.

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I just love those pieces. I wish I could write like that.

Administrivia #3

One last thing for the day, my DSL modem at home seems to have gone tits up. So I likely won't respond to email or crack bored postings, or messages here. At least until I can figure out what's going on with it, feel free to phone me if you want to get ahold of me. Phone is (206)568-8356. Good bye for the weekend.

Update: I played around with the firmware settings and got this back working again. There's still some things wrong with the modem, but I have internet again!